James Clear

Before the interview continues.

I mean, it can probably be many different things, and I don't know all the answers.

I think one thing that's common is that the results of success are widely discussed and highly visible, and the process of success is often invisible and hidden from view.

You know, like you'll never see a news story that's like man eats chicken and salad for lunch today.

It's only a story once it's like man loses 100 pounds.

You know, it's only once it's a result that people talk about it or like there's never going to be a story about James writes 500 words today.

You know, it's like only a story once Atomic Habits is a bestseller.

And so because the results are the thing that gets discussed so much.

It's not, by the way, it's not that results don't matter.

Like I consider myself pretty results oriented.

It's just that I think we tend to overvalue outcomes because it's all we ever talk about.

And we undervalue the process because it's just not it's not compelling to talk about what's going on on a daily basis.

So.

Because of all that, I think it can get easy to judge yourself.

You know, you could be doing the right thing on any given day.

Like I could sit down and I could write 500 words and that's actually a really good day, you know, but if the manuscript still a mess and I'm still a year and a half away from the book coming out and I'm seeing somebody else launch a bestseller this week.

then you start to judge yourself and feel like, oh, they have what I want to have, or I'm not there yet, or this is still a mess.

I've been working on it for months.

This is never going to get finished.

It's very easy to fall into that kind of mindset, and especially if you're focused on results.