James Clear Tag Archive

Learn from those who are few steps ahead of you

(Excerpt from 3-2-1: On mentors, margin of safety, and how to say no by James Clear) It’s almost always better to learn from peers who are 2 years ahead of you than mentors who are 20 years ahead of you. Life...

Learning Read More

The benefits of setting a world class standard

(Excerpt from 3 ideas, 2 quotes, 1 question (September 24, 2020) by James Clear) Architect Christopher Alexander on the importance of high standards: “In my life as an architect, I find that the single thing...

People Read More

Your practice has to be at a ‘just right’ level

(Excerpt from Atomic Habits by James Clear) The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty. If you love tennis and try to play a serious match against a four-year-old, you...

Yin Yang Read More

How to figure out what to do in life and business?

(Extracted from Atomic Habits by James Clear) At some point, you need to make sure you’re playing the right game for your skillset. How do you figure that out? The most common approach is trial and error. Of...

Life, Strategy Read More

Good habits are hard because doing them suck a lot of energy and we are energy misers

(Excerpt from Atomic Habits by James Clear) Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible. It is human nature to follow the Law of Least Effort, which states that when deciding between two...

Resistance, Via Negativa Read More

Why early civilisations prospered in Europe and Asia

(Extracted from Atomic Habits by James Clear) The primary axis of the Americas runs from north to south. That is, the landmass of North and South America tends to be tall and thin rather than wide and fat. The same...

Nonlinearity, Resistance, Structure drives behaviour Read More

When to use your gut instinct?

(Extracted from James Clear’s 3 ideas, 2 quotes, 1 question (October 10, 2019) Gut reactions are usually very wrong or very right. They tend to be wrong when they are based purely on emotion and in domains where...

Bias, Life Read More

Cultural programming

(Extracted from Atomic Habits by James Clear) We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them. We follow the script handed down by our friends and family, our church or school, our local community and...

Structure drives behaviour Read More

Habits have compounding effects

(Extracted from Atomic Habits by James Clear) Habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance. In the early and middle stages of any quest, there is...

Life, Nonlinearity Read More

Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice.

(Quotes taken from 7 Ways to Retain More of Every Book You Read by James Clear) Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice. Beware the man of a single book. Thomas Aquinas Life is too short to...

Life Read More