"When you lose a game, the score doesn't transfer to the next contest but your habits certainly will.
Circumstances are temporary. Sometimes you're winning, sometimes you're losing. Hot, cold. Lucky, unlucky. But your habits travel with you. This is why you want to execute the same way whether the score is 10-0 or 0-10. Not because the score doesn't matter, but because the score isn't what you're actually building.
It's not about winning or losing any given round. It's about doing things the right way. If you have a chance to practice your craft, you want to do it as well as you can (even if you end up losing that day). Your previous reps can save you or betray you. The habits always translate to the next round."
- James Clear
"I recently found this note to myself:
"No sense in thinking small. Don't water down your vision. A remarkable amount can be accomplished if you are willing to think longer term than most and work hard each day."
- James Clear
"The best view of the game is probably from the stands. But that's not where the action is. And so you have to decide, do you want a nice view or do you want to be in the thick of it and playing the game?"
- James Clear
"Three ways to think about relationships:
1. Deepening. You know each other better this year than last.
2. Holding. Steady state, but mostly comfortable, familiar, and unchanged.
3. Drifting. Contact is fading and the relationship is starting to slide.
The point isn't to judge where you're at, but to notice what you need next. Which relationship is due for a deepening period? Which one are you okay letting drift for now?"
- James Clear
"The most expensive part of a bad habit is rarely the action itself, but rather the identity it quietly reinforces underneath. The issue isn't skipping once. It's that you practiced being someone who skips.
Now, that doesn't mean you need to be perfect. Everyone falls off from time to time. But it is good to have a plan for getting back on track quickly. And try to find a small way to practice being the type of person you want to be today."
- James Clear
"You can take things seriously without taking them personally.
Our tendency is to turn any criticism or complaint into a personal attack. We reply to it, defend against it, build a counter-argument, lose sleep over it.
You don't have to eat everything that is served to you. You can respond to criticism without digesting criticism. Take what's useful, do your best to improve, and leave the rest."
- James Clear
"With a bow and arrow, you aim before you shoot. But in most areas of life, aiming is something you can do throughout the process.
You can always adjust: your career path, your business strategy, your relationships, your workout program, your plans for next Wednesday. It's all adjustable along the way.
So, pick a direction and get moving. Once you start, you learn along the way and there are plenty of opportunities to refine your plan."
- James Clear
"Improvement is being better than your past self.
It doesn't have to be more complicated than that. Do not compare against others, compare against your past self.
Keep the focus internal."
- James Clear
"Exceptional people are rare. When you find someone wonderful, invest in them.
-When you find a great employee, pay them well.
-When you find a great friend, prioritize the relationship.
-When you find a great spouse, out-love them each day.
Relationships are probably the most important part of life. Take care of the great ones."
- James Clear
"It's not a race.
You are not ahead. You are not behind. You are here.
Enjoy it and make the most of it."
- James Clear
"So much of what we believe is the residue of someone else's thinking.
Pause and question things for a moment. Is this really how it has to be? Is this really what you want?"
- James Clear
"Big outcome: Do the right thing well.
Big lesson: Do the right thing poorly.
Big risk: Do the wrong thing well."
- James Clear
"Observation is a skill, and like any skill, it can be trained and honed.
Even if you're not a negative person, you may be skilled at noticing negative things. Sometimes people are good at noticing the reason things won't work out or have a tendency to fixate on the latest distressing story.
But you can train your eye toward the opportunities each day quietly presents. You can become competent at noticing your good luck: the little moments of joy, the stranger who helped, the small things that went right, the opportunity in front of you right now.
What are you competent in observing? And which types of observations seem to serve your life best?"
- James Clear
"Challenge yourself when life is easy, so you'll be ready when life is hard."
- James Clear
"An interesting phrase I overheard recently: "I work harder, but you're busier.""
- James Clear
"A good life is one in which things do not go perfectly, but you find a way to have a good day regardless."
- James Clear
"One of my hopes is to age into a better mindset.
The general trend seems to become less open minded, less resilient, less capable of handling change with ease and flexibility as the years roll by.
I hope to grow in the opposite direction. How can my mindset be better today than it was yesterday?"
- James Clear
"Perfection is expensive. The last 5 percent of quality almost always costs a disproportionate amount of time and money.
My favorite type of purchase is where you spend 80 percent of the cost, but get 95 percent of the value. The best combination of cost and quality is often one step down from perfect."
- James Clear
"Trades are always happening whether you see them or not.
-Yes to the early meeting = no to the quiet morning
-Yes to the extra project = no to the free weekend
-Yes to something that drains you = no to time that fulfills you
Saying yes to one thing is always saying no to something else. The cost of a bad yes isn't just the time it takes. It's whatever could have grown in that space instead.
The point isn't to say no to everything, but simply to recognize the difference between a good yes and a bad yes. Then, try to improve the ratio in your life."
- James Clear
"Unexpected forms of generosity:
-Being early can be a form of generosity. You wait, so they don't have to.
-Leaving something unsaid can be a form of generosity. You don't always need the last word.
-Delivering your work on time can be a form of generosity. You make life easier for everyone downstream.
-Not taking things personally can be a form of generosity. You give people the space to say things imperfectly."
- James Clear
"It's rare to find your purpose for life, so instead look for your purpose for this season.
What lights you up right now? What's a good thing to dedicate this season of your life to? Perhaps more importantly, what purpose served you well in your previous season, but you have outgrown?
Life is always changing. It's okay to pick a new North Star."
- James Clear
"You are not your grand plans. You are your daily patterns."
- James Clear
"When you need clarity, subtract."
- James Clear
"The negative examples always spread farther and faster than the positive examples. In a world this big, you'll find at least one negative example every day.
Don't let the existence of a bad example ruin your faith in the world. Good news is always quieter than bad news. Good behavior rarely stirs the pot or ignites emotion.
But no matter. We need role models all the same. Continue living the best way you know how."
- James Clear
"Learning more will increase knowledge, but only attempting more will reduce fear. The more you try it, the less you will fear it."
- James Clear
"If the path is crowded, differentiate.
If the path is empty, validate."
- James Clear
"Trust follows consistency.
The business that delivers a quality product every time earns the customer's trust.
The person in the relationship who shows up reliably — who keeps promises, who responds with steadiness — earns the trust of the other.
The pattern is the proof."
- 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."
- James Clear
"In the modern world, it is easy to feel like a passenger: reacting to notifications, responding to demands, consuming whatever you happen to drive past on your screen.
But joy is found in being the driver. It's the act of looking at the raw material of your circumstances — your time, your energy, your relationships, your skills — and seeing what you can make from it.
It is the act of creating the life you want (in big and small ways) that makes you feel alive and imbues life with extra meaning. The fact that you can hold a vision in your mind and then, however imperfectly, bend reality a few degrees in that direction."
- James Clear
"Don't ignore the problem, but keep it light. Take action with a smile. Adding tension won't solve your troubles faster.
Even when the problem is hard, it doesn't need to harden you. Unknot yourself. Body loose, head clear, and then take the first step.
Be happy in the doing."
- James Clear
"Work is endless. Exercise is endless. Parenting is endless. Same with marriage, writing, investing, creating, and more. You get to choose the parts of your life, but many of the important things in life cannot be "finished."
Do not approach an endless game with a finite mindset. The objective is not to be done, but to settle into a daily lifestyle you can sustain and that allows you to make daily progress on the areas that matter.
Embrace the fact that life is continual and look for ways to enjoy the daily practice."
- James Clear
"To simplify before you understand the details is ignorance.
To simplify after you understand the details is genius."
- James Clear
"Don't ruminate, activate.
I find it is difficult to think my way into a better mood. When I sit and stew, the problem usually grows larger in my mind.
But if I activate — even if it's unrelated to the problem at hand — my mood tends to improve. Action breaks the spell. Move your body, go outside, play an instrument, work in a different room, do something.
Movement changes your state. And when your state changes, your perspective changes. New solutions appear. You notice options that were invisible when your mind was stuck running the same loop."
- James Clear
"Somewhere, at this very moment, someone appears to be doing better than you. Their progress is faster. Perhaps their business grows more quickly or their career is advancing rapidly. Maybe dating is easy for them or their progress in the gym seems to come effortlessly. In any domain, there is always another life that shimmers more than your own.
But comparison is a poor use of energy. You were not meant to inhabit someone else's story. You have your own work to do. The goal is not to beat their life, the goal is to live your life. Keep your eyes on your own paper. Stay on the path and continue forward, even when progress feels slow."
- James Clear
"Earlier this week I read a line that stood out to me, "Your goal in life should be to reduce the amount of time it takes you to get out of a bad state."
The ability to bounce back quickly is a key skill in life.
My wife once told me, "When you're five, you can be mad for a day. When you're ten, you can be mad for an hour. By the time you're thirty, you get ten minutes—and then you have to move on."
Life is full of moments of frustration and disappointment. Growth and maturity is learning to pull yourself out of a bad state faster."
- James Clear
"My favorite type of mental toughness is not forcing one path, but being open to many paths: Whatever comes my way, I can handle it. Whatever resources I have, I can make it work. Whatever the day brings, I can thrive."
- James Clear
"When things don't go well it's easy to wonder, "Why me?" It's easy to point fingers. It's easy to wallow in frustration or defeat.
But it is also easy to ask, "What is this teaching me?"
You can't remove the frustrations from life, but you can always try to come out a little wiser on the other side."
- James Clear
"Greatness takes guts. And often, it's the courage to eliminate the things you can do fairly well so you have the capacity to do one thing exceptionally well. Have the courage to take more off your plate."
- James Clear
"In the long-run (and often in the short-run), your willpower will never beat your environment. The more disciplined your environment is, the less disciplined you need to be. Don't swim upstream."
- James Clear
"One easy way to show you care about others is to ask them questions about their life.
-What are they excited about?
-What are they working on?
-What are they hoping for?
Simply asking the question and listening thoughtfully is an act of generosity. You're giving them the gift of attention."
- James Clear
"The best type of risks to take are ones where (1) the worst outcome is manageable and (2) the best outcome is life-changing.
Think: Asking someone on a date. Or, investing an amount of money you can afford to lose into a business with high upside.
Look for opportunities where it won't kill you if it goes poorly, but you'd be blown away if it goes well."
- James Clear
" If your past achievements didn't make you meaningfully happier, don't expect your future achievements to make you happier.
Remember that thing you so badly wanted? If getting it didn't meaningfully change your long-term happiness, then you shouldn't expect the thing you want right now to change your long-term happiness either.
You are roughly as happy as you decide to be today. And some day, years from now, after you accomplish the thing you've been striving for, you'll have to decide to be happy on that day too."
- James Clear
"Stop waiting. Stop talking yourself out of it. Stop researching.
Go do it."
- James Clear
"You have to run your own race. Problems begin the moment you start comparing your results to someone who is playing under different conditions.
-The 40-year-old entrepreneur with three kids has different constraints than the single 27-year-old.
-A painter with 20 years of practice shouldn't be the benchmark for someone in year two.
-Someone caring for aging parents is not in the same position as someone with no obligations outside work.
Play your own game. Emphasize gradual progress and keep the comparison internal. Are you getting a little better today?"
- James Clear
"Earning more money increases freedom.
Spending less than you earn reduces stress."
- James Clear
"Brainstorm some answers to these questions:
- Which activity makes you the most money per minute?
- Which activity delivers the most excitement per minute?
- Which activity creates the most connection per minute?
- Which activity provides you the most laughter per minute?
And which activity is the best blend?"
- James Clear
"Each day, spend some time on two things:
1. working toward something that will pay off years from now
2. appreciating something that is happening right now"
- James Clear
"Many of the best things in life are endless.
Being in a great relationship. Staying fit and healthy. Doing work that fulfills you. Being a good parent, coach, or teacher.
Stop worrying about accomplishing these things and instead focus on building a life where you continually practice them.
The important stuff has no finish line."
- James Clear
"Your thoughts and actions belong to you just like your possessions. Every so often, it helps to declutter—donate old clothes or clear out a crowded shelf. Maybe it's time to let go of some unhelpful thoughts or outdated actions too?"
- James Clear
"Pause and try this:
Breathe in, and close your eyes.
Breathe out, and smile."
- James Clear