"You can't change your past, but you can reframe it.
Find the lesson in it. Find the opportunity in it. Pull the teachable moment out of it and share with others.
You can't choose your history, but you can choose the story you tell about it."
- James Clear
"Inspiration comes on the twenty-fifth attempt, not the first. If you want to make something excellent, don't wait for a brilliant idea to strike. Create twenty-five of what you need and one will be great. Inspiration reveals itself after you get the average ideas out of the way, not before you take the first step."
- James Clear
"Two years, not two months.
The visible progress you're hoping for usually comes slower than you'd like. Even with consistent effort it can take a long time before progress feels significant. It might be a year of writing and editing before the book really starts to come together. You may need two years of recovery from a major injury before you notice just how far you've come. It may take two years of yoga before you realize how flexible you have become.
Take a deep breath, stop worrying about immediate results, and settle into a nice routine."
- James Clear
"Opportunities are grains of sand. They slide right past drooping fingers, but an active palm can gather whatever is within reach and shape it into a little castle. It is the act of engaging with the material that gives it shape."
- James Clear
"The rules:
(1) know precisely what you want,
(2) determine the cost of what it will take to get it,
(3) don't bargain over the price."
- James Clear
"The secret of creative work is to make a lot and publish a little.
Don't underestimate the power of giving yourself permission to create junk. Most of what you create will be mediocre or bad.
But that's okay. You only have to show people the good stuff. Make 100 things, discard 90, and share the 10 best. Create, create, create. Edit, edit, edit."
- James Clear
"It's easy to assume that getting rich in money will also mean you are rich in time, but it is often the case that when you earn more money, you end up with less time and more responsibilities.
Being rich is nice, but what you really want to optimize for is (1) an income that exceeds your spending by a healthy margin and (2) a lifestyle that is free from rushing."
- James Clear
"You can carve out a very good career simply by being the most reliable person on the team. You would not think that always showing up on time, hitting every deadline, and responding quickly and professionally to all communication would be such a differentiator, but these traits are always in short supply."
- James Clear
"Dreams are fun when they are distant. The imagination loves to play with possibilities when there is no risk of failure.
But when you find yourself on the verge of action, you pause. You can feel the uncertainty of what lies ahead. Thoughts swirl. Maybe this isn't the right time? Failure is possible now.
In that moment—in that short pause that arises when you stand face to face with your dream—is the entirety of life. What you do in that pause is the crucible that forges you. It is the dividing line between being the type of person who thinks about it or the type of person who goes for it.
When I really think about it, I want that moment to be my legacy. Not that I won or lost. Not that I looked good or looked like a fool. But that when I had something I really wanted to do, I went for it."
- James Clear
"Plant the seeds of greatness in your mind."
- James Clear
"The strategy required to find a great opportunity (lots of saying yes and exploring widely) is different from the strategy required to make the most of a great opportunity (lots of saying no and remaining focused)."
- James Clear
"To experience time travel, read.
To achieve immortality, write."
- James Clear
"The problem with smart people is they can come up with a good reason for not doing anything. They are smart enough to find the cracks, to foresee the challenges, and to talk themselves out of the idea.
They are experts at justifying their lack of courage or lack of action with an intelligent excuse. But there will always be reasons to not do something, and this is particularly true of anything worth doing. We value those moments in which we overcame challenge, not those in which we avoided it. Ultimately, action is a choice. The choice to emphasize the reasons for doing it despite the reasons you have for avoiding it."
- James Clear
"If you'd like to get better at saying no, try this:
Keep a list of things you say no to. Whenever you ignore a distraction or turn down an opportunity, add it to the list. As the list grows, you begin to feel a sense of accomplishment for your ability to say no and remain focused on what matters."
- James Clear
"Boredom is a filter. Common ideas come before it. Uncommon ideas come after it. Sit with a project long enough to get bored with it, then sit a little more. The most useful insights bubble up after you get bored."
- James Clear
"The bad workouts are the most important ones. It's easy to train when you feel good, but it's crucial to show up when you don't feel like it—even if you do less than you hope.
Going to the gym for 15 minutes might not improve your performance, but it reaffirms your identity. It's not always about what happens during the workout. It's about becoming the type of person who doesn't miss workouts."
- James Clear
"In many cases, what you hope to learn by reading books or listening to podcasts can only be learned by attempting what you fear. Some knowledge is only revealed through action."
- James Clear
"Some projects benefit from early action. If you're writing a book, it's easy to spend a lot of time brainstorming titles and dreaming up an outline, but it's better to simply write. The book discovers itself as you go. Yes, you'll need to go back and organize things, but this is easier to do once you have material. The key is to act first and then organize your thinking.
Other projects benefit from early planning. The best way to build a skyscraper is to plan carefully. If you start placing steel beams on day one, you're guaranteed to run into problems. It is harder to make changes once you've begun. You'll need to tear it down and start over again. The key is to organize your thinking and then act.
Do you need early action or early planning?"
- James Clear
"In my early 20s, I wrote a list of ambitious things I wanted to do in life. Go bungee jumping. Create a movie. Start a business. That sort of thing. I did a few of them, but not most.
Looking back, however, that list was incredibly valuable because it taught me the usefulness of chasing bold ideas—even if they never materialize. The dreams that didn't happen changed shape and led me down other interesting paths.
The important thing isn't to achieve all your dreams, but to keep dreaming. Your desires change as you learn and grow. Old dreams will spawn new dreams. And eventually, one of these newer, more refined visions will find their moment and become reality."
- James Clear
"One of the great mistakes in life is suffering for years because you didn't want to feel foolish for five minutes.
-You don't want to apologize, so you let a relationship deteriorate.
-You're scared of the sting of rejection, so you don't ask for what you want.
-You fear people will say your idea is dumb, so you never start the business.
Nobody likes feeling foolish, but the feeling fades quickly. The willingness to endure five minutes of discomfort turns out to be a meaningful dividing line in life."
- James Clear
"The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning."
- James Clear
"Carry an ambitious question with you each day and keep looking for answers."
- James Clear
"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 have to want the hidden costs."
- James Clear
"Surround yourself with people who have the same goals as you. Rise together."
- James Clear
"You can handle whatever you face."
- James Clear
"One of life's counterintuitive lessons is that you will often gain energy by spending a little bit of energy.
When you feel lethargic and like you want to lay around all day, it is usually the case that getting up and moving will make you feel better than simply sitting around. Getting outside for 10 minutes or doing the first set of a workout or simply stretching on the floor for a moment — anything to get your body moving — will often leave you feeling more energized.
If you want to get your day going, then get your body going. It's harder for the mind to be sluggish when the body is moving."
- James Clear
"Mastery requires lots of practice. But the more you practice something, the more boring and routine it becomes.
Thus, an essential component of mastery is the ability to maintain your enthusiasm. The master continues to find the fundamentals interesting."
- James Clear
"Move toward the next thing, not away from the last thing.
Same direction. Completely different energy."
- James Clear
"If you're having trouble sticking to a new habit, try a smaller version until it becomes automatic. Do less than you're capable of, but do it more consistently than you have before."
- James Clear
"Clarity isn't about knowing what you want to do with your life, it's about knowing what you want to do this week.
You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step."
- James Clear
"Whether you are an adult or child, your first attempts will often seem unimportant or foolish.
The open mic night at a nearly empty bar.
The early blog posts that get ignored.
The dance recital on a little stage.
Early attempts are easy to dismiss because they don't seem to amount to much. But you have to do the low stakes stuff to prepare for the high stakes stuff. They are the building blocks of confidence, and that's an enormous thing."
- James Clear
"You'll probably surprise yourself with what you can accomplish—if you're focused on one thing.
You'll probably frustrate yourself with what you fail to accomplish—if you're doing 5 or 7 or 10 things.
Nobody performs well when stretched in a half dozen directions."
- James Clear
"You can ignore your weaknesses, but you can't expect them to not impact you. The weakness of the coach shapes the players. The weakness of the teacher influences the students. The weakness of the parent molds the child."
- James Clear
"Don't wait to start writing until you have something to say. Start writing so you can find out what you have to say.
You first idea is rarely your best idea. It can take a lot of reps before you discover something worth keeping."
- James Clear
"You will never find one answer to what makes you happy. There are many answers, and they change based on your current state.
People need to relax, but if all you do is sit on the beach, it gets old. People find meaning in work, but if all you do is work, it gets exhausting. People benefit from exercise, but if all you do is exercise, it gets unhealthy.
Happiness will always be fleeting because your needs change over time. The question is: what do you need right now?"
- James Clear
"Reputation is the echo of your actions."
- James Clear
"People can help you in many ways throughout life, but there are two things nobody can give you: curiosity and drive. They must be self-supplied.
If you are not interested and curious, all the information in the world can be at your fingertips, but it will be relatively useless. If you are not motivated and driven, whatever connections or opportunities are available to you will be rendered inert.
Now, you won't feel curious and driven about every area of life, and that's fine. But it really pays to find something that lights you up. This is one of the primary quests of life: to find the thing that ignites your curiosity and drive.
There are many recipes for success. There is no single way to win. But nearly all recipes include two ingredients: curiosity and drive."
- James Clear
"The recipe for finding opportunities is:
1. Be pleasant
2. Ask questions
3. Engage daily
It's hard for a warm and pleasant person who is asking a lot of questions and engaging in their industry daily to not come across interesting opportunities. "
- James Clear
"Wisdom is the echo of experience."
- James Clear
"You don't need to worry about progressing slowly. You need to worry about climbing the wrong mountain."
- James Clear
"Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions, and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft.
Top performers find ways to spend as much time as possible on what matters and as little time as possible on what doesn't. It is not someone else's responsibility to create the conditions for success.
You have to actively work to eliminate the things that don't matter from your workload. If you haven't figured out how to do that, you haven't mastered your craft."
- James Clear
"If you feel resistance before you begin, it's usually procrastination and you need to get started.
If you feel resistance after you begin, it's usually feedback and you need to make adjustments."
- James Clear
"Focus is how you knit the hours of the day together. With focus, the day becomes a beautiful tapestry. Without focus, you end up holding a bundle of loose string."
- James Clear
"Holding onto anger and resentment is like scuba diving with an anchor. As long as you're clinging to it, you're bound to the seabed, limited in movement, unable to appreciate the coral reefs and the colorful fish that dart in and out of view.
Forgiveness is letting go of the anchor. It isn't about declaring what was done to you is okay, but about unburdening yourself so you can swim freely. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. It's the gift of letting go of the anchors you've been carrying."
- James Clear
"My friend, who sometimes shares his writing with me, once said my feedback always falls into three categories:
1. Make it shorter.
2. Make it more appealing.
3. How could it apply to more people?"
- James Clear
"Some people get addicted to chain-smoking their problems. They spend all day going from sorrow to sorrow. It doesn't have to be that way. You can live each day going from joy to joy—like a sunflower that turns to face the sun as it moves across the sky. It's not about having a problem-free life, but about focusing on the light. Sunflowers still have shadows, but they are always behind them."
- James Clear
"The beginner chases the right answers.
The master chases the right questions."
- James Clear
"The reason people get good ideas in the shower is because it's the only time during the day when most people are away from screens long enough to think clearly. The lesson is not to take more showers, but rather to make more time to think."
- James Clear
"In theory, consistency is about being disciplined, determined, and unwavering.
In practice, consistency is about being adaptable. Don't have much time? Scale it down. Don't have much energy? Do the easy version. Find different ways to show up depending on the circumstances. Let your habits change shape to meet the demands of the day.
Adaptability is the way of consistency."
- James Clear
"If you want to avoid criticism, create less.
If you want to avoid irrelevance, create more."
- James Clear