James Clear's Blog, page 21

How to Change Your Beliefs and Stick to Your Goals for Good

In one of my very first articles, I discussed a concept called identity-based habits.

The basic idea is that the beliefs you have about yourself can drive your long-term behavior. Maybe you can trick yourself into going to the gym or eating healthy once or twice, but if you don’t shift your underlying identity, then it’s hard to stick with long-term changes.

Graphic by James Clear.

Most people start by focusing on performance and appearance-based goals like “I want to lose 20 pounds” or “I want to write a best-selling book.”

But these are surface level changes.

The root of behavior change and building better habits is your identity. Each action you perform is driven by the fundamental belief that it is possible. So if you change your identity (the type of person that you believe that you are), then it’s easier to change your actions.

This brings us to an interesting question. How do you build an identity that is in line with your goals? How can you actually change your beliefs and make it easier to stick with good habits for the long run?

How to Change Your Beliefs

The only way I know to shift the beliefs that you have about yourself and to build a stronger identity is to cast a vote for that identity with many, tiny actions.

Think of it this way…

Let’s say you want to become the type of person who never misses a workout. (If you believed that about yourself, how much easier would it be to get in shape?) Every time you choose to do a workout — even if it’s only 5 minutes — you’re casting a vote for this new identity in your mind. Every action is a vote for the type of person you want to become.

This is why I advocate starting with incredibly small actions (small votes still count!) and building consistency. Use the 2-Minute Rule to get started. Follow the Seinfeld Strategy to maintain consistency. Each actions becomes a small vote that tells your mind, “Hey, I believe this about myself.” And at some point, you actually will believe it.

Of course, it works the opposite way as well. Every time you choose to perform a bad habit, it’s a vote for that type of identity.

But here’s the interesting part…

As I mentioned in this article, research shows that making a mistake or missing a habit every now and then has no measurable impact on your long-term success. It doesn’t matter if you cast a few votes for a bad behavior or an unproductive habit. In any election, there are going to be votes for both sides.

Your goal isn’t to be perfect. Your goal is simply to win the majority of the time. And if you cast enough votes for the right identity, eventually the good behaviors will win out.

What Can We Learn From This?

Every time we participate in a ritual, we are expressing our beliefs, either verbally or more implicitly.

—Tony Schwartz

I find it useful to think about identity-based habits for a few reasons.

First, identity-based habits focus on you rather than your goals. It is surprisingly easy to achieve a goal and still not be happy with who you are as a person. Society pushes us to obsess over results: What are your goals? How busy are you? How successful have you become?

And while there is nothing wrong with achievement and improvement, it is also very easy to forget to ask yourself the more important questions: Who am I? What do I believe about myself? What do I want my identity to be?

Identity-based habits are one way to match your values and beliefs with the outcomes that you want in your life. (My 2014 Integrity Report was another attempt.)

Second, the idea of “casting votes for your identity” reveals how your daily actions add up over the long-term. Your actions drive your beliefs and each action you take is a vote for the type of person that you believe that you are. What beliefs are you expressing through your actions?

Third, this framework helps to remove the “All or Nothing” philosophy that can so easily wreck our progress. For some reason, we often think that if we fail to follow our exact plan step-by-step, then we have totally blown it. The truth is that it doesn’t work that way at all. If you make a mistake, remember that it’s just one vote. Be aware of the votes your casting and try to win the majority. Every action is a vote for your identity.

I’ve said many times that I don’t have all the answers. As always, I’m just learning as I go. If you know of other ways to change your beliefs and build a new identity, feel free to share.

Click here to leave a comment.

Stop Wasting Time on the Details and Commit to the Fundamentals

I was in the gym one day, training like usual, when my coach made an important observation. It didn’t take me long to see how this discovery applied to other areas of my life as well.

Here’s what happened.

We looked across the gym and saw someone performing lateral raises with dumbbells while standing on a Bosu ball. (Imagine someone flapping their arms like a bird while standing on a waterbed.)

My coach watched for a moment and then said, “Imagine how good you have to be for that exercise to be the thing that gets you to the next level.”

His point was that this person was focusing on an exercise that improved a few, tiny muscles in their body while ignoring the more important foundational movements. Even an Olympic athlete who had mastered the basic movements (squats, bench press, etc.) could not honestly look in the mirror and say, “You know what’s holding me back? I’m not doing enough lateral raises.”

In other words, the problem is that too many people waste time on the details before mastering the fundamentals. And I’d say the same in true outside of the gym as well.

The Courage to Master the Fundamentals

Everybody has the same basic body and needs, and we have to have the courage to train the fundamentals, the basics, at least 80% of the time. Sure, add some spice in there now and again, but focus on the basics.

—Dan John

Committing to the basics and mastering the fundamentals can be hard. And I get it. I’ve struggled to fall in love with boredom and focus on the basics many times.

For example, as an entrepreneur it is very easy for me to spend my days working on the details. Should I make a small tweak to my website design? Should I answer these 50 emails? Should I switch my payment processor so that I can save an extra 2 percent on fees?

All of these things have a place, but that place should not be at the top of my to-do list. Instead, my time would be better spent focusing on the fundamentals. For example, writing two really good articles each week.

Avoid the “Edge Cases”

In the words of my friend, Corbett Barr, people waste too much time debating edge cases. Edge cases are the what-ifs, the could-bes, the minor details — the things that might make a 2 percent difference, but mostly distract you from the real work that would make 80 percent of the difference.

If you’re considering a new diet, but you’re worried that you might not be able to stick with it when you go out with your friends on Thursday nights, then you’re worrying about an edge case. Thursday night isn’t going to make or break you. It’s the work you put in during the other 20 meals of the week that matters.
If you’re starting a business and you’re debating over business cards or shipping methods or a thousand other things that could delay you from finding your first paying customer, then you’re stuck on the edge cases. You can optimize later. Meanwhile, delaying this decision is bringing in exactly zero dollars.
If you’re trying to “get all of your ducks in a row” or figure out “the right way to do this” then you’re probably giving yourself an excuse to avoid the hard decisions. Research is only useful until it becomes a form of procrastination. In most cases, you’ll discover better answers by doing than by researching.

The greatest skill in any endeavor is doing the work. And for that reason, most people don’t need more time, more money, or better strategies. They just need to do the real work and master the basics.

Don’t Fear the Fundamentals

Most people avoid the fundamentals because they don’t have the guts to become great at them. When you eliminate everything that is unnecessary, there are no details to hide behind. You’re left with just the basics and whether or not you have mastered them.

It’s easier to tell people that you’re “working on a new strategy” or you’re “doing more research.” It’s hard to say, “I’m focusing on the basics, but I haven’t made much progress yet.”

Do you have the courage to simplify and become the best at the basics? Stop wasting time on the details that make the last 10% of difference.

What good is a lateral raise if you can’t do a proper press? What good is a fancy business logo if you haven’t found your first paying customer? What good is a better guitar if you haven’t built the habit of practicing each day?

Without the fundamentals, the details are useless.

I’m Using These 3 Simple Steps to Actually Stick with Good Habits

I have been trying a new strategy for building habits and it is working incredibly well. This strategy is remarkably easy and it is governed by three simple rules.

First I’ll tell you the three rules. Then, I’ll explain how I’m using this strategy and offer some other examples of how you can put these rules into practice.

Here’s how it works…

3 Rules For Actually Sticking to Good Habits

Here are the rules:

You have to start with a version of the habit that is incredibly easy for you. It must be so easy that you can’t say no to doing it and so easy that it is not difficult at all in the beginning.[1]
You have to increase your habit each day, but in an incredibly small way.[2]
Even after increasing your habit, all repetitions must remain easy. The total habit should be broken down into easier pieces if needed.

Now, let’s talk about what this looks like in real life. Here’s how I’m using these three rules.

The Pushup Habit

The more pushups I do, the leaner I get. For that reason, I recently decided to make pushups a daily habit. I decided to use the three rules I explained above to slowly and easily add more pushups to my routine.

The first day, I did 10 pushups, which only took 15 seconds or so. (Rule 1.)
The second day, I did 11 pushups. This was an very tiny improvement. (Rule 2.)
I’ve continued this pattern of adding 1 pushup per day, every single day. I did 21 this morning, which was still easy to do and took less than 30 seconds. (Rule 3.)

Once I get to higher numbers, I will break them up into smaller, easier sets. For example, to do 50 pushups, I might do three sets: 20, 20, 10. The next day, I’ll add one more and do 20, 20, 11.

There are few things are happening here.

First, because I started with a habit that was very easy in the beginning, I am building the capacity to do work. In other words, I’m focusing on volume first, which will allow me to handle the intensity of a bigger habit later.

Second, because I am increasing by a very tiny amount each day, my body is able to recover and grow. Meanwhile, if I had started with a difficult or more impressive habit, then I would have hindered my ability to adapt as the habit grew.

Third, because I am breaking the habit down into sets that are always easy, I am reducing the mental burden needed to accomplish the habit. In a way, these easy sets are simply fun to do and require very little motivation to finish.

And most important, I am focusing on actually performing the habit rather than worrying about the outcome. I developing the skill of being consistent and that is a skill that is valuable in nearly every area of life.

How Can You Use This in Real Life?

Here are some other ways you can use this strategy to build new habits.

Meditation. Wish you would meditate consistently and be more mindful?

On day one, you’ll meditate for 60 seconds.
On day two, you’ll meditate for 70 seconds.
Continue this pattern, until you get to an amount of time that satisfies you or is too long to do at once. For example, 10 minutes of meditation might feel like a lot. Once you get to this point, break up your sessions into easier blocks. For example, meditate for 5 minutes in the morning and then 5 minutes in the evening.

Walking. Get a device that can measure the amount of steps you take in a day (a pedometer, FitBit, app on your phone, etc.)

On day one, you’ll walk 1,000 steps, which most people already do each day.
On day two, you’ll add 100 steps and walk a total of 1,100 steps. An additional 100 steps could be walking down to your mailbox and back — not far at all.
Continue this pattern until walking more each day becomes time prohibitive. Let’s say that this point is 10,000 steps in a day. At this point, you may want to break up your walking time into shorter jogging sessions.

Reading. Wish you were reading more books?

On day one, you’ll read for one minute.
On day two, you’ll read for two minutes.
Continue this pattern until you’re reading for a period of time that either satisfies you or is too long to do at once. For example, maybe reading for more than 20 minutes at a time is a stretch for you. If you want to read for 30 minutes, you can simply break it down into smaller 10 minutes blocks.

Flossing. Not in the habit of flossing?

On day one, floss just one tooth. You are not allowed to floss two teeth. (Hat tip to BJ Fogg.)
On day two, floss two teeth.
Continue this pattern. After one month, you’ll be flossing all of your teeth each day.

Do Small Habits Actually Amount to Anything?

I know these small gains can seem almost meaningless, especially in the beginning. But small habits can actually deliver incredible progress very quickly.

If you performed the examples I listed above for one month, here’s what would happen.

If you started with 10 pushups and added 1 per day, you would do 775 pushups in 30 days.
If you started with 1 minute of reading and added 1 minute per day, you would have read for over 8 hours in 30 days (enough to finish a 400 page book every month).
If you started by walking 1,000 steps and added 100 per day, you would walk 77,500 steps (almost 39 miles) in 30 days.

Small, consistent progress adds up really fast.

Try the Three Rules for Yourself

These three rules for sticking to good habits are simple, but they work.

Here they are again:

You have to start with a version of the habit that is incredibly easy for you. It must be so easy that you can’t say no to doing it and so easy that it is not difficult at all in the beginning.
You have to increase your habit each day, but in an incredibly small way.
Even after increasing your habit, all sets must remain easy. The total habit should be broken down into easier pieces if needed.

Give it a try and see what you think! As always, I’m open to any feedback or criticism. Sharing with one another helps us all grow and learn.

Click here to leave a comment.

Sources:

Thanks to Leo Babauta for his ideas on habits. It was through him that I first learned the phrase, “So easy you can’t say no.”
Thanks to Stanford professor BJ Fogg for his work on habits and in particular his Tiny Habits program, which originally laid out many of the steps in this post.

I’m Using These 3 Simple Steps to Actually Stick with Good Habits (You’ll Love Number 2)

I have been trying a new strategy for building habits and it is working incredibly well. This strategy is remarkably easy and it is governed by three simple rules.

First I’ll tell you the three rules. Then, I’ll explain how I’m using this strategy and offer some other examples of how you can put these rules into practice.

Here’s how it works…

3 Rules For Actually Sticking to Good Habits

Here are the rules:

You have to start with a version of the habit that is incredibly easy for you. It must be so easy that you can’t say no to doing it and so easy that it is not difficult at all in the beginning.
You have to increase your habit each day, but in an incredibly small way.
Even after increasing your habit, all repetitions must remain easy. The total habit should be broken down into easier pieces if needed.

Now, let’s talk about what this looks like in real life. Here’s how I’m using these three rules.

The Pushup Habit

The more pushups I do, the leaner I get. For that reason, I recently decided to make pushups a daily habit. I decided to use the three rules I explained above to slowly and easily add more pushups to my routine.

The first day, I did 10 pushups, which only took 15 seconds or so. (Rule 1.)
The second day, I did 11 pushups. This was an very tiny improvement. (Rule 2.)
I’ve continued this pattern of adding 1 pushup per day, every single day. I did 21 this morning, which was still easy to do and took less than 30 seconds. (Rule 3.)

Once I get to higher numbers, I will break them up into smaller, easier sets. For example, to do 50 pushups, I might do three sets: 20, 20, 10. The next day, I’ll add one more and do 20, 20, 11.

There are few things are happening here.

First, because I started with a habit that was very easy in the beginning, I am building the capacity to do work. In other words, I’m focusing on volume first, which will allow me to handle the intensity of a bigger habit later.

Second, because I am increasing by a very tiny amount each day, my body is able to recover and grow. Meanwhile, if I had started with a difficult or more impressive habit, then I would have hindered my ability to adapt as the habit grew.

Third, because I am breaking the habit down into sets that are always easy, I am reducing the mental burden needed to accomplish the habit. In a way, these easy sets are simply fun to do and require very little motivation to finish.

And most important, I am focusing on actually performing the habit rather than worrying about the outcome. I developing the skill of being consistent and that is a skill that is valuable in nearly every area of life.

How Can You Use This in Real Life?

Here are some other ways you can use this strategy to build new habits.

Meditation. Wish you would meditate consistently and be more mindful?

On day one, you’ll meditate for 60 seconds.
On day two, you’ll meditate for 70 seconds.
Continue this pattern, until you get to an amount of time that satisfies you or is too long to do at once. For example, 10 minutes of meditation might feel like a lot. Once you get to this point, break up your sessions into easier blocks. For example, meditate for 5 minutes in the morning and then 5 minutes in the evening.

Walking. Get a device that can measure the amount of steps you take in a day (a pedometer, FitBit, app on your phone, etc.)

On day one, you’ll walk 1,000 steps, which most people already do each day.
On day two, you’ll add 100 steps and walk a total of 1,100 steps. An additional 100 steps could be walking down to your mailbox and back — not far at all.
Continue this pattern until walking more each day becomes time prohibitive. Let’s say that this point is 10,000 steps in a day. At this point, you may want to break up your walking time into shorter jogging sessions.

Reading. Wish you were reading more books?

On day one, you’ll read for one minute.
On day two, you’ll read for two minutes.
Continue this pattern until you’re reading for a period of time that either satisfies you or is too long to do at once. For example, maybe reading for more than 20 minutes at a time is a stretch for you. If you want to read for 30 minutes, you can simply break it down into smaller 10 minutes blocks.

Flossing. Not in the habit of flossing?

On day one, floss just one tooth. You are not allowed to floss two teeth. (Hat tip to BJ Fogg.)
On day two, floss two teeth.
Continue this pattern. After one month, you’ll be flossing all of your teeth each day.

Do Small Habits Actually Amount to Anything?

I know these small gains can seem almost meaningless, especially in the beginning. But small habits can actually deliver incredible progress very quickly.

If you performed the examples I listed above for one month, here’s what would happen.

If you started with 10 pushups and added 1 per day, you would do 775 pushups in 30 days.
If you started with 1 minute of reading and added 1 minute per day, you would have read for over 8 hours in 30 days (enough to finish a 400 page book every month).
If you started by walking 1,000 steps and added 100 per day, you would walk 77,500 steps (almost 39 miles) in 30 days.

Small, consistent progress adds up really fast.

Try the Three Rules for Yourself

These three rules for sticking to good habits are simple, but they work.

Here they are again:

You have to start with a version of the habit that is incredibly easy for you. It must be so easy that you can’t say no to doing it and so easy that it is not difficult at all in the beginning.
You have to increase your habit each day, but in an incredibly small way.
Even after increasing your habit, all sets must remain easy. The total habit should be broken down into easier pieces if needed.

Give it a try and see what you think! As always, I’m open to any feedback or criticism. Sharing with one another helps us all grow and learn.

Click here to leave a comment.

2014 Integrity Report

Today I am publishing my first Integrity Report, which will explain the steps I’m taking to set a higher standard, lead with honesty, and build a business that serves first.

My hope is that my Integrity Report will become a yearly ritual that forces me to think about how I am living out my values in real life and pushes me to serve you in a better way.

There are 3 questions that I’m going to answer in my Integrity Report (feel free to use these for your own integrity report if you want).

What are the core values that drive my life?
How am I living and working with integrity right now?
How can I set a higher standard and lead with more integrity in the future?

Here we go…

1. What are the core values that drive my life?

Here are my core values and some questions that I use to think more deeply about each area.

Growth (Learning, Adventure, and Taking Action)

Am I learning and improving? Am I seeking adventure and exploration?
Am I setting a higher standard in my work and my life?
Am I taking action on the things that are important to me?

Self-Respect (Authenticity, Balance, Happiness)

Am I living a balanced life?
Am I living authentically?
Am I giving myself permission to be happy with who I am right now?

Servant Leadership (Community, Happiness, Responsibility)

Am I bringing people together?
Am I making the world a happier place?
Am I empowering others to be leaders and tell their own story?

Resiliency (Grit, Toughness, Perseverance)

Am I mentally and physically strong?
Am I someone who perseveres through difficulty and challenge?
Am I someone others can count on? Am I reliable and dependable?

2. How am I living and working with integrity right now?

Here are some choices and changes I made over the past year to lead with more integrity.

Choosing service over profit. I believe that your impact can only be as great as your willingness to serve. From the very beginning, I have said that my work on JamesClear.com is focused on the mission first, and the business second. I do have workshops for sale (here) and I am working on my first book, but I have committed to avoiding decisions that are based purely on monetary motivation.

I think I have done a good job of this so far. Since November 2012, I have written 137 articles, answered more than 10,000 emails from readers, and responded to thousands of messages on Facebook and Twitter — all for free as a form of service.

Setting clear expectations and being dependable. Integrity is closely related to trust and it’s hard to trust someone if you never know what you’re going to get. I work very hard to set clear expectations and deliver on those expectations over and over again. For example, from the moment someone joins my free newsletter, I explain that they will receive new articles from me every Monday and Thursday (i.e. setting expectations). So far, I’ve only missed that schedule once in 16 months (i.e. reliability).

Putting the needs of the reader first. I believe that good website design is a form of service. For that reason, I have spent hundreds of hours tweaking my website to make things easier for the reader. Everything from the size of the font to the words used in the navigation to the spacing between paragraphs has been chosen to make the reading and browsing experience easier. Plus, I have eliminated all forms of distraction, advertising, and in-your-face marketing from my website (more details here).

Creating a bulletproof finance and tax strategy. I recently interviewed and hired a new accountant. He has more than 10 years of experience working with technology entrepreneurs and his team can provide additional services as my business continues to grow. This was an important shift for me because I know nothing about tax code and thus have a constant fear about filing taxes incorrectly. With this new team, I can be sure that the financial end of my business is operating with constant integrity.

3. How can I set a higher standard in the future?

Using more inclusive language in my articles. Many of the examples I use in my articles are men (Richard Branson, Jack LaLanne, Dave Brailsford, Dr. Seuss). I have made a small effort to share stories about inspiring women (J.K. Rowling and my friend Beck Tench), but I could do a much better job of using language that is inclusive and welcoming for every reader. As a general rule, I think female examples are underrepresented and I’d like to be one person who sets a higher standard for equality.

Empowering others to be leaders and tell their own story. When it comes to providing resources and ideas that help others succeed, my weekly articles are a solid start. But I believe this is a big area of improvement for me. There are many options, but here are two examples: 1) creating a full course that teaches everything I’ve learned about building a popular website so that others can use these strategies to share their message with the world, 2) hosting a week-long retreat where 50 future leaders could connect and learn strategies for turning their vision into a reality.

More rigorous standards for scientific research. As regular readers know, I often base my articles and ideas off of scientific research rather than random opinions. That said, not all research studies are of equal quality and many writers will often cite a study simply because it was published — even if it wasn’t conducted using quality research methods.

Reviewing many studies to verify their accuracy is a time intensive process, so I’m still wrestling with how to deal with this issue. For now, I have reached out to multiple organizations and researchers, which have provided me with their own decision trees and processes that they use to assess the strength of a particular study. I have also committed to covering issues that have been backed by a large body of scientific research rather than just one or two studies. My hope is that I can do the hard work for you and verify the accuracy of any scientific study that I quote or mention in my articles. If you have any additional ideas on how to check the quality of scientific research, please let me know.

Hiring a coach, editor, or mentor. It’s hard to coach yourself. Up until this point, I have done all of the research, writing, editing, and publishing of every article on this site. Because I see JamesClear.com as the home of my life’s work, I think it’s important that I do all of the writing. But I also know that elite writers like Malcolm Gladwell and Atul Gawande have a team of researchers, editors, and fact checkers making their work better. And that’s the standard of quality that I want to pursue. I have my eyes set on the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. These are places that have set the standard for quality writing and, although I’m not there yet, that’s the playing field I want to be on.

The Bottom Line

In my experience, catastrophic lapses of integrity are rare. The problems usually occur when we convince ourselves to make a series of small exceptions or “just this once” choices. After a while, the little exceptions add up and you find yourself in a place you would normally avoid.

The purpose of this report is to hold myself accountable to those small errors, avoid the tiny lapses in judgment, and force myself to raise the bar and lead through action.

I still have a long way to go, but if I can maintain the things that are going well and commit to one or two areas of improvement, then I should be able to deliver an even higher quality of work to you each week.

In the meantime, thanks for reading and being part of our worldwide family. It’s great to have you here.

Click here to leave a comment.

What I’m Reading: Hooked Edition

Welcome to another edition of my reading list!

Each week, I try to write useful articles on topics like psychology and habit formation, medicine and health, and science and entrepreneurship. Where do I get many of these ideas? By reading books written by people who are smarter than me.

Because of that, I love to share some of the better books I’ve been reading — and get suggestions from you, of course!

And with that said, here’s what I’ve been reading recently.

Hooked by Nir Eyal

Nir Eyal is a successful entrepreneur and has spent years studying how businesses use behavioral techniques to form habits in their customers. In this book, he covers practical ideas for “building products people love” and “creating user habits that stick.”

As an entrepreneur, I found the book fascinating and had multiple notes written within the first few pages. But — and this is why I added it to my reading list — I think it’s just as useful for the everyday person. What Eyal really covers is how our environment shapes our behavior (in the case of this book, he often references the digital environment). I’ve written about the power of environment design and choice architecture before, so it’s no secret that I think environment changes can be a powerful way to shape behavior.

I also believe that any interested reader who reads this book — entrepreneur or otherwise — would discover multiple ideas for sticking to better habits and applying Eyal’s “hook model” to their everyday life. Obviously, entrepreneurs and business people will find it particularly useful. (Full disclosure: Nir Eyal is a friend of mine and he is also running a Habits Summit in San Francisco on March 25th.)

Amazon link: Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum

As I mentioned in my 2013 Annual Review, photography is a renewed focus for me this year. I’ve already completed my first photo trip to Morocco (see here and here).

And because of my renewed focus, I’ve been searching for fantastic photography books, mentors, and resources. The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum is one of the best I’ve found. (Another popular photographer said that Barnbaum’s book is “the best ever written on photography.” I haven’t read them all, so I won’t make that claim, but it is excellent.)

In particular, Barnbaum’s points on simplicity resonated deeply with me and I think it certainly improved my photography in Morocco. More generally, Barnbaum does an excellent job of demystifying the magic behind a beautiful photo. So often you’ll hear photographers say things like, “You just need to have the eye for it” or “Some people can see it and some people can’t.” I never enjoyed these answers because it makes photography seem like a mysterious talent that you’re born with rather than a skill you can improve and master. Barnbaum breaks down the skill in a way that makes it seem much more achievable without eliminating the magical feel of a great image.

This is a great book to start with if you’re interested in taking photography seriously.

Amazon link: The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Earlier this month, I shared a series of quotes and lessons from the famous Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Those quotes came from his book, which is filled with brilliant life philosophies, interesting insights on difficult questions, and practical strategies for dealing with the challenges that we all face along the path of life.

As far as we know, Aurelius wrote these ideas down for himself and had no intention of publishing the book. In a way, Meditations offers an inside look at the mind of the man who was both governing the Roman empire and struggling with the same issues that you and I do on a daily basis.

The book doesn’t follow any formal chapter structure and doesn’t flow well in parts, but I’m continually impressed by how applicable the advice is to my day-to-day life. Many of the ideas are just as applicable today as they were centuries ago.

Meditations was written almost 2,000 years ago — in Greek — so there have been many translations and different versions over the years. I prefer the translation by Gregory Hays, which I linked to below. That said, there are also many wonderful free versions online, which I also shared below.

Amazon link: Meditations (Hays Translation)

Free link: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

What Have You Been Reading?

I hope you’ll find those books as interesting and useful as I have.

But more importantly, what have you been reading recently?

Click here to leave a comment and share.

Photo Essay: The Ancient Tannery of Fez, Morocco

Each month, I publish a photo essay. My hope is to capture the essence of a particular location as I continue my pursuit of adventure and exploration, showcase the craftsmanship and creativity of people around the world, and learn from the rituals and routines of different cultures.

This photo essay is from Fez, Morocco. As always, all photos are my own.

Fez, Morocco Photos

I’ll start with this: I love Fez. If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend it.

The ancient part of the city, known as the medina, is like a criss-crossing maze of tiny alleyways and thousand-year-old streets. There is a surprise around every corner and a dizzying array of shops selling every item you could imagine. From the rooftop of any cafe in the medina, you’ll see thousands of homes, apartments, and riads stacked on top of one another.

Tucked away in these alleyways and hidden between the stacks of buildings are some unexpected surprises. One of those surprises is the Chouara Tannery. For hundreds of years, Fez has been known for its leather goods. Today, Chouara Tannery still runs a full leather production line using techniques that are largely unchanged from the 14th century.

The main portion of the tannery is composed of a series of dried earth pits, which are used to hold different colors of dye. Each color is derived from a natural sources like plants and trees: brown comes from cedar trees, red from poppy flowers, green from mint, blue from indigo, and yellow from saffron. These colors are used to dye the leather for different products.

The tanners begin by cleaning and shearing the animal skins. I actually saw two men pulling hair off of the skin by hand. The skins are then soaked in a mixture of pigeon feces and cow urine, which apparently removes animal fat and any remaining hair. (This is probably an appropriate time to mention that the tannery has a very distinct smell.)

After drying, the raw hides are then scraped, cleaned, and softened before soaking in the dye. From what I could tell, tanners would then separate the hides into large stacks based on the type of coloration each hide would receive.

After separating, the tanners would jump into a dye-filled pit and soak each piece of leather — sometimes dipping it by hand and other times jumping up and down on an entire stack of hides.

Eventually, after enough soaking, someone would come along, load up both arms with wet animal skins, and take them off to hang dry along the walls and roof of the tannery.

Want more?

Click here to view more photos from Morocco.

How to Eliminate Procrastination (The Surprising Strategy One Man Used)

In 2009, Fred Stutzman was a graduate student at the University of North Carolina and he was trying to grind out some important work on his thesis.

But there was a problem.

His favorite coffee shop, which had previously been a quiet sanctuary where he could escape distraction and get work done, had just added a new and very dangerous feature.

Wireless internet.

Now Stutzman found himself constantly distracted by the endless supply of entertainment and social media on the web — even if he really wanted to get something done. He tried disconnecting from the internet, but it wasn’t that simple. He was always clicking it back on to “take a break.” He was constantly fighting the urge to check his messages and updates.

Thankfully, Stutzman happened to be a programmer studying Information Science. When he went home that night, he decided to create a software program that would solve his problem.

The program was simple. You turned the application on, told it how long you wanted to focus, and it prevented your computer from going online for that amount of time. If you wanted to get back on before your time was up, you had to turn your computer completely off and reboot.

The program was called Freedom and not long after Stutzman created it, the application went viral. It was picked up by NPR, The Economist, The New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Time, and nearly every major news outlet you can imagine. More than 500,000 people downloaded it.

It seems that many people were struggling with online procrastination.

Why did Freedom work so well? And what can it teach us about sticking to better habits and mastering our willpower?

The Power of Decision Elimination

Making decisions over and over again will drain your willpower. This is true even if it’s the same, tiny decision — like constantly resisting the urge to check your email. (Another example: continually trying to follow a new, strict diet.)

You might be able to resist for 5 minutes or an hour or maybe even a week, but eventually, your willpower will begin to fade and you’ll give in. This is known as decision fatigue and in a previous article I discussed how it has a measurable impact on your willpower and the choices you make throughout any given day.

The Freedom app that Stutzman designed is effective not only because it prevents you from reaching the web, but also because it reduces decision fatigue. It eliminates your options and, as a result, doing the right thing becomes much easier. In other words, the application places a constraint on your behavior.

This brings us to an important point: constraints can make it easier to stick to good habits by eliminating the number of decisions you need to make to move forward.

Constraints are a Good Thing

People often say that they want options. When it comes to getting things done, however, options aren’t always a good thing. When everything is a possibility, it actually becomes harder to make the right choice (or any choice at all). This is the paradox of choice.

Meanwhile, when we place a constraint on ourselves, it can become much easier to get something done. This is especially true if it is a constraint that forces us to start small.

If you want to start exercising, set a rule for yourself where you are not allowed to exercise for more than 5 minutes. You have to stop exercising after 5 minutes. I talked with a reader named Mitch who used this strategy to make his first six weeks of exercise very easy and then gradually built up to doing more. He ended up losing over 100 pounds. (Nice work, Mitch!)
If you want to become more creative, you can use constraints to drive your creativity. For example, you could write a book by only using 50 different words. This is the strategy Dr. Seuss used to write Green Eggs and Ham. (Full story here.)
If you want to eat more vegetables, you could limit yourself to only one type of vegetable this week. By limiting the number of choices you have to make, it’s more likely that you’ll actually eat something healthy rather than get overwhelmed trying to figure out all of the details of the perfect diet.

We often think that we want an open road and the ability to choose any direction for ourselves. But sometimes, what we need is a tunnel that can reduce our choices and send us in a focused direction.

How you can eliminate the need to make the same decisions over and over again? How can you use constraints to drive your habits forward — even if it’s in a very small way?

P.S.

If you are interested in more strategies for increasing your willpower and sticking to better habits, I explain all sorts of techniques and the science behind them in my Habits Workshop.

Leadership at Scale (Why I Write)

Every Monday and Thursday for the past 16 months, I sat down in my chair, put my hands on the keyboard, and wrote a new article. Post after post. Week after week. Over 130 articles and counting.

Why do I do this each week? What keeps pulling me back to this habit?

Yes, I write for myself. (If you read an article that sounds like advice it’s usually a reminder to myself to do something more often.)
Sure, I write to get feedback, to learn more, and to clarify my thoughts. (If you’re confused or curious about something, write about it.)
And yes, I write to build a business. (See: my habits workshop or my first book, which I’m working on right now.)

But the more I do it, the more I am beginning to see writing as a form of leadership.

And not just that, writing is leadership at scale. I have come to realize that if I’m serious about making an impact with my work, about helping as many people as possible, and about putting a small dent in my corner of the universe — writing will carry my work and ideas further than just about anything else.

Leadership at Scale

Look at this article. There isn’t much to it. It is just a few words on a page.

But these words can be read by anyone, anywhere.

Last month, people from 205 different countries visited my little corner of the internet at JamesClear.com. Most people will be reading this in the United States (110,083 visitors last month), Canada, or the UK. But there are many other options too.

You could be reading from somewhere happy like Denmark (722 visitors last month), Costa Rica (109 visitors), or Bhutan (3 visitors).
You could be reading from somewhere dangerous like Iraq (42 visitors), Afghanistan (28 visitors), or Somalia (4 visitors).
You could be reading from somewhere with an amazing name. (Shout out to the 2 readers in Djibouti. Tell your friends!)

But wherever you are, we are connecting because I sat down and wrote these words and you’re reading them. That’s amazing, if you think about it.

In 10 years these words will still be here, waiting for whoever comes along. Writing has the power to inspire, to teach, to entertain, to lead, and to connect — and it can do those things long after the words have fluttered off my hands and onto the keyboard. I’ll never meet most of the people who read my articles. But they’ll know me through my words, and hopefully, the world will be slightly better because of it.

The Courage to Share

But, and this is the entire point of this article, these words could have easily never made it here.

For over a year, I didn’t have the courage to share my work. I wrote in a private document. I played it safe and tried to shield my words from criticism and judgment. Eventually, I decided that it was more important to contribute something to the world than it was to protect myself from criticism. I started to see being a writer as a way of being a leader by taking a stand for the things I believed in, sharing my mission, and rallying the people who believed the same things I believed.

We all have words inside of us — words that could change the world, words that could entertain and delight, words that could teach and improve — but these words can only unleash their power when shared. That’s why I write every week and it’s why I believe that the world needs more people to find the courage to make their work public.

Share your work. Share your writing. Make it public. Find a way to lead at scale.

 

Notes/References:

Thanks to Justin Jackson for inspiring this post with his fantastic article.

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

Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon in the 1950s when he began noticing a strange pattern among his patients.

When Dr. Maltz would perform an operation — like a nose job, for example — he found that it would take the patient about 21 days to get used to seeing their new face. Similarly, when a patient had an arm or a leg amputated, Maltz noticed that the patient would sense a phantom limb for about 21 days before adjusting to the new situation.

These experiences prompted Maltz to think about his own adjustment period to changes and new behaviors, and he noticed that it also took him about 21 days to form a new habit. Maltz wrote about these experiences and said, “These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell.”

In 1960, Maltz published that quote and his other thoughts on behavior change in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics. The book went on to become an blockbuster hit, selling more than 30 million copies.

And that’s when the problem started.

You see, in the decades that followed, Maltz’s work influenced nearly every major “self-help” professional from Zig Ziglar to Brian Tracy to Tony Robbins. And as more people recited Maltz’s story — like a very long game of “Telephone” — people began to forget that he said “a minimum of about 21 days” and shortened it to, “It takes 21 days to form a new habit.”

And that’s how society started spreading the common myth that it takes 21 days to form a new habit (or 30 days or some other magic number). It’s remarkable how often these timelines are quoted as statistical facts. Dangerous lesson: If enough people say something enough times, then everyone else starts to believe it.

It makes sense why the “21 Days” Myth would spread. It’s easy to understand. The time frame is short enough to be inspiring, but long enough to be believable. And who wouldn’t like the idea of changing your life in just three weeks?

But the problem is that Maltz was simply observing what was going on around him and wasn’t making a statement of fact. Furthermore, he made sure to say that this was the minimum amount of time needed to adapt to a new change.

So what’s the real answer? How long does it actually take to form a new habit? Is there any science to back this up? And what does all of this mean for you and me?

How Long it Really Takes to Build a New Habit

Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London. In a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Lally and her research team decided to figure out just how long it actually takes to form a habit.

The study examined the habits of 96 people over a 12-week period. Each person chose one new habit for the 12 weeks and reported each day on whether or not they did the behavior and how automatic the behavior felt.

Some people chose simple habits like “drinking a bottle of water with lunch.” Others chose more difficult tasks like “running for 15 minutes before dinner.” At the end of the 12 weeks, the researchers analyzed the data to determine how long it took each person to go from starting a new behavior to automatically doing it.

The answer?

On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances. In Lally’s study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit. [1]

In other words, if you want to set your expectations appropriately, the truth is that it will probably take you anywhere from two months to eight months to build a new behavior into your life — not 21 days.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that “missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process.” In other words, it doesn’t matter if you mess up every now and then. Building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.

Finding Inspiration in the Long Road

Before you let this dishearten you, let’s talk about three reasons why this research is actually inspiring.

First, there is no reason to get down on yourself if you try something for a few weeks and it doesn’t become a habit. It’s supposed to take longer than that! There is no need to judge yourself if you can’t master a behavior in 21 short days. Learn to love your 10 Years of Silence. Embrace the long, slow walk to greatness and focus on putting in your reps.

Second, you don’t have to be perfect. Making a mistake once or twice has no measurable impact on your long-term habits. This is why you should treat failure like a scientist, give yourself permission to make mistakes, and develop strategies for getting back on track quickly.

And third, embracing longer timelines can help us realize that habits are a process and not an event. All of the “21 Days” hype can make it really easy to think, “Oh, I’ll just do this and it’ll be done.” But habits never work that way. You have to embrace the process. You have to commit to the system.

Understanding this from the beginning makes it easier to manage your expectations and commit to making small, incremental improvements — rather than pressuring yourself into thinking that you have to do it all at once.

Where to Go From Here

At the end of the day, how long it takes to form a particular habit doesn’t really matter that much. Whether it takes 50 days or 500 days, you have to put in the work either way.

The only way to get to Day 500 is to start with Day 1. So forget about the number and focus on doing the work.

 

Notes

Even though the study only ran for 12 weeks, the researchers were able to use the data to estimate the longer timelines (like 254 days) to form habits. Again, the exact time depends on a variety of factors and isn’t nearly as important as the overall message: habits can take a long time to form.