James Clear Quotes

It's remarkable what you can build if you just don't stop.

It's remarkable the business you can build if you don't stop working.

It's remarkable the body you can build if you don't stop training.

It's remarkable the knowledge you can build if you don't stop learning.

Mastery requires patience. The San Antonio Spurs, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, have a quote from social reformer Jacob Riis hanging in their locker room: “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it — but all that had gone before.

Doing it right is hard. Doing it over is harder.

Solve big problems early.

Rebound after one missed workout, not a decade of inactivity.

Repair a strained relationship the next day, not years later.

Fix overspending before it becomes a lifestyle.

Problems with simple solutions at first become difficult to unwind over time.

It only takes five minutes to break the cycle.

Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored.

It doesn't take much to feel good again.

The information you consume each day is the soil from which your future thoughts grow.

If you want to take something more seriously, do it publicly.

Publishing an article pressures you to think clearly. Competing in a race pressures you to train consistently. Presenting on any topic pressures you to learn it.

Social pressure forces you to up your game.

Sure, at some level, every experience in life boils down to your interpretation of it. And if you can shift your mindset, then perhaps you can turn a negative experience into a positive one.

But life is not a hallucination. You still have to deal with things. A healthy perspective can lessen the burden, but so can taking action. A problem that is solved is one that you don't need to mentally reframe.

Saying no saves you time in the future. Saying yes costs you time in the future.

No is like a time credit. You can spend that block of time in the future.

Yes is like a time debt. You have to repay that commitment at some point.

No is a decision. Yes is a responsibility.

What you do is an indication of the type of person you believe that you are — either consciously or nonconsciously.

When you can't win by being better, you can win by being different. By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition, which makes it easier to stand out. You can shortcut the need for a genetic advantage (or for years of practice) by rewriting the rules. A good player works hard to win the game everyone else is playing. A great player creates a new game that favors their strengths and avoids their weaknesses.

Something I try to remind myself:

• The strong mind finds a way to stay steady … even when plans fall apart.
• The strong body finds a way to train … even when the day doesn’t go your way.
• The strong relationship finds a way to reconnect … even when things get rough.

In a sense, what matters most is how you respond on the bad days, not the good ones.

• Anyone can smile when life goes smoothly.
• Anyone can train when they feel great.
• Anyone can be kind when the relationship is easy.

It's how you act when the situation isn't optimal that makes the difference.

When successful people fail, they rebound quickly. The breaking of a habit doesn’t matter if the reclaiming of it is fast…Too often, we fall into an all or nothing cycle with our habits. The problem is not slipping up — the problem is thinking that if you can’t do something perfectly, then you shouldn’t do it all. You don’t realize how valuable it is to just show up on your bad or busy days. Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.

When you choose the benefits of an action, you also choose the drawbacks.

If you want to be an author, you can't only choose the finished novel and book signings. You are also choosing months of lonely typing. If you want to be a bodybuilder, you can't only choose the fit body and attention. You are also choosing the boring meals and calorie counting.

You have to want the lifestyle, not just the outcomes. Otherwise, it doesn't make any sense being jealous. The results of success are usually public and highly visible, but the process behind success is often private and hidden from view. It's easy to want the public rewards, but also you have to want the hidden costs.

Do not wait. If there is something you wish to do, go do it.

Death comes for busy people too. It will not pause and return at a more convenient time.