James Clear answers “Which habits make the biggest impact on...”

Pamela Stewart asked this question about Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones:

Which habits make the biggest impact on long-term success? Is there a specific 'habit-stack' of the uber-successful individual? BTW I loved the book and enjoy your articles.

James Clear Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the book.

Obviously, the ideal list of habits differs for each person, but here's one way to think about it:

A successful per…moreThanks! Glad you enjoyed the book.

Obviously, the ideal list of habits differs for each person, but here's one way to think about it:

A successful person general has habits that help them do three things: 1) gain knowledge, 2) maintain energy, 3) maintain focus. If you have knowledge about your domain, the energy to act on that knowledge, and the focus to stay on task, then you can generally achieve some level of success in your field.

Knowledge habits:

- Reading
- Writing

Energy habits:

- Exercise
- Sleep
- Nutrition (I'm not as good at this one as I would like)

Focus habits:

- Leave your phone in another room while you work
- Work in a quiet environment
- Block social media and other distracting websites using tools like Freedom, Facebook News Feed Eradicator, and Distraction Free YouTube.

The exact tools and habits will change over time, but the general idea is to build habits that help you develop and maintain knowledge, energy, and focus.(less)

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