James Clear

Author, weightlifter, and travel photographer in 25+ countries.

James Clear’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Time, and Entrepreneur, and on CBS This Morning, and is taught in colleges around the world. His website, jamesclear.com, receives millions of visitors each month, and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his email newsletter. He is the creator of The Habits Academy, the premier training platform for organizations and individuals that are interested in building better habits in life and work.

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Atomic Habits

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

by James Clear

James Clear has a super-popular website (jamesclear.com). Millions of people visit it every month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his email newsletter. After reading this book, I can see why. He’s a great writer and distills the essence of habit formation into, well, its fundamental components—the “atomic” structure if you will—while showing us how those TINY little incremental improvements add up to MIGHTY results. I rarely say a book is a must-read but this one’s as close as it gets. Big Ideas we explore include: The math behind 1% gains compounding over a year (and a decade!), navigating the Plateau of Latent Potential (ever given up on a habit? Take note!), the importance (and etymology) of our Identity (get this: it *literally* means 'repeated being ness'), The 4 Laws of Behavior Change (remember: cue + craving + response + reward and... make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying), and the Sorites Paradox (can a single habit change your life?).

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Algorithms & Habits

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Hint: Observe Trajectory Daily Choices Compounded for 20 Years

In our last couple +1s, we talked about the power of tiny little daily 1% Optimizations compounded over an extended period of time. (Let’s all take a moment and wave to our quadrillion angels. 😇) Today I want to go back to James Clear

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Habits & Self-Image

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Identity = “Repeated Beingness”

Continuing our quick tour through James Clear’s Atomic Habits, let’s talk about the importance of your Identity in

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Habits & Self-Image

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Whether You Think You Can or Think You Can’t…

In our last +1, we took a trip down Etymology Lane and learned that the word Identity has ancient Latin roots. It literally (!) means “repeated beingness.” Who you are, your sense of your self, is largely formed by what you do. Repeatedly. And… We discussed the idea that if we wa...

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Self-Image & Spartan Training

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Atomic Habits: Tiny = Mighty
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You, a Quadrillion Times Better

James Clear wrote a great book called Atomic Habits. One of the things I most love about it is the fact that he quantified our +1 game for us. 🤓

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Conquering Perfectionism & Habits

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The Plateau of Latent Potential
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An Important Concept to Understand

Continuing our series on the power of Atomic Habits, let’s look at why we often parachute off the Optimizing Jet (powered by Atomic-Habit fuel) right before things start getting interesting. James has...

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Greatest Year Ever & Habits

10000 Hours commitment compound greatest-year-ever Habits Mind productivity

Michael Phelps’ Golden Gene-Inseam
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Swim Gods and Your Destiny (Pool)

In our last +1, we took a nice stroll down Brian’s Biographical Byway—exploring the power of flipping Identity switches. (You make any distinctions? Flip any switches?) btw: That Seneca quote with which we wrapped up that +1 always knock...

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Purpose & Self-Image

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The 4 Laws of Behavior Change
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Make It: Obvious + Attractive + Easy + Satisfying

In our last number of +1s, we’ve been having fun swimming in and out of the Atomic Habits pool. Most recently, we had fun measuring Michael Phelps

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Habits & Willpower

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How to Build a Good Habit
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Easy as 1, 2, 3

In our last +1, we took a quick look at James Clear’s “4 Laws of Behavior Change.” I promised to help apply those laws to building a good habit and breaking a bad habit. We’ll build the good one today and break the bad one tomor...

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Habits & Meditation

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How to Break a Bad Habit
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Easy as 1, 2, 3

In our last +1, we had fun tweaking James Clear’s 4 Laws of Behavior Change as we applied The 3 Laws of Creating a Great Habit. Pop quiz!! a) You remember the 3 Laws? And… More importantly: b) D...

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Conquering Digital Addiction & Habits

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The Sorites Paradox
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How to Get a Big Heap of Golden (You) Coins

A little while back we had fun taking a quick tour through James Clear’s brilliant brain and equally brilliant book Atomic Habits. We forgot ...

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Abundance & Habits

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Growing Teeth
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“It’s Not Growing!” “Oh… There It Is!”

Not too long ago, Emerson lost his first tooth. As any parent of a missing-tooth child knows, it’s pretty epically cute and awesome. The tooth fairy might have visited and we celebrated the wonderful gap in his mouth. 😁 Fast forward a week or two. Emerson wonders why h...

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Conquering Procrastination & Habits

10000 Hours Conquering Procrastination Habits Mind Parenting productivity

You: Athlete + Scientist + Director
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The Personas of Habits + Mastery

In the Mastery component of our Optimize Coach program, we recently spent three weeks chatting about Algorithms. In Part 1 we focused on the Big Picture and how important it is to, as I like to say, use our Willpower wisely to install Habits that run on autopilot via Algorithms. (In many...

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Algorithms & Habits

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Pilot + Co-Pilot + Autopilot
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The Art and Science of Installing Good Habit-Algorithms

In our last couple +1s, we talked about Seneca’s wisdom on the importance of “fortifying our pertinacity” until our will to do the right thing becomes a disposition to doing the right thing. That’s basically EXACTLY what

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Algorithms & Habits

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Gains: Micro + Jumbo
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Aggregate/Compound + Combo Locks

In our last +1, we had fun hopping in the Optimizing River of Flexibility for a little CANOE-ing fun. (Constant And Never-ending Optimizing Experimentation for the (joyful!) win!!) Today I want...

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Algorithms & Sleep

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James Clear

Author, weightlifter, and travel photographer in 25+ countries.

PhilosophersNotes on James Clear's Books All PhilosophersNotes

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Want Better Habits? Start With Who #653 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Your Identity = ? #654 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Atomic Habits: Tiny = Mighty #649 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The Plateau of Latent Potential #652 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Michael Phelps’ Golden Gene-Inseam #655 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The 4 Laws of Behavior Change #656 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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How to Build a Good Habit #657 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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How to Break a Bad Habit #658 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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The Sorites Paradox #726 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Growing Teeth #841 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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You: Athlete + Scientist + Director #858 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Pilot + Co-Pilot + Autopilot #865 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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Gains: Micro + Jumbo #926 Get instant access to all +1's! Join nearly 10,000 members in the 1,000-Day Epic Optimizing Challenge and start optimizing your life today. Join Now

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How to Predict Where You’ll End Up in Life
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Want Better Habits? Start With Who
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Your Identity = ?
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Atomic Habits: Tiny = Mighty
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The Plateau of Latent Potential
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Michael Phelps’ Golden Gene-Inseam
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The 4 Laws of Behavior Change
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How to Build a Good Habit
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How to Break a Bad Habit
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The Sorites Paradox
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Growing Teeth
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You: Athlete + Scientist + Director
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Pilot + Co-Pilot + Autopilot
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Gains: Micro + Jumbo
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