James Clear

It's asking you to believe something positive about yourself, but it's asking you to believe something positive without having evidence for it.

And we have a word for beliefs that don't have evidence.

We call that delusion, right?

Like at some point, your brain doesn't like this mismatch between what you say you are and what you're actually doing.

And so my argument is to let the behavior lead the way to start by meditating for one minute or doing one pushup or

writing one sentence and letting that be undeniable proof that in that moment, you were a meditator or an athlete or a writer or whatever it is.

And ultimately, I think this is the real value that habits provide, which is they reinforce your desired identity.

Yeah, definitely right.

So one of the concepts I talk about in the book is this, one of the strategies is this idea of what I call the two minute rule, where I encourage people to build a habit that takes two minutes or less to do.

So you take whatever you're trying to do, read 30 books a year becomes read one page, or do yoga four days a week becomes take out my yoga mat.

And sometimes when I mentioned that idea, people resist a little bit because they're like, OK, buddy, you know, I know the real goal isn't just to take my yoga mat out.

I know I'm actually trying to do the workout.

So this is some kind of mental trick.

Then, like, why would I fall for it, basically?

Well, I tell the story of this guy, Mitch, that you mentioned, this guy who I talk about him in Atomic Habits.

He went to the gym.

He's lost over 100 pounds, kept it off for more than a decade.

And when he first started going to the gym, he wouldn't stay for longer than five minutes.

He had this little rule, he had to leave after five minutes.

So he'd get in the car, drive to the gym, get out, do half an exercise, get back in the car, drive home.