James Clear

Use this “Eisenhower Box.”

Most people start by focusing on performance and appearance-based goals like “I want to lose 20 pounds” or “I want to write a best-selling book.”

I was in the gym one day, training like usual, when my coach made an important observation. It didn’t take me long to see how this discovery applied to other areas of my life as well. Here’s what happened.

Every Monday and Thursday for the past 16 months, I sat down in my chair, put my hands on the keyboard, and wrote a new article. Post after post. Week after week. Over 130 articles and counting.

Today, Aurelius is perhaps best known for his collection of essays called Meditations.

Maxwell Maltz was a plastic surgeon in the 1950s when he began noticing a strange pattern among his patients. When Dr.

Franz Kafka is considered one of the most creative and influential writers of the 20th century, but he actually spent most of his time working as a lawyer for the Workers Accident Insurance Institute.

When you have a goal — whether it’s starting a business or eating healthier or traveling the world — it’s easy to look at someone who is already doing it and then try to reverse engineer their strategy.

I believe that we are meant to live physical lives, which is why I love training, weightlifting, and athletic competition.

I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend, Beck Tench. During our chat, Beck told me about an interesting shift in thinking that occurred while she worked at a science museum.

We all have goals that are important to us. But is it our drive to achieve a certain outcome that makes us better? Or something else entirely?

Dan John is a weightlifting coach. He is well-known in the fitness world for keeping things simple. As regular readers know, simplicity matches up well with my exercise philosophy. (Dan John also has two first names.