James Clear Quotes

Success is largely the failures you avoid.

• Health is the injuries you don't sustain.
• Wealth is the purchases you don't make.
• Happiness is the objects you don't desire.
• Peace of mind is the arguments you don't engage.

Avoid the bad to protect the good.

Stories of failure resonate more than stories of success. Few people reach the top, but everyone has failed—including those who eventually succeed. If you're teaching people how to succeed in a given field (or talking about your own success), start with how you failed.

Take all the energy you spend on…

• worrying about the past
• worrying about the future
• worrying about what others think
• worrying about if you might fail

… and channel that energy into one useful action within your control.

Each year, Steve Jobs would hold an annual meeting with the 100 most important people at Apple.

Crucially, these were not the top 100 executives, but rather the 100 people who were most important to the company that year. Jobs personally chose attendees based on their direct contribution, creativity, vision, and impact within the company, regardless of their official titles or positions.

I always loved the spirit of that practice. Competence over credentials.

Even bad luck is a source of opportunity—but only if you live each day as if that is true.

The way to help someone is not to critique what makes them smaller, but to encourage what makes them larger.

The Process:

1. Decide what you want to achieve.
2. Try different ways of achieving it until you find one that works for you.
3. Do more of what works. Do less of what doesn't.
4. Don't stop doing it until it stops working.
5. Repeat.

It is both this simple and this hard.

You are as old as the risks you take. In many ways, aging is not the process of growing old, but rather the slow death of becoming overly protective, scared, and worried about losing what you have. Youth is found in the energy of going for it, taking the risk, and trusting that you'll figure it out along the way.

The person who experiences the consequences should make the decision.

What you push down doesn't vanish. It festers and wields quiet power over your thoughts and actions.

What needs to be addressed that isn't currently being addressed?

To understand others, watch what they reward.

To understand yourself, watch what you envy.

The quality of your thoughts is determined by the quality of your reading. Spend more time thinking about the inputs.

The Paradox of Freedom: The way to expand your freedom is to narrow your focus.

• Stay focused on saving to achieve financial freedom.
• Stay focused on training to achieve physical freedom.
• Stay focused on learning to achieve intellectual freedom.

The disciplined become the free.

The secret to winning is learning how to lose. That is, learning to bounce back from failure and disappointment—undeterred—and continuing to steadily march toward your potential. Your response to failure determines your capacity for success.

Practice the art of small daily discomforts. Modern life is optimized for convenience and comfort. Your food can be delivered straight to your door. Your car seats can be heated. Your favorite show is available at the press of a button.

We all enjoy convenience and comfort, myself included. But our bodies and souls yearn for challenge. We want to be stretched. A deeper satisfaction awaits after pushing yourself to learn a challenging concept or complete a humbling workout or have an important but difficult conversation.

Should the whole day feel difficult? No, I don't think that's necessary. But a good day — a meaningful and fulfilling day — requires small moments of discomfort. Growth demands discomfort. We need something to push against to learn how strong we can become.