James Clear

• BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

  Atomic Habits

  Four laws of behavior change, and the argument for aiming at identity rather than outcomes: his own book.

  Source: jamesclear.com: Atomic Habits
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• BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

  Deep Work

  One of the books he recommends on deliberate practice and getting better at hard skills.

  Source: jamesclear.com: deliberate practice
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Repeatable, mostly free routines with a defined trigger and dose.

• Resistance trainingDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

  141 workouts logged in a year of regular lifting, and training runs as the example throughout his work on how small habits compound.

  Source: jamesclear.com: 2018 annual review

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• Consistent sleep and wake timesRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Designs a fixed bedtime like any other habit, with cues and an environment that support it.

  Source: jamesclear.com: how to sleep better

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• Environment designRecommendsFREE, no cost

  People with good habits mostly have well-arranged environments, he argues, and redesigning the room beats relying on self-control.

  Source: jamesclear.com: the power of environment

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• Identity-based habitsRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Every action is a vote for the type of person you want to be, in his framing, because identities outlast outcome goals.

  Source: jamesclear.com: identity-based habits

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• Time blockingRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Scheduling the work beats listing it, he suggests, because a task without a slot rarely happens.

  Source: 3-2-1 newsletter

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• Habit stackingRecommendsFREE, no cost

  New habits get anchored to an existing automatic one, with an explicit after-I-do-X-I-will-do-Y sentence.

  Source: jamesclear.com: habit stacking

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• Never miss twiceRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Missing one day is an accident, missing two is the start of a new habit, and his recovery rule is to restart immediately.

  Source: jamesclear.com: habit tracking

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• Temptation bundlingRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Suggests pairing something you want with something you avoid: Premack's Principle, an idea he credits to Katy Milkman.

  Source: jamesclear.com: temptation bundling

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• Two-minute ruleRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Advises scaling any new habit down to under two minutes, so you are practicing showing up rather than performing.

  Source: jamesclear.com: how to stop procrastinating

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• Implementation intentionsRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Writing down the specific time and place for a habit in advance consistently beats relying on motivation, he says.

  Source: jamesclear.com: implementation intentions

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Daily practices held long enough to become default behavior.

• Daily readingDoes itFREE, no cost

  Twenty pages every morning whatever else the day does, roughly 36 books a year, and he publishes book notes.

  Source: jamesclear.com: how to read more

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• JournalingDoes itFREE, no cost

  Three things he is grateful for, written down each morning before he reads, as part of a wake-up routine he keeps regardless of the rest of the day.

  Source: jamesclear.com: how to read more

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• Weekly reviewDoes itFREE, no cost

  The weekly review is on his published schedule. He has also written about an annual review, which he presents as the longer-cycle version of the same thing.

  Source: jamesclear.com: the myth of multitasking

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• Habit trackingDoes itFREE, no cost

  Shades in the cells on his own habit tracker and keeps it to three or four habits, because marking it is satisfying and a streak is something you protect.

  Source: jamesclear.com: habit tracking

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• Daily walkingRecommendsFREE, no cost

  Lists a daily walk among the habits he says have the highest rate of return in life.

  Source: jamesclear.com: 2018 annual review

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• “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.”

  On Habit stacking

• “Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity. It is not always obvious when and where to take action.”

  On Implementation intentions

• “Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe.”

  On Identity-based habits