Excellent reminders that it’s possible to embrace life-changing habits—even if you (like me!) seriously struggle. I have a love hate relationship with minimalism. I’m all about lists, but am a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of fifty steps to solidify habits. Still, it’s inspiring to know someone has figured it out.

I was intrigued by this but ultimately it feels like a minimalist version of hustle culture that I just can't get behind. There's a lot of repetition and it's light on scientific evidence—which I was hoping for.

I'd put off listening to "Hello, Habits" but it was engrossing and helpful once I started it. The tone and discussion is straightforward and clear. The Japanese sensibility and minimalism comes across clearly. While I am still navigating the suggestions and trying to put them in place, the book encourages one to begin the process. If you want to reexamine your own habits and try to become more efficient and minimalist then this audiobook is worth exploring!

The narrator made this book digestible, I doubt I would have finished it otherwise. Habits are the basis for everything in life. The book lacked new ideas that I have not read before. If you have never read a book on minimalism, then I definitely recommend it, if you have, don’t bother I am sure you have heard it all before.

This book is a good summary of much of the research on habits and habit forming that has been done recently.

Hello, Habits. This was a refreshing straight forward read. This book introduces a few concepts before jumping into tips to help you develop and maintain good habits. Like many things in life, you have to work at it before you see a result. Making habits are no different. Most of the strategies to help break or make habits were realistic for me and something I can use and remember in my day to day life. I love listening to audiobooks that motivate me or help me improve myself while doing tasks that aren't my favorite. I did find the book motivating and I look forward to using the strategies I learned to improve my life. Thank you Blackstone Audiobooks and NetGalley for this title.

I truly enjoyed this audio book. If you've read anything similar, such as Atomic Habits, you'll recognize a common theme in self-help books regarding habit creation. I appreciate the subtle differences in Fumio Sasaki's methods; a lot of it deals with changing your framework. The audio book reader had a very conversational tone, which was reassuring and inviting.

Hello, Habits is one of those books that came into my life to tap me on the shoulder and validate that, although not perfect, the practices I have put in place are beneficial to creating the habits I want.

While reading this book I added 35 bookmarks and the biggest standout for me was Chapter 4 in which I added 16 of the 35. The author, Fumio Sasaki, does an excellent job of breaking down not only how to create habits, but also how to break the habits that are no longer serving you.

What was reflected back to me in this text was the fact that we must choose which rewards are most important to us. In our minds we can create a scenario in which sitting on the couch is our reward or the reward can be in getting up and doing something that is burdening us.

What I have learned is that when creating habits the important thing is to realize that both can be true. Sasaki highlights that we have to make sure the habits we are creating have minimal barriers and boil down complicated tasks into a state that does not cause anxiety.

In truth, there is no way for me to break down all the amazing lessons presented in Hello, Habits but I promise you that reading this book will give you a fresh perspective that will make creating habits seem within your grasp.

If you are trying to decide whether to read this in its physical or audio form I think there are considerations to be had for both.
Listen to the audiobook if…you really want to just start digesting the idea of habits and looking for a place to start.
Read the physical book if...you are looking to fully understand the material and apply it to your life.

Incredible book. 4.5 stars.

I really enjoyed *Goodbye Things, The New Japanese Minimalism* so I jumped at the chance to listen to this audiobook. I’m so glad that I did, as it has the:

Same great writing. Same great attention to detail and incredible research done. Same very down-to-earth and relatable perspective.

What I LOVED about this book:
* All of the above notes.
* wonderful narration of the audiobook. This is not read by the author, but the flow is so smooth it almost sounds as if it is! The narrator brings this subject matter to life in a way that I wanted to keep on listening without stopping.
* there is a wealth of background material that includes short anecdotes from the author’s and others’ lives, as well as references to scientific studies. All this is presented in a wonderful non-nonsense way.
* the list of 50 pointers on maintaining great habits.
Some are based on research, while others are anecdotal and a few are just the author’s own ideas. But as we are all different, there must be at least a few or more that resonate with every reader. Also, this compilation of the book (introduction, beginning, 50 pointers, conclusion) makes this heavy mass of information flow so much better than most any other book on the subject that I have read.
* the recap done at the end of each section, for review. There are so many great points that it is hard to remember all of the ones that I wanted to put into practice. The recap brought those back.


What I disliked:
* outdated, potentially harmful ideas on dieting. If you have (or have had) an eating disorder or struggle to lose weight no matter how hard you try, please be kind to yourself and breeze over the author’s views of diet without taking them personally. The author even quotes a book on how no diet has ever worked long-term, but continues to state outdated beliefs related to eating habits. I found this very frustrating, and know that others will find this harmful.
* the author only alludes once, and very briefly, as to how all people are different and successfully set up “good” habits in much different ways - and this is near the end. The vast majority of the book up until then sounds incredibly like if anyone just does what the author did, they will succeed. While so much of the book is full of incredible tips and tricks that MAY work for any reader, it is likely that every reader will walk away with different ideas of how they can best start and maintain the means to their own goals. Or, this is how it came across to me, anyway.

Regardless of these two faults, this book is absolutely 100% worth your time if you have any desire to change what things you are doing every day. How you live every day, of course, is how you build your future.

Thank you to the author, Fumio Sasaki, NetGalley and the publisher, Blackstone Publishing, for an audiobook copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I listened to this as an AudioBook. I was able to listen to it at 1.5 speed, making it a 7 hour read. At this speed the author still sounded good and understandable. At a slower speed it would be a very relaxing listen, possibly one to listen to at bedtime.

Fumio Sasaki is back with another book, this one about cultivating habits within the minimalism lifestyle. It’s almost like the basics and or foundation of Sasaki’s minimalism. In order for this practice to stick, it first had to become a habit. He examines common misconceptions about “willpower” and “talent,” and offers steps and tips for success through habits.

This is my second Sasaki book. I enjoyed Goodbye, Things, and as a creature of habit myself, I really liked this examination of habits and to succeed with them. It’s not just anecdotal evidence, either. Sasaki examines scientific studies that help predict success and “willpower” of children into adulthood.

The book was paced well and moved quickly. Narrator Brian Nishii both kept me interested and relaxed, not often a combo I find in audiobooks. If you’re on the New Year, New You grind, or you just want to cultivate some new practices and habits in your life, definitely check this out. It’s great encouragement, or if you don’t need encouragement, it’s great for the curious, like me.

The narrator of this audio book was very clear and calming to listen too.

The author provided excellent advise and examples of how to embrace new habits and how to become a better person. The 50 steps for acquiring habits and the 14 good habit inhibitors seemed like a lot to learn and remember but I think they can easily but put into motion into your everyday life.

Habits are the building blocks for how we want to live our lives and Fumio Sasaki shows us how to structure them, successfully and successionally.

I really liked the straight-forward approach to the advice imparted. Sasaki shared many anecdotes from his own life, making this a far more autobiographical read than expected, but the majority of the contents remained free from emotion, including judgement, and therefore easy to absorb and digest. This still remained, however, no nonsense and negated the human need to justify their actions by providing proof, often with scientific backing, about why our base or initial instincts and responses can often be the incorrect or harmful ones.

I also appreciated how each point was illustrated by referencing a number of typical habits that many readers could have foreseeably turned to this book for, but also how each snippet of advice could be adapted to refer to anything and everything.

I have read a number of books on this topic but I still return to this sub-genre to ensure I keep on track with my goals and am continuing to become the best version of myself. I found little here that I had not already heard before but I was anticipating this and it did not impact my enjoyment or immersion in any way.

The narrator of this audiobook is fantastic, the actual content wasn't my favorite but I really enjoyed listening to it. The book had a lot of good tip. The concepts and ideas were interesting and helpful. I liked the parts about how to build habits and stick with them. I felt that was helpful for other parts of life as well. I also thought the book was very motivating and not just about being a minimalist. Despite that I just didn't like some of the language the author used. He seemed judgmental at quite a few points, particularly toward woman or people who are overweight.

I couldn’t help enjoying HELLO, HABITS- thank you Netgalley! it was a fitting New Years & early January read, emphasizing goal-setting & the formation of habits. I enjoyed the audio narration, listening while walking, grocery shopping, or waking up ~5am to prep my classes. I appreciated his validation of early risers. w/ that said, across the board HELLO, HABITS seems too rigid to be useful. not everyone wants to repeat an exact routine every day. I wish I liked yoga but so far don’t. further, a lot of fat phobia in this one- can’t we see a self-help book w/out fat phobia?! please someone treat this author to a bowl of ice cream! anyway, I don’t regret reading this one especially via audio, but I don’t necessarily recommend it.

As someone who loves making New Year's resolutions but is not very good at keeping them, I wanted to start the year off learning how to effectively make new habits. Hello, Habits: A Minimalist's Guide to a Better Life by Fumio Sasaki was the perfect read for such a task. Sasaki gives you fifty, YES fifty, steps toward making new habits. Though that seems like an overwhelming number of steps, I found Sasaki's insight into how our brains work, why we tend to fail at making habits, and how to successfully establish new ones to be enlightening, helpful, and easy to put to use. I am notorious for not finishing nonfiction books but staying engaged with Saski's writing was an easy feat. I also appreciated the insight's into minimalism to be very intriguing as well.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about how our brains relate to habits and those looking for motivation and pragmatic steps for their own habit-making endeavors.

The narration, done by Brian Nishii, was well done and enjoyable to listen to.

Thank you to Net Galley for the audiobook!

3.5 stars. This book was a very nice overview of tips for developing and keeping good habits, and avoiding or breaking bad ones. His tips are very practical and are very easy to implement into anyone's daily lives. The writing style is very straight forward and easy to understand; he explains the concepts very clearly. It doesn't just focus on how to build habits; he also focused on our motivations, and how we fall into bad habits, and why they seem like they're so difficult to break. This book was also very motivating. It made me feel like I could do anything and improve my habits! I also liked the audiobook narrator a lot.
There were unfortunately some parts that irked me. The way the author talks about women is a little weird. He also uses some language that is fat shaming. Although it's in the context of trying to develop healthy eating and exercise habits, it got a little uncomfortable after a while.

If at all you want to pick up this book, opt for the audiobook. I really like the narration. I doubt if it wasn't for the narrator I would have ever complete reading the book.

As much as I loved the first book by the author, this book didn't work for me. I still take tips from the first book on minimalism as it was more practical, easy and fast to read.

But this book on habits went into too much of explanations and examples before actually going to the main point that I feel it lost all its purpose, even though they are backed up by numerous experiments and references.

It became tiring after thirty percent of the read. It started out strong and good. As the author points out to go directly to chapter 3 if you want to jump right in regarding habits, it still didn't work for me.

I wanted the book to present the important points and actually back them up with less but important example and reference backups. But it went to explain more on things that didn't need explanations.

Hope the next book works.

Thank you, author and the publisher for the audiobook.