Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years.
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.
The more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long term goals.
When you dream about making change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon.
This is one of the most surprising insights about our habits: you don’t need to be aware of the cue for a habit to begin.
What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.
Bad habits have brought me this far: why change such a tried-and-true formula?
We underestimate how much our brains and bodies can do without thinking.
The primary reason the brain remembers the past is to better predict what will work in the future.
When possible, the brain makes a behavior into a habit, which saves effort and therefore gives us more capacity to deal with complex, novel, or urgent matters.
Behaviors need to remain novel in order for them to stay attractive and satisfying.
A good player works hard to win the game everyone else is playing. A great player creates a new game that favors their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.
If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.
Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity, so you can allocate your attention to other tasks.
Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.
Learning one new idea won’t make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative.
A habit is a routine or behavior that is performed regularly and, in many cases, automatically.
In the messy world of a college dorm, I made it a point to keep my room neat and tidy.
I should pursue only those habits that would make me feel freer and stronger.