Given that ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear has conquered people’s consciousness on the subject of habits, I was initially skeptical about whether I could pick up anything useful from this book. But I’m a sucker for such self-help books, so I gave it a shot anyway.

I was heartened to pick up some new ideas from Wendy Wood. I think I acquired some useful terminology that will help me convince my students and colleagues when I do certain things in the future. For instance, when I subject students to timed trials, I can justify my well-meaning action by saying that they are working on honing their “procedural memory”. I also learnt that simply performing a ritual acts more effectively to relieve one’s stress than reminding himself to stay calm. I’m not a ritual kind of person, but I guess I could kickstart something the next time I’m tasked to present at an important workshop or other events of similar nature.

This logic may sound obvious, but reading that setting ourselves for success by being in the right environment is more pivotal to accomplishing stuff than channeling our willpower made me realise the importance of the broader environment. This is why I faithfully dragged myself to the void deck to mug for my exams during those ‘A’ level days. I’m thinking - am I manipulating my environment cleverly enough to gain more mileage and leverage out of my life. Hmm, something to chew on.

Wendy Wood also mentioned about how using cash increases friction and indirectly reduces one’s spending. But I think in the Singapore context, using cash is not so beneficial because I miss out on accumulating rewards points derived from using cashless payments. Actually, I’m quite proud of myself for having the mental fortitude to relate the book to my context, despite the barrage of personal and professional responsibilities.

Anyway, enough flexing. I quite enjoyed this book on optimising situational self-control, and I suspect you will too.