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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
James Clear
Read between
May 25 - June 13, 2020
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection.
You just need to practice it.
Neuroscientists call this long-term potentiation, which refers to the strengthening of connections between neurons in the brain based on recent patterns of activity.
repetition is a form of change.
Automaticity is the ability to perform a behavior without thinking about each step, which occurs when the nonconscious mind takes over.
“How long does it take to build a new habit?” But what people really should be asking is, “How many does it take to form a new habit?”
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It’s the frequency that makes the difference.
Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible.
The greater the obstacle—that is, the more difficult the habit—the more friction there is between you and your desired end state.
This is why it is crucial to make your habits so easy that you’ll do them even when you don’t feel like it.
One of the most effective ways to reduce the friction associated with your habits is to practice environment design.
If you look at the most habit-forming products, you’ll notice that one of the things these goods and services do best is remove little bits of friction from your life.
Business is a never-ending quest to deliver the same result in an easier fashion.
Want to exercise? Set out your workout clothes, shoes, gym bag, and water bottle ahead of time.
Important
Want to improve your diet? Chop up a ton of fruits and vegetables on weekends and pack them in containers, so you have easy access to healthy, ready-to-eat options during the week.
Important
When I delete social media apps from my phone, it can be weeks before I download them again and log in. These tricks are unlikely to curb a true addiction, but for many of us, a little bit of friction can be the difference between sticking with a good habit or sliding into a bad one.
Researchers estimate that 40 to 50 percent of our actions on any given day are done out of habit.
THE TWO-MINUTE RULE
When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon.
“When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start.
A new habit should not feel like a challenge.
The point is to master the habit of showing up.
If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details.
The secret is to always stay below the point where it feels like work.
Important
“The best way is to always stop when you are going good,”
You’re not worried about getting in shape. You’re focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts. You’re taking the smallest action that confirms the type of person you want to be.
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Sometimes success is less about making good habits easy and more about making bad habits hard.
The key is to change the task such that it requires more work to get out of the good habit than to get started on it.
Technology creates a level of convenience that enables you to act on your smallest whims and desires.
“It is a lot easier for people to adopt a product that provides a strong positive sensory signal, for example the mint taste of toothpaste, than it is to adopt a habit that does not provide pleasurable sensory feedback, like flossing one’s teeth. The marketing team at Procter & Gamble talked about trying to create a positive handwashing experience.”
Visual measurement comes in many forms: food journals, workout logs, loyalty punch cards, the progress bar on a software download, even the page numbers in a book. But perhaps the best way to measure your progress is with a habit tracker.
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Whenever this happens to me, I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice.
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If I miss one day, I try to get back into it as quickly as possible. Missing one workout happens, but I’m not going to miss two in a row.
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The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows.
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This is why the “bad” workouts are often the most important ones. Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days.
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it’s not always about what happens during the workout. It’s about being the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts.
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Going to the gym for five minutes may not improve your performance, but it reaffirms your identity.
We focus on working long hours instead of getting meaningful work done.
We care more about getting ten thousand steps than we do about being healthy.
We teach for standardized tests instead of emphasizing learning, curiosity,...
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In short, we optimize for what...
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In our data-driven world, we tend to overvalue numbers and undervalue anything ephemeral, soft, and difficult to quantify.
But just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing. And just because you can’t measure something doesn’t mean it’s not important at all.
If you’re not feeling motivated by the number on the scale, perhaps it’s time to focus on a different measurement—one that gives you more signals of progress.
THE GOLDILOCKS RULE
Important
Martin’s comedy career is an excellent example of the Goldilocks Rule in practice. Each year, he expanded his comedy routine—but
Once a habit has been established, however, it’s important to continue to advance in small ways. These little improvements and new challenges keep you engaged.
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They found that to achieve a state of flow, a task must be roughly 4 percent beyond your current ability.
Improvement requires a delicate balance. You need to regularly search for challenges that push you to your edge while continuing to make enough progress to stay motivated.
