James Clear
@JamesClear
Author of the #1# NYT bestseller Atomic Habits ( I write about building good habits. Over 3 million people read my 3-2-1 newsletter.
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There is no need to fear any problem you are working on. If you are working on it, then you are influencing the outcome.
It's the problems you don't address that should concern you.
A good life is one in which things do not go perfectly, but you find a way to have a good day regardless.
A Monday morning question for you:
Many of the good things in life are downstream from being helpful and useful to others. What can you do today to be useful to someone else?
If you want to avoid criticism, create less.
If you want to avoid irrelevance, create more.
When you need clarity, subtract.
The loser has more in common with the winner than with the person sitting on the sidelines.
The winner and the loser each had the courage to try. Both risked embarrassment. Both were willing to face uncertainty. Both were stubborn enough to continue.
Success is endurance in disguise. It belongs to the person who can absorb the losses without absorbing the identity of "loser." It's the courage to start — and to stick with it — that is the real separator. Results tend to find the person who stays in the game.
The sidelines are safe, but sterile. Nothing grows there.
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A Monday morning question for you:
Timing influences communication.
Talk about potential mistakes before they happen and people start looking for ways to prevent them.
Talk about actual mistakes after they happen and people start looking for reasons to defend their actions.
What do we need to be talking about now, so we can learn the lessons before we need them?
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There is always more than one way to do something. Write down as many ways as you can think of to achieve your desired outcome. Then, rank them based on how much time they take, how much money they cost, and how effective you expect them to be. Choose the best.
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Beware the student of one teacher. A good idea spirals into dogma when it gets applied to everything and stretched beyond the areas where it is useful. Remain open and embrace a lot of teachers.
A Monday morning question for you:
What unfinished task is still hogging your mental real estate and needs to be let go?
A simple rule that makes life easier:
Always strive to give value before you ask for value.
It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it.
If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment.
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Education teaches you to analyze. Entrepreneurship teaches you to create.
The educated mindset is great at dissecting and criticizing. What did Shakespeare mean here? What were the major forces of this historical period? What is the limiting reagent in this chemical reaction?
The entrepreneurial mindset is great at building and improving. Design a better product. Craft a new marketing plan. Stop talking about what's wrong and make something better.
The trick is to keep learning, but to never lose your ability to build.
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A Monday morning question for you:
I'm not usually awake from 5am to 6am, but when I am I tend to enjoy it. Start the day slow. Watch the sunrise. Get a few things done before everyone else wakes up.
Meanwhile, I am often awake from 10pm to 11pm and I find that I tend to use it poorly. Passively watching TV or scrolling on a screen. Late-night snacking. Generally focusing on things that are fairly unimportant.
Trading the last hour of the night for the first hour in the morning would be a pretty high-value trade for me.
Which hours of your day tend to return the most value and which ones tend to return the least?
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You can cold email nearly anyone, but nearly everyone overlooks how powerful it can be.
Sending one email each week that feels like a stretch can change your life. Will you get turned down? Sure, most of the time. But you only need one to pay off for something amazing to happen.
Take your time, write a thoughtful message, and muster the courage to press Send.
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One of the most valuable skills in life is being able to see another person's perspective.
If you're going to someone's house, think about how it might feel to be the host. If you're creating a product, spend as much time as possible thinking like the customer. If you're calling customer service, think about how it might feel to be on the other end of the conversation.
The more clearly you understand the viewpoint of your spouse or customer or coworker, the better positioned you are to find a solution.
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The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning.
It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re not willing to do what it takes to get it.
If you don’t want to live the lifestyle, then release yourself from the desire. To crave the result but not the process, is to guarantee disappointment.
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