Fizzing Atoms

Slaying the Minotaur: Reclaiming the Weekend and spending time in the Elysian Fields

20 September 2025

Fliss Falconer

The Power of 'Atomic Habits'

I am late to the game, as James Clear's book Atomic Habits was published in 2018, and since then, it has been nominated for awards - the Goodreads Choice Awards in 2018 - and been on the New York Times Bestseller List for over 160 weeks.

Despite not winning awards, it is described as a 'quiet revolution', changing habits and is the 'cornerstone in the world of habit formation and personal development'.

And I'm only 2 hours into the 5.5 hours' worth of wisdom.

It's already having an impact though.

The popular myth that forming a habit takes 21 days has been debunked, and psychology researcher Phillippa Lally suggests in her study that the average time is 66 days, but the range is wide (anywhere from 18 to 254 days) depending on the complexity of the behaviour and the individual.

'This study tracked 96 participants over 12 weeks and found that habit formation follows an asymptotic curve, meaning automaticity builds gradually with repetition in a consistent context. The time to reach 95% of peak automaticity ranged from 18 to 254 days, with an average of 66 days'.

Far from average

Let's face it, with my 'undiagnosed but something's there', habit forming always seems trickier to capture for me than it is for others. I thrive off the new, the exciting, the Next Big Thing but in order to strive for personal growth, I thought I would give it a go.

Be under no allusions, though - this week, I have joined two committees and in this year alone, I have a new dog, a new cat, growing boys, who always make me feel something new is brewing with them. I have undertaken a new style of fortnightly meetings for Gloucestershire schools and undertaken an apprenticeship with the University of Gloucestershire.

12 years of being in sixth gear as a teacher, I know that I can do this. Two years of going right down to second gear - with fears I would never be able to return to the same levels of productiveness and creativity - I seem to be hurtling forwards again.

Running? From something scary? Not from something scary? You?

Admittedly, I have completed the first run of the first week of the 'Couch to 5K' challenge for the second time. Once again, it told me that I had tackled the hardest bit because the first run is always the hardest. Once again, I scoffed. No, I will try anything once. It's doing it again. And again after that where I struggle.

Sarah Millican chatted amiably to me, telling me I could slow down and to keep going. My Spotify playlist did me proud with Jack Black singing 'Baby, one more time' and the K-Pop HUNTR/X's 'Golden'. There was a touching moment when Kelly Clarkson's 'Stronger' came on: when I've listened to it previously at full volume, it was accompanied by tears and a broken heart. Today, a massive grin, pounding the road (no pavements around here), trying not to roll my ankles!

I managed each of the 60 second runs, and although I only ran for 8 minutes (8 minutes?! Are you sure, Sarah?! Bloody hell!), I definitely worked up a sweat... and I would consider doing it again.

'Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't kill their husbands. They just don't.' Elle Woods, 'Legally Blonde'

I did not mean to, I want to make that clear, but I managed to annoy two teachers the other day. They asked me did I miss teaching. I said I missed the students. I always will. But I said that I had been walking my dog earlier - in the middle of a school day - and there's not a chance I would have been able to do that when I was teaching. (And not just because I didn't have a dog then, smart-arse!)

My whole teaching career was a roller coaster that felt that there was no option to get off and try another ride. In many ways, it was like I pulled the emergency brake just to stop my head from spinning, but better that than having to be aided off because you're to ill to cope or for ruining the ride for others.

So, my whole way of life has changed. I think the first two years have felt like rehab, potentially recovering from some form of Stockholm Syndrome, and that way of life went beyond my own 12 years of teaching. I only had one year away from education - working at Hereford Hospital from 2009-2010, before I was back in the academic world, training to teach. I also grew up in an academic household - my mum is still teaching to this day. 56 years and countless of children's lives nurtured by her.

I'm having to learn how to live with 'free time'.

And I want to develop some habits.

Saturday Morning Rituals

No longer is the weekend a looming battle of facing the minotaur of marking.

Instead, the tea gently steams as I spend an hour writing my blog. Pets and children are fed (you've got to feed the pets first or they attempt to steal the boys' cereal!). Charlie has been brilliant and joined me on my 'run'. He doesn't laugh once at my efforts. (He could, though. I'm quite comical as I lumber about!). Two showers already to my name (necessary!) and the washing is on.

We've even baked a cake this morning.

We have also completed homework. 8am on a Saturday is now time for homework. The Lion will often snag some gaming time while I'm out with Charlie, but as 8am is homework time, then it's not me nagging him to log off, it's what we do on a Saturday.

I'm conscious of him having similar 'habit-making rituals' to mine i.e. a bit rubbish at it. So I am trying to adopt a family-culture for it.

When he was little, Saturdays meant we would share a cake at a Costa but I am also trying to form a habit of paying off my debt so we make our own at home.

I'm trying out a new lifestyle and I'm learning how to make it stick. I've got to steer away from my brain thinking it's boring and coming up with a whole new idea on how to spend the weekend, but that's part of the journey too, isn't it?

Who said I have to have it all figured out by now? Where's the fun in that?

Each small ritual, a steaming mug, a shared slice of homemade cake, or a 60-second run cheered on by Sarah Millican, feels like an atom fizzing with intent. Not explosive, not dramatic, but quietly meaningful. Maybe that’s the real magic: learning to live in the fizz, where possibility hums and the weekend is no longer a battleground, but a field of light.

Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674