James Clear Quotes Page 3

“Mastery is the process of continuing to solve the same problem in new ways rather than stopping at an acceptable solution.”

“Most goals are borrowed.
Borrowed from friends and family.
Borrowed from coworkers and peers.
Borrowed from society.”

“Most people need consistency more than they need intensity.

Intensity:
-run a marathon
-write a book in 30 days
-silent meditation retreat

Consistency:
-don't miss a workout for 2 years
-write every week
-daily silence

Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress.”

“Most topics are not worth having an opinion about.”

“My dad just told me he starts each morning by reminding himself of three things:

1) I am free.
2) I don't have to do anything.
3) I have time and space.

I thought it was brilliant. We all have responsibilities, but entering the day in this way reduces stress and overwhelm.”

“New goals don't deliver new results. New lifestyles do.

And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome.

For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results.”

“No 'ifs' i.e. if this or if that, but 'hows'.

How can I be better?
How can it be done?
How can I get going?
How can I accomplish?

This is the positive thinking principle.”

“Not being busy is a competitive advantage.

Most people are so strapped for time they can't take advantage of lucky opportunities or quickly resolve unexpected problems.

The ideal combination is proactive and flexible. Protect your free time, but maintain a bias toward action.”

“Objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Find a way to get started in less than two minutes.”

“One mode of failure is continually overlooking simple ideas while searching for a better way.

One mode of success is continually practicing simple ideas while searching for a better way.”

“One of the best strategies for learning something quickly: corner a nerd. Find someone who totally geeks out about that topic and ask them every question you can think of.”

“One of the greatest forms of freedom comes from knowing what is important to you. It grants you the freedom to ignore everything else.”

“Optimists win in the long-run because their miscalculation of how long it will take or how likely it is to succeed motivates them to give it a try.

If you knew how hard it would be and how long it would take in the beginning then you might not try in the first place.”

“Prediction depends on events outside your control.

Creation depends on events within your control.

Don’t guess about the future. Shape it.”

“Progress requires unlearing.”

“Pros are just amateurs who learned from their mistakes.”

“Real wealth is not about money.

Real wealth is:
- not having to go to meetings
- not having to spend time with jerks
- not being locked into status games
- not feeling like you have to say “yes”
- not worrying about others claiming your time and energy

Real wealth is about freedom.”

“Self-interest is the underlying motive behind all human behavior.

Even a seemingly selfless action like donating anonymously is in your self-interest because it reinforces your belief that you are a generous person.”

“Showing up and working hard will always be the cost of entry. But when everyone else also works hard, your strategy is what makes the difference.”

“Simple question to find work you love: What do you enjoy refining?

Many people get excited to do something once, but ultimately get bored.

It’s the areas you can’t help yourself from rethinking, revising, reorganizing, and optimizing where you have a long-term advantage.”

“Someone else living a good life does not prevent you from living a good life. There are many ways to win and plenty of space.”

“Step 1: Life is a series of games. Carefully choose which games you want to play.

Step 2: Each game has a set of rules. Develop a deep understanding of them.

Step 3: Master a niche within the rules. Play to your strengths.

Step 4: Step outside the rules. Create your own game.”

“Strangely, life gets harder when you try to make it easy.

Exercising might be hard, but never moving makes life harder.

Uncomfortable conversations are hard, but avoiding every conflict is harder.

Mastering your craft is hard, but having no skills is harder.

Easy has a cost.”

“Study as if you know nothing.
Work as if you can solve anything.”

“Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.
Goals are for people who care about winning once.”

“The 3-Step Cycle of Developing an Extraordinary Mind

1) Explore widely. Follow many people, listen to tons of podcasts, read more books.

2) Clean up your information feed. Subscribe to fewer newsletters, follow fewer people, re-read great books. All signal, no noise.

3) Repeat”

“The advice to “focus on the process, not the outcome” is only partially correct. Life is certainly not about any single outcome, but good processes are those that increase your winning percentage. If your outcomes aren’t improving, the process needs to change.”

“The bad days are more important than the good days.

If you...

- write
- exercise
- meditate
- cook
- whatever

... when you don’t feel like it, then you maintain the habit.

And if you maintain the habit, then all you need is time.”

“The best way to create wealth is to create or own assets that (1) earn money while you sleep and (2) don't require your attention while you are awake.”

“The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change:

What gets rewarded, gets repeated. What gets punished, gets avoided.

Don’t reward behavior you don’t want to see repeated.”