James Clear

It's not like, hey, let me just do this for 30 days or 66 days and then I'll be a healthy person or then I'll be productive or whatever.

I won't have to think about it anymore.

It's like, no, like what we're looking for is a change that you can integrate into your new normal, something you can make part of your lifestyle.

And then once it's part of your daily life, great, you can start to look at the next habit and try to integrate that one.

And it's kind of this endless process.

And maybe that encourages you a little bit more to look for a non-threatening change or a sustainable change rather than just trying to flip a switch.

I don't think most researchers would define it that way, but it speaks to this question you asked about stages.

And that, that was kind of the first thing that I thought about when you mentioned that question.

So like, let's say for example, let's just take like a classic habit, like going to the gym and we're working out.

So early on,

So going to the gym is kind of uncomfortable.

You know, you're worried about, like, are people judging me?

Do I look stupid?

I don't know what exercises to do.

You know, like, I don't know where to put my stuff.

Do they have a water fountain at this gym or do I need to bring a water bottle?

There's like all these like stupid little questions that you're thinking about when you're getting started.

And it's definitely not part of your identity.

You haven't shown up enough to be comfortable there and feel like, hey, this is just part of who I am.

And so early on the kind of the first stage when you're practicing it, I think the number one thing you need to do is scale it down, reduce the scope and try to make it as easy and as frictionless as possible to show up each day.