Transform TRANSFORM 2nd Edition YOUR Habits Your HABITS is a free guide written by James Clear.

You are welcome to For share more itideas with on anyone how to youmaster think your it would habits, benefit. improve your performance, and boost your mental and physical health, you can visit JamesClear.com or join James Cle ar's 10 1. 2. The 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. How 9. And 10. Table Why THINGS science common to most Is free of reverse overcome develop design make get It importantly, Contents newsletter THIS So mistakes back of time big Hard your GUIDE your how a afor changes on stronger lack to your environment track bad most at WILL new Stick how of http://jamesclear.com/newsletter habits brain in people habits when TEACH motivation identity to your to put processes you Good and to YOU make (even life these make get stick and Habits? (and and without when off believe success ideas habits. to willpower. how course your 5 good overwhelming into The to in easier. life ones. avoid with Common yourself. practice gets your them). Mistake crazy). yourself. goals. in real Youlife. Want to Avoi d 6 The Science of How Your Habits Work 9 Identity-Based Habits: How to Actually Stick to Your Goals 17 The Best Way to Start Your New Habit 24 How to Fit New H abits Into Your Life 27 How to Make Big Changes Without Overwhelming Yourself 31 How to Get Back on Track After Slipping Up 34 How to Break a Bad Habit (and Rep lace Why It There's Eating Watching Showing Biting Smoking. seems Is itIt junk your With no up to TV So shortage to be food. instead nails. aaremarkably Hard Good job toof One) you Stick going unhealthy hate 39 easy to The to everyday. Good to Next the and fall Habits? gym. Step: unproductive intoWhere unhealthy to behaviors. Goroutines. From Here And we 45 all struggle But with why? them You from want time to live to time. a healthy, fulfilling, and remarkable life. And every now and then you probably get really motivated and inspired to make a change. So how come it is more likely that this time next year you'll be doing the same th ing I believe ratherthat thanit something is because better? we usually Why istry it to so make hard changes to stickin tothe good wrong habits? way. An d in this guide, I'm going to share a blend of science and real-world experience s that Let's The Your Common audacious get share started. Mistake a life better You goals strategy Want are tofabulous. for making Avoid Were long-term proud of changes you for in having your life. them. But its possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing thats real ly frightening youthe shift in daily habits that would mean a reinvention of how y ou seeGodin Seth Transformations yourself.and overnight successes get a lot of hype. (For good reason, who But wouldn't here'swant the problem: to be more when successful you hearin about lessatime?) dramatic transformation (like some one losing 100 pounds) or a incredible success story (like someone building a mi llion dollar business in 1 year), the only thing you know is the event that peop le are talking about. You don't hear anything about the process that came before It's it or easy about to let the these habitsincredible that led to stories the eventual trick you result. into doing too much, too soo n. I know I've done it. When you get motivated and inspired to take your life to the next level, it's so easy to get obsessed with the result. I need to lose 20 pounds (or 40 or 60 or 100). I need to squat 300 pounds (or 400 or 500). I need Or It's tothousands meditate natural to 3 days of other think per variations that week we(or need 5 the of or your 7). result, life goals. the transformation, the overnight Its success. so easy Butto that's overestimate not whatthe youimportance need. You of need one better defining habits. moment and underestima te the every Almost value habit of making thatbetter you have decisions good or on bad a daily isbasis. the result of many small decisio ns over time. And if this is true, if the problems youre facing now are the resul t of thousands of small decisions made over the course of years, then wouldnt it make sense that path to success, health, strength, joy, fulfillment, meaning, an d vitality And When yet, you become how would easily obsessed also webe forget through with this achieving thousands when a weresult of daily want to quickly, make decisions? a the change. only thing you thi nk about is how to get to your goal, and you forget to realize that our process for achieving goals is just as important as whether or not you achieve them at a ll. The desire to achieve results quickly fools you into thinking that the resul t ishere's But Becoming prize. the the type truth of person you want to become someone who lives by a stronger s tandard, someone who believes in themselves, someone who can be counted on by th e people that matter to them is about the daily process you follow and not the u ltimate Why is this product true? you Because achieve. your life today is essentially the sum of your habits. How successful What in happy you shape repeatedly or unhappy oror out unsuccessful of do you shape (i.e. are?what you Ayou result are? you are? Aof spend result A your result time ofthinking habits. of your your habits. habits. about and doing each d ay) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the persona litymost The thatcommon you portray. mistake that people make is setting their sights on an event, a transformation, an overnight success they want to achieve rather than focusing o n their I've been habits guilty and ofroutines. this just like everyone else. And even today, I'm still lear ningover But how time, to master I'vemy discovered habits just a helpful like you. blend of academic research and real-wor ld experiences that have allowed me to make progress in many areas of life. In t his guide, I want to share that progress with you so that you can avoid chasing another Let's The There Science get is overnight astarted simple of How3step success by Your talking Habits pattern andabout actually Work that the (The every stick science 3 R's habit toof your sticking Habit follows. goals Change) for to I call good thethis long-term. habits. pattern the Reminder 1. Routine 2. Reward 3. This 3 R's sequence (the of (the (the Habit benefit behavior trigger has Change been you that itself; proven gain and initiates it from the over goes action doing and like the over the behavior) you this... behavior) again take)by behavioral psychology resea rchers. I originally learned of this cycle from Stanford professor, BJ Fogg. And more recently, I read about it in Charles Duhiggs bestselling book, The Power of (Duhiggs book refers to the three steps as cue, routine, reward. Regardless of ho Habit. w it's phrased, the point is that there is a lot of science behind the process o f habit formation, and so we can be relatively confident that your habits follow Let theme same show cycle.) you what the 3 R's look like in real life by applying the framework to a One: Step typical Your habit. phone(In rings this (reminder). case, answering This is a the phone reminder call.) that initiates the b ehavior. The ring acts as a trigger or cue to tell you to answer the phone. It i s theTwo: Step prompt Youthat answer starts yourthe phone behavior. (routine). This is the actual behavior. When you r phone Step Three: rings, Youyou find have outawho habit is calling of answering (reward). it. The reward is the benefit gain

ed from doing the behavior. In this case, the reward for completing the habit wa s satisfying Result: If the your reward curiosity is positive, to findthen out the why cycle the other forms person a positive was calling feedback you. loop (i.e. Follow that When tells thisthe your same phone brain, cycle rings enough Next again, timeanswer times this and you'll reminder it.) stop happens, thinking do about the same it.thing. Your beha viorhabits All will just formbecome by theasame habit. 3step process. (Graphic based on Charles Duhiggs Habit Loop in The Power of Habit. Created by James Clear.) Howyou Heres Step If can 1:talk how you to Use use a Current your thisfriends structure Habit about as the to starting create Reminder new afor habits new Your habit, and Newthey actually One might stick tellto you them? that you need to exercise selfcontrol or that you need to find a new dose of willpowe I disagree. r. Getting motivated and trying to remember to do a new behavior is the exact wrong way to go about it. If you think about this, it makes sense. Sometimes you feel motivated and sometimes you don't, right? So why would you want to rely on moti vation (something that changes) to create a new habit (something that you want t o be is This consistent)? why the reminder the trigger for your new behavior is such a critical pa rt of forming new habits. A good reminder makes it easier for you to start your habit by encoding your new behavior in something that you already do, rather tha n relying For example, on I getting created motivated. a new habit of flossing each day by always doing it after brushing my teeth. The act of brushing my teeth was something that I already di d and To make itthings acted even as the easier trigger andor prevent cue tomyself do my from new behavior. having to remember to floss, I bought a bowl, placed it next to my toothbrush, and put a handful of premade fl ossers in Setting upit. a visible Now I see reminder the floss and linking every time my new I reach habit for with my a toothbrush. current behavior m adedoesnt How It it Choose to muchmatter easier Yourif toits Reminder change. working No need out or to eating be motivated. healthyNo orneed creating to remember. art, you cant exp ect yourself to magically stick to a new habit without setting up a system that makes it easier to start. And for that reason, picking the correct reminder for yourreminder The new habit that is you the choose first step to initiate to making your change new behavior easier. is specific to your l ife best The and the wayhabit I know that to discover you're trying a good toreminder create. for your new habit is to write d own two lists. In the first list, write down the things that you do each day wit hout For Youll Put example Brush Flush Sit Turn Get in your down into fail. the your the often the shoes for lights bed. toilet. shower. teeth. dinner. find on. off. that many of these items are daily health habits like washing yo ur face, drinking morning tea, brushing your teeth, and so on. Those actions can morning In These You A The act commercial song the stop get sun as events second ends. reminders tea, aat sets. text acan Ired comes list, meditate message. also for light. on write new TV. act for health down as 60 triggers seconds. the habits. things forFor that your example, happen new habit. After to you Foreach Iexample, drink day... myif you wa nted these With to When twoalists, commercial youll comes haveon a wide TV, Irange do five of things pushups. that you already do and a lready For example, respond lets to each say you day.want Those toare feel the happier. perfectExpressing reminders gratitude for new habits. is one prove n way to boost happiness. Using the list above, you could pick the reminder sit d own for dinner and use it as a cue to say one thing that youre grateful for today. Thats When Ithe sittype downof for small dinner, behavior I saythat one could thing blossom that Iminto grateful a more for grateful today.outlook on life Step Make 2: so it in easy Make general. Your you Habits cantIncredibly say no. Easy to Start Leo Babauta As I mentioned in the beginning of this guide, its incredibly easy to get caught up in the desire to make massive changes in your life. We watch incredible weigh t loss transformations and think that we need to lose 30 pounds in the next 4 we eks. We see elite athletes on TV and wish that we could run faster and jump high er tomorrow. Ive felt those We things want totoo, earnso more, I get doit. more, Andand in general, be more Iright applaud now. the enthusiasm. Im glad that you want great things for your life and I want to do what I can to help you achieve them. But its important to remember that lasting change is a pro duct If you ofwant daily tohabits, start anot newonce-in-a-lifetime habit and begin living transformations. healthier and happier, then I have one suggestion that I cannot emphasis enough: start small. In the words of Leo small? How Babauta, Stanford make it professor so easy BJ that Fogg yousuggests cant say that no. people who want to start flo ssing In thebegin beginning, by flossing performance only one doesnt tooth. matter. Just one. What does matter is becoming the typ e of person who always sticks to your new habit no matter how small or insignifi cant it seems. You can build up to the level of performance that you want once t he behavior Your homework: becomes Pick a consistent. new habit you want to start. Now ask yourself, How can I ma ke this Step Its 3: Always important new behavior Reward to celebrate. so Yourself easy (I to think do that thats I cant just say asno? true in life as it is with habi When it comes to sticking to better habits, there is an important reason to alwa ts.) ys reward And that is yourself: why itswe especially want to continue important doing thatthings you reward that yourself make us feel eachgood. time you p ractice For example, your if newIm habit. working towards a new fitness goal, then Ill often tell myself at you If the feel end of like a workout, it, you could That even was good tellday. yourself Or, Victory! Good job. or YouSuccess! made progress eachtoday. time you I Rewarding Floss Eat Do do havent five your a healthy one pushups. new done yourself tooth. habit. meal. this Victory! Good with myself, Success! work! positive but some selftalk peoplecan swear take bysome it. getting used to if youre n ot someone who typically does that. But even if it sounds silly, research has pr oven that the reward is an important part of the habit process. Give yourself so me credit Related note: and Make enjoysure eachthat small the success. habits you are trying to build are actually imp ortant to you. Its tough to find a reward in something when youre only doing it be cause you think other people expect it or would approve of it. It's your life, s

Now o make that sure we've you're covered spending the science your time of habit on things formation, that are let's important talk about to you. how to u se it covered Identity-Based We've in real the life. Habits: science Howof tohabit Actually formation. Stick to But Your in the Goals real Forworld, the Long-Term there is of ten a difference Whenever I write,between I do mytheory best to and not practice. merely share ideas backed by science, but also to highlight real-world lessons that make it easier for you to put those id eas into This is especially practice. important when it comes to building better habits. We all wan t to become better people stronger and healthier, more creative and more skilled , a better friend or family member. But even if we get really inspired and start doing things better, its tough to actually stick to new behaviors. Its more likel y that this time next year youll be doing the same thing than performing a new ha bit with you Luckily, ease. can use a strategy that I call identity-based habits to make change e asier Here's What My Recently, girlfriend Remembering and howshe stick it told works... is to Names great your me aat Can goals story remembering Teach over that You the happened About peoples long-term. Habits when names. she was in high school. She wen t to a large high school and it was the first day of class. Many of the students had never met before that day. The teacher went around the room and asked each person to introduce themselves. At the end, the teacher asked if anyone could re member My girlfriend everyones raised name. her hand and proceeded to go around the room and accurately name all 30 or so people. The rest of the room was stunned. The guy next to her She looked saidover thatand moment said, was Ian couldnt affirming even experience remember for yourher. name. After that happened sh e felt Even Heres today, like,I what she Im learned isthe great type from atthat of remembering person story: who In the is order goodto names at of believe remembering anyonein weacome peoples new across. identity, names. we h ave key Identity-Based The to prove to building itHabits: to ourselves. lasting How to habits Buildis Lasting focusing Habits on creating a new identity first. Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity. What y ou do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (eith er change To consciously your behavior or subconsciously). for good, you need to start believing new things about y Imagine how we typically set goals. We might start by saying I want to lose weigh ourself. t or I want to get stronger. If youre lucky, someone might say, Thats great, but you s hould So These Performance then beyou goals more say, are and specific. centered appearance I want around togoals loseour 20 performance are pounds great, but or I orwant they our arent to squat appearance. the same 300 pounds. as habits. If youre already doing a behavior, then these types of goals can help drive you for ward. But if youre trying to start a new behavior, then I think it would be far b etter The image to start belowwith shows anthe identitybased difference between goal. identitybased goals and performance and interior The appearancebased of behavior goals. change and building better habits is your identity. Eac h action you perform is driven by the fundamental belief that it is possible. So if you change your identity (the type of person that you believe that you are), The then reason its why easier its toso change hard to your stick actions. to new habits is that we often try to achieve a performance or appearancebased goal without changing our identity. Most of the time we try to achieve results before proving to ourselves that we have the ide ntity It The Changing should Recipe of your the be for type the beliefs Sustained other of person isnt way Success around. we wantas nearly tohard become. as you might think. There are two steps . Decide Prove 2. Note: 1. it I the cannot totype yourself emphasize of person withenough you want small wins. how to important be. it is to start with incredibly sma ll steps. The goal is not to achieve results at first, the goal is to become the For type example, of person a person who can who achieve works out those consistently things. is the type of person who can b ecome strong. Develop the identity of someone who works out first, and then move on to performance and appearance later. Start small and trust that the results will On the come next aspage, you develop you'll find a newfive identity. examples of how you can use identity-based ha bits in Example Identity: Small win: real 1: Become Want Buy life. ato the pedometer. lose type weight? ofWalk person 50 steps who moves whenmore you get every home day. from work. Tomorrow, walk 100 steps. The day after that, 150 steps. If you do this 5 days per week a nd add 50 steps each day, then by the end of the year, youll be walking over 10,0 00 steps2: Example Identity: per Become Want day. to the become type of a better personwriter? who writes 1,000 words every day. Small win: Example Identity: Write one 3:Become paragraph Want to the become each of type dayperson strong? this week. who never misses a workout. Small win: Do pu shups win: Example Identity: Small every 4:Become Want Call Monday, to one the be Wednesday, friend type a better of every person and friend? Saturday. Friday. who always If you stays repeat in touch. the same people every 3 Example Identity: Small months, win: 5: youll become Want to Schedule stay the be meetings close type taken of with seriously person with 12an old who additional at friends is work? always throughout 15minute on time.gap the between year. them so that What In you myis can experience, your go from identity? meeting when you towant meeting to become and always better show at something, up early. proving your iden tity to yourself is far more important than getting amazing results. This is esp ecially If you want trueto atget first. motivated and inspired, then feel free to watch a YouTube vid eo, listen to your favorite song, or try P90X. But dont be surprised if you burn out after a week. You cant rely on being motivated to make lasting changes in you r life. You have to become the type of person you want to be, and that starts wi th youre If provinglooking your new toidentity make a change, to yourself. then I say stop worrying about results and sta rt worrying about your identity. Become the type of person who can achieve the t hings you Strategies Combining Identity-based want habits to achieve. for offer Maximum Build a framework the habit Success through now. which The results to view can your come goals. later. The 3 R's of habit change provide a plan for achieving your new identity. Combining bo th other In of these words, ideas identity-based can make change habits easier keep for you you focused overall. on the right things: like starting small, building your identity, and not worrying about results. Meanwhi

le, the 3 R's of habit change make sure that you do things in the right way: lik e linking your new habit to a current behavior and rewarding yourself for a job well The If youre Best done. Way serious to Start about Your doing Newthings Habit better than you are now in other words, if yo u're serious Imagine the typical about sticking habits, good to good or bad: habits Brushing then your you have teeth. to Putting start small. your seatb elt on. These actions Bitingare your small nails. enough that you dont even think about them. You simply do Wouldnt them automatically. it make sense They that are iftiny we wanted actions tothat formbecome new habits, consistent the best patterns. way to start would be to make tiny changes that our brain could quickly learn and automatica lly repeat? What if you started thinking of your life goals, not as big, audacious things th at you can only achieve when the time is right or when you have better resources or when you finally catch your big break but instead as tiny, daily behaviors t hat are What if losing repeated 50until pounds success wasntbecomes dependent inevitable? on a researcher discovering the perfect diet or you finding a superhuman dose of willpower, but hinged on a series of ti ny habits that you could always control? Habits like walking for 20 minutes per day,often Too drinking we get 8 glasses obsessed ofwith water making per day, lifechanging eating twotransformations. meals instead ofIthree. believe you Losing would make 50 pounds more would progress be lifechanging, by focusing on drinking lifestyle8behaviors. glasses of water per day is a new Publishing type ofyour lifestyle. first book would be lifechanging, emailing a new book agent each day Running is aanew marathon type of would lifestyle. be lifechanging, running 3 days per week is a new type o f Earning lifestyle. an extra $20,000 each year would be lifechanging, working an extra 5 hour s Squatting per week100 as more a freelancer pounds would is a be newlifechanging, type of lifestyle. squatting 3 days per week is a n ewthink Do I typesee you of the the lifestyle. following difference? quote from BJ Fogg, a professor at Stanford University, su ms you If thisplant idea the up nicely. right seed in the right spot, it will grow without further coax ing.right The I believe seed this is the is the tiny best behavior metaphor that for you creating choose.habits. The right spot is the sequencin g what it comes after. The coaxing part is amping up motivation, which I think has nothing to do with creating habits. In fact, focusing on motivation as the key to habits Let me be more is exactly explicit: wrong. If you pick the right small behavior and sequence it ri ght, then you wont have to motivate yourself to have it grow. It will just happen BJ How The naturally, Fogg isapproach great typical like that? a good is to seed dive planted into the in adeep goodend spot. as soon as you get a dose of m otivation, only to fail quickly and wish you had more willpower as your new habi t drowns. The new approach is to wade into the shallow water, slowly going deepe r until Daily habits you reach tiny the routines point where that are you repeatable can swim whether are what youre make motivated big dreams or not. a realit y. Dream How to Fit big, Newbut Habits start Into small. Your Life Knowing how to make changes is one thing, but fitting new goals into your life i s something Making changes else isentirely. tough. Whenever your schedule get crazy, the inertia of life c an pull How can you overcome away fromthis yourtendency goals and toright fall off backcourse into your and make old habits. time for new goal s in your Using the strategies schedule? already mentioned in this guide like the 3 R's of habit cha nge those But and identity-based strategies aren't habits the only will tools help keep at your you disposal. on track. In this section, I' ll share another way to stick to good habits that doesn't require incredible dos es of willpower or remarkable motivation. I'll also share two examples of how I' ve youre The If used Problem this anything With strategy How like We successfully Usually the typical Setin Goals human, my own then life. you have dreams and goals in your life. In fact, there are probably many things large and small that you would lik e to accomplish. Thats great, but there is one common mistake we often make when it comes to setti ng focus The We goals. problem on (Ithe is know this: end Ive goal wecommitted set that a we deadline, this to want error but achieve manyaand not times schedule. the myself.) deadline we want to do it by. We say things like, I want to lose 20 pounds by the summer or I want to add 50 pounds The problem towith my bench this strategy press in is thethat nextif 12we weeks. dont achieve the arbitrary timeline that we set in the beginning, then we feel like a failure even if we are better off than we were at the start. The end result, sadly, is that we often give up i f we Heres The In my Power dont experience, theof reach good Setting news: our a better goal a theres Schedule, by way the ato better initial Not approach a Deadline way deadline. and its your goals simple. and build good habits is t o set a of Instead schedule givingto yourself operateaby deadline rather to than accomplish a deadline a particular to perform goal by. by (and th en feeling like a failure if you dont achieve it), you should choose a goal that is important That The Most Idea might of the innot Practice time, tosound you I try and like then to abe big set a practitioner shift, a schedule but it to of is. work my ideas towards andit not consistently. just someone wh o shares their opinion, so allow me to explain this strategy by using two real e xamples Example I publish from 1: aWriting new my article own life. every Monday and Thursday. Since my first article on Nov ember 12, 2012, Ive been delivering two articles per week, every week. Sometimes the article is shorter than expected, sometimes its not as compelling as I had ho ped, and sometimes its not as useful as it could be but it gets out to the world Of course, I didn't always operate on a Monday-Thursday schedule. In fact, I cam nonetheless. e up with reasons for actively avoiding a schedule. I told myself, I do my best w riting I assumed when that I'mif inspired, I wasn'tso doing I'llmy just best wait work, until then I I get shouldn't the urgebe todoing write. it at a ll.took It The me problem awhile with to realize that strategy it, but isit's thatnot my about outputalways was erratic doing your at best. best work, Once it'sIabout stopped doing focusing the best on results you can and on asimply consistent held myself basis. to a consistent schedu

le, my work and my output improved. In the first 6 months after I started writin g two times per week, I wrote more in quantity and better in quality than in the It previous doesn'ttwo matter years. what you're doing, if you only work when you feel motivated, t henAugust Example In you'll 2:2012, neverIbe Exercise decided consistent that I enough wanted toto make do 100 significant pushups in impact a row onwith yourstrict life. f orm. In the When past, I tried I might it have the first set atime, deadline I only forgot myself: 36. Do 100 pushups by December 3 This time, I decided to set a schedule for my workouts. I started doing pushup w 1st. orkouts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There was no total pushup goal for any single workout. The goal is simply to do the workout. (Just like there is no single goal for any one article I write. The goal is simply to write the articl I'm still on my way to 100 consecutive pushups (my current best is 80 in a row), e.) but in the 9 months that have followed since I began, I have kept my Monday, We dnesday, Focus Do youon see Friday the how Practice, the schedule two examples Not and the completed Performance above are over different 100 pushup than workouts. most goals we set for o In both cases (writing and exercise), I made consistent progress towards my goal urselves? s not by setting a deadline for my performance, but by sticking to a schedule. T he you If focus want is to on be doing thethe type action, of person not who on achieving accomplishes X goal things by aon certain a consistent date. bas is, a How I'm then to big Make give proponent Big yourself Changes of doing aWithout schedule oneOverwhelming thing to follow, at a time. not aThere Yourself deadline is ato mountain race towards. of scienti fic research showing that multi-tasking and dividing your attention is less prod uctive But what than if you staying wantfocused to change on multiple a single things goal. in your life? What if you want to Well, get better I've got at good more news. than one Thanks thing tokeystone and you want habits to do you itcan right actually now? focus on a si ngle thing Let's talk about and improve what keystone your life habits in multiple are andareas how you at can the use samethem time. in your life. A The keystone Power of habit Keystone is a behavior Habits or routine that naturally pulls the rest of your life I first in heard order.about this idea in Charles Duhiggs book, The Power of Habit. When I started looking at my own life, I began to notice a few routines that led to be tterexample, For When behaviors I work out, a funny elsewhere. I want thing to eat happens better. whenEven I lift though weights... I could reward myself with ch ocolate When I start bars working and ice after cream,exercising, I feel likeIeating seem to healthy, be moreunprocessed productive.foods. My mind is clearer And at the andend my of writing the day, is crisper. I fall asleep Thoughts quickly. flow easily. I tend to sleep more and feel fresh And when when I don't I wakeexercise, up. I see the opposite effect. I'm more prone to eating j unk food. I stay up later, get distracted more easily, and I waste time on unimp ortant In other tasks. words, Stress fitness builds is the andkeystone I start habit to feel that tension puts the in my rest back. of my life in p lace. I dont have to think about eating better. I dont have to force myself to foc us on Im not getting alwaysthings on topdone. of my game, but on the days I train everything seems to come What Improving a little Are Your bit Keystone your easier. lifestyle Exercise Habits? and becoming naturally thepushes type of meperson towards who myhas besttheir self.act togeth er isnt nearly as hard as you might think. In fact, you might need just one keysto ne you If habit have before multiple the dominoes things that start you falling would like everywhere. to improve, imagine how much eas ier it would be for you to do if you discovered one or two keystone habits that naturally The What For good me, is it the news? put is one you working You thing on probably the that out. path already Meanwhile, when to success. you know do it other what your people theseswear day behaviors seems by ato are morning gofor more you. run. smoothly? And y ou'll find dozens of CEOs who claim their daily meditation habit is the key to t heir No matter success. what your keystone habit is, it is worth your time to focus on it and do more of it. The right habit, when done consistently, can impact your life in manyto How Habit ways. formation Get Back hinges on Track onAfter your ability Slippingto Upbounce back. There will always be inst ances But small whenhiccups following dont your make regular you aroutine failure, isthey basically make you impossible. human. The most successf ul people in the world slip up on their habits too. What separates them isnt thei r ability The important to avoid thingmistakes, to realize its is that theirthe ability best strategy to get back isn't on to track avoid quickly. failure, it's to plan for it. Using the 4 strategies below, you can plan for chaos and dev elop 1. Claiming Put a your strategy that habits you for want on getting your to accomplish calendar. back on track vaguebefore goals (i.e. you get Ioff want course. to eat healthier) do esn'tto Your Want habits give getyour needmind back a time on track a clear and with place schedule your towriting live to operate inschedule? yourby. life. 9am on Monday morning. But t in to Want chair. exercise? Hands Give on keyboard. yourselfThats a timewhen and place this is that happening. it needs to happen. 6pm ev ery bottom The Monday,line Wednesday, is this: and itFriday. might be Ill nice see toyou tell inyourself the gym.that youre going to ch ange, but getting specific makes it real and gives you a reason and a reminder t o getis Soon back noton a time trackand whenever some is you not slip a number. up. When and where, exactly, are you go ing to do this? Do you have a system in place to automatically remind you to do your new Note: Another habit? way to automatically remind yourself is by tying your new habit to a 2. Its current Stick not the behavior. to your individual schedule, For more impact even on of this, inslipping small go back ways. upand that read is a Chapter big deal. 2. Its the cumulativ e impact of never getting back on track. (i.e. If you miss one workout, you won' t suddenly For that reason, be outits of shape, critical butto missing stick to 3 weeks your schedule, will make even a difference.) if its only in a ver y Dont small have way. enough time to go write do a full yoga? on an Take vacation? article? workout? ten Give Write seconds Just yourself squat. a paragraph. to breathe. a minibreak and drive to th e neighboring Find a way to stick town. to the schedule, no matter how small it is. Here's another e Lets say you woke up today with the intention of running 3 miles this afternoon. xample... During the day, your schedule got crazy and time started to get away from you. W henthis At The you point, first look option upyou at ishave the to say, clock, two Twenty options. you only minutes have isn't 20 minutes enough totime workout. to change my clothes

, put on my running shoes, and workout. At this point, you'll probably convince y ourself that your time is better spent getting caught up on emails or making a p hone is This call what you've I would beenusually puttinghave off done or in a thousand the pastother getalternatives. pressed for time and come The up second with a option good reason is tofor reduce not the working scope, outbut at stick all. to the schedule. You could t ell yourself, Twenty minutes isn't enough time to get changed and run 3 miles, bu t it On a daily is enough basis, time the toimpact put onof mydoing shoesfive and sprints run 5 sprints. isnt that significant, especia lly when you had planned to run 3 miles. But the cumulative impact of always sta ying on schedule Furthermore, thisis strategy huge. allows you to prove to yourself that you can get some thing done even when the situation isn't ideal. Its the cumulative impact of alwa ys sticking to your schedule that will carry you to longterm success. Thats how li ttle 3. Ive Have goals been someone on become many who lifetime teams expects throughout habits. something my athletic of you. career. You know what happens when you have friends, teammates, and coaches expecting you to be at practice? You sh ow up. The good news is that you dont have to be on a team to make this work. Talk to st rangers and make friends in the gym. Simply knowing that a familiar face expects Important: to see youIf can you bedont enough feel to like get you youto have show anyone up. who expects you to achieve your goals, then contact me. Ill give you my number and text you whenever you need a r eminder. 4. If Design you think Iyour want that environment you you toneed achieve for success. more your motivation goals and or more Im here willpower to help tohowever stick to I your can. go als, of Most then usIacknowledge have good news. that the You people dont. who surround us influence our behaviors, but the connection between the items that surround us and our behaviors is less The truth is that the signs you read, the things that are on your desk at work, obvious. the pictures hanging on your wall at home are all pieces of your environment tha t can trigger you to take different actions regardless of how motivated you feel . When I wanted to start flossing consistently, one of the most useful changes I m ade was taking the floss out of the drawer and keeping it next to my toothbrush on the counter. It sounds like a silly thing to focus on, but the visual cue of seeing the floss every time I brushed my teeth meant that I didnt have to remembe r to this With pull simple it out environment of the drawer. change, I made it easy to do the new habit and I di dnt need Develop Change can a Plan more be hard. willpower for Bouncing In the orbeginning, motivationyour Back to do healthy it. habits might take two steps f orward and one step back. Anticipating those backward steps and developing a pla n for How We've tocovered getting Break aa back Bad lotHabit on oftrack information (and quickly Replace on can itmake how With build all a good Good the habits, difference One) butin what theabout world. brea kinghabits Bad bad ones? interrupt your life and prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Th ey jeopardize your health both mentally and physically. And they waste your time So and why energy. do we still do them? And most importantly, is there anything you can do a bout I certainly it? Howdont can you have delete all of your thebad answers, behaviors but keep and stick reading to and goodIll onesshare instead? what Ive l earned What Stress Most causes of about and your the boredom. bad time, howhabits? bad to habits bad break habits are a caused bad arehabit. simply by two a way things of dealing with stress and boredom . Everything from biting your nails to overspending on a shopping spree to drink ing every weekend to wasting time on the internet can be a simple response to st ressit But and doesnt boredom. have to be that way. You can teach yourself new and healthy ways to deal with stress and boredom, which you can then substitute in place of your ba d habits. Of course, sometimes the stress or boredom that is on the surface is actually ca used by deeper issues. These issues can be tough to think about, but if youre ser ious about making changes then you have to be honest with yourself. Are there ce rtain beliefs or reasons that are behind the bad habit? Is there something deepe r a fear, an event, or a limiting belief that is causing you to hold on to somet hingof Recognizing You All dont that theeliminate is habits the badcauses for that ayou? bad of habit, you your havebad right you habits replace now isgood crucial it. or bad to overcoming are in your them. life for a rea son. In some way, these behaviors provide a benefit to you, even if they are bad Sometimes for you in the other benefit ways. is biological like it is with smoking or drugs. Sometimes its emotional like it is when you stay in a relationship that is bad for you. And in many cases, your bad habit is a simple way to cope with stress. For example, biting your nails, pulling your hair, tapping your foot, or clenching your jaw. For These example, benefits opening or reasons your email extend inbox to as smaller soon as badyou habits turnas onwell. your computer might make you feel connected. At the same time looking at all of those emails destro ys your productivity, divides your attention, and overwhelms you with stress. Bu t, it prevents Because bad habits you provide from feeling some type like of youre benefit missing in your out life, and its so very you do difficult it again. to simply eliminate them. (This is why simplistic advice like just stop doing it r arely works.) Instead, you need to replace a bad habit with a new habit that pro vides For example, a similar if you benefit. smoke when you get stressed, then its a bad plan to just stop smoking when that happens. Instead, you should come up with a different way to de al other In with stress words,and badinsert habitsthat address new certain behaviorneeds instead in your of having life.aAnd cigarette. for that reas on, its better to replace your bad habits with a healthier behavior that addresse

s that same need. If you expect yourself to simply cut out bad habits without re placing them, then youll have certain needs that will be unmet and its going to be How Here hard to are to break stick some aadditional to ahabit bad routine ideas of for just breaking dont do your itbad forhabits very long. and thinking about t he process Choose a substitute in a new for way.your bad habit. You need to have a plan ahead of time fo r how you will respond when you face the stress or boredom that prompts your bad habit. What are you going to do when you get the urge to smoke? (Example: breat hing exercises instead.) What are you going to do when Facebook is calling to yo u to procrastinate? (Example: write one sentence for work.) Whatever it is and w hatever youre dealing with, you need to have a plan for what you will do instead of your Cut out as badmany habit. triggers as possible. If you smoke when you drink, then dont go t o the bar. If you eat cookies when they are in the house, then throw them all aw ay. If the first thing you do when you sit on the couch is pick up the TV remote , then hide the remote in a closet in a different room. Make it easier on yourse lf to now, Right breakyour bad environment habits by avoiding makes your the bad things habit that easier causeand them. good habits harder. Change Join forces your with environment somebody. andHow youoften can change do youthe tryoutcome. to diet in private? Or maybe you quit smoking but you kept it to yourself? (That way no one will see you fail, rig Instead, pair up with someone and quit together. The two of you can hold each ot ht?) her accountable and celebrate your victories together. Knowing that someone else Visualize expects you yourself to be succeeding. better is a See powerful yourself motivator. throwing away the cigarettes or buyi ng healthy food or waking up early. Whatever the bad habit is that you are looki ng to break, visualize yourself crushing it, smiling, and enjoying your success. You Seedont yourself needbuilding to be someone a new else, identity. you just need to return to the old you. So ofte n we think that to break our bad habits, we need to become an entirely new perso n. The truth is that you already have it in you to be someone without your bad h abits. In fact, its very unlikely that you had these bad habits all of your life. You dont need to quit smoking, you just need to return to being a non smoker. You dont need to transform into a healthy person, you just need to return to being h ealthy. Even if it was years ago, you have already lived without this bad habit, Use which themeans word but you can tomost overcome definitely negative do selftalk. it again. One thing about battling bad habits is that its easy to judge yourself for not acting better. Every time you slip up Whenever Plan Im or make for fat stupid a failure, a that failure. and mistake, and out happens, nobody but of Weeverybody its shape, all finish respects easy slip butup to the fails Ime, tell could every sentence but sometimes. yourself be now Im in with and working shape how then. but much a to few As develop you my months main suck. aman from valuable Steve now.Kamb skill. s ays, When you screw up, skip a workout, eat bad foods, or sleep in, it doesnt make So you rather a badthan person. beating It makes yourself you up human. overWelcome a mistake, to the plan club. for it. We all get off t rack, what separates top performers from everyone else is that they get back on trackeasy Taking Its very theto quickly. First get caught Step toup Breaking in how you Bad feel Habits about your bad habits. You can make you rself feel guilty or spend your time dreaming about how you wish things were but Instead, these thoughts its awareness take youthat awaywill fromshow whats youactually how to actually happening. make change. When does your bad habit actually happen? How many times do you do it each day? Where are you? Who Simply tracking are youthese with?issues What triggers will make the you behavior more aware and of causes the behavior it to start? and give y ou dozens Heres a simple of ideas wayfor to start: stopping just it.track how many times per day your bad habit hap pens. Put a piece of paper in your pocket and a pen. Each time your bad habit ha ppens, mark it down on your paper. At the end of the day, count up all of the ta llythe In marks beginning and calculate your goal your isnt total. to judge yourself or feel guilty about doing some thing unhealthy or unproductive. The only goal is to be aware of when it happens and how often it happens. Wrap your head around the problem by being aware of i t. Then, you can start to implement the ideas in this article and break your bad Breaking habit. bad habits takes time and effort, but mostly it takes perseverance. Mos t people who end up breaking their bad habits try and fail multiple times before they make it work. You might not have success right away, but that doesnt mean y ou talked The We've We cant Next covered have Step: about it a Where lot the at science all. of toground Go From ofin habit Here thisformation guide. and the 3-step process that gover ns all habits. We talked about how to setup your new habits for success by using We reminders talked about and rewards. focusing on your identity first and leaving the performance and appearance We talked about basedthe goals power forof later. setting a schedule and not holding yourself to a de adline. This is particularly useful when your life gets crazy because you can re duce We talked the scope aboutand howstay to use on keystone task. habits to make change throughout your entire And life wewithout coveredgetting 4 strategies overwhelmed. for bouncing back after getting off track because we With all these slip up ideas, everyyou nowshould and then. be well equipped to make change in your life and st ick to healthier habits for the long-term, which brings me to my final two point Knowledge is useless without action. You know what to do, now it's time to do it 1. s. . If to Our 2. make community youit have a reality. a goal is herethat to support is important you. Each to you, week, then I write use these articles ideas for a small co

mmunity of people who are committed to getting better, living healthier, and mak ing the world a better place. For my part, I do my best to help them achieve the irdon't If I goals. you have have And questions, it I'd all like figured to do you can out, the always sameI'm but fordoing contact you.me myat best http://jamesclear.com to walk the slow march to ward greatness with you. If there's anything I can do, please know that I'm here Never James to help settle, Clear however I can.