“Remember the truth about the mind when it comes to change: it’s a little child. Imagine that your brain is a child that wants pleasure and wants to get what it wants, and it really wants to get out of discomfort. This Childish Mind will do everything it can to get out of discomfort. It will make you run from exercise, from doing difficult tasks, from new and confusing things. The Childish Mind will make excuses, rationalizations, beg to quit. It’s very, very good at what it does, and it’s constantly working against our best intentions. I learned how to overcome this Childish Mind Syndrome: I made my running habit ridiculously easy. I told myself all I had to do was go out and run for a few minutes. My Childish Mind couldn’t object to that, because it was so easy! And when you make your habit change easy, I’ve learned, the Childish Mind actually doesn’t work against you in the beginning.” ~ Leo Babauta, Essential Zen Habits (Page 18)
Lifestyle Change Quotes
“Imagine that your life and your attention are a small room, and in this room you wanted to put a meditation cushion, a weight set for exercise, a kitchen for healthy eating, a couch for reading, a writing desk for creating a novel, a yoga mat for doing some yoga, and a tea table for mindfully drinking tea. The tiny room would be cramped, and none of these things would have any space, and we’d not really be able to do any of them. This is what happens when we try to do multiple habits at once: we overfill the small space of our lives and our attention so that we have no room for anything. Instead, imagine that we only had one thing in that room—let’s say the writing desk. That’s all that’s in the room for the moment. This desk would have space, and the writing would get our full attention. Create space for your habit change, by doing one habit at a time, and you’ll do your best job on that habit.” ~ Leo Babauta, Essential Zen Habits (Page 16)
Essential Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, Briefly [Book]
![Essential Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, Briefly by Leo Babauta [Book]](https://www.movemequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IMG_4400.jpg "Essential Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, Briefly by Leo Babauta [Book]")
Book Overview: Essential Zen Habits shares a method and a six-week program for changing a habit, and outlines steps needed to quit bad habits, deal with life struggles, and find mindfulness. All in a very brief format of “just do this” instructions, no fluff whatsoever.
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Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
- 16 Leo Babauta Quotes from Essential Zen Habits and How To Master the Art of Change
- Leo Babauta Quote on Expectations and Our Attachment To Ideals (Beyond the Quote 175/365)
- Pema Chodron Quote on Suffering and What We Should Do To Alleviate It (Beyond the Quote 59/365)
- Leo Babauta Quote on Using Mistakes As Feedback (Beyond the Quote 39/365)
- Leo Babauta Quote on How Self-Reflection Changed His Life (Beyond the Quote 37/365)
James Clear Quote on How Long It Takes To Build A Habit
“How long does it take to build a habit? 21 days? 30 days? 66 days? The honest answer is: forever. Because once you stop doing it, it is no longer a habit. A habit is a lifestyle to be lived, not a finish line to be crossed. Make small, sustainable changes you can stick with.”
James Clear, Blog
Beyond the Quote (22/365)
It’s time to end the debate. It’s time to change your mindset about how habits work and how they are formed. The problem with 21, 30, 66, or even 90 days, is that those numbers create finish lines—and very short distanced ones at that. And once one of those finish lines are crossed, then what?
Read More »James Clear Quote on How Long It Takes To Build A HabitLeo Babauta Quote on Not Making Exceptions—Ever
“Exceptions lead to more exceptions. It’s really easy to justify not doing [a] new habit (or doing an old habit you’re trying to quit) by saying, ‘Just one time won’t hurt.’ Except that it will, because now you think it’s OK to make exceptions. And now you don’t really trust yourself to stick to your promise to yourself. It’s much more effective to not make exceptions — catch yourself if you’re thinking about it and trying to justify it, and remember your motivations. When I quit smoking, I told myself Not One Puff Ever (NOPE).”
Leo Babauta, Zen Habits
Beyond the Quote (Day 6)
The habit changes that I have had the most success with incorporating into my lifestyle have been the ones that I have been the most strict with myself about. When I started drinking coffee black, I told myself No Cream or Sugar Ever. When I cut out donuts from my diet, I told myself Not One Bite Ever. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I told myself Not One Sip Ever. When I committed to going vegan, I told myself No Meat or Dairy Ever. Like Babauta, I made sure there were no exceptions or ‘gray-areas’ to these habit changes—and while that might sound harsh and intense, I actually feel like it made the habit change process easier.
Read More »Leo Babauta Quote on Not Making Exceptions—Ever
“Human beings change through study, habit, and stories. Through my story you will learn what the body and mind are capable of when they’re driven to maximum capacity, and how to get there. Because when you’re driven, whatever is in front of you, whether it’s racism, sexism, injuries, divorce, depression, obesity, tragedy, or poverty, becomes fuel for your metamorphosis.” ~ David Goggins, Can’t Hurt Me
“I believe that one first changes the behaviors, then, if one is lucky, the feelings follow.” ~ Terrence Real, I Don’t Want To Talk About It
“Can one tiny change transform your life? It’s unlikely you would say so. But what if you made another? And another? And another? At some point, you will have to admit that your life was transformed by one small change. The holy grail of habit change is not a single 1 percent improvement, but a thousand of them.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits [Book]
Book Overview: No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving–every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
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Post(s) Inspired by this Book:
- 10 Sobering James Clear Quotes on Making Progress from Atomic Habits
- James Clear Quote on Happiness and How It’s About Absence Not Achievement (Beyond the Quote 94/365)
- James Clear Quote on The Importance Of Systems For Success (Beyond the Quote 8/365)
- A Famous Comedian’s Rise to Fame—From Selling Guidebooks to Selling Out Shows—Can You Guess Who? [Excerpt]
“We focus on working long hours instead of getting meaningful work done. We care more about getting ten thousand steps than we do about being healthy. We teach for standardized tests instead of emphasizing learning, curiosity, and critical thinking. In short, we optimize for what we measure. When we choose the wrong measurement, we get the wrong behavior.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits
“In a sense, every habit is just an obstacle to getting what you really want. Dieting is an obstacle to getting fit. Meditation is an obstacle to feeling calm. Journaling is an obstacle to thinking clearly. You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habit delivers. The greater the obstacle—that is, the more difficult the habit—the more friction there is between you and your desired end state. This is why it is crucial to make your habits so easy that you’ll do them even when you don’t feel like it. If you can make your good habits more convenient, you’ll be more likely to follow through on them.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits
“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision but as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.” ~ James Clear, Atomic Habits
“When it comes to habits, the best approach isn’t to focus on eliminating unwanted behaviors but to replace them with new habits and drown the old out. This is true of replacing a nasty habit like smoking with a healthy habit like exercise, and it’s just as true with replacing a character habit like laziness with a more useful one such as embracing the suck. Our habits define us: Solid character habits define a solid character.” ~ Mark Divine, The Way of the Seal
“Those who are truly enlightened know what they want out of life, emotionally, materially, physically and spiritually. Clearly defined priorities and goals for every aspect of your life will serve a role similar to that played by a lighthouse, offering you guidance and refuge when the seas become rough. You see, anyone can revolutionize their lives once they revolutionize the direction in which they are moving. But if you don’t even know where you are going, how will you ever know when you get there?”
Robin S. Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Quick-fixes do not work.
Picture Quote Text:
“Quick-fixes do not work. All lasting inner change requires time and effort. Persistence is the mother of personal change. I’m not saying that it will take years to make profound changes in your life. If you diligently apply the strategies I am sharing with you every day for only one month, you will be astonished at the results. You will begin to tap into the highest levels of your own capacity and enter the realm of the miraculous. But to reach this destination, you must not get hung up on the outcome. Instead, enjoy the process of personal expansion and growth. Ironically, the less you focus on the end result, the quicker it will come.” ~ Robin S. Sharma, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
“Whether people change their mindset in order to further their career, heal from a loss, help their children thrive, lose weight, or control their anger, change needs to be maintained. It’s amazing – once a problem improves, people often stop doing what caused it to improve. Once you feel better, you stop taking your medicine. But change doesn’t work that way. When you’ve lost weight, the issue doesn’t go away. Or when your child starts to love learning, the problem isn’t solved forever. Or when you and your partner start communicating better, that’s not the end of it. These changes have to be supported or they can go away faster than they appeared.” ~ Carol Dweck, Mindset
Habit Stacking – A Simple and Effective Way to Create New, Positive Habits in Your Life.
As creatures of habit, there are dozens – if not hundreds – of things that we do on a regular basis that don’t even require as much as a single thought. Things that we have done so often, and over such an extended period of time, that they literally have become a part of who we are and how we go about our day. Some of these habits are healthy, empowering, and good, while some of these habits are unhealthy, disempowering, and not-so-good. And, once a habit is established, it’s very hard to break – a truth I’m sure you’re all too familiar with. Read More »Habit Stacking – A Simple and Effective Way to Create New, Positive Habits in Your Life.
