James Clear's Blog, page 14

Reducing Stress: What Scientists Learned From the Children Who Survived a Famine During the Deadliest War in History

There was nothing left to eat.

The butter had disappeared in October. By November, adult food rations had been cut to 1000 calories per day. A few months later, in the dead of winter, rations dropped to 500 calories per day. Food stocks throughout the country were empty. If you were lucky enough to have food ration coupons, you could get 100 grams of cheese every two weeks. Meat was a fantasy. By April of 1945, each person was limited to 1 loaf of bread and 5 potatoes — for the entire week. [1]

It was the middle of terrible famine known as the Dutch Hunger Winter. World War II was nearing an end and Allied forces were able to push the German army out of the southern half of the Netherlands. As the Nazi’s retreated, however, they destroyed docks and bridges, flooded the farm lands, and set up blockades in the northern half of the country to cut off shipments of food and fuel. What little food had been stockpiled and saved was nearly impossible to transport. Starving and without options, many people ate tulip bulbs and sugar beets.

Among those struggling to survive was a 9-year-old boy from Amsterdam named Henkie Holvast. During the worst period of the famine, Henkie was one of the many children who would carry spoons with them wherever they went “just in case.” Photographer Martinus Meijboom captured this iconic image of Henkie during the Dutch Hunger Winter. Two of Henkie’s younger siblings died during the famine. Somehow, he managed to survive.

Source: National Institute for War Documentation, Amsterdam

To make matter worse, winter had come early that year. Canals and waterways had frozen, further restricting food transport. Gas and electricity were either unavailable or inoperable because of the war. The Holvast family, like many others throughout the Netherlands, had begun burning their furniture to stay warm. By April 1945, the situation was desperate. Approximately 20,000 Dutch had died from malnutrition.

In April 1945, the Royal Air Force flew from Great Britain and coordinated a series of air drops known as Operation Manna. In total, they dropped more than 6,600 tons of food in German-occupied territory. The Dutch responded with a simple message of “MANY THANKS” written in tulips on the countryside. [2]

The famine mercifully ended the next month, May of 1945, when Allied forces regained control of the Netherlands.

The most surprising part of the famine, however, was just beginning.

The Impact of Stress

As far as famines go, the Dutch Hunger Winter was remarkably unique. Most famines occur in areas that suffer from overpopulation, severe crop failure, or repeated periods of political instability. The Netherlands experienced none of these influences. Once the war ended and Allied troops arrived, the Dutch quickly recovered to a normal diet.

From a scientific perspective the Dutch survivors were perfect for study. The population consisted of a well-defined group of people who experienced one period of malnutrition at exactly the same time.

In the 1990s, Dr. Tessa Roseboom, a medical faculty member from the University of Amsterdam, began diving into the data about the children conceived and born during the Dutch Hunger Winter. Thanks to meticulous record keeping by the Dutch, Roseboom was able to track thousands of the children throughout their lives. What she discovered was remarkable. [3]

According to Roseboom’s research, children who were conceived during the Dutch Hunger Winter have:

Higher risk of cardiovascular disease as an adult (up to 2x greater risk)
Higher rates of obesity throughout life
Increased risk of high blood pressure as an adult
Higher rates of hospitalization as an adult (i.e. increased illness)
Lower likelihood of being employed [4]

In other words, the children who were still in their mother’s womb during that brutal winter have poorer health six decades later. These studies were groundbreaking because they revealed just how deeply stress can burrow into our lives. Not only do the effects of stress and malnutrition impact us at the time they occur, they can have lingering effects on ourselves and our children for decades to come.

Stress In Our Lives

The studies on the Dutch Hunger Winter offer a clear and dramatic look at how stress changes our bodies and stays with us throughout our lives. While we don’t have to live in such extreme situations (hopefully), we do deal with stress on a day-to-day basis.

Because this is something we deal with everyday, our best defense against the effects of stress is to build daily habits that counteract those effects.

In other words, reducing stress isn’t something that only those in dire circumstances need to consider. It is something we all need to handle. And the research above makes it clear: reducing stress is something you need to do not only for yourself, but also for your children and grandchildren as well.

Now for the million dollar question: What can we do to reduce stress in our lives?

7 Scientifically Proven Ways to Reduce Stress

Here are 7 scientifically proven ways to reduce stress in your life.

Exercise. I can’t tell you how many times exercise has saved my sanity. If I didn’t lift weights consistently, I wouldn’t have a business. The stress of entrepreneurship would have run me into the ground by now. There are many studies linking exercise to reduced stress levels. My method of choice is strength training or sprinting, but all types of exercise are useful. (Yoga, for example.)

Meditation / Deep breathing. Yes, meditation can reduce stress. [5-7] That’s probably not a surprise. If you’re like me, then you know meditation is good for you, but you just never find a way to fit it in. Here’s a tip I recently got from a monk: start your meditation habit by meditating for 1 minute. Do that for a month. Then increase to 2 minutes and do that for a month. And so on, until you get to the level you desire. Talk about slow gains. I love it!

Music. Listening to music can actually trigger the release of stress-reducing chemicals in the body, which is pretty awesome. [8,9] (Want more? I wrote a previous article on the health benefits of music.)

Sleep. If you are feeling stressed, a nap or a solid 8 or 9 hours of sleep can really help. In some cases, sleep is not only the solution, but actually the problem. Sleep deprivation can be brutal on your health. Most people aren’t getting enough sleep each night and sleep debt is a cumulative problem. The stress of too little sleep can add up and the only real solution is to give yourself the chance to rest. Make time to rest and rejuvenate now or make time to be sick and injured later.

Laughter. Everything is better when you laugh, including your stress levels. [10-12]

Stand up straight. Surprisingly, research from Harvard has revealed that your body language can impact the amount of testosterone and cortisol in your bloodstream. I wrote about the research here, but this TED Talk is a fantastic summary as well.

Art. I have written about the health benefits of art previously and one of them is stress reduction. Don’t confuse creating art with being artistic. What we are really talking about here is creating something rather than sitting around and passively consuming. Worrying about all of the things on your to-do list is passive and naturally provides a feeling of being out of control. Creating something—whether that means writing in a journal, taking a photo, crafting a ceramic pot, and flashing your scrapbooking skills—naturally makes you feel in control of something and gives you a healthy outlet for your energy.

Where to Go From Here

Thankfully, most of us will never have to live through a period of intense stress like the Dutch Hunger Winter. That said, stress is still part of our daily lives and it is perhaps the greatest burden to our long-term health. Stress can decrease your heart health. It can increase the rate at which you age. It can disrupt your immune system.

The best path forward is to build stress-reducing habits into our lives (like the ones listed above), so that we can curtail the long-term impact that it has on us and our loved ones.

Sources

Technically, rations were measured exactly as 400 grams of bread and 1 kilogram of potatoes. This is approximately 1 loaf of bread and 5 large potatoes.
After much searching, I can’t find the original source for the “Many Thanks” photo. If you know who took it, please share and I will happily cite them.
Effects of Prenatal Exposure to the Dutch Famine on Adult Disease in Later Life: An Overview by Tessa J. Roseboom, Jan H.P. van der Meulen, Anita C.J. Ravelli, Clive Osmond, David J.P. Barker, Otto P. Bleker.
Long-Run Effects on Gestation During the Dutch Hunger Winter Famine on Labor Market and Hospitalization Outcomes by Robert S. Scholte, Gerard J. van den Berg, and Maarten Lindeboom
Mindfulness-based stress reduction by Marchand
A randomized, controlled trial of meditation for work stress, anxiety and depressed mood in full-time workers by Manocha, Black, Sarris, and Stough
Effects of mental relaxation and slow breathing in essential hypertension by Kaushik, Kaushik, Mahajan, and Rajesh
From music-beat to heart-beat: a journey in the complex interactions between music, brain and heart by Cervellin and Lippi
Emotional foundations of music as a non-pharmacological pain management tool in modern medicine by Bernatzky, Presch, Anderson, and Panksepp
Effects of laughter therapy on postpartum fatigue and stress responses of postpartum women by Shin, Ryu, and Song
A case of laughter therapy that helped improve advanced gastric cancer by Noji and Takayanagi
Laughter and depression: hypothesis of pathogenic and therapeutic correlation by Fonzi, Matteucci, and Bersani

Never Check Email Before Noon (And Other Thoughts on Doing Your Best Work)

Dana Vollmer did not have an easy road to the Olympics.

Vollmer is an olympic swimmer, but it wasn’t just the grueling practice schedule that made her journey to the top difficult. At the age of 15, Vollmer discovered that she had a heart disorder known as long QT syndrome. She had heart surgery later that year, but the operation didn’t eliminate the risk of heart failure. (Even today, her mother watches swim meets from the stands with a defibrillator between her feet.)

When Vollmer finally qualified for the Women’s 100m butterfly at the 2012 Olympics in London, it was her heart that got all of the attention. Little did she know that her head was about to be the problem.

Avoiding Drag

As soon as Vollmer entered the pool in the 100m Final, her swim cap came off.

Professional swimmers wear latex swim caps that tightly cover their head to reduce drag in the water. Nearly every swimmer wears them, but swim caps are especially important for female swimmers. If a female swimmer loses her swim cap and her hair flows out into the water, then it can significantly increase the drag that she must swim against during the race. In a highly competitive race like an olympic final, this additional drag force can be the difference between winning and losing. [1]

This is why nearly all professional swimmers wear not just one, but two swim caps. That’s exactly what Vollmer did. Although her top swim cap flipped off, her second cap stayed in place allowing her to not only avoid disaster, but also win the gold medal and set a new world record in the process. [2]

In the top image, taken just before the race began, you can see that Vollmer’s top swim cap is covering the strap of her goggles. In the bottom image, taken immediately after the race is over, the strap of her goggles is now on top of her bottom swim cap.

Now, let’s get to the real fun. What does wearing swim caps have to do with living a better life?

Physical Drag vs. Mental Drag

Imagine that your brain is a computer. At the beginning of the day, your brain powers up and you have 100 percent of your computer memory available to use on your life. The only problem is that every time you add a task to your to-do list, a little bit of your computer memory goes toward that task.

If you open your email in the morning and see three messages that you need to respond to later on, there goes three percent of your computer memory. If you have to remember to take your child to practice after school or pick up the dry cleaning or go to the grocery store, there goes a little bit more memory. The more tasks that are left unfinished, the more memory gets used up remembering, thinking, worrying, and planning for those tasks.

Here’s the punchline: If your brain is constantly filled with all of these secondary tasks, how much memory do you have left over to do meaningful work? 70 percent? 50 percent? Even less?

Trying to do your best work with a distracted brain is like trying to swim for a gold medal without a swim cap. Divided attention is like a thick head of hair creating a constant drag in your mental waters. Split your attention in too many directions and you’ll be paralyzed.

Swimmers realize that if they want to perform at their best, they need to get out of their own way. They need to cover the object that creates drag—their hair—for the race. Does this mean that their hair is bad? No, of course not. Similarly, there is nothing “bad” about your daily to-do list, handling your family responsibilities, or taking care of the emergencies that pop up throughout life. It’s just that when you want to perform at your best, you have to make a deliberate choice to tuck those things away for a few moments.

How can we expect to do our best work if we are constantly fighting mental drag?

How to Reduce the Drag Forces That Hold You Back

I don’t consider myself to be an expert in peak performance. I’m working through these issues just like you are. We’re on this journey together. But I have taken a few steps to give myself a better chance of hitting the bullseye in my own work, and I’m happy to share those with you…

Manage your energy, not your time. I have noticed that my creative energy is highest in the morning. That’s when I’m fresh. That’s when I do my best writing. That’s when I make the best strategic decisions about my business. So, what do I do? I schedule creative tasks for the morning. All other business tasks are taken care of in the afternoon. This includes doing interviews, responding to emails, phone calls and Skype chats, data analysis and number crunching. Nearly every productivity strategy obsesses over managing your time better, but time is useless if you don’t have the energy you need to complete the task you are working on.

Never check email before noon. If I don’t check email at the beginning of the day, then I am able to spend the morning pursuing my own agenda rather than reacting to everybody else’s agenda. That’s a huge win because I’m not wasting mental energy thinking about all the messages in my inbox. I realize that waiting until the afternoon isn’t feasible for many people, but I’d like to offer a challenge. Can you wait until 10AM? What about 9AM? 8:30AM? Don’t get wrapped up in the exact time frame. The point of this strategy is to allow yourself some time during your morning where you can work on what is most important to you without letting the rest of the world dictate your mental state.

Leave your phone in another room. I usually don’t see my phone for the first few hours of the day. It is much easier to do focused work when you don’t have any text messages, phone calls, or alerts interrupting your focus.

Work in full screen mode. Nearly every application on my computer is in full screen mode. If I’m reading an article on the web, my browser takes up the whole screen. If I’m writing in Evernote, I’m working in full screen mode. If I’m editing a picture in Photoshop, it is the only thing I can see. I have set up my desktop so that the menu bar disappears automatically. When I am working, I can’t see the time, the icons of other applications, or any other distractions on the screen. It’s funny how big of a difference this makes. If you can see an icon on your screen, then you will be reminded to click on it occasionally. However, if you remove the visual cue then the urge to be distracted subsides in a few minutes.

Remove all tasks that could distract from early morning focus. I love doing the most important thing first each day because the urgencies of the day have not crept in yet. I have gone a little far in this regard in that I have even pushed my first meal off until about noon each day. I have been intermittent fasting for three years now (here are some lessons learned), which means that I typically eat most of my meals between 12PM and 8PM. The result is that I get some additional time in the morning to do focused work rather than cook breakfast.

Creative Work First

The single most important change you can make in your working habits is to switch to creative work first, reactive work second. This means blocking off a large chunk of time every day for creative work on your own priorities, with the phone and e-mail off.

–Mark McGuinness, Manage Your Day-to-Day

The best way to avoid mental drag is to give yourself the time and space to do important work before distractions can creep into your day.

Creating meaningful work is hard, even in optimal circumstances. Put on a swim cap and tuck your distractions away for a few moments. Give yourself the opportunity to perform at your best.

Sources

Another reason why swimmers wear two caps: “A common (though not universal) way to put all your headgear on is to put one swim cap on, then put your goggles on, then cover the goggle strap with another swim cap. Not only does it reduce drag on the goggle strap (which is minor), it helps keep your goggles in one place (MUCH more important). I was on a swim team when I was much younger, and I lost count of how many times the shock of entering the water ripped my goggles right off my eyes. You still have to swim if it happens, but it becomes a HUGE distraction that can take you right out of the race. At your average junior swim meet, losing a race to your goggles is embarassing but not devastating. At the Olympics, it would be a heartbreaker.” (Source)
If you’re curious, you can watch the race here. It’s always nice to see an American win a gold medal.

Thanks to Merlin Mann for sparking the idea about your brain as a computer, to Shane Parrish for triggering the idea that creative work should come first, and to Ian C., a reader in our community, for prompting the swimming metaphor.

5 Common Mistakes That Cause New Habits to Fail (and What to Do About Them)

Welcome to 2015. It’s New Year’s Resolution time.

Depending on where you get your numbers, somewhere between 81 percent and 92 percent of New Years Resolutions fail. [1]

Translation: At least 8 times out of 10, you are more likely to fall back into your old habits and patterns than you are to stick with a new behavior.

Behavior change is hard. No doubt about it.

Why is that? What are the biggest reasons new habits fail to stick? And what can we do to make positive changes easier?

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but after two years of researching and writing about the science of behavior change, let me share the most practical insights I’ve learned so far.

PROBLEM 1: Trying to Change Everything at Once

SOLUTION: Pick one thing and do it well.

The general consensus among behavior change researchers is that you should focus on changing a very small number of habits at the same time.

The highest number you’ll find is changing three habits at once and that suggestion comes from BJ Fogg at Stanford University. Let’s be clear: Dr. Fogg is talking about incredibly tiny habits.

How tiny? Suggested habits include flossing one tooth, doing one pushup per day, or saying “It’s going to be a great day” when you get out of bed in the morning. So, even if you keep your new habits that small, you should work on no more than three habits at a time. [2]

Personally, I prefer to focus on building one new behavior into my life at a time. Once that habit becomes routine, then I move on to the next one. For example, I spent six months focusing on going to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Once that felt like a routine, then I moved on to my next habit, which was writing a new article every Monday and Thursday. This time, I spent eight months focusing on the new habit until it became part of my lifestyle. Next, I moved on to flossing every day. And so on. You get the idea.

BONUS SOLUTION: Pick a keystone habit.

Still struggling? When in doubt, pick something that could potentially be a keystone habit.

A keystone habit is a behavior or routine that naturally pulls the rest of your life in line. For example, weightlifting is my keystone habit. If I get to the gym, then it creates a ripple effect in other areas of my life. Not only do I get the benefits of working out, I enjoy a wide range of secondary benefits. I focus better after the workout. I tend to eat better when I’m working out consistently. I sleep better at night and wake up with more energy in the morning.

Notice that I didn’t try to build better habits for my focus, my nutrition, my sleep, or my energy. I just did my keystone habit and those other areas were improved as well. This is why keystone habits are powerful. They cascade into other areas of your life. You’ll have to figure out what your keystone habit is for you, but some popular examples include exercise, meditation, or budgeting your monthly finances.

Further reading: Keystone Habits: The Simple Way to Improve All Aspects of Your Life

PROBLEM 2: Starting With a Habit That is Too Big

SOLUTION: As Leo Babauta says, “Make it so easy you can’t say no.”

If you were to map out the motivation needed to perform a habit, you would find that for many behaviors it looks like this:

In other words, the most difficult part of a new habit is starting the behavior. It takes a lot of motivation to head to the gym for a workout after an exhausting day at work, but once you actually begin the workout it doesn’t take much willpower to finish it. For this reason, one of the best things you can do for building a new behavior is to start with a remarkably small habit.

New habits should be non-threatening. Start with a behavior that is so small it seems easy and reasonable to do it each day.

Want to do 50 pushups per day? Start with something easy like 5 or 10.
Wish you would read more books? Start by reading two pages every night.
Want to finally start meditating? Meditate for one minute each morning. After a month, you can move up to two minutes.

Further reading: How to Build a New Habit. This is Your Strategy Guide.

PROBLEM 3: Seeking a Result, Not a Ritual

SOLUTION: Focus on the behavior, not the outcome.

Nearly every conversation about goals and resolutions is focused on some type of result. What do you want to achieve? How much weight do you want to lose? How much money do you want to save? How many books do you want to read? How much less do you want to drink?

Naturally, we are outcome focused because we want our new behaviors to deliver new results.

Here’s the problem: New goals don’t deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is not an outcome, it is a process. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better rituals, not chasing better results.

Rituals are what turn behaviors into habits. In the words of Tony Schwartz, “A ritual is a highly precise behavior you do at a specific time so that it becomes automatic over time and no longer requires much conscious intention or energy.” [3]

If you want a new habit, you have to fall in love with a new ritual.

Further reading: Forget About Setting Goals. Focus on This Instead.

PROBLEM 4: Not Changing Your Environment

SOLUTION: Build an environment that promotes good habits.

I have never seen a person consistently stick to positive habits in a negative environment. You can frame this statement in many different ways:

It is nearly impossible to eat healthy all of the time if you are constantly surrounded by unhealthy food.
It is nearly impossible to remain positive all of the time if you are constantly surrounded by negative people.
It is nearly impossible to focus on a single task if you are constantly bombarded with text messages, notifications, emails, questions, and other digital distractions.
It is nearly impossible to not drink if you are constantly surrounded by alcohol.
And so on.

We rarely admit it (or even realize it), but our behaviors are often a simple response to the environment we find ourselves in.

In fact, you can assume that the lifestyle you have today (all of your habits) is largely a product of the environment you live in each day. The single biggest change that will make a new habit easier is performing it in an environment that is designed to make that habit succeed. For example, let’s say that your New Year’s resolution is to reduce stress in your life and live in a more focused manner.

Here is the current situation:

Every morning, the alarm on your phone goes off. You pick up the phone, turn off the alarm, and immediately start checking email and social media. Before you have even made it out of bed, you are already thinking about a half dozen new emails. Maybe you’ve already responded to a few. You also browsed the latest updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, so those messages and headlines are swimming around in your mind too. You haven’t even dressed yet, but your mind is already distracted and stressed.

If this scene sounds familiar and you want to change your habit, then the easiest way to do it is to change your environment. Don’t keep your phone in your room. The phone is the thing that causes all of the problems, so change the environment. Buy a regular alarm clock (shockingly old school, I know) and charge your phone in another room (or, at least, across the room away from your bed).

You can change the digital environment too. Turn off all push notifications on your phone. You can even remove your email and social media apps from the home screen and hide them somewhere else on the phone. I deleted all of my apps from my phone for a month just to see how it would go. I missed them very little.

If your environment doesn’t change, you probably won’t either.

Further reading: This Simple Equation Reveals How Habits Shape Your Health, Happiness, and Wealth

PROBLEM 5: Assuming Small Changes Don’t Add Up.

SOLUTION: Get one percent better each day.

If you listen to nearly anyone talk about their goals, you’ll hear them describe the minimum that they want to achieve.

“I want to save at least $5,000 this year.”
“I want to read at least 30 books this year.”
“I want to lose at least 20 pounds before summer.”

The underlying assumption is that your achievements need to be big to make a difference. Because of this, we always talk ourselves into chasing a big habit. “If I want to lose at least 20 pounds, I need to start busting my butt and working out for 90 minutes a day!”

If you look at your current habits, however, you’ll see a different picture. Nearly every habit you have today, good or bad, is the result of many small choices made over time. It is the repeated pattern of small behaviors that leads to significant results. Each day we make the choice to become one percent better or one percent worse, but so often the choices are small enough that we miss them.

If you’re serious about building a new habit, then start with something small. Start with something you can stick with for good. Then, once you’ve repeated it enough times, you can worry about increasing the intensity.

Build the behavior first. Worry about the results later.

Further reading: Do Things You Can Sustain

Sources

There are several studies and articles quoting either a 90 percent or 92 percent failure rate. I’ll go with the 81 percent failure rate, which comes from a research study by psychology professor John Norcross. He tracked the success rate of New Year’s resolutions over a two-year span.
I think BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits program is great. I believe it is also free, so you can’t beat the price.
Quote from Tony Schwartz featured in the book, Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career

2014 Annual Review

Each year, I take some time in December to write my Annual Review. The purpose of this yearly report is to reflect on the previous twelve months and write an honest review of what went well, what could have gone better, and what I’m working toward.

My Annual Review is a time when I get to celebrate the hard work and important decisions I have made over the past year, while also taking stock of where I failed and how I can improve. Although you should highlight your victories, it’s not about comparing yourself to others or picking a winner. The Annual Review is about seeing yourself for who you really are and thinking about the type of person you want to become. As I said earlier this year, keep your eyes on your own paper.

I will answer 3 questions in my 2014 Annual Review. (This is a format you are welcome to copy or modify if you feel like conducting your own annual review.)

What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What am I working toward?

Let’s get after it…

1. What went well this year?

Writing. As regular readers know, I publish new articles every Monday and Thursday. I’m proud to say that I stuck to this schedule without missing a post in 2014. (I did take some time off during a planned sabbatical in June.)

The consistency paid off. JamesClear.com had more than 2.4 million visitors in 2014. (Thank you for reading!) In total, there are now 111,964 email subscribers who receive the free weekly newsletter. With over 100,000 email subscribers in just two years, I believe JamesClear.com is the fastest-growing single-author blog in the world. [1]

Writing highlights for 2014:

88 new articles published (browse the full archives)
70,839 new email subscribers (111,964 total)
2,485,951 unique visitors

Travel. I visited 7 countries and 14 states in 2014. These numbers are similar to last year, which means that international travel is becoming a normal part of my life. Honestly, this is pretty hard to believe. Just four years ago, I had never been outside of North America. As of 2014, I have been to 23 countries in total. That said, I still love family vacations to Kentucky state parks.

Travel highlights for 2014:

7 countries (4 new): Canada, Denmark, England (twice), Morocco, Scotland, Spain, United States.
14 states (2 new): California (twice), Colorado, Florida (twice), Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas (twice), Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Strength Training. Consistency is everything when it comes to strength training. My goal is to be the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts (more here), and I did a good job of that this year. Overall, I did 113 strength training workouts in 2014. This is an average of 9.4 per month. Next year, I’d like to increase this to 120 total workouts (an average of 10 per month).

Workouts per month:

January – 7
February – 7
March – 10
April – 12
May – 6
June – 10
July – 9
August – 12
September – 9
October – 13
November – 6
December – 12

My best lifts of 2014:

Back Squat – 405 lbs. (video)
Clean – 275 lbs
Deadlift – 455 lbs for 2 reps
Bench Press – 220 for 5 sets of 5 reps

Speaking. I was fortunate to speak at a variety of events this year in Long Beach, Dallas, Miami, London (twice), Statesboro, and Raleigh. I even had the chance to speak at the Google Campus in London. That said, I still haven’t decided how big of a role I want speaking to play in my business. (I don’t really want to be on the road speaking at 50 different events per year.)

Simplifying my business life. Focus is a trademark of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs (see Warren Buffett). I still have plenty of progress to make in this area, but I did take a step forward this year. I closed two old business projects that were underperforming. I cancelled three software services that I was paying for, but rarely used. I also switched my email marketing service (from Aweber to Drip) and my website hosting provider, which saved over $1,000 per month in expenses. Perhaps the biggest improvement: I became better at saying no and turned down multiple offers to partner with people on new businesses or otherwise spread myself too thin.

Giving the credit to others. During my sabbatical in June, I thought about how I could improve my writing and give more credit to the people who inspire me and influence my work. My first improvement was citing sources at the end of my articles. I also made an effort to verbally cite sources in interviews (I usually do 3 to 5 interviews per week). My favorite improvement, though, was creating my Thank You page. This page is a small tribute to the people who have helped me throughout my life.

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

Working on my weaknesses. Below, I have listed four major areas that I struggled with this year. The surprising thing? These four were also on my list last year. There are two interesting things I noticed. First, although I struggled in the same areas it was often for different reasons. Second, this could mean I am really staying focused on a few core areas (good) or that I am stumbling around and not focusing enough on the things I say are important to me (bad). I still haven’t figured out which one it is.

Creating products. Sigh. This was a failure no matter how you slice it. While I did launch two workshops and a larger course this year, I didn’t have the customer support systems in place to respond to issues quickly. I learned a lot, but I still feel bad that customers had to wait for the answers they needed. I also failed to complete the most important project: writing my book. I’ve written about big project syndrome before and I struggled with it again this year.

Doing travel photography work. File this one under the started-strong-but-limped-across-the-finish-line category. I began the year by doing a two-week photography trip to Morocco. It was incredible. A few months later, I took photos in Rocky Mountain National Park. During the second half of the year, however, I tried to cram photography work into trips with family and friends, which rarely worked out well. Next year, I would love to blend the storytelling of my photos with my weekly articles.

Sprinting. This is one of those areas that I know I need to work on, but for some reason I just don’t do it. I know my hamstrings are a weak point when it comes to strength and that I need more cardio work. And yet, I barely did a sprint workout in 2014. Even though I write about building habits that stick, I have often said that I don’t have perfect habits myself. My lack of sprinting is another reminder that behavior change is hard and we’re all in this together.

Making people wait on me. I’m always trying to fit too many tasks into too little time. The result? I end up making the people who love me the most wait on me.

3. What am I working toward?

My attention will be focused on two areas in 2015.

Going pro as a writer. I’ve been a full-time entrepreneur for four years now. I’ve started four different businesses (two of which succeeded) and a number of smaller projects. Someday I’ll share the full story. But more than anything I’ve done, I love writing my articles each week and helping people build habits that stick. So, it’s time to phase out other projects and turn pro. Mostly, that means finishing my first book. And 2015 is the year to do it.

Unifying our community. We have over 100,000 people receiving the free newsletter each week. Millions more read these articles each year. This is no longer a random collection of people on the web. We are a community now, and every community has a worldview that unites its members. After much thought, I believe that our worldview is built around 3 core principles and 3 daily actions.

Core Principles:

Self-Respect: Authenticity, Balance, Happiness
Resiliency: Preparedness, Strength, Sisu
Growth: Learning, Adventure, Taking Action

Daily Actions:

Habits: Am I doing the right things consistently?
Creativity: Am I contributing to the world or just consuming it?
Service: Am I taking actions that make the lives of others better?

I can’t predict the future, but I can tell you that no matter where our community goes, these principles will be part of the journey.

The Bottom Line

I have said many times this year that I am not an expert. In most of the areas above (even the good ones), I don’t have it all figured out. I’m just sharing what I learn along the way.

As always, it is a privilege to write for you. Thanks for reading.

Year-by-Year Archives

2013 Annual Review

Sources

There are plenty of websites with multiple authors and employees that have grown faster than JamesClear.com. However, if you know of a single-author blog that has grown faster, then let me know. If you’re curious, here are two other single-author blogs that grew very quickly: Zen Habits (50,000 subscribers in 2 years) and Social Triggers (71,000 subscribers in 21 months).

Thanks to Chris Guillebeau for inspiring me to do an Annual Review each year.

Best of 2014: The 10 Most Popular Articles of the Year

Well friends, we have reached the final month of another great year. After publishing a new article every Monday and Thursday during 2014, I’d like to share the 10 most popular articles of the year.

I started this tradition last year when I published my list of the Best of 2013. For me, it is always interesting to review my work and see which articles exploded out of the gate and which ones limped across the finish line. For you, I think it’s nice to have a summary of the articles that are worth your time and attention.

Let’s get into it…

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2014

1. This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened

This is the post that I always refer back to when I’m talking about the power of small improvements and tiny gains. Other people seem to have enjoyed it as well and it is the most read post of 2014. (One company even made the “1 Percent Gains” idea their company motto for the year!)

2. Martha Graham on the Hidden Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others

This one caught fire on Facebook, which was a total surprise to me (again, showing that I’m a terrible judge of my own work). That said, the comparison trap is something that we all fall into and Martha Graham has some wise words for dealing with it.

3. The Physics of Productivity: Newton’s Laws of Getting Stuff Done

This article was a lot of fun for me. I had an idea for using one of Newton’s Laws as a productivity metaphor and decided to run with and see if I could come up with something for all three. It turned out to be a hit (and, according to some, quite useful).

4. The Theory of Cumulative Stress: How to Recover When Stress Builds Up

To achieve optimal health we have to balance the different inputs and outputs in our daily life. This post explains how. (I’ll be honest: I think this post only became popular because of the hand-drawn image—but the image does drive home the main point.)

5. How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science)

Sometime in the recent past, our culture became obsessed with the idea that it takes 21 days (or 30 days or some other magical amount time) to build a new habit. This post not only explains how this happened, it also debunks the myth and shares the science behind how long it really takes to build a behavior that sticks.

6. Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master Your Priorities

This article shares the story of Warren Buffett’s strategy for focusing on the things that matter and ignoring the things that don’t.

7. How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide

A step-by-step guide (pictures included) on how to build a new habit and stick with it for the long-run.

8. How to Get Better Sleep: The Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Sleep Deprivation

This is the article I am most proud of writing during 2014 and I’m glad that others enjoyed it as well. It is the most thoroughly researched piece that I created all year and I even had a few sleep researchers and physicians contact me to say how much they enjoyed it. In the future, my plan is to develop a system (and a team) that will help me produce articles of this caliber each week.

9. Why Trying to Be Perfect Won’t Help You Achieve Your Goals (And What Will)

Regular readers know that I love talking about falling in love with the boredom of practicing your craft, working toward mastery, and putting in your repetitions. I believe this is the path to greatness. This post shares a story that explains why repetitions are so important.

10. How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box”

This article shares a simple strategy that Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, used to manage his daily priorities and use his time effectively.

3 Posts That Deserve a Second Look

As always, there were many posts that I thought were great, but didn’t make the cut for the top 10 of the year. Here are three that I think are worth a second look…

Do Things You Can Sustain

How to Uncover Your Creative Talent by Using the “Equal Odds Rule”

Sisu: How to Develop Mental Toughness in the Face of Adversity

Finally, my most popular photo essay of 2014 was The Blue City of Chefchaouen, Morocco

Want More?

You are always welcome to browse the Best of 2013 or scan the full archives to see all of the posts I have written to date.

Thanks for reading!

Best of 2014: My 10 Most Popular Articles of the Year

Well friends, we have reached the final month of another great year. After publishing a new article every Monday and Thursday during 2014, I’d like to share the 10 most popular articles of the year.

I started this tradition last year when I published my list of the Best of 2013. For me, it is always interesting to review my work and see which articles exploded out of the gate and which ones limped across the finish line. For you, I think it’s nice to have a summary of the articles that are worth your time and attention.

Let’s get into it…

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2014

1. This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened

This is the post that I always refer back to when I’m talking about the power of small improvements and tiny gains. Other people seem to have enjoyed it as well and it is the most read post of 2014. (One company even made the “1 Percent Gains” idea their company motto for the year!)

2. Martha Graham on the Hidden Danger of Comparing Yourself to Others

This one caught fire on Facebook, which was a total surprise to me (again, showing that I’m a terrible judge of my own work). That said, the comparison trap is something that we all fall into and Martha Graham has some wise words for dealing with it.

3. The Physics of Productivity: Newton’s Laws of Getting Stuff Done

This article was a lot of fun for me. I had an idea for using one of Newton’s Laws as a productivity metaphor and decided to run with and see if I could come up with something for all three. It turned out to be a hit (and, according to some, quite useful).

4. The Theory of Cumulative Stress: How to Recover When Stress Builds Up

To achieve optimal health we have to balance the different inputs and outputs in our daily life. This post explains how. (I’ll be honest: I think this post only became popular because of the hand-drawn image—but the image does drive home the main point.)

5. How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science)

Sometime in the recent past, our culture became obsessed with the idea that it takes 21 days (or 30 days or some other magical amount time) to build a new habit. This post not only explains how this happened, it also debunks the myth and shares the science behind how long it really takes to build a behavior that sticks.

6. Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy: How to Maximize Your Focus and Master Your Priorities

This article shares the story of Warren Buffett’s strategy for focusing on the things that matter and ignoring the things that don’t.

7. How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide

A step-by-step guide (pictures included) on how to build a new habit and stick with it for the long-run.

8. How to Get Better Sleep: The Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Sleep Deprivation

This is the article I am most proud of writing during 2014 and I’m glad that others enjoyed it as well. It is the most thoroughly researched piece that I created all year and I even had a few sleep researchers and physicians contact me to say how much they enjoyed it. In the future, my plan is to develop a system (and a team) that will help me produce articles of this caliber each week.

9. Why Trying to Be Perfect Won’t Help You Achieve Your Goals (And What Will)

Regular readers know that I love talking about falling in love with the boredom of practicing your craft, working toward mastery, and putting in your repetitions. I believe this is the path to greatness. This post shares a story that explains why repetitions are so important.

10. How to be More Productive and Eliminate Time Wasting Activities by Using the “Eisenhower Box”

This article shares a simple strategy that Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, used to manage his daily priorities and use his time effectively.

3 Posts That Deserve a Second Look

As always, there were many posts that I thought were great, but didn’t make the cut for the top 10 of the year. Here are three that I think are worth a second look…

Do Things You Can Sustain

How to Uncover Your Creative Talent by Using the “Equal Odds Rule”

Sisu: How to Develop Mental Toughness in the Face of Adversity

Finally, my most popular photo essay of 2014 was The Blue City of Chefchaouen, Morocco

Want More?

You are always welcome to browse the Best of 2013 or scan the full archives to see all of the posts I have written to date.

Thanks for reading!

What I Do When it Feels Like My Work Isn’t Good Enough

In the beginning, it was easy. There was no pressure. There were no outside eyes. There were no expectations.

When I started writing, I wrote in a private document for over a year before I published my first article on JamesClear.com. I wrote about what I wanted to write about. I wrote because I wanted to get my thoughts down. I wrote because I felt like I needed to write.

After a few months of sharing my work publicly, things began to change.

As I developed an audience, I noticed that I began judging my work. In the beginning, I was just happy to get my ideas down on paper, but now I felt like they had to be “good” ideas. I began comparing new articles to my most popular ones. I was constantly measuring everything I wrote against my internal standard of good and bad—even though I didn’t know exactly what that meant.

Thankfully, I didn’t let my self-judgment stop me from writing. I figured this was part of the creative process for anyone who created things consistently. I told myself that judgment and self-doubt was just a toll that I had to pay to continue the journey and create better work.

In a way, this is true. Everyone deals with self-doubt—artists, creators, entrepreneurs, athletes, parents. But in a way, I was wrong. Self-judgment is not a cost you have to pay to become better. Let’s talk about why.

The Inner Game of Tennis

I just finished reading a book that has been on my reading list for quite some time, The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. It is a book about life, not just tennis.

In particular, there was one quote from Gallwey that made me pause and rethink my early months of writing and self-judgment.

“When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.”

—Timothy Gallwey

Ambition and contentment are not opposites, but we often make the mistake of thinking that they are incompatible. On the one hand, experts tell us that we should be mindful, focused on the present, and content with our lives regardless of the results. On the other hand, coaches and champions tell us that successful people out work everyone else, that we must never be satisfied, and that complacency is undesirable.

The rose seed, however, is both content and ambitious.

As Gallwey says, at no point are we dissatisfied with the current state of the rose seed. It is perfectly all right at each moment. Yet, it is also incredibly ambitious. The rose seed never stops growing. It is constantly seeking to get to the next level. Every day it is moving forward, and yet, every day it is just as it should be.

Is Judgment Required for Success?

Is judgment required for success? Do you have to be unhappy with your work to discover the drive to become better? Does judging ourselves make us any better?

I don’t think it does.

Deliberate practice is what makes you better.
Putting in your reps is what makes you better.
Falling in love with boredom is what makes you better.

Those tasks are easier said than done, of course. When I find myself falling into the trap of judging my work, here’s a strategy I use to pull myself back on track: I try to remember that each outcome is simply a point along the spectrum of repetitions.

Here are a few examples…

Writing: In this case, repetitions might be “number of articles published”

Point A is getting your first 1,000 readers.
Point B is landing a book deal.
Point C is speaking internationally about your work.

Entrepreneurship: In this case, repetitions might be “years in business” or “number of sales calls”

Point A is making $10,000.
Point B is making $100,000.
Point C is making $1,000,000.

Weightlifting: In this case, repetitions might literally be “squat repetitions” or “number of sprints”

Point A is squatting 100 pounds.
Point B is squatting 300 pounds.
Point C is squatting 500 pounds.

Photography: In this case, repetitions might be “number of photos taken” or “number of galleries called”

Point A is selling your first print.
Point B is making a full-time living from your work.
Point C is showing your work in your first gallery.

Every outcome you can achieve is simply a point along the spectrum of repetitions and time. The number of repetitions you need to put in for a particular goal is dependent on your circumstances, your experiences, your training, and many other factors. Everyone’s spectrum of repetitions is unique: your spectrum is different than mine.

It is important to realize is that just because you are at Point A and someone else is at Point C that does not mean you are doing bad work. In fact, there is no bad work or good work. Just as there is no such thing as a rose seed that is a bad rose bush. There are just points in time and repetitions completed.

Release the desire to define yourself as good or bad. Release the attachment to any individual outcome. If you haven’t reached a particular point yet, there is no need to judge yourself because of it. You can’t make time go faster and you can’t change the number of repetitions you have put in before today. The only thing you can control is the next repetition.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey

Avoid the Second Mistake

So often, we make the mistake of believing that sticking to good habits is an all-or-nothing game. (I say “we” because I’ve been there before as well.)

We assume that if we slip up on our diet, then we have ruined the whole thing.
We act like missing one day of writing means we simply weren’t meant to be a writer.
We use our lack of motivation to work out as evidence that we don’t have the willpower to make change happen.

These beliefs are incorrect. Habits are behaviors that we repeat consistently. However, they are not behaviors that we repeat perfectly. This small idea—that consistency does not require perfection—is important.

When it comes to building good habits and breaking bad habits, individual mistakes do not matter in the long-run. Instead, it is the second mistake that is far more important. Let’s talk about why this is true.

The Second Mistake

According to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, missing any single day of a particular habit has no impact on your long-term ability to stick to the habit. It doesn’t matter when it occurs, making a mistake and slipping up does not alter the long-term outcome… if you find a way to get back on track.

Furthermore, top performers in all fields make mistakes all the time. Athletes skip workouts. CEOs forget to meditate. Nutritionists eat unhealthy meals. Artists loaf around in bed all day and ignore their craft. These people are human, just like you and me. There are many points during their careers when they make a mistake, skip a session, and approach their tasks with the enthusiasm of sleep-deprived manatee.

What separates the elite performers from everyone else? Not perfection, but consistency. This is why the most important thing is not to prevent mistakes all together, but to avoid making a mistake twice in a row. Errors are part of the process, but they shouldn’t become part of the pattern.

One mistake is just an outlier. Two mistakes is the beginning of a pattern. Killing this pattern before it snowballs into something bigger is one reason why learning how to get back on track quickly is an essential skill for building good habits.

How to Get Back on Track

Here are some of my favorite strategies for getting back on track quickly and avoiding repeated mistakes.

Put all of your energy toward starting the good behavior. If you make a mistake or forget to practice a new habit, it can be easy to convince yourself that you need to do twice as much work to make up for it next time. This approach has never worked well for me. I find it more useful to release the focus on results and direct your energy toward getting started. Don’t worry about having a fantastic performance next time. Just focus on getting back into the swing of things. I like to use The 2-Minute Rule to help me start behaviors easily.

Set a schedule for your habits. Many people never get around to building new habits because they are always wondering when they will be motivated to do the new habit. Take motivation out of the equation and set a schedule for your behavior. Without question, setting a publishing schedule for my writing has been the biggest win for my creative habits. Why does this work? Because of the science of implementation intentions.

Eliminate the things that take you off track. Some emergencies can’t be avoided, but there are many daily distractions that can be eliminated. If you find yourself missing a habit, then take a moment to determine why that happened today. There is no need to judge yourself. Just examine your day with open eyes and determine what took you off course. Once you begin to discover the things that take you off course, you can eliminate them whenever possible. Improve by subtracting. It is much easier to make the right decision if you are surrounded by better choices.

Want more? Read this full list of 7 strategies about how to get back on track.

Click here to leave a comment.

How Constraints Make You Better: Why the Right Limitations Boost Performance

In 1930, a 23-year-old teacher in Uruguay named Juan Carlos Ceriani created a new sport. Ceriani wanted to design a game that was similar to soccer, but that his students could play indoors throughout the year. His new game became known as futsal.

Futsal is very similar to soccer, but it has a few important differences. First, it is played in a much smaller area. (Ceriani designed the game so that it could be played on YMCA basketball courts.) Second, the ball is smaller and has less bounce than a regular soccer ball. Third, there are only five players per side rather than the typical eleven players per side in a soccer match.

This combination of factors—a tighter playing environment and a less bouncy ball—requires futsal players to develop more creative ball skills because they are constantly playing in crowded spaces. Additionally, because there are fewer players, each person touches the ball much more than they would in a standard soccer match. In fact, according to research quoted by Daniel Coyle in his book The Talent Code, futsal players get 600 percent more touches during a typical game than soccer players do. [1]

Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s, futsal migrated from Uruguay to Brazil, where the Brazilians fell in love with the new game. (Even today, over 75 years later, more people play futsal in Brazil than soccer.) It’s hard to say why futsal became so popular in Brazil, but one thing is for sure: the young Brazilians who grew up playing futsal throughout the 1940s and 1950s developed incredible ball handling and technical skills.

Eventually, these children grew into adults and made the transition from futsal to soccer. The athletic creativity they developed in those futsal games would help the Brazilians to shine on the world stage. During the 12-year span from 1958 to 1970, there were four World Cup championships. Brazil won three of them. [2]

Constraints Accelerate Skill Development

It is common to complain about the constraints in our lives: too little time, not enough money, too small of a network, barely enough resources. Certainly, some of these constraints do hold us back. However, there is also a positive side. The constraints in our lives often force us to make choices and cultivate talents that would otherwise go undeveloped. Constraints drive creativity and foster skill development.

Just as the constraints of futsal forced Brazilian children to develop creativity and better ball handling skills, constraints can also drive your own skill development. In many ways, reaching the next level of performance is simply a matter of choosing the right constraints.

How to Choose the Right Constraints

From what I can tell, there are three primary steps to follow when using constraints to improve your skills.

1. Decide what specific skill you want to develop. The more specific the skill, the easier it will be to design a good constraint. For example, futsal didn’t help players develop the skill of being good at soccer. That’s too general. It helped them develop creative ball handling skills, which turned out to be valuable in the game of soccer.

Similarly, you shouldn’t try to develop the skill of being “good at marketing”, for example. It’s too broad. Instead, focus on learning how to write compelling headlines or analyze website data—something specific and tangible.

2. Design a constraint that requires this specific skill to be used. There are three main options for designing a constraint: time, resources, and environment.

Time: Give yourself less time to accomplish a task or set a schedule that forces you to work on a skill more consistently.
Resources: Give yourself fewer resources (or different resources) to do a task.
Environment: According to one study, if you eat on 10-inch plates rather than 12-inch plates, you’ll consume 22 percent fewer calories over the course of a year. (More on this idea and other nutrition improvements here.) One simple change in environment can lead to significant results. In my opinion, environmental constraints are best because they impact your behavior without you realizing it.

3. Play the game. Constraints can accelerate skill development, but they aren’t a magic pill. You still need to put in your time. The greatest Brazilian soccer players were still playing futsal all the time. The best plan is useless without repeated action. What matters most is getting your reps in.

The Idea in Practice

I am currently experimenting with different constraints to boost my skills in certain areas. Here are a few skills I have been working to develop and the constraints I am placing on myself to make them happen:

Writing skills. I want to be a better writer, so I set a schedule where I have to publish a new article every Monday and Thursday. The schedule is my constraint. It doesn’t matter how good or how bad the article is. It doesn’t matter how long or how short it is. I have to get something out every Monday and Thursday. This forces me to be creative and to do the one thing that good writers do: write. I don’t always hit the mark, but I have stuck with this schedule for two years and I’ve written over 200,000 words.

Storytelling skills. I have some friends who are amazing storytellers. I’ve never been great at it, but I’d like to get better. The constraint I’ve placed on myself is scheduling talks without the use of slides. My last five speaking engagements have used no slides or a few basic images. Without text to rely on, I have designed a constraint that forces me to tell better stories so that I don’t embarrass myself in front of the audience.

Strength skills. I only lift three days per week. To someone who doesn’t workout, this might sound like a lot. However, many strength athletes train four to six days per week, sometimes twice per day. With restricted training time, I have to be very deliberate with my workouts if I want to make progress. Right now, I’m prioritizing foundational strength over all else. I’ll move on to in-depth technique development once my strength levels are higher.

What do you want to become great at? What skills do you want to develop? Most important, what constraints can you place upon yourself to get there?

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.
Wikipedia entry on Futsal.

Thanks to many readers for suggesting that I read The Talent Code. I love getting reading suggestions from you and, as always, I appreciate you holding me to a high standard in my work. Thanks for reading!

To Make Big Gains, Avoid Tiny Losses

In many cases, improvement is not about doing more things right, but about doing less things wrong.

To understand what I mean, we need to take a trip to Japan.

The Curious Case of Japanese Television Sets

In the decades that followed World War II, the manufacturing industry in America thrived. For years, American companies grew in size and profitability—even though they produced many products of average quality.

This gravy train began to slide off the tracks in the 1970s. Japanese firms implemented a series of surprising changes that helped them crush their American counterparts. As one New Yorker article put it…

“Japanese firms emphasized what came to be known as “lean production,” relentlessly looking to remove waste of all kinds from the production process, down to redesigning workspaces, so workers didn’t have to waste time twisting and turning to reach their tools. The result was that Japanese factories were more efficient and Japanese products were more reliable than American ones. In 1974, service calls for American-made color televisions were five times as common as for Japanese televisions. By 1979, it took American workers three times as long to assemble their sets.” [1]

Business buzzwords like Kaizen, Lean Production, and Process Improvement are so ubiquitous today that it can be easy to gloss over the subtlety of the Japanese strategy.

The key insight I’d like to point out here is the difference between focusing on getting better vs. not getting worse. Japanese television makers did not seek out more intelligent workers or better materials, they simply said, “Let’s build the same product, but make fewer mistakes.” Japanese companies improved by subtracting the things that didn’t work, not by creating a bigger, better, or more expansive product.

This is an important distinction and it applies to habits, processes, and goals of all kinds, not just television sets.

Two Paths to Improvement

The distinction we are making here is between improvement by addition vs. improvement by subtraction. Improvement by addition is focused on doing more of what does work: producing a faster car, creating a more powerful speaker, building a stronger table. Improvement by subtraction is focused on doing less of what doesn’t work: eliminating mistakes, reducing complexity, and stripping away the inessential.

These concepts of addition and subtraction apply to many areas of life.

Education

Addition: become more intelligent, increase your IQ.
Subtraction: avoid stupid mistakes, make fewer mental errors.

Investing

Addition: earn more money, seek growth opportunities.
Subtraction: never lose money, limit your risk.

Web Design

Addition: improve your call-to-action copy, boost conversions.
Subtraction: remove the on page elements that distract visitors.

Baseball

Addition: get more hits.
Subtraction: make fewer outs.

Exercise

Addition: make your workouts more intense.
Subtraction: miss fewer workouts.

Nutrition

Addition: follow a new diet of healthy foods.
Subtraction: eat fewer unhealthy foods.

Many of these approaches seem similar, but they are not the same. Take the nutrition example above. Eating healthy foods and avoiding unhealthy foods seems very similar. However, in the first case, your focus is on “how to eat better” whereas the second case is focused on “how to not eat worse.” In one scenario you are trying to chase the upside, in another you are focused on limiting the downside.

Improvement by Subtraction

Nearly every manager in the world wants to “do more great work”, but very few people want to “do less bad work.” We love peak performances. Every athlete wants to play an amazing game. Every business owner wants to land a blockbuster sale. Every writer wants to launch a best-selling book. Our desire for that next level of performance causes us to disproportionately focus on the front end of the curve.

Eliminating mistakes is an underappreciated way to improve. In the real world, it is often easier to improve your performance by cutting the downside rather than capturing the upside. Subtraction is more practical than addition. This is true for two reasons.

First, it is often easier to eliminate errors than it is to master peak performance. By simply writing down every step of a process, you can often identify a few areas that can be reduced or eliminated all together. The easiest improvements I have made to my website were a result of eliminating every inessential element.

Second, improvement by subtraction does not require you to achieve a new level of performance. This method is about doing what you are capable of doing more frequently. It is about reducing the likelihood that you’ll perform below your ability.

One of the best ways to make big gains is to avoid tiny losses.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

“Better All the Time” by James Surowiecki. November 10, 2014.

Thanks to readers Jim and Andrius for recommending the New Yorker article and to Shane Parrish for priming my thoughts on this topic by writing about why “avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance.”