The Atomic Habit #5

We often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed. It is not until months or years later that we realize the true value of the previous work we have done. This can result in a “valley of disappointment” where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed.

1% BETTER EVERY DAY 1% worse every day for one year. 0.99365 = 00.03 1% better every day for one year. 1.01365 = 37.78

THE WRITER STORY ABOUT MAKING THE BOOK. In November 2012, I began publishing articles at jamesclear.com. In 2014, my email list expanded to over one hundred thousand subscribers, which made it one of the fastest-growing newsletters on the internet. In 2015, I reached two hundred thousand email subscribers and signed a book deal with Penguin Random House to begin writing the book you are reading now. In 2016, my articles began to appear regularly in major publications like Time, Entrepreneur, and Forbes. Incredibly, my writing was read by over eight million people that year. At the start of 2017, I launched the Habits Academy, which became the premier training platform for organizations and individuals interested in building better habits in life and work. As I put the finishing touches on this book in 2018, jamesclear.com is receiving millions of visitors per month and nearly five hundred thousand people subscribe to my weekly email newsletter—a number that is so far beyond my expectations when I began that I’m not even sure what to think of it.

The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.

- Habit Scorecard - Habit Stacking The habit stacking formula is: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].” - Pointing and Calling: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]. - Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behavior over time. (Environment Matters The Most)

Frenzy: Craziness, Madness Herring Gulls: A kind of bird Foraging for Food: Searching for Food Paleolithic: Paleolithic literally means “Old Stone [Age],” but the Paleolithic era more generally refers to a time in human history when foraging, hunting, and fishing were the primary means of obtaining food. Fizz: Hiss, sound of the bubble in a soda Bliss: Happiness Spawned: Lay, release Splices: Connect Enticing: Interesting