Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

by James Clear

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

People make a few small changes, fail to see a tangible result, and decide to stop.

A systems-first mentality provides the antidote. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running. And a system can be successful in many different forms, not just the one you first envision.

Dating

Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course. We often say yes to little requests because we are not clear enough about what we need to be doing instead.

If you want to make a habit a big part of your life, make the cue a big part of your environment.

people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, “disciplined” people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations.

Habits are automatic choices that influence the conscious decisions that follow.

Habits are the entry point, not the end point. They are the cab, not the gym.

Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.

Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.

it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.”

Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.

Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.

In chess, it is only after the basic movements of the pieces have become automatic that a player can focus on the next level of the game.