The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification. If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff. As the saying goes, the last mile is always the least crowded.
You get what you repeat.
Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.
One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking.
This is why remaining part of a group after achieving a goal is crucial to maintaining your habits. It’s friendship and community that embed a new identity and help behaviors last over the long run.
Becoming the type of person you want to become – someone who lives by a stronger standard, someone who believes in themselves, someone who can be counted on by the people that matter to them – is about the daily process you follow and not the ultimate product you achieve.
Motivation is overrated, environment often matters more.
This is the meaning of the phrase atomic habits – a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth.
The implicit assumption behind any goal is this: “Once I reach my goal, then I’ll be happy.” The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone.
A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.
We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them.
Every habit produces multiple outcomes across time. Unfortunately, these outcomes are often misaligned. With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad. With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable, but the ultimate outcome feels good.
Your culture sets your expectation for what is “normal.” Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself.
The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.
Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. You need to be patient.
You don’t have to build the habits everyone tells you to build. Choose the habit that best suits you, not the one that is most popular.
Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course.
A genius is not born, but is educated and trained.
Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?” Habits that reinforce your desired identity are usually good. Habits that conflict with your desired identity are usually bad.