“We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them.”

A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement

When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.

You need to know who you want to be.

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.

The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone.

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.

In short: genes do not determine your destiny. They determine your areas of opportunity.

We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits

You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.

Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.

Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity, so you can allocate your attention to other tasks.

The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do.

Your culture sets your expectation for what is normal. Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself.

Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.

Some people spend their entire lives waiting for the time to be right to make an improvement.