James Clear helps people build habits that stick. Over 200,000 people read his value-packed emails every week. His work is found online at JamesClear.com.
habits
To Resolve to Make New Habits
In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year. I did … Read more
Habits: Preparing for a New Year
Conventional wisdom says that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Today, December 11th, is exactly 21 days to January 1st, 2015. That’s not a long time, right?
Creating A Better Me – Update #4
Is it me or has this year just flown by? It seems like just yesterday I was writing my latest update but here we are once again at the end of the month and another exciting entry is due. I find myself reflecting back on my previous posts and I see a very distinct theme … Read more
Creating A Better Me – Update #3
So it is officially one month since my last progress update and since I’ve stepped on the scale or looked at my measurements. Taking a step away from the scale has been freeing but to be honest I’ve had a bit of writers block in terms of how exactly am I going to provide a … Read more
Creating A Better Me – Update #2
Imagine someone is offering you half a million dollars but the catch is you have to run 5 miles as fast as you can and you have to arrive within a certain time frame to get it. What if you are significantly overweight? What if you’ve never ran before? You aren’t prepared at all – no running shoes and certainly no training – Could you do it? You know full well that the money would change your life and the life of your family forever. Could that motivation be so powerful that you could beat the odds and earn your prize? Well if you want it badly enough IT IS possible. I believe that is the inner fire, the inner drive that is the force for success.
Creating A Better Me – Progress Update #1
I can’t believe it has already been six weeks and I am back for my first update! It has certainly been a busy month with some great accomplishments and experiences and a few low points as well. Hey I promised honesty and that’s what I plan on giving you each and every month!
I’ve come to realize that losing weight in general is difficult but when you’ve been overweight most of your life you don’t really know any different it makes that daunting task all that more difficult. Some habits are so deeply ingrained and come so naturally that you need to re-teach yourself how to do things almost like teaching a baby. I’ve found myself throwing an internal temper tantrum when trying to decide to have that salad over going for a sandwich.
Consuming Failure.
“To be a Philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts nor even to found a school… it is to solve some of the problems of life, not just theortetically, but practically.” -Henry David Thoreau Last week we spoke about Stoicism as an introduction and talked about preparing for failure. Today is where the rubber … Read more
Breaking Fat: Hacking your Habit Loops
I found myself working in an odd somewhat hippy coffee shop the other day where the baristas would actually sit around and chat with the patrons. Nutrition and weight loss came up while being chatted up by a particularly odd barista (as weight loss inevitably seems to with me, call it the power of attraction or whatever you’d like) and I shared my before and after picture with her.
“How did you let yourself get to that point?,” she asked innocently enough.
This is a million dollar question.