Habits are initiated by cues, and a visual cue is the most obvious of all. Habits are, hence, linked to the environment. Keep your running shoes in front of you. Keep your books on the table.

First Law: Make the cues obvious

Try a sequence of habits - After I brush my teeth, I'll drink a glass of warm water. Daily. Or, after I send a mail that I'm supposed to send daily, I'll go for a brief walk. Combining habits with tasks you are bound to do, will also ensure the completion of the habit.

Try combining habits

Self control is a short term strategy. We must, rather, change the temptation associated with the habit.

We need to make our habits irresistible since it is the expectation of the rewarding experience that makes us act. In addition to the dopamine hit, if a behaviour can get us approval, respect or praise, we tend to repeat it.Set small rewards for yourself, for eg. playing a mobile game after studying for an hour.

Second Law: Make it Attractive

Humans follow the law of least effort. Start small, with an easy task, with repetition, and not perfection.10 minutes of reading daily is better than an hour of reading once a week. And make sure to keep the book visibly in front of you.

Third Law: Make it Easy

The best is the enemy of the good.

What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. While incentives can start a habit, identity sustains it.Instead of affirming that I need to exercise daily to be healthy, one must affirm that they are healthy, and hence, they exercise daily.

Fourth Law: Make it Satisfying

<ol><li>Five minute rule: If something takes five minutes or less, do it right away, instead of scheduling it for later.</li><li>Don't break the chain: Mark a cross for each day you complete a habit. As you make progress, you'll see a chain of such crosses forming. Your goal should be to not break the chain.</li><li>Never skip a habit twice: It might still be possible that due to externalities, you might miss doing something one day. Just don't skip it twice.</li></ol>

Small hacks

Waiting for motivation before action is futile. Action creates motivation.

Being 1% better each day would help you become 37x better in a year. It's these small habits, and doing them consistently over time, that make huge changes.  As Einstein claimed, compounding is indeed the eighth wonder of the world!

Just 1% better, every day

It's 1st January 2023, and my friends made their ambitious new year resolutions. However, research shows that almost 80% people abandon their resolutions by February. It's not these huge, ambitious goals, but the compounding of small systems that work towards changing you. Atomic Habits is one of the most lucid and practical books that helps you create systems to transform yourself.

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 4 million copies sold! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy); overcome a lack of motivation and willpower; design your environment to make success easier; get back on track when you fall off course; ...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

productivity

Productivity

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

books

Books

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 10 million copies sold! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: <ul><li>make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);</li></ul><ul><li>overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;</li></ul><ul><li>design your environment to make success easier;</li></ul><ul><li>get back on track when you fall off course;</li></ul>...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

James Clear is the author of "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" He writes about habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement at jamesclear.com. His website receives millions of visitors each month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his popular email newsletter.His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. He is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies and his work is used by teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Learn more at jamesclear.com

James Clear

Atomic Habits

Have less things to worry about, and instead, find something meaningful to utilise your time

Choose what deserves your time, attention and efforts

Happiness comes from solving problems, and therefore, it's a form of action, and not a state of being.

Emotions are teachers. While negative emotions do indicate something's not right, and something needs to be changed, positive emotions are rewards for doing something good and right

Listen to your emotions before acting on them

Life is a path full of struggles. Struggles are inevitable. One needs to be in love with the process, with the fight, and not with the result and victory. People who are great at something become great by, first, humbly accepting that they're not already great. Then, they work hard. That's it!

Be in love with the process, and not the result

There are three layers to being self-aware:<ol><li>Understanding the emotion</li><li>Understanding why we feel that way</li><li>What are my values that are making me feel this way? What do I consider to be a success or a failure?</li></ol>

The self-awareness onion

Our values determine our problems, and our problems determine our lives.

Learning is not the process of going from wrong to right, but rather, from wrong to slightly less wrong. Accepting inherent imperfections in our values is necessary for growth. We must learn to doubt - doubt our beliefs, our feelings and be uncertain of what the future holds for us.

Certainty is the enemy of growth

Ignoring clutter and choosing selectively is the name of the game. Everyone has problems, a lot of them. Using harsh truths in a simplistic way, the author provides simple but difficult to implement hacks to living a better life. Also, this would be a preview to "The Courage to be Disliked" in my opinion!

#1 New York Times Bestseller Over 10 million copies sold In this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people. For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up. Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek. There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

#1 New York Times BestsellerOver 10 million copies soldIn this generation-defining self-help guide, a superstar blogger cuts through the crap to show us how to stop trying to be "positive" all the time so that we can truly become better, happier people.For decades, we’ve been told that positive thinking is the key to a happy, rich life. "F**k positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let’s be honest, shit is f**ked and we have to live with it." In his wildly popular Internet blog, Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. He tells it like it is—a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected American society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.Manson makes the argument, backed both by academic research and well-timed poop jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to stomach lemons better. Human beings are flawed and limited—"not everybody can be extraordinary, there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Manson advises us to get to know our limitations and accept them. Once we embrace our fears, faults, and uncertainties, once we stop running and avoiding and start confronting painful truths, we can begin to find the courage, perseverance, honesty, responsibility, curiosity, and forgiveness we seek.There are only so many things we can give a f**k about so we need to figure out which ones really matter, Manson makes clear. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. A much-needed grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-look-you-in-the-eye moment of real-talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k is a refreshing slap for a generation to help them lead contented, grounded lives.

Mark Manson (born 1984) is a professional blogger, entrepreneur, and former dating coach. Since 2007, he's been helping people with their emotional and relationship problems. He has worked with thousands of people from over 30 different countries. He regularly writes and updates his blog at: www.markmanson.net

Mark Manson

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

We are not determined by the experiences we've had, but rather, the meaning we give to them. Instead of thinking about 'past causes', think about 'present goals'.

We are free to choose the meaning of our experiences

We get angry and show aggression to make a point. We make a point to possibly win an argument, which in turn is a means to establish supremacy over the person on the receiving end.

Our emotions are mere tools to justify our intended actions

It is only in social contexts that a person becomes an individual

A lot of problems arise because we feel inferior, we feel that we lack something. A feeling of inferiority is a result of the subjective meaning that we have assigned to a trait of ours. If we feel that we lack something, the right way to tackle it is by striving to bridge the gap.

All problems are, at the core, interpersonal relationship problems

For any action that you intend to take, ask if this is your task? Does the result affect you? All interpersonal conflicts are caused by intruding in someone else's task.

Separation of tasks

You are not living to satisfy other people's expectations. Getting recognised is not your task. Hence, deny any need for recognition

Being of use to someone - either by one's actions or by mere presence, is the true essence of happiness.

Happiness is contributing to the community

Real freedom is having the courage to be disliked

A lot of time and effort is spent on unnecessary things, which are futile. The mantra for happiness is really simple, and this book, with the help of a dialogue, gives it to the reader.

A single book can change your life. Already an enormous bestseller in Asia, with more than 3 million copies sold, The Courage to be Disliked demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be. Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 19th century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, it follows an illuminating conversation between a philosopher and a young man. The philosopher explains to his pupil how each of us is able to determine our own lives, free of the shackles of past experiences, doubts and the expectations of others. It's a way of thinking that's deeply liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change, and to ignore the limitations that we and those around us can place on ourselves. The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. Now that The Courage to be Disliked has been published for the first time in English, so can you

Fumitake Koga is an accomplished writer whose work has resonated with readers around the world. Fumitake Koga has published several books that explore a range of topics, from fiction to nonfiction, and has received critical acclaim for the ability to weave compelling narratives. Fumitake Koga's writing style is known for its depth and authenticity, and has earned quite a loyal following of readers.

Fumitake Koga

Ichiro KISHIMI Philosopher, Adlerian psychologist and translator of English and German languages. Born in 1956.M.A.in philosophy from Kyoto University. Director of the Japanese Society of Adlerian psychology. Former counselor at Maeda Clinic in Kyoto and has taught philosophy and ancient Greek at various institutions such as Kyoto University of Education and Nara Women's University. He presently teaches educational psychology and clinical psychology at Meiji School of Oriental Medicine in Suita, Osaka. Kishimi now has his own private counseling office in Kameoka, Kyoto, and devotes his time to giving lectures on Adlerian Psychology and child education.

Ichiro Kishimi

The Courage to Be Disliked

No one is crazy, from their own perspective, about managing money. Why then, there are just 2668 billionaires among 8 billion persons across the world? The book by Housel confronts the reader with their innate relationship with money, which, at times, may not be very intuitive.

Things you didn't know you knew about money

It is not the usual set of outcomes, but those 0.01% of miracles that might make or break you. Your success, both financially and otherwise, depends on how you seize these opportunities.That being said, generalising these 'tails' or 'miracles' and learning from, and even worse, applying them could lead to catastrophes.

Tails lead to miracles... but they are miraculously rare

Good investment isn't necessarily about earning the highest returns, because the highest returns tend to be one-off hits that can't be repeated. Its about earning pretty good returns that you can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time.

Getting wealthy requires you to be bold and risk-taker, while staying wealthy is a long-term approach to getting 1% better each day, and accepting with humility that whatever you've made can vanish in an instant. It's pure survival. Quoting Morgan, "Good investment isn't necessarily about earning the highest returns, because the highest returns tend to be one-off hits that can't be repeated. It's about earning pretty good returns that you can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time."

Getting wealthy v/s Staying wealthy

The most happiness that money can give you is not by providing you with the ability to buy whatever you desire, but by letting you be in control of what you do with your time.

When I see a person driving an expensive car, I look not at the car, but at the person, and seek the respect he enjoys from others. Richness might manifest itself in form of the tendency to spend money flamboyantly, but being wealthy is instead, saving money, not showing off and investing it wisely.

Rich v/s Wealthy 

The most important part of a plan is to plan for when things don't go according to the plan.

I can afford to not be the greatest investor in the world, but I can't afford to be a bad one.

Most of us believe that we are either good or bad with managing money. We look at our bank balances as a measure of our financial prudence. But, here comes a book, that tries to explain why we do what we do, and how the time value of money is not fancy buzzwords like NPV, but is more literal.

Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money—investing, personal finance, and business decisions—is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money—investing, personal finance, and business decisions—is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money and teaches you how to make better sense of one of life’s most important topics.

Morgan Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund. He is a two-time winner of the Best in Business Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, winner of the New York Times Sidney Award, and a two-time finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two kids.

Atomic Habits

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

The Courage to Be Disliked

The Psychology of Money

Anirvan M