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The Silent Cost of Bad Habits | James Clear

James Clear · 2h 13m · youtube.com ↗

16 korrents from this recording

1h2h
James Clear did not write this page.

Every claim below is a statement made in this recording, quoted word for word and linked to the second it was said, so you can hear it rather than take our word for it. The wording comes from the transcript published alongside the recording; the sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording.

  1. 0:01:34 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Habits stick because every repetition casts a vote for an identity, not because of the outcome any single repetition produces.

    Their wordsSo one of the core lessons of atomic habits is that every action you take is like a vote for the type of person you wish to become. So, when you show up at the gym today, you are casting a vote for being the type of person who doesn't miss workouts. When you sit down and make one sales call, you are casting a vote for being a salesperson. When you write one sentence, you are casting a vote for being a writer. And no, doing one push-up does not transform your body, but it does cast a vote for that identity.
    Interesting
  2. 2 min later

  3. 0:03:05 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Belief and behavior run in both directions, so the more reliable way to change what someone believes about themselves is to act first.

    Their wordsbehavior and belief is like two-way street. You know, what you believe will influence the actions that you take, but the actions that you take can also influence what you believe about yourself. And you know, every time you show up and do it in some small way, you prove to yourself a little bit, hey, maybe I am that kind of person. And so, my encouragement, my suggestion is to let the behavior lead the way.
    Interesting
  4. 1 min later

  5. 0:04:32 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Small changes only compound when they are oriented toward a larger outcome; otherwise they evaporate rather than accumulate.

    Their wordsare your small actions accumulating or are they evaporating? You know, are you doing small things each day that are oriented toward a larger outcome or are you doing small things each day that are just kind of like one-offs and don't really add up? In a lot of ways, I feel like the two time frames that matter most in life are 10 years and 1 hour
    Interesting
  6. 2 min later

  7. 0:06:20 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Effort that produces no visible improvement is being stored rather than wasted, because results arrive at a threshold instead of steadily.

    Their wordsthat work is not being wasted. It's just being stored. You know, it's kind of like complaining about heating an ice cube up a little bit and it not melting yet. It's like, well, you just haven't hit the phase transition. So, but that's where people give up.
    Interesting
  8. 5 min later

  9. 0:11:10 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The reliable method is to run many small experiments, commit fully to whatever works, and keep at it until it stops working.

    Their wordsTry a number of things, right? So, experiment with a number of things. Run a number of small experiments. Once you find something that works, double down on it and then keep doing it until it stops working, which is the step that a lot of people skip. Um, and then once it stops working, go back to the start and try a lot of small experiments again.
    Interesting
  10. 4 min later

  11. 0:15:19 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Behavior is governed by the surroundings, so a good habit only holds when it is the path of least resistance in the rooms a person occupies.

    Their wordsYou want to you want to be able to walk into the rooms that you're in each day, and the good habit is the path of least resistance. It's the easiest thing to do. And a lot of the time you walk into rooms and it's the distractions that are easier to do and you feel like you're swimming upstream and trying to fight your environment to make a change happen.
    Interesting
  12. 2 min later

  13. 0:17:26 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    A small amount of friction is enough to reshape a behavior, because most wants are not strong enough to survive a minor inconvenience.

    Their wordsAnd so many behaviors are like that. It's like, well, did you want it or not? You know, like in the one sense, you wanted it so bad that you would check it every 3 minutes when it was next to you, but in another sense, you never wanted it bad enough that you would work for 30 seconds and walk down the hall to get it. And so, a little bit of friction can sometimes go a long way in shaping a behavior.
    Interesting
  14. 54 min later

  15. 1:11:26 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    A habit is best understood as a recurring solution to a recurring problem in a person's environment.

    Their wordsThe one one that I like is that a habit is a recurring solution to a recurring problem in your environment. So something comes up again and again and your brain is trying to solve it. Another way to describe it is that it's like an automatic or a mindless behavior.
    Interesting
  16. 2 min later

  17. 1:13:31 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The cost of a good habit falls in the present and the cost of a bad habit falls in the future, which is what separates the two.

    Their wordsthe cost of your good habits is in the present. The cost of your bad habits is in the future. And so what you find is that a lot of things that typically get categorized as a bad habit, eating too many donuts or smoking a cigarette or something like that feels good in the moment, but it creates some kind of cost or consequence in the future.
    Interesting
  18. 4 min later

  19. 1:17:34 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    A habit only survives difficulty if the person enjoys it, which makes enjoyment a better predictor of persistence than discipline.

    Their wordsBecause if it's not fun, if it's not engaging or interesting, if it doesn't feel good, you're not going to stick with it when it gets tough. I mean, this is probably one of the great lessons for life, which is if you're having fun, then then you're dangerous, right? Then you're hard to compete with. You don't want to you don't want to go up against the person who's having a good time doing it because if it feels like a hassle or a chore, that's the person who gives up when it gets difficult.
    Interesting
  20. 2 min later

  21. 1:19:13 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Habits are built by making a behavior obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying, and broken by inverting each of those four.

    Their wordsSo, I call these the four laws of behavior change. Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying. And you don't need all four every single moment of the day or every habit that you build. But the more that you have those four forces working for you, the more likely you are to stick with it.
    Interesting
  22. 8 min later

  23. 1:26:50 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Working harder cannot beat working on a better thing, so out-thinking someone should count as part of out-working them.

    Their wordsBut you cannot outwork the person who's working on a better thing. And so um it is possible if you really grind maybe you can work 10% harder or 20% harder than you are now. But if you work on the right thing you get 100x of the results or thousandx the results. And so what you need I I almost feel like we should change the definition of what it means to work hard. It should not only mean putting in the hours. It should also mean outthinking the other person.
    Interesting
  24. 7 min later

  25. 1:34:05 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    A habit has to be established before it can be improved, so standardizing a behavior comes before optimizing it.

    Their wordsthis is a very deep truth about habits, which is a habit must be established before it can be improved. You know, it has to become the standard in your life before you can scale it up and optimize and turning it into something more. You need to standardize before you optimize.
    Interesting
  26. 21 min later

  27. 1:54:46 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Intensity produces a good story while consistency produces progress, and only consistency belongs to how a person actually lives.

    Their wordsIntensity makes for a good story. You know, it's like, oh, I went to a silent meditation retreat for a week, you know, or I um I ran a marathon. Um you know, we launched this product faster than any other had been launched or what, you know, intensity makes for a good story, but consistency makes progress.
    Interesting
  28. 3 min later

  29. 1:57:17 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    When accuracy and belonging conflict, most people take the belief that keeps them accepted by their community.

    Their wordsif you have to choose between, well, I could believe this thing and be ostracized or criticized or outcast from my community, or I could believe this other thing, which may not be that accurate, but it will get me praised and rewarded and accepted by my community. A lot of the time, the desire to belong overpowers the desire to understand.
    Interesting
  30. 1 min later

  31. 1:58:37 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The tighter someone clings to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it, so identity drives change and then blocks the next one.

    Their wordsthere's also a flip side to this or a dark side, a shadow side to identity, which is the tighter you cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it. And so once you have started to identify as a certain type of person, once you adopt that label, oh, I am a member of this group or I am the type of person who believes this thing, it becomes hard to stretch and grow outside of that.
    Interesting