James Clear

Who are you around? Are you near the do you eat these by the same kind of people? What were you doing just before this? Was it a break from writing emails or doing something else? And the more that you start to answer those questions about the context, the better you'll start to understand, hey, maybe that was the cue.

And I bet if you do that exercise for whatever the particular habit is that you're working on, just do that for, you may not even need to do it for a week, but if you do it for five days or seven days or something, you're going to start to develop a good sense for what it is that's prompting the behavior.

And I bet if you do that exercise for whatever the particular habit is that you're working on, just do that for, you may not even need to do it for a week, but if you do it for five days or seven days or something, you're going to start to develop a good sense for what it is that's prompting the behavior.

Maybe. I'm not going to say it's not a risk. I'm sure it's a possible risk. But I think what's more likely to happen is rather than not being able to see what's going on, assuming you're being honest with yourself, It can be hard to honestly observe your own behavior. You have a lot of biases and stories for why we do what we do.

Maybe. I'm not going to say it's not a risk. I'm sure it's a possible risk. But I think what's more likely to happen is rather than not being able to see what's going on, assuming you're being honest with yourself, It can be hard to honestly observe your own behavior. You have a lot of biases and stories for why we do what we do.

So assuming you're doing that to the best degree possible, I think you're probably still going to get a good idea of what the cue is, what I think is more likely to happen if there is some influence on your behavior. is you may find yourself changing the behavior anyway, just because you're tracking it.

So assuming you're doing that to the best degree possible, I think you're probably still going to get a good idea of what the cue is, what I think is more likely to happen if there is some influence on your behavior. is you may find yourself changing the behavior anyway, just because you're tracking it.

And there are quite a few studies that show this, like with nutrition, for example, there are some studies about food journaling. People who just keep a food journal, they're not even trying to stick to a certain calorie level or a certain macro profile or anything. They just are tracking what they're eating.

And there are quite a few studies that show this, like with nutrition, for example, there are some studies about food journaling. People who just keep a food journal, they're not even trying to stick to a certain calorie level or a certain macro profile or anything. They just are tracking what they're eating.

tend to change their eating habits and eat less just because they're tracking it, even if they don't have a specific program they're trying to follow. So the mere act of observing something or measuring something often changes the behavior associated with it. You may find that to be the case here. You're like, well, I keep writing down when I have candy bars, so I'm like, maybe I'll skip this one.

tend to change their eating habits and eat less just because they're tracking it, even if they don't have a specific program they're trying to follow. So the mere act of observing something or measuring something often changes the behavior associated with it. You may find that to be the case here. You're like, well, I keep writing down when I have candy bars, so I'm like, maybe I'll skip this one.

I think that's probably the more likely outcome, but who knows? There could be other biases as well.

I think that's probably the more likely outcome, but who knows? There could be other biases as well.

I have this like theory about technology and innovation and that the technologies that most radically change the world or change our behavior are all just kind of different forms of vision. You have obvious examples like x-rays, which allow you to see the broken bone or MRIs or whatever that allow you to see some tissue in a way that you couldn't see before.

I have this like theory about technology and innovation and that the technologies that most radically change the world or change our behavior are all just kind of different forms of vision. You have obvious examples like x-rays, which allow you to see the broken bone or MRIs or whatever that allow you to see some tissue in a way that you couldn't see before.

And so that gives you information that then you can act on and make a diagnosis and make some kind of change. But the glucose monitor is like another example. It's just like now you can see the spike and because you can see it, you change your behavior.

And so that gives you information that then you can act on and make a diagnosis and make some kind of change. But the glucose monitor is like another example. It's just like now you can see the spike and because you can see it, you change your behavior.

Even stuff like the number of email subscribers to my website, because my email platform tracks that and I can see how many people are signing up each day, I make a change to the form and, you know, conversion and so on.

Even stuff like the number of email subscribers to my website, because my email platform tracks that and I can see how many people are signing up each day, I make a change to the form and, you know, conversion and so on.

And I do think there's some deeper lesson there about behavior change and about what drives human behavior, which is if you can visualize your progress in some way, maybe it's a chart on a screen, maybe it's an actual printout, maybe it's something that you actually see looking through lenses or something. But if you can actually visualize it, then the behavior often follows suit.