One of the great gifts of sports is learning how to fail in public. People never go to the gym because they're scared of looking stupid, never share… - James Clear

You can be authentic and hardworking and still struggle to find your footing if you're in the wrong environment.

• A fun person trapped in the wrong city.
• A loving partner in a relationship that won't reciprocate.
• A great entrepreneur stuck in the wrong business.

Think about your placement as much as your performance. Plant yourself where you can thrive.

Whether or not something is deemed a "failure" is dependent on when performance is measured.

I signed the book deal for Atomic Habits in November 2015 and it was published in October 2018. If you were to measure the performance of the book at any point during those three years, the project would have been deemed a failure. In January 2016? It was incomplete. A failure. In August 2017? Still unfinished. A failure. In February 2018? Again, a failure.

But after October 2018, it looked like a success. Same project. Different time when the outcome was measured.

This idea applies in many areas of life. You're not failing. You're just in the middle of succeeding.

Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.

It's hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it—even if progress is imperfect and slow.

Action relieves anxiety.