"Focus on your likes, not your wants.
-You may not want to exercise, but you like how it makes you feel.
-You may not want to write, but you like the feeling of accomplishment.
-You may not want to wake up early, but you like the calm beauty of morning.
Wanting is the desire you feel before doing something. Liking is the satisfaction you feel after doing something. Let your likes guide you."
- James Clear
"There are many ways to win in business, but there is one surefire way to lose: run out of money. Entrepreneurship is a game of survival."
- James Clear
"There are all kinds of cheat codes lying around, but they usually look boring. People will routinely ignore things that already work for the hope of a slightly easier path. The cheat code is the work you're avoiding."
- 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
"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
"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
"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
"I have had periods in my career when I have been sprinting full speed and accomplished a great deal and I have had seasons when I have been fairly lazy and coasted on my previous effort.
What I have learned is that I am the major obstruction to getting results. Whether external conditions are favorable or unfavorable makes less difference than whether I am fully engaged and consistent. Even in competitive fields, the competition is primarily within yourself."
- James Clear
"Do bold things with a pleasant and friendly demeanor."
- James Clear
"Communication is about what is received, not what is intended. If there is a gap between what you are saying and what they are hearing, you have to find a new way to say it."
- 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
"The first minute of action is worth more than a year of perfect planning."
- James Clear
"I'm not the best writer, but it is a strength. I might be a 90th percentile writer. And I'm not the best marketer, but it is a strength.
Again, maybe 90th percentile? I'm better than most, but if you pass 100 people on the street it won't be hard to find some people better than me.
What I have gradually learned is that it is not your strengths, but your combination of strengths that sets you apart. It is the fact that writing and marketing are mutually reinforcing—and that I enjoy both—that leads to great results.
How can you combine your strength? That's something I would encourage everyone to think about. You will find talented people in every area of life. It's the combinations that are rare."
- James Clear
"Make a mistake? Release the guilt, remember the lesson."
- James Clear
"Surround yourself with people who have the same goals as you. Rise together."
- James Clear
"Productivity is most important for things you don't want to be doing. Most people want to increase productivity so they can spend less time on the task.
But before you worry about being more productive, think about being more selective. Rather than focusing on increasing productivity, it may be worth asking, "What would I be delighted to spend time on, even if it went slowly?"
Direct your energy toward figuring out how to start what you want to do rather than thinking about how to shorten what you don't want to do."
- James Clear
"You can handle whatever you face."
- James Clear
"Do not mistake a confident explanation for an accurate prediction.
An engineer can predict how much weight a steel bridge will hold and you can be quite sure reality will match their calculation. That's an accurate prediction.
Meanwhile, strongly held opinions about what will happen in markets or sports or politics have little predictive power. A lot of what you hear can be summarized as: confident, but inaccurate."
- 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
"There are at least 4 types of wealth:
1. Financial wealth (money)
2. Social wealth (status)
3. Time wealth (freedom)
4. Physical wealth (health)
Be wary of jobs that lure you in with 1 and 2, but rob you of 3 and 4."
- James Clear
"A simple rule that makes life easier:
Always strive to give value before you ask for value."
- James Clear
"Three ways to learn something new:
1. Reflect on what you have already tried.
2. Attempt something you have not tried.
3. Read about what someone else has tried."
- James Clear
"You can cold email nearly anyone, but nearly everyone overlooks how powerful it can be.
Sending one email each week that feels like a stretch can change your life. Will you get turned down? Sure, most of the time. But you only need one to pay off for something amazing to happen.
Take your time, write a thoughtful message, and muster the courage to press Send."
- 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
"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
"My personal rule is that it's a good idea to be patient as long as I'm in the mix.
If I'm taking action, putting in my reps, and trying things out, then I should remain patient and see what opportunities arise. But if I'm not taking action consistently, then I'm not practicing patience. I'm just waiting."
- 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
"Early feedback is usually better than late criticism.
Delaying the conversation or stringing someone along with indirect feedback won't make them feel better once the real issue is finally addressed.
Nobody likes being turned down, but everyone appreciates clarity."
- 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
"Anytime in my life when I have managed to go from a vision to a reality, the vision has not been a plan it has been a practice.
In other words, what matters is not having a vision, but rather making a habit of returning to and revising the vision. For the big things in my life, I'm always coming back to them week after week—sometimes day after day. As new information arrives, the vision gets updated. The dream becomes more crystallized over time. It's a habit of thinking about where you want to go with an ever-increasing degree of clarity.
You do not need a vision, you need the practice of envisioning."
- 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
"I split problems into two groups: muddy puddles and leaky ceilings.
Some problems are like muddy puddles. The way to clear a muddy puddle is to leave it alone. The more you mess with it, the muddier it becomes. Many of the problems I dream up when I'm overthinking or worrying or ruminating fall into this category. Is life really falling apart or am I just in a sour mood? Is this as hard as I'm making it or do I just need to go workout? Drink some water. Go for a walk. Get some sleep. Go do something else and give the puddle time to turn clear.
Other problems are like a leaky ceiling. Ignore a small leak and it will always widen. Relationship tension that goes unaddressed. Overspending that becomes a habit. One missed workout drifting into months of inactivity. Some problems multiply when left unattended. You need to intervene now.
Are you dealing with a leak or a puddle?"
- 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
"How to clarify a concept you can't articulate:
1. Change mediums. Draw it. Photograph it. Sing it.
2. Change levels. Explain what is one level up (bigger picture) or one level down (finer details).
3. Change fields. What would this concept look like in different fields?"
- James Clear
"Flexibility alone is not a great strategy, but the lack of it can ruin one."
- James Clear
"The beginner chases the right answers.
The master chases the right questions."
- James Clear
"The simplest way to clarify your thinking is to write a full page about whatever you are dealing with and then delete everything except the 1-2 sentences that explain it best."
- James Clear
"I can't control the other person's behavior, but I can control my response. Their actions may be rude or unacceptable, but I still want my response to be measured and thoughtful. Even if they aren't doing what is right, I still want to make sure I'm doing what is right."
- 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
"Don't sacrifice peace of mind for a piece of luxury."
- James Clear
"Do things for your own satisfaction. Consider praise from others to be a bonus. If you don't work for their validation in the first place, you won't need it to feel satisfied once it's done."
- James Clear
"It is not worth it to be greedy over a single transaction. Even if you're not going to work with the person again. Even if you think word won't get out. Even if you think this is your one shot to make it. Reputation follows you everywhere."
- James Clear
"If you want a simple formula for having a good day, then get a workout done and do your most important task before lunch. Knock out those two things by noon and you really feel like you're ahead of the day."
- James Clear
"Who knows you is more important than who you know. Build a brand."
- James Clear
"Always ask, but never expect.
Always ask for what you want. Many people are happy to help—if the request is direct and specific. In a surprising number of cases, something remarkable is possible if you have the courage to ask.
Never expect people to say yes. Everyone is busy and balancing multiple priorities. Your request is not their responsibility. When you're told no, move on lightly and freely. The world is full of opportunity."
- James Clear