"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Will Durant
The most important posts about habits:-
- My habit system - I used all the information I'd gleaned from reading all the best books and resources on habit formation to create a "system" that I run through when trying to build habits.
- Why trying harder doesn't work - the fundamentals of willpower, why it's so valuable and why it's a poor strategy for habit building
- How to design your life to preserve willpower - by being mindful and understanding how our willpower becomes unnecessarily depleted on a daily basis can help us maintain self control and see things through to the end
All My Posts about Habit Formation:-
Why Meditate? What will you get out of it?
I've had people ask me why I'm trying to build meditation as
Developing the Habit of Seeing Things Through – How To Become a Finisher
Signs of Willpower Fatigue: How To Tell When You’re Burnt Out
If we know that willpower is a finite resource that we should
The Surprising Little Known Facts about The Real Cost of Decisions
How to Preserve Our Most Valuable Habit Building Asset – Willpower
In previous posts, I've described the strength model for willpower depletion (otherwise
How To Know if A Behavior is Habitual? Measuring Habits
All this talk about habits, but what actually is a habit?In simple
How Long Does it Really Take to Form a New Habit?
How to Be Prolific: A Look into the Mindsets of Prolific Creators
The one thing that really impresses me about someone is if they
Why Trying Harder is a Terrible Strategy – The Strength Model for Ego Depletion
This time you're not going to quit...It's new year's eve and you've
Showing Up Consistently and Using Brute Force
As I sit here and write this post, I'm experiencing resistance. I​ don't
How to Build Habits for Good – The Warrior Habits System
By taking the time to grasp a basic understanding of how our
Holding My Feet to the Fire...
I'm currently using the techniques that I talk about on this site to write daily, record a daily video, write a daily ritual and read. You can track my progress here. And here is my current habit system (regularly updated as changes occur!)
My Favorite Habit Building Resources
I keep the following list of books and online resources updated whenever I come across awesomeness:-
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - one of my favorite books about habits. Must read.
- Behavioral change by BJ Fogg - Stanford professor with lots of amazing resources on behavior change and habit formation
- James Clear - one of my favorite writers on the subject of self development and habit formation. I recommend signing up and studying his free habit guide.
- Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney - one of the leading resources on willpower, what it is and how to preserve it.
- Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise - a nice procrastinating busting method of building habits by starting with really small commitments.
- The Now Habit by Neil Fiore - a great book about the psychology of procrastination and some practical tips you can use to resolve that with certain overlaps into habit formation.
- Cool presentation by Roy Baumeister - nice overview of willpower, signs of willpower depletion, and how to strengthen it.
- Finisher's Formula by Ramit Sethi - while this paid course is mainly about how to train yourself to see things through to the end, a lot of the material is about habit formation and includes a really awesome interview with Charles Duhigg, the author of "The Power of Habit".
Here is also a list of the best scientific studies on habit formation and willpower preservation.