What do self-help books and User experience have in common?

‍You have at least once in your life picked up a self-help book of some sort if you are reading this post (or I hope at least).

Hi, I am Nikoleta, and I am a Web developer and UX/UI designer that is curious about countless things. One of them is self-improvement and anything related to creating or creativity. I am not a writer, but I have always practised some writing in micro or regular journaling. Maybe you can expect a book from me soon, who knows.

At the moment, I am halfway through a self-help book that is very popular among readers who are trying to improve their lives and more specifically their daily habits. Yes, you guessed it right, the book is Atomic Habits by James Clear, and I highly recommend it. And no this is not an ad or paid promotion, relax. If you are a slow reader like me or you "don't have time" to read, make sure to check the exercises related to the book and the short explanations at least. Psst: another very productive way is to listen to it while you do something else like walking or commuting.

Update: the book Atomic Habits is a great read, practical, concise, and easy to go through. Highly recommend it!

Alongside this book, I am also reading The design of Everyday Things Revisited by Don Norman and I find it fascinating how interesting and similar those books are. Both of them are getting back and forward on basic principles of psychology and how people function *dramatic sound*. The authors are good at giving simple and descriptive examples of certain situations to prove a point and I find it quite helpful. Also, both of the books have quite a lot of visual learning materials that help you understand the concepts a bit easier.

If you know anything about user experience I bet you have heard about root cause analysis, right? If not I think this post sums it up well. The main goal in the analysis and building good habits (also breaking the bad ones) is to ask the question "Why?" multiple times until you reach the source (root) of the problem.

Can't wait to finish the rest of the book and see if there are more similarities. If they are I will make sure to edit this post.

Thank you for reading so far, I do appreciate it and I hope this text was a tiny bit interesting, helpful, or at least amusing.

Also, feel free to share in the comments what are you currently reading.

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