James Clear

And then I would say the second thing that kind of really got me diving in deeper and thinking about it more carefully is just the realization that most of us in life want some kind of results. We want to get better at a skill or we want to lose weight or to make more money or reduce stress and gain peace of mind.

And whatever the results are that you're looking for, most of the time, your results are a lagging measure of the habits that preceded them. So your bank account is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your nutrition and training habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your reading and learning habits.

And whatever the results are that you're looking for, most of the time, your results are a lagging measure of the habits that preceded them. So your bank account is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your nutrition and training habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your reading and learning habits.

Even like the clutter on your desk at work or in your garage is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. And so habits are not the only thing that influence outcomes in life. You have luck and randomness. You've got misfortune. But by definition, randomness is not under your control. And I think the only reasonable approach is to focus on what's in your control.

Even like the clutter on your desk at work or in your garage is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. And so habits are not the only thing that influence outcomes in life. You have luck and randomness. You've got misfortune. But by definition, randomness is not under your control. And I think the only reasonable approach is to focus on what's in your control.

And over long time horizons, your results tend to bend in the direction of your habits. So I think because your brain is building habits all the time anyway, and because your results are heavily influenced by the habits that you repeat, those are two primary reasons that I feel like got me interested in the topic, but also just good reasons for anybody to be fascinated with habits.

And over long time horizons, your results tend to bend in the direction of your habits. So I think because your brain is building habits all the time anyway, and because your results are heavily influenced by the habits that you repeat, those are two primary reasons that I feel like got me interested in the topic, but also just good reasons for anybody to be fascinated with habits.

So I don't know the answer to the question, but I do have some thoughts on it, and I feel like it probably does skew somewhat recent for one particular reason, which is generally speaking, our ancestors lived in what was primarily an immediate return environment. The majority of the decisions that you would make that meaningfully impacted your survival

So I don't know the answer to the question, but I do have some thoughts on it, and I feel like it probably does skew somewhat recent for one particular reason, which is generally speaking, our ancestors lived in what was primarily an immediate return environment. The majority of the decisions that you would make that meaningfully impacted your survival

were ones that were relatively immediate in nature. So taking shelter from a storm or avoiding a lion in the savanna or foraging for the next meal in a berry bush. These are things that had a pretty quick payoff in your life.

were ones that were relatively immediate in nature. So taking shelter from a storm or avoiding a lion in the savanna or foraging for the next meal in a berry bush. These are things that had a pretty quick payoff in your life.

If you fast forward to modern society, though, and we could define that however you want, but probably say the last 500 years or something like that, certainly the last 100 years, Modern society seems to have created quite a few structures that favor not an immediate return environment, but a delayed return environment.

If you fast forward to modern society, though, and we could define that however you want, but probably say the last 500 years or something like that, certainly the last 100 years, Modern society seems to have created quite a few structures that favor not an immediate return environment, but a delayed return environment.

So you go to work today so that you can get a paycheck in two weeks, or you study at school today so that you can graduate in four years, save for retirement today so that you can not have to work a couple decades from now. And there are a lot of structures that are like that in modern society that tend to reward delayed gratification.

So you go to work today so that you can get a paycheck in two weeks, or you study at school today so that you can graduate in four years, save for retirement today so that you can not have to work a couple decades from now. And there are a lot of structures that are like that in modern society that tend to reward delayed gratification.

So I think in a sense, we're kind of walking through this modern society that rewards ourselves for patience. And we still have this like paleolithic hardware where we prioritize instant gratification and immediate returns in a lot of ways in some kind of evolutionary sense. And you can see how there's a little bit of a mismatch there.

So I think in a sense, we're kind of walking through this modern society that rewards ourselves for patience. And we still have this like paleolithic hardware where we prioritize instant gratification and immediate returns in a lot of ways in some kind of evolutionary sense. And you can see how there's a little bit of a mismatch there.

I wonder if it's that modern mismatch that has led to the desire to change our behavior and to adjust habits. And perhaps it wasn't something that we thought about as carefully or cared about as much a thousand years ago or 5,000 years ago or longer. It is interesting, though, to say that some aspects of modern society are mismatched with that ancestral wiring, but some of them are not.

I wonder if it's that modern mismatch that has led to the desire to change our behavior and to adjust habits. And perhaps it wasn't something that we thought about as carefully or cared about as much a thousand years ago or 5,000 years ago or longer. It is interesting, though, to say that some aspects of modern society are mismatched with that ancestral wiring, but some of them are not.

Why do we care about delaying gratification to get a PhD or delaying gratification to save more money? Primarily because it affords some form of status, which is very hierarchical and very, we think, evolutionarily wired in. So there's still connections there. It's just that not all of it is aligned.