James Clear's Blog, page 16

Threshold Theory: How Smart Do You Have to Be to Succeed?

How smart do you have to be to succeed?

What about to become a creative genius? Did Picasso and Mozart use superhuman intelligence to create their masterpieces?

And similarly…

How intelligent do you need to be to become a successful entrepreneur?
How good does your training program need to be to become an elite athlete?
How perfect does your weight loss program need to be to burn fat?

These are questions that we don’t often ask ourselves, but they are built into our beliefs and actions about many phases of life. We often think that the reason we aren’t succeeding is because we haven’t found the right strategy or because we weren’t born with the right talents.

Perhaps that is true. Or, perhaps there is an untold side of the story…

“The Termites”

In 1921, there was a psychologist at Stanford University named Lewis Terman who set out on a mission to conduct a research study unlike any before it.

Terman began by finding the 1,000 smartest students in California between the third grade and eighth grade as measured by IQ. [1] After much testing and searching, Terman gathered a final sample of 856 boys and 672 girls. The children became known as “The Termites.”

Terman and his team began testing the children in nearly every way you could image. They tracked their IQ, analyzed how many books each student had in their homes, took their medical histories, and on and on. But that was just the beginning.

What made Terman’s study unique is that it was the first longitudinal research study, which meant that Terman continued to track and test his subjects for years afterward. The study, which is now famously known as Genetic Studies of Genius, collected data from the students throughout their entire lives. Terman collected additional data in 1928, 1936, 1940, 1945, 1950, and 1955. After Terman died in 1956, his colleagues continued tracking The Termites in 1960, 1972, 1977, 1982, and 1986.

To summarize, the study started with the smartest group of children in the entire state of California and then tracked their success throughout their entire lives. Decades later, the researchers had discovered something very interesting…

Threshold Theory

The surprising discovery that came out of Terman’s study is best described by creativity researcher and physician, Nancy Andreasen…

“Although many people continue to equate intelligence with genius, a crucial conclusion from Terman’s study is that having a high IQ is not equivalent to being highly creative. Subsequent studies by other researchers have reinforced Terman’s conclusions, leading to what’s known as the threshold theory, which holds that above a certain level, intelligence doesn’t have much effect on creativity: most creative people are pretty smart, but they don’t have to be that smart, at least as measured by conventional intelligence tests. An IQ of 120, indicating that someone is very smart but not exceptionally so, is generally considered sufficient for creative genius.” [2]

Remember our question from the beginning: “Did Picasso and Mozart use superhuman intelligence to create their masterpieces?”

According to Threshold Theory, not necessarily. Being in the top 1 percent of intelligence has no correlation with being fantastically creative. Rather, there is a minimum threshold of intelligence that you need to have, and after that it comes down to a lot of deliberate practice, putting in your reps, and developing your skill set.

Threshold Theory in Everyday Life

If you look around, you’ll see that Threshold Theory applies to many things in life. Success is rarely as simple as “just work harder.” The fundamentals matter. There is a minimum threshold of competence that you need to develop in nearly any endeavor.

After that, however, the difference is between those who put in the work and those who get distracted. Once you have a basic grasp of the right things to do, it becomes about the consistency of doing the right things more often. Once you understand the fundamentals, it comes down to your habits.

Some examples…

Weightlifting: Assuming you’ve met some minimum threshold and are doing reasonably effective exercises (like these) with reasonably effective form, the details don’t really matter that much. Once you’ve passed this basic threshold, what makes 95% of the difference is this: Are you showing up to the gym and putting in your reps?

Writing: Assuming you understand the core principles of writing and the basics of grammar, what determines your ability to write well more than anything else is writing a lot. Once you reach the threshold of writing a decent sentence, the thing that leads to success is writing more.

Entrepreneurship: Assuming you know what the most important metric is for your business, what makes the biggest difference is focusing on that metric every day. Once you cross the basic threshold of knowing what to work on, the most important thing is continuing to work on that one thing and not something else.

If you’re brand new to an area, then it’s possible you haven’t learned enough to cross the threshold yet. But for most of us, we know what works and we have enough knowledge to make progress. It’s not about being more intelligent or more skilled, it’s about overcoming distraction and doing the work that already works.

Sources

Interestingly, Termin actually created the IQ test that he used to determine the intelligence of his original group. The IQ test was originally created by French psychologist Alfred Binet and Termin adjusted the test to create the “Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales”, which is now in it’s fifth edition and is probably the most well-known IQ test.
“Secrets of the Creative Brain” by Nancy C. Andreasen. June 25, 2014.

Thanks to reader Dean Dwyer for sending me the creativity article by Dr. Andreasen, which led me down the long, twisted path to this article. As usual, you all are keeping me on the right track.

“Email is Where Keystrokes Go to Die.”

Scott Hanselman, a Microsoft employee and productivity expert, was speaking about effectiveness on stage. And he was ready to make a simple, but important point.

“Email is where keystrokes go to die,” he said. “You have a finite number of keystrokes left in your hands before you die.” [1, 2]

His point was clear: Every keystroke you type is one stroke closer to your last. And because every keystroke counts the same, why spend so many of those keystrokes answering emails that 1 person will read and then never look at again, when you could be using those same keystrokes to write an article that will help a thousand people? Or a blog comment that 10 people will read? Or a poem that 25 people will enjoy? [3]

This is one of the primary reasons why I publish my articles every Monday and Thursday. I want some of my keystrokes to be useful for as many people as possible. I believe that when you share your writing, you lead at scale.

And this idea applies to far more than just email and keystrokes…

Musician? It’s nice to play for yourself or your family, but wouldn’t it be great if you shared your talent with your community as well? Too many songs die in bedrooms and basements.

Photographer? Your legacy will be shaped by the art that people see. Vivian Maier needed a miracle for others to appreciate her world-class photography, don’t leave your art to the same fate.

Anyone? We are all experts in something. Teach everything you know. Knowledge is squandered unless it is shared. Don’t die with your greatest lessons still inside of you.

How many keystrokes do you get before you die? The answer is a limited number. On any given day, it can feel like you have a lot left, but the truth is that number is dwindling. You seldom feel it in the moment, but there is an invisible urgency in the words that we write and the work that we do.

It is not just about finding the guts to share your work and to contribute something to the world around you. It’s about doing it now because every moment is eating up what you have left to give. Time is precious. Share your gifts.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

“Do they deserve the gift of your keystrokes?” by Scott Hanselman

Hanselman has even built a website that tracks the amount of keystrokes you have left based on your age and typing speed: keysleft.com

Hanselman actually learned of the idea of counting your keystrokes from a fellow Microsoft employee named Jon Udell, who wrote about it in a post titled, “Too busy to blog? Count your keystrokes.” Udell said, “When people tell me they’re too busy to blog, I ask them to count up their output of keystrokes. How many of those keystrokes flow into email messages? Most. How many people receive those email messages? Few. How many people could usefully benefit from those messages, now or later? More than a few, maybe a lot more… If your choice is to invest keystrokes in an email to three people, or in a blog entry that could be read by those same three people plus more — maybe many more — why not choose the latter? Why not make each keystroke work as hard as it can?”

Free Download: Mastering Creativity (1st Edition)

I’m excited to release a new guide today! It’s called Mastering Creativity and you can get it for free below.

This guide covers the creative strategies of the greatest artists, musicians, and writers in the world—Pablo Picasso, Franz Kafka, Dr. Seuss and many more. The full guide is packed with 36 pages of information on how creativity works, how to overcome the mental blocks that all artists face, and how to make creative thinking a habit.

10 Things You’ll Learn in This Guide

Here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll learn…

How to overcome the mental blocks that prevent creativity.
How to be creative, even if it’s not natural for you.
How to make time for creative work if you’re busy.
How the world’s greatest artists approach the task of creating.
How to make creating a consistent habit.
Why smart people should create things.
One simple trick that makes it easier to be creative.
How to stay motivated over the long run.
Why it is important to generate a lot of work to find your creativity.
And most importantly, how to make these ideas a habit in real life.

… and much more.

Get it Now (For Free)

This guide is available as a free download to members of our wonderful community.

All you have to do is enter your email address below and click “Get Updates!” and the guide is all yours. In addition to the guide, you’ll receive new articles every Monday and Thursday about boosting your creativity, mastering your habits, and living a good life.

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More to Come Soon

I put together this guide as a way of saying thanks for reading. I put a lot of effort into the work and writing that I share here, and I appreciate you taking the time to read and become part of our little corner of the Internet.

As with most things I work on, I’m always looking for ways to improve and build upon my previous work. You can be sure that there will be another edition of Mastering Creativity coming in the future and it will be freely available to members of my weekly newsletter.

Thanks again! And make sure you grab your copy by entering your email above!

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

Paul Erdos was a strange man. He lived out of two suitcases, never learned how to cook his own meals, worked up to 19 hours per day, took amphetamines daily and washed them down with caffeine, and gave away nearly all of the money that he earned. [1]

Erdos was also the most prolific mathematician of the 20th century. He wrote or co-authored over 1,500 mathematical articles during his career and partnered with over 500 different collaborators. As you would expect, his contributions to mathematics were significant.

Erdos solved a variety of difficult problems. He worked out a proof for the prime number theorem. He led the development of Ramsey theory. He discovered the proof for a difficult mathematical riddle known as Bertrand’s postulate. Long story short, Erdos was good. He worked his tail off and advanced the field of mathematics because of it.

And yet, do you know what became of the vast majority of his 1,500 articles and papers?

Nothing. They are long gone. Forgotten. Tucked away in the archives of an old research journal or filed into a box at the bottom of some math lover’s closet. And that is why the story of Paul Erdos is perhaps the best example of what is known as the Equal Odds Rule.

Let’s talk about what this rule means and how it can help you uncover your creative talent.

The Equal Odds Rule

In 1977, a Harvard-trained psychologist named Keith Simonton, developed a theory that he called the Equal Odds Rule.

“The Equal Odds Rule says that the average publication of any particular scientist does not have any statistically different chance of having more of an impact than any other scientist’s average publication.” [2] In other words, any given scientist is equally likely to create a game-changing piece of work as they are to create something average that is quickly forgotten.

Translated to the world at-large: You can’t predict your own success. Scientists, artists, inventors, writers, entrepreneurs, and workers of all types are equally likely to produce a useless project as they are to produce an important one.

If you believe the Equal Odds Rule, then the natural conclusion is that you’re playing a numbers game. Because you can’t predict your success, the best strategy is to produce as much work as possible, which will provide more opportunities to hit the bullseye and create something meaningful. [3]

I’ve seen the Equal Odds Rule at play in my own work each month. I write new articles every Monday and Thursday. I know that if I write a new article every Monday and Thursday, then that will be about 8 or 9 articles per month on average. And if I write 8 or 9 articles per month, then 2 or 3 of them will be decent.

Which 2 or 3 will be winners? I have no idea.

After sticking to this schedule for almost two years, it has become very clear to me that I am a rather terrible judge of my own work. All I can do is try my best each time, commit to doing a volume of work, and trust if I stick with the process then something useful will find it’s way from my hands to the keyboard.

The Willingness to Create Garbage

Paul Erdos knew something that all great creators eventually discover: Creative genius only reveals itself after you’ve shown up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way. Time after time, problem after problem, Erdos kept working on his craft. 1,500 papers later, it turns out he had some pretty good ideas.

If you want to extract your creative genius and make a difference, then embracing idea behind the Equal Odds Rule is a useful strategy. Sometimes you’ll create something good. Sometimes you’ll create something useless. But no matter what, you should always be creating.

If you want to make a masterpiece, you have to be willing to create a little garbage along the way.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

Daily Rituals by Mason Currey, pgs. 178-179.
This quote came from an Amazon review by John Keezell of Simonton’s book, Creativity in Science.

Recent research has revealed that the Equal Odds Rule doesn’t quite tell the whole story. For example, research shows that deliberate practice matters and that you can improve your skills as time goes on. And as your skills improve, so do your odds of success. In other words, the odds of producing something good start to shift in your favor as your skills improve. Of course, you need to embrace the idea behind The Equal Odds Rule anyway: the only way to improve your skills through deliberate practice is to go through a volume of work. At the end of the day the Equal Odds Rule isn’t perfect, but the result is the same: practice more.

Thanks to Sebastian Marshall for originally telling me about the Equal Odds Rule and to Srini Rao for originally writing about the willingness to create garbage.

How to Sleep Better: The 3 Ways to Improve Your Sleep

Most people aren’t getting enough sleep, plain and simple. But—and this is the important thing to realize—we don’t recognize that we are sleep deprived.

In my comprehensive article on the science of sleep, The Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Sleep Deprivation, I covered this problem, discussed how sleep works, and shared a variety of practical ways to improve the quality of your sleep. If you’re looking for a primer on the science of how to sleep better, I suggest reading that article.

However, if you want to improve your sleep, there are actually some very simple and practical ways to go about it. I call these strategies the 3 Levers of Sleep.

Here’s how they work…

The 3 Levers of Sleep

If you want to improve the quality of your sleep and boost your performance there are 3 levers you can “pull” to give yourself a boost.

Intensity
Timing
Duration

Intensity refers to how well you sleep. As I described in detail in my previous sleep article, there are different phases of sleep. Two of these phases are particularly important: Slow wave sleep (also known as deep sleep) and REM sleep. The percentage of sleeping time you spend in these two phases largely determines the quality of your sleep each night. [1]

Timing refers to when you go to sleep. What time do you go to bed? This factor is important for two reasons. First, if you get in bed around the same time each night, it is easier for your body to develop good sleep habits. Second, the time you go to sleep should be in accordance with your circadian rhythm, which I also describe in detail in my previous sleep article.

Duration refers to how long you sleep. This one is simple: how much time do you spend sleeping each night? 6 hours? 8 hours? It can be easy to convince yourself that duration isn’t very important, but it is critical to your growth, performance, and recovery. Professional athletes often sleep over 10 hours per night. If you’re taxing your body and mind, then duration is crucial for you as well. [2]

How to Sleep Better

How can you use these 3 levers to improve your sleep?

When it comes to intensity, the truth is that there isn’t much you can do. Your body largely manages the intensity of your sleep cycle (how much time you spend in slow wave sleep and REM sleep) for you. It adjusts automatically based on what you need and how much time you are spending asleep. Exercising consistently and getting proper nutrition will help, but these actions only indirectly improve sleep intensity. [3]

This is actually good news because it simplifies things for you. Because your body manages the quality of your sleep on its own, you only need to focus on two factors: timing (when you go to bed) and duration (how long you’re in bed).

If we make another assumption, then we can simplify the situation even further. That assumption is this: You wake up at approximately the same time each day.

If you wake up at about the same time each day, then your sleep duration is basically determined by when you go to bed. Generally speaking, if you get into bed earlier, then you’ll end up sleeping more. Improve the timing and you’ll improve the duration as well.

And that brings us to this practical punchline…

Master Your Power Down Routine

From a practical application standpoint timing is perhaps the most important of the 3 levers of sleep. The intensity of your sleep is managed automatically by your body. The duration of your sleep is largely dependent on when you get into bed (assuming you wake up around the same time each morning). And that means getting to bed at an earlier, more consistent time is critical for improving the quality and duration of your sleep.

For more ideas on how to optimize your pre-bedtime routine, read my Beginner’s Guide to Sleep and my free habits guide, Transform Your Habits.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

Improving Sleep: A guide to a good night’s rest, a Harvard Medical School publication
The Effects of Sleep Extension on the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Basketball Players
Improving Sleep: A guide to a good night’s rest, a Harvard Medical School publication

Thanks to Dan Pardi for telling me about the 3 levers of sleep.

Exhaust Your Gifts: Lessons on Living a Meaningful Life from Nichelle Nichols

It was 1967 and the Civil Rights Movement was at a tipping point. On this particular evening, African-American leaders were meeting at an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills, California. That’s when a woman named Nichelle Nichols turned around and saw Martin Luther King, Jr. smiling at her.



Nichols was an actress and a singer. She had recently finished working on the first season of a science fiction television series called Star Trek. Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura, the Chief Communications Officer onboard the starship, and she was the first black woman on television who wasn’t cast in a stereotypical role as a maid or servant.

Even so, Nichols was ready to leave the show. Her role had been largely written out of the script during the first season and, without many lines, she wanted to try acting on Broadway instead. She had written her letter of resignation the day before and now she found herself face-to-face with Dr. King. [1, 2]

“We Never Thought We’d See This”

To her surprise, Dr. King loved Star Trek and started the conversation by saying, “Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.” Nichols was grateful and responded, “Dr. King thank you so much, but I’m going to miss my co-stars.” She began to explain her resignation, but King interrupted her.

“You cannot,” King said. “You cannot leave. Do you understand? You have changed the face of television forever. This is not a black role. This is not a female role. It can be filled by a woman of any color, a man of any color. This is a unique role and a unique point in time that breathes the life of what we are marching for: equality.” He went on, “This is why we are marching. We never thought we’d see this on TV.” [3]

Nichols was stunned. She thought of herself as a simple cast member, as an actress with little impact and even fewer lines—not as a role model for men and women of color. It was the first time that the importance of her role had become clear to her.

The following Monday, Nichols returned to work on Star Trek and continued to play Lieutenant Uhura in every Star Trek episode and movie of the next 40 years. She remained a trailblazer throughout her career as she performed the first interracial kiss on national television and took on a variety of acting roles that redefined black women in the eyes of society. [4, 5]

It wasn’t just Dr. King who praised her work. When Whoopi Goldberg met Nichols years later, Goldberg said, “When Star Trek came on, I was 9 years old. And I saw this show and there you were and I ran through the house saying, “Hey! Come everybody! Quick! Quick! Look! There’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid! I knew from that moment that I could become anything I wanted to be.” [6]

Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek.
Ordinary to You, Amazing to Someone Else

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Nichelle Nichols’ story is that she had an obvious impact without it being obvious to her at all. In a 2011 interview Nichols said, “I certainly wasn’t a pioneer then in my mind. I was just a young woman, and it was a wonderful opportunity to be on television. To my amazement, it became a lot more.” [7]

If you think about any job for long enough, you can find reasons for why it is unimportant, insignificant, or useless.

In the theater of her own mind, Nichelle Nichols convinced herself that her work wasn’t useful. She thought it would be better to quit and move on. Meanwhile, people of color everywhere were finding inspiration in her work. Martin Luther King, Jr. was at home watching the show with his children each week. A 9-year-old Whoopi Goldberg was running around the house dreaming of her future.

To paraphrase Derek Sivers: What seems ordinary to you can be amazing to someone else. What seems boring or monotonous or trivial can shape the worldview of another person. Your action create ripples in a pond—even if you never see them reach the shore. You’ve been given this moment and it’s an opportunity to do something. So do something. [8]

Exhaust Your Gifts

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

—Howard Thurman

We all play roles in life. Some have more lines than others, some get more stage time than others, but everyone can be a role model for their values, principles, and beliefs. When performed with compassion and enthusiasm, any job can shift the hearts and minds of the people it touches.

There are people who make each day a work of art by the way they do their work. There are unsung teachers who shift the minds of children, garbage men who keep society running smoothly, grocery store clerks who bring a smile to the face of people in the checkout line, and unknown artists who create beauty for a handful of fans. It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it.

Most of us will never have someone like Martin Luther King, Jr. praise our work. It’s unlikely that you’ll be on national television or shape the outcome of a major social movement. But we can all exhaust our gifts. We can all focus on giving what we have. And that’s enough.

Exhaust your gifts and you can always walk away at peace with yourself and the difference you have made.

Click here to leave a comment.

P.S.

The Strength Training and Exercise Habit Workshop is tomorrow at 3PM Eastern time (New York City time zone). Registration closes at 12PM Eastern (3 hours before the live event).

You can click here to learn more and sign up.

Sources

Nichelle Nichols on Wikipedia.
PBS Series: Pioneers of Television. Created by WNET.
StarTalk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson: A Conversation with Nichelle Nichols. July 11, 2011.
The Wall Street Journal, ‘Star Trek’s’ Nichelle Nichols on How Martin Luther King Jr. Changed Her Life. January 17, 2011.
Nichols actually auditioned for the part of Spock on Star Trek, but the writers liked her so much they created Uhura. However, it was Nichols who actually built the character. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Nichols said, “I walked in to the interview with this magnificent treatise on Africa by [Robert] Ruark called Uhuru, which is Swahili for Freedom. Gene said he really liked the name of that book and wanted to use the title as a first name. I said, why don’t you do an alliteration of the name Uhuru and soften the N and make it Uhura? He said you are Uhura and that belongs to you.”
StarTalk Radio with Neil DeGrasse Tyson: A Conversation with Nichelle Nichols. July 11, 2011.
New York Daily News: ‘Star Trek’ actress Nichelle Nichols: Martin Luther King Jr. impacted decision to stay on Enterprise. January 17, 2011.
The original article by Derek Sivers, which I highly recommend, is here: Obvious to you. Amazing to others. November 21, 2010.

Thanks to my dad for sharing his idea of “exhausting your gifts” with me. And for having the courage to exhaust his own gifts on the baseball field and as a parent.

3 Simple Ways to Make Exercise a Habit

A lot of people want to build an exercise habit that sticks. (A 2012 survey analyzed the top ten habits of thousands of people and found that exercise was number one by a long shot. [1])

Of course, wanting to make exercise a habit and actually doing it are two different things. Changing your behavior is difficult. Living a new type of lifestyle is hard. This is especially true when you throw in very personal feelings about body image and self-worth.

But there are some strategies that can make it easier to stick with an exercise habit.

I have been using the three strategies below to build my personal exercise routine, which I have stuck to for two years without skipping a workout. While I don’t claim to have all the answers, I’m happy to share what I’ve learned so far and how I have successfully made exercise a habit that am I excited to do each week.

Here are 3 simple ways to make exercise a habit.

1. Develop a ritual to make starting easier.

Habits are behaviors that you repeat over and over again, which means they are also behaviors that you start over and over again. In other words, if you don’t consistently get started, then you won’t have a habit. In many ways, building new habits is simply an exercise in getting started time after time.

This means that if you can find a way to make getting started easier, then you can find a way to make building a habit easier. This is why rituals and routines are so important. If you can develop a ritual that makes starting your workout mindless and automatic, then it will be much easier to follow through. [2]

Twyla Tharp’s hailing the cab ritual is a good example. You can start building your own ritual by stacking your exercise habit on top of a current habit or by setting a schedule for yourself. For example, you could set your intention to exercise by filling out this sentence:

During the next week, I will exercise on [DAY] at [TIME OF DAY] at/in [PLACE].

One research study showed that people who filled out this sentence above were 2 to 3 times more likely to exercise over the long run. This is a psychology concept called implementation intentions and there are hundreds of studies to back it up.

2. Start with an exercise that is ridiculously small.

The best way to make exercise a habit is to start with an exercise that is so easy that you can do it even when you are running low on willpower and motivation. In the words of Leo Babauta, start with something that is so easy you can’t say no.

Here’s one strategy that you can use in the beginning: The 2-Minute Rule.

It’s very simple: focus on finding a way to get started in just 2 minutes rather than worrying about your entire workout.

Struggling to find motivation to go for a run? Just fill up your water bottle and put on your running shoes. That’s all you have to do to consider today’s workout a success. Often, this little 2 minute start will be enough to get your motivation flowing and help you finish the task.

3. Focus on the habit first and the results later.

The typical approach to diet and exercise is to focus on results first. Most people start with some type of goal. “I want to lose 20 pounds in the next 4 months.” Or, “I want to squat 50 pounds more six months from now.”

I think this is the wrong approach. It’s better to focus on the system rather than the goal.

What matters most in the beginning is establishing a new normal and building a new routine that you will stick to; not the results that you get. In other words, in the first 6 months it is more important to not miss workouts than it is to make progress. Once you become the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts, then you can worry about making progress and improving.

One way to do this is to set an upper limit on your behavior.

One member of our community, Mitch, set a rule for himself where he couldn’t stay in the gym for more than 5 minutes at the beginning. He had to go everyday, but he wasn’t allowed to stay for 6 minutes. He was focused on building the habit of not missing workouts. After doing that for a month or two, he had established a routine of going to the gym and he started to focus on doing more difficult workouts. Today, Mitch is over 100 pounds lighter. (Which, to be fair, is not just the result of exercise, but also diet and lifestyle changes.)

Once you build the habit of exercise, you can find thousands of ways to improve. Without the habit, every strategy is useless. Build the habit first, worry about the results later.

The Strength Training and Exercise Habits Workshop

On Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 3PM Eastern Time (New York City time zone), I am running a workshop on how to build the habit of exercise and master the fundamentals of strength training.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this workshop…

How to make exercise a habit that you’ll actually stick with for good.
How to build muscle and gain lean mass.
How to structure your workouts for long–term success.
How to decide what type of exercises you should do.
How to exercise when you don’t feel motivated or lack willpower.
How to start working out (even if you don’t know what to do).
How to have more energy before and after your workouts.
How to determine which workouts will give you the body you want.
How to prevent injury and keep your muscles and joints feeling healthy.
How to relieve muscle soreness in the simplest, most effective way.

…and a whole lot more. I can’t wait to share the fundamentals of building muscle, gaining strength, and losing fat with you in this workshop.

Here’s what the event will look like…

Event Details: What Will You Get?

Here’s what your workshop will include:

Full Strength Training Workshop: 1 hour live event on September 23, 2013 at 3PM Eastern
Live Question and Answer session: 30 minutes after the workshop
Full video and audio recording (emailed to you after the event)
Text transcripts of all video and audio files (to read whenever you wish)
Slide presentation downloads (get every slide that I present throughout the workshop)
Plus, over 10 additional resources (books, exercises, free courses, and more)

Ready to join? Sign up and claim your spot in the Habits Workshop class below.

Register Today
Live on September 23, 2014 at 3PM Eastern Time

Full access to the Strength Training Workshop. This 1 hour workshop is filled with practical, down-to-earth ideas for building muscle, burning fat, and making exercise a habit that you’ll stick to for life.

Live Question and Answer session. For 30 minutes after the workshop, you’ll have the opportunity to ask whatever is on your mind (any question goes!) and I’ll answer them right on the spot. This question and answer session will help you go beyond the theory and talk about what it takes to make exercise habits stick in the real world.

Free video and audio downloads. Can’t attend live? No problem. The entire workshop will be available for you to download and view on any device at any time you choose.

Free text transcripts of all video and audio files. Both the Strength Training Workshop and the question and answer session are fully transcribed for you to download and read in .PDF format. Of course, if you’d like to listen and follow along by reading the text transcription, you can do that too.

Free downloads of the slide presentations. Over 80 slides, charts, and graphs covering the science of habit formation and strength training will be available for you after watching the event. You’ll have access to every slide taught throughout the workshop as a .PDF download.

Plus, over 10 additional resources (books, exercises, free courses, and more). You’ll get a reading list of the best books on strength training, plus access to some of the top resources on building habits for free.

Attend this workshop for only $29
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Testimonials

Still not convinced? Read what other people are saying about my work. (These are all unsolicited testimonials that come from real readers and customers.)

Feedback on the Habits Workshop: LOVED IT! Totally worth the time and money. You did a bang-up job. Thanks!

—Debbie O. from Boston, MA

Your habits workshop changed my life completely, James. My core habit was changing my eating habits and everything else followed when I have changed that. Thank you for the techniques and your consistent work on habits. I am a big fan.

—Deniz T. from Ankara, Turkey

Our net profit has doubled in the last year since I started reading your articles. I give all my staff a paid half hour off twice a week to read your work. Thank you!

—Paul D. from Auckland, New Zealand

Your articles are by far the best I’ve found on the internet. I’ve actually unsubscribed from most others now (some can be very repetitive), but I really enjoy your varied subjects. Keep up the good work.

—Martin H. from Bristol, United Kingdom

Thanks to your motivating newsletters I started doing 1 pushup/day two months ago, added 1 more each week and now I can do 10/day! (Even better, my 8-year-old daughter has been doing them with me!)

—Kimberly D.

As a small business owner I like to know when I hit the mark (which is less often than I’d like). You hit it out on a regular basis. Kudos. As a single mom with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 43 employees I always appreciate some James Clear and a glass of vino after a long day. Keep up the great work.

—Carrie K. from Dallas, Texas

I just want you to know, James, that you have inspired and encouraged me to think about my habits and training in a completely different way (a much better way!). Thank you for reminding me that 1 percent can make a difference!

—Holly S. from Salt Lake City, Utah

I’ve been online since 1995. With thousands of newsletters available, I only subscribe to one. Yours. That’s how much I enjoy your topics and writing style. You definitely add value with each email that comes my way. Keep up the great work.

—Thales P. from Nicosia, Cyprus

Thanks for your writing and your ideas. There’s a ton of self–help stuff out there and not much of it is as clear and actionable as yours.

—Jennifer M. from Oregon

Knowing you really has changed my life!

—Mirabai G. from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Like what they have to say?

Click here to buy the Strength Training Workshop right now.

I’ll see you at the event!

Sources

Top Ten Habits by Lift.
Developing ways to make starting easier is especially important because once you start a task, it is often much easier to finish it. Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.

Thanks to my dad for raising me in a house that valued exercise and helped make it a habit for me from the beginning.

Photo Essay: The Isle of Skye, Scotland

I believe that creativity is one of the pillars of living a healthy and fulfilling life. And, because I try to live out the principles that I write about each week and not merely talk about them, every few months I set out on a photography trip to create art, explore the world, and learn a thing or two along the way.

This photo essay was created on the Isle of Skye, the largest island in a chain known as the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. As always, all photos are my own.

Isle of Skye Pictures

Note: You can browse larger versions of these photos in the full Scotland gallery.

Just a few minutes outside the town of Uig on the Isle of Skye, south of the River of Conon, there is a magical place known as Fairy Glen. Fairy Glen is made up of over 400 miniature, cone-shaped hills and grassy knolls. There is a winding, one-lane road that leads to and from the glen. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

Rush hour traffic in Scotland. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

An old stone wall begins to fall apart inside Fairy Glen. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

Heath and heather bushes cover the countryside in purple as sheep graze by a stream on the Isle of Skye. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

Two hikers begin a long trek across the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

The Sligachan bridge spans the River Sligachan as the Black Cuillin mountains loom behind. (Isle of Skye, Scotland)

Want more? Click here to browse all of my photos.

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How to Build Muscle: Proven Strength Lessons from Milo of Croton

Nearly 2,500 years ago, there was a man of incredible strength and athleticism roaming the hills of southern Italy. His name was Milo of Croton and he was almost certainly the most successful wrestler of his day.

Milo was a six-time wrestling champion at the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece. In 540 BC, he won the boys wrestling category and then proceeded to win the men’s competition at the next five Olympic Games in a row. He also dominated the Pythian Games (7-time winner), Isthmian Games (10-time winner), and Nemean Games (9-time winner). [1, 2]

In the rare event that an athlete won not only the Olympic title, but also all three other games in one cycle, they were awarded the title of Periodonikes, a grand slam winner. Milo won this grand slam five times.

Now for the important question: What can Milo’s incredible strength teach you about how to build muscle and improve your health and fitness?

The answer is covered in a story about how Milo developed his strength…

How to Build Muscle Like Milo

It is said that Milo built his incredible strength through a simple, but profound strategy.

One day, a newborn calf was born near Milo’s home. The wrestler decided to lift the small animal up and carry it on his shoulders. The next day, he returned and did the same. Milo continued this strategy for the next four years, hoisting the calf onto his shoulders each day as it grew, until he was no longer lifting a calf, but a four-year-old bull. [3]

The core principles of strength training are encapsulated in this legendary tale of Milo and the bull.

Strength Training: The Core Principles

“When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things. You don’t. What you need is to identify the core principles – generally three to twelve of them – that govern the field. The million things you thought you had to memorize are simply various combinations of the core principles.”

—John T. Reed

The health and fitness industry is filled with unnecessary complexity and thousands of experts sharing conflicting ideas. If there is anything I’ve learned during 10 years of strength training, it’s that mastering the fundamentals is more valuable than worrying about the details.

As an example, let’s discuss three of the core principles of strength training that are hidden in the story of Milo and the bull.

Here they are…

1. Start too light: Focus on volume before intensity.

Did Milo try to lift a full-grown bull on day one? Of course not. He began with a newborn calf. Given his wrestling prowess, it is very likely that this was a weight that was easy for him.

It works the same way for you and me. When you begin strength training, you should start by lifting something easy. It is only by focusing on volume, repetition, and easy weights in the beginning that you build the capacity to handle heavier weights later on.

2. Don’t miss workouts.

Milo’s strategy wouldn’t have worked very well if he tried to pick up the bull on its birthday each year. The calf would have grown too much and Milo would have grown too little. And yet, this is exactly the strategy many of us employ. Once or twice per year, often around the New Year, people will try to “pick up a bull” by getting incredibly motivated and exercising like never before—only to fizzle out a few weeks later.

A more useful strategy is to start with something incredibly small, an exercise that is so easy you can’t say no to it, and then repeat and improve slowly. If you want to make progress, you have to make a reasonable, sustained effort.

As an example, when I started my pushup habit, I began with a number that was very small and easy to do. Because the workout didn’t intimidate me, I was more likely to follow through each day and not miss workouts. In short, do things you can sustain.

3. Increase in very small ways.

Every day, Milo’s calf grew just a little bit. An ounce here, a pound there. And yet, these tiny gains added up to a very significant weight in a relatively short amount of time.

It works the same way in the gym. Do you think you could squat one more pound this week than you could last week? Most people probably could. And if you added just one pound per week for two years, you could be squatting 100 pounds more than you are today. How many people do you know that are squatting 100 pounds more today than they were two years ago? I don’t know many.

Tiny gains add up fast. Average speed can take you far if you just keep walking. The weight on the bar should grow like a calf in a field: slowly, gradually, reasonably.

Strength Training Basics

P.S. Strength Training and Exercise Habits Workshop

On September 23rd, I am going to run an online workshop that covers the 12 core principles of strength training. The idea will be to make building muscle, burning fat, and gaining strength as simple as possible.

There will also be a strong focus on making exercise a habit, not merely chasing after a goal. As I’ve said many times before, I don’t have all the answers, but I have learned a lot from a decade of weight training and my experiences as a college athlete—and I’m happy to share those lessons with my typical “tiny gains, small steps, good habits” approach.

I’ll share the full details soon, but if you want to sign up now, you can click here to learn more.

Sources

Greek Athletes and Athletics by H.A. Harris. pp. 110–113.
There are seemingly endless stories of Milo’s feats of strength and although some of them are certainly embellished (his daily diet reportedly included 20 pounds of meat, 20 pounds of bread, and 18 pints of wine), there is no doubt that Milo was one of the greatest strength athletes of his time and that the lessons we learn from his stories hold true today.
Human biology (5th edition) by Daniel Chiras. p. 229.

Thanks to my main man Austin Kiessig for reminding me about the story of Milo of Croton.

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

In 1936, a man named Kurt Lewin wrote a simple equation that changed the way we think about habits and human behavior.

The equation makes the following statement: Behavior is a function of the Person in their Environment. [1]

Known today as Lewin’s Equation, this tiny expression contains most of what you need to know about building good habits, breaking bad ones, and making progress in your life.

Let’s talk about what we can learn from it and how to apply these ideas to master the habits that shape your health, happiness, and wealth.

What Drives Our Behavior?

Before Lewin’s Equation because famous, most experts believed that a person’s habits and actions were a result of the type of person they were, not the environment they were in at the time.

You can still find many examples of this belief today. For instance, if you struggle to stick to a diet you might say, “I just don’t have any willpower.” Or, if you can’t seem to finish that big project like writing a book, you might say, “I’m a great starter, but a lousy finisher.” These statements imply that our habits and actions are determined by some set of characteristics that we are born with; that our habits are fixed based on who we are.

Lewin, however, said something different. He said that it is not just your personal characteristics, but also your environment that drives your behavior. Your habits are highly dependent upon context. In many cases, your environment will drive your behavior even more than your personality. So, maybe you’re struggling to stick to that diet because you’re surrounded by bad options or unhealthy people, not because you were born with too little willpower.

Let’s break down these two areas, personality and environment, and talk about how you can improve them to build good habits and break bad ones.

The Elements of Personality

We know more about our personal characteristics today than we did when Lewin was around. Perhaps most importantly, we know that your abilities are not fixed in stone. You can improve.

The key, however, is to believe you can improve. Carol Dweck, a Stanford professor, has become well-known for her work analyzing the differences between the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. When you are using a fixed mindset, you believe that your abilities in a particular area are fixed. When you are using a growth mindset, you believe that you can improve, learn, and build upon your current abilities.

While reading Dweck’s best-selling book, Mindset, I found it interesting that the same person can have a growth mindset in one area and a fixed mindset in another.

In other words, your identity and beliefs play a role in your habits and if you’re looking to create a new identity, you have to cast a vote for that identity. As I have covered before, the best way to improve your abilities and skills is through deliberate practice.

The Elements of Environment

The second factor in Lewin’s Equation, environment, can often seem like something that happens to us rather than something we have control over. It can be difficult to change where you work, who you’re surrounded by, and where you live. That said, there are actually quite a few strategies that you can use to adjust your environment and build better habits.

First, you can do what BJ Fogg calls “designing for laziness.” Fogg wanted to reduce the amount of popcorn he ate, so he took the bag of popcorn out of his kitchen, climbed the ladder in his garage, and put the popcorn on the highest shelf. If he really wanted popcorn, he could always go to the garage, get the ladder, and climb up to get it. But his default decision when he was feeling lazy would be to make a better choice. By designing his environment for laziness, Fogg made it easier to stick with healthier habits. I have mentioned a variety of other ways you can design for laziness in this article.

Second, the physical space you live in and the arrangement of the things you come across can dramatically alter your behavior. For example, in his book Nudge, Richard Thaler talks about how grocery store products on shelves at eye level get purchased more than those down by the floor. Researchers Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein conducted a study that revealed dramatic differences in organ donation rates based simply on two different types of forms that were passed out. Finally, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston discovered that they could instantly increase the amount of water people drank and decrease the amount of soda they drank simply by rearranging the way drinks were displayed in the cafeteria. This concept, which is known as choice architecture, refers to your ability to structure the physical space around you to prime good choices.

Third, we have the digital environment. There are a wide range of digital triggers that prompt our behavior. When Facebook notifies you of a new action, you’re prompted to log back on. When someone emails you, you are prompted to respond. These digital triggers are simple ways of building habit-forming behaviors in online products and services. In many cases, these digital triggers become distractions that take you away from the work and habits that are actually important to you. As much as possible, I prefer to combat this distraction by simplifying and eliminating everything that isn’t necessary. Another option is to use a service like Freedom to reduce procrastination and distraction.

Behavior, the Person, and the Environment

Changing your behavior and sticking to new habits can be hard. No doubt about it. Thankfully, Lewin’s Equation keeps things simple.

B = f(P,E). Behavior is a function of the Person in their Environment.

Improve yourself and adjust your environment to make good habits easier and bad habits harder. If you can do those two things, sticking with better habits will be much easier.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources

Lewin’s Equation was originally published in Kurt Lewin’s 1936 book, Principles of Topological Psychology.

Thanks to my friend Nir Eyal for telling me about Lewin’s Equation, which led me down the path to this article.