James Clear's Recent LinkedIn Posts

A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

Always ask, but never expect. Always ask for what you want. Many people are happy to help—if the request is direct and specific. In a surprising number of cases, something remarkable is possible if you have the courage to ask. Never expect people to say yes. Everyone is busy and balancing multiple priorities. Your request is not their responsibility. When you're told no, move on lightly and freely. The world is full of opportunity.

Enough courage to get started + enough sense to focus on something you’re naturally suited for + enough persistence to stay in the game long enough to catch a few lucky breaks + a lot of hard work. There’s your recipe.

It's never the right time, but right now is usually the best time.

One of the best positions to be in: young, talented, and the underdog. That's like a cocktail for making something great. You're hungry to prove yourself. You're young enough to not care about how it's previously been done. And, usually, you have fewer responsibilities to pull you away from the work.

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Trust follows consistency. The business that delivers a quality product every time earns the customer's trust. The person in the relationship who shows up reliably — who keeps promises, who responds with steadiness — earns the trust of the other. The pattern is the proof.

A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

Get Chapter 1 of Atomic Habits for free at jamesclear.com/chapter-1

You can cold email nearly anyone, but nearly everyone overlooks how powerful it can be. Sending one email each week that feels like a stretch can change your life. Will you get turned down? Sure, most of the time. But you only need one to pay off for something amazing to happen. Take your time, write a thoughtful message, and muster the courage to press Send.

A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

Goals are for people who care about winning once. Systems are for people who care about winning repeatedly.

A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

One of the great mistakes in life is suffering for years because you didn't want to feel foolish for five minutes. You don't want to apologize, so you let a relationship deteriorate. You're scared of the sting of rejection, so you don't ask for what you want. You fear people will say your idea is dumb, so you never start the business. Nobody likes feeling foolish, but the feeling fades quickly. The willingness to endure five minutes of discomfort turns out to be a meaningful dividing line in life.

What is the real goal? The real goal is not to “beat the market.” The goal is to build wealth. The real goal is not to read more books. The goal is to understand what you read. Don’t let a proxy become the target. Don’t optimize for the wrong outcome.

The loser has more in common with the winner than with the person sitting on the sidelines. The winner and the loser each had the courage to try. Both risked embarrassment. Both were willing to face uncertainty. Both were stubborn enough to continue. Success is endurance in disguise. It belongs to the person who can absorb the losses without absorbing the identity of "loser." It's the courage to start — and to stick with it — that is the real separator. Results tend to find the person who stays in the game. The sidelines are safe, but sterile. Nothing grows there.

It's rare to find your purpose for life, so instead look for your purpose for this season. What lights you up right now? What's a good thing to dedicate this season of your life to? Perhaps more importantly, what purpose served you well in your previous season, but you have outgrown? Life is always changing. It's okay to pick a new North Star.

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A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

The modern world is optimized for convenience, not improvement. The default path is usually the more convenient path. And I get it. Who wants their days to be a pain in the neck? I like sitting in air-conditioned rooms and watching my favorite shows too. But the body and mind only grow when placed under a stimulus. If you want improvement, you have to choose something different than convenience. It can be lovely to have a day where you do not push yourself, but it rarely works out well if you have a life where you do not push yourself.

When you're on the field, play as if nothing else matters. When you're off the field, remember that the game doesn't matter at all.

The negative examples always spread farther and faster than the positive examples. In a world this big, you'll find at least one negative example every day. Don't let the existence of a bad example ruin your faith in the world. Good news is always quieter than bad news. Good behavior rarely stirs the pot or ignites emotion. But no matter. We need role models all the same. Continue living the best way you know how.

Get Chapter 1 of Atomic Habits for free at jamesclear.com/chapter-1

A question for you this Monday morning. Click the share icon to add this to your story or share your thoughts.

When I go into a situation, I try to keep a mindset of baseline optimism. -When starting the day: It's going to be a good day. -When meeting someone new: I'm going to like them. -When trying something challenging: It's going to work out. Problems will inevitably arise and I'll deal with them as the situation demands, but my preference is to assume I'm on a winning path until proven otherwise.