JAMES CLEAR

Asking what makes someone successful is like asking which ingredient makes a recipe taste good. It’s not any single ingredient. It is the combination of many ingredients in the right proportions and in the right order—and the absence of anything that would ruin the mixture.

The primary difference is not the task, but the enthusiasm and curiosity put into the task. The more engaged and interested you are, the more it becomes a craft.

"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."

Keep leaning your head against a topic for a long time. Certainly for weeks, possibly for years. And along the way, try many lines of attack. Continue to generate options, explore paths, and propose silly ideas. Copy and paste concepts from widely different disciplines and see if it gets you anyw...

Start small and become the kind of person who shows up every day. Build a new identity.

Then increase the intensity.

Start slow if you have to. Start small if you have to. Start privately if you have to.

Just start.

Happiness is simply the absence of desire... Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state

The person who consumes from better sources gets better thoughts. The person who asks better questions gets better answers. The person who builds better habits gets better results.

It's not the outcomes. It's the inputs.

What’s more powerful? A manager or coach or teacher who tells you the right thing to do? Or one who shows you how to live and work by example?

People gravitate toward the standard you set, not the standard you request.

Do it right the first time and you won't have to do it over the next time.

Five minutes of exercise and you are back on the path. Five minutes of writing and the manuscript is moving forward again. Five minutes of conversation and the relationship is restored.

It doesn't take much to feel good again.

But nobody accomplishes anything significant by accident either. Just because you need others doesn't mean you can wait for others to make it happen.

You have to act as if you are a force of nature and try to bend the universe in your desired direction—while remaining pleasant and open to h...

But to be a good listener, you have to stop talking and be interested.

Genuine curiosity is the precursor to understanding, and a good listener helps the other person feel understood.

Your calendar is a better measure of success than your bank account.