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Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement.

James Clear

The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game.
JAMES CLEAR

Game Goal Play Purpose Win
Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.
JAMES CLEAR

Belief Best Expand Identity Version Yourself
It’s hard to change your habits if you never change the underlying beliefs that led to your past behavior. You have a new goal and a new plan, but you haven’t changed who you are.
JAMES CLEAR

Belief Change Goal Habit Hard Planning Yourself
We imitate the habits of three groups in particular: The close. The many. The powerful.
JAMES CLEAR

Group Habit Imitation Myself Particular Powerful
When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.
JAMES CLEAR

Change Form Practice Preparation Yourself
The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone.
JAMES CLEAR

Goal Happiness Mentality Problem Yourself
Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death.
JAMES CLEAR

Born Death Discipline Man Soft
Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.
JAMES CLEAR

Action Belief Build Evidence Identity Person Transformation Type Vote Yourself
Perseverance, grit, and willpower are essential to success, but the way to improve these qualities is not by wishing you were a more disciplined person, but by creating a more disciplined environment.
JAMES CLEAR

Creation Discipline Environment Perseverance Person Success Willing
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement
JAMES CLEAR

Habit Improvement Interest
In short: genes do not determine your destiny. They determine your areas of opportunity.
JAMES CLEAR

Areas Destiny Determination Opportunity
Once your pride gets involved, you’ll fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits.
JAMES CLEAR

Fight Habit Maintain Pride Yourself
Redesign your life so the actions that matter most are also the actions that are easiest to do.
JAMES CLEAR

Action Design Easy Life Yourself
You do it because it’s who you are and it feels good to be you. The more a habit becomes part of your life, the less you need outside encouragement to follow through.
JAMES CLEAR

Encouragement Feeling Habit Need Yourself
Your culture sets your expectation for what is normal. Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself.
JAMES CLEAR

Culture Expectation Habit Normal People Surround Yourself
True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement.
JAMES CLEAR

Accomplishment End Goal Improvement Thinking True

Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement.

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Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement.

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Popular Authors

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