James Clear Quotes

When determining the size or complexity of a new habit ask yourself: What can I stick to — even on my worst day?

Start there. Master the art of showing up. Then advance.

Commitment makes good things better and bad things worse.

The more “all-in” you are on a good relationship, the better it becomes. The more you commit to a toxic relationship, the deeper you get trapped.

The more you invest yourself in fulfilling work, the more your effort fuels you. The harder you work on a bad project or in an unsatisfying role, the more of a grind it becomes.

The Cycle of Improvement:

1. Awareness – identify what you need to improve.
2. Deliberate practice – focus your conscious effort on the specific area you want to improve.
3. Habit – with practice, the effortful becomes automatic.
4. Repeat – begin again.

Just start.

Start slow if you have to. Start small if you have to. Start privately if you have to.

Just start.

The biggest risk to productivity is always the same: working on the wrong thing.

Create your life rather than live it.

Knowledge is the compound interest of curiosity.

It's rarely doing the work that is hard, it's starting the work. Once you begin, it’s often less painful to continue working. This is why—in the beginning—it is often more important to build the habit of getting started than it is to worry about whether or not you are doing enough.

Yes, a habit can be completed in just a few seconds, but it can also shape the actions that you take for minutes or hours afterward. Habits are like the entrance ramp to a highway. They lead you down a path and, before you know it, you’re speeding toward the next behavior. It seems to be easier to continue what you are already doing than to start doing something different. You sit through a bad movie for two hours. You keep snacking even when you’re already full.

You need focus to become exceptional at anything.

Massive amounts of time and energy are wasted optimizing things that should be left undone.

You have to be great at saying no.

Usually, the better someone does their job, the easier it looks. You rarely realize how hard it is until you try it yourself.

The trajectory of your life bends in the direction of your habits.

In fact, the tendency for one purchase to lead to another one has a name: the Diderot Effect. The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption

The source of healthy boundaries is self-love and self-respect. When you learn to love yourself, you are less likely to put up with people who don't love you back.

Measure your success against others and you'll be unhappy when they win—and less likely to receive help from them due to your jealousy.

Measure your success against yourself and you can be happy when others win—and more likely to receive help from them thanks to your support.