Name: I took James Clear's masterclass on habits Here are the takeaways
Uploaded: 2025-11-24T17:08:33.000Z
Duration: 11 min 39 s
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I took James Clear's masterclass on habits.

Now, for those of you who don't know, James Clear is Habit Boy.

He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, which is all about drumroll habits.

So I still use things that I learned from that book to this day.

So I was so excited that he had a masterclass and I could learn more from him.

If you get 1% better every day for a year, you will be 37 times better by the time you're done.

However, if you get 1% worse every day for a year, you decline to nearly zero.

If you're not accomplishing your goals, baby, you have got to build a better system.

Now, if we take stock of all of your current actions, behaviors, and

habits, we can actually see what your future will look like.

And if you don't like what you see, you have to work backwards from your goals and create a better system.

You break it up into all the tiny habits that will lead to it, and

then you implement a system that supports these habits.

Okay, we'll break that down more in a sec.

But the big takeaway here was, like, don't create a system that's like, this is what my day looks like.

If I'm operating at my best, create a system where I can absolutely do this much even on my worst day.

And look, JAMS is clear that life happens.

Sometimes we can't go to the gym because we're sick.

Sometimes we can't write because work got too busy.

But Habit Boy's golden rule is don't miss things twice.

If you miss something once, that's an instance.

Habits shape our identity and vice versa.

So the single biggest takeaway I got from his book years ago is exactly this.

Imagine two people are trying to quit smoking and they're offered a cigarette.

One person says, no thanks, I'm trying to quit.

The other says, no, thanks, I'm not a smoker.

Guess who actually sticks with the goal of not smoking?

Identity shifting is the surest way to lead to success.

Identifying as someone who's athletic or fit, or a writer or a performer, whatever your goals are, if you can claim that identity, the habits that come with it will start to feel so natural.

If we want to change a habit, we have to tinker with each of these stages by adapting behavior changes.

And the behavior changes we can make are make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying.

We all have cues that will prompt our behavior, right?

If I get up in the morning, I brush my teeth.

You want to take a look at all the cues that prompt your behavior and start designing them.

There's this myth that we have to work really hard to change.

But James says the truth is that your brain is incredible at changing your behavior.

It changes all the time based on the people you're around, the room you occupy, and

The actual difficult part of habit changing is, are you just reacting to your environment or are you designing your behavior?

To design our behavior, James recommends we do what's called implementation intentions.

So a variety of studies have shown this to be true.

When we have a specific when and where that we're going to implement a behavior, we're more likely to follow through.

So this looks like I will perform X habit on this day, at this time, on this place.

So I'll go to the gym at 9am on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll write at noon every day at my desk.

I'll read for 30 minutes at night in bed before I fall asleep.

James says people feel like they lack motivation, but what they really lack is clarity.

We're hoping inspiration will strike, but implementation intention shortcuts that problem.

Cause if you have a plan, you're gonna follow through.

Because the discipline has already been pre decided, right?

You're not choosing your habit, it's just what happens at that time for you make it attractive.

So the more attractive a behavior, the more habit forming it is.

And we can do this by reprogramming our stories.

Every single habit you perform, you have a story in your mind about it.

And you wanna reframe your mindset from all the habits you wanna make from I have to to I get to.

So instead of I have to go to the gym today, think, ooh, I get to move my body today Instead of I have to eat a salad, think, I get to nourish my body.

You want to transform your obligations into opportunities with very simple mindset shifts.

And for this, James quoted Nelson Mandela, who said, I never lose.

You want to reframe your story around each of These habits so that they're serving you now.

In this section, James talks about how it's critical.

We know the difference between motion and action.

Motion is usually a little easier to do, but it ultimately doesn't move the needle in creating results.

So, for example, reading can inspire a writer, but it doesn't actually get any writing done.

Or you can email a trainer and schedule an appointment, but

unless you follow through with the workout, you aren't achieving results.

Now, James says we often use motion as an excuse for taking action.

But if your motion substitutes actual action, it's not going to get you anywhere.

If you can only remember one idea from this whole course, James says it's the two minute rule.

Now, the two minute rule takes any habit you're trying to create, and

it scales it down to something that takes two minutes or less.

You want to start doing yoga, Take out your yoga mat.

You write one sentence, you meditate for two minutes.

Now, people often will resist this idea, saying, okay, James, buddy, chief, I get it.

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I took James Clear's masterclass on habits Here are the takeaways

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