Habits
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101 Classes
Habits 101
How to discover your super power and install your #1 habit
Aristotle tells us: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a HABIT.” It’s not about living at your best every once in a while. It’s about rockin’ it day in and day out. Making it who you are. A habit. That’s what this class is all about. We’ll help you identify and install your #1 keystone habit while learning how to tap into your superpowers and create habits that will change your life.
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101 Classes
Optimizing Algorithms 101
How to become an optibot (aka an “optimizing robot”!) and program yourself to reach your infinite potential
“Algorithm.” Yuval Noah Harari tells us that it is the most important concept of the 21st century and that “we should make every effort to understand what an algorithm is, and how algorithms are connected with emotions.” Ray Dalio echoes this perspective and tells us that algorithms will be the most important language for us (and our kids) to learn. Psychologists have been talking about algorithms for awhile as well. They call them “if-then implementation intentions”—which are the secret sauce to using your willpower wisely to install habits that run on autopilot. In this class, we tie that all together and then talk about some practical ways to apply that wisdom to our lives so we can program ourselves wisely and have fun seeing just how awesome we can make our lives. 🤓
Philosopher's Notes
Tiny Habits
The Small Changes That Change Everything
by B. J. Fogg
BJ Fogg founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science of behavior change. In this book, he introduces us to the core elements of his Fogg Behavior Model as we learn that habit change doesn’t need to be as hard as we make it. As BJ tells us: “We are not the problem. Our approach to change is. It’s a design flaw—not a personal flaw.” Big Ideas we explore include the three elements that drive behavior (B = MAP!), the ABCs of Tiny Habits (Anchor + (Tiny) Behavior + Celebration!), the power of anchor prompts (After I (ANCHOR), I will (NEW HABIT), and the power of celebration (get your Shine on!).
Philosopher's Notes
Atomic Habits
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
by James Clear
James Clear has a super-popular website (jamesclear.com). Millions of people visit it every month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his email newsletter. After reading this book, I can see why. He’s a great writer and distills the essence of habit formation into, well, its fundamental components—the “atomic” structure if you will—while showing us how those TINY little incremental improvements add up to MIGHTY results. I rarely say a book is a must-read but this one’s as close as it gets. Big Ideas we explore include: The math behind 1% gains compounding over a year (and a decade!), navigating the Plateau of Latent Potential (ever given up on a habit? Take note!), the importance (and etymology) of our Identity (get this: it *literally* means 'repeated being ness'), The 4 Laws of Behavior Change (remember: cue + craving + response + reward and... make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfying), and the Sorites Paradox (can a single habit change your life?).
Philosopher's Notes
The Compound Effect
Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success
by Darren Hardy
Darren Hardy is the Publisher of SUCCESS magazine and knows a thing or 1,000 about success. It's all boiled down into this little manifesto on The Compound Effect. The equation? Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE. In the Note, we'll check out the power of compounding and how to welcome Mr. Mo to the party and create your greatest life.
Philosopher's Notes
The Slight Edge
Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness
by Jeff Olson
Jeff Olson is a down-to-earth, super practical (and successful) guy who believes in the power of turning simple disciplines into massive success. He calls that power “The Slight Edge.” In the Note, we’ll explore Big Ideas ranging from the anti-quantum leap and making course corrections to the habits of a slight edge master and how to create optimal plans.
Philosopher's Notes
Mini Habits
Smaller Habits, Bigger Results
How’s your habit-building process working for you? If you’ve stalled a few (hundred?) times, Stephen Guise tells us that Mini Habits might be just the thing you’re looking for! In the Note we look at what a Mini Habit is and how to go about rockin’ it exploring Big Ideas like making habits stupid small (aka “too small to fail”), embracing Newton’s 1st law, and being aware of ego depletion as you create your chain!
Philosopher's Notes
Superhuman by Habit
A Guide to Becoming the Best Possible Version of Yourself, One Tiny Habit at a Time
by Tynan
You want to be superhuman? Tynan tells us it's *all* about the habits. I agree. And this book is a genius little manifesto on how to rock it. In the Note, we'll look at some Big Ideas on the basic mental mechanics of installing habits that'll help you reach your potential. Keys: focusing on consistency (!), using your mistakes to your advantage, getting rid of negative habits and focusing on the finish line as you rock the process.
Philosopher's Notes
The Checklist Manifesto
How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gawande
Atul Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He’s also an extraordinary, best-selling author of a number of books. Short story: Want to get things right? Use a checklist. Sounds too silly to work but… It does. Period. Big Ideas we explore include two reasons we err (ignorance + ineptitude), what to do about it (checklists!), how to reduce your Masterpiece Day mortality rate by at least 47% (checklists!), why Van Halen doesn’t like brown M&M’s (checklists!), and your Big 3 Keystone Initiative (checklist!).
Philosopher's Notes
The Power of Habit
Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Habits. They’re powerful. And, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is a very cool look at why we have them, how they work, and what we can do to change them. The book is an incredibly well-written, fun read and it’s packed with great stories and wisdom and I think you’ll dig it. In this Note, we’ll take a quick peek at the basic aspects of a habit loop (cue + routine + reward), how you can get a cue, what a keystone habit is (and why you should care), the importance of believing you can change and the fact that every habit is malleable. Fun!
Philosopher's Notes
Make Your Bed
Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World
Admiral William H. McRaven is a Retired U.S. Navy SEAL who served for thirty-seven years and commanded at every level. As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. (During this time, he oversaw the covert mission that killed Osama bin Laden.) In 2014, he gave the commencement address to the graduates of the University of Texas at Austin. Millions of people wound up watching his speech on ten lessons he learned from his Navy SEAL training. This book takes a deeper look at those ten lessons. It’s a super-quick read—packed with simple, yet profound wisdom along with moving stories of moral exemplars. It's FANTASTIC.
Philosopher's Notes
How to Awaken Your True Potential
The Wisdom of Yogananda
This is our fifth Note on one of Yogananda’s great little books/booklets. For now, it’s time to Awaken Your True Potential. Yogananda reminds me of a spiritually-centered mix of other thought leaders of the era—including guys like Orison Swett Marden, Napoleon Hill, and Dale Carnegie. He brings the same intensity with a focus on awakening to our TRUE potential—connecting to and expressing the Divine within. The book is packed with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!
Philosopher's Notes
The High 5 Habit
Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit
by Mel Robbins
This is Mel Robbins’ second book. We featured her first book called The 5 Second Rule which is A W E S O M E! When I saw she had written this one, I was excited to get it. It is also A W E S O M E! If you’re familiar with Mel, you know she’s one of the leading voices in personal development and transformation. She’s changed millions of lives with her books, podcast, and online courses. In fact, Mel coaches more than 60 million people online every month and videos featuring her work have more than a BILLION views, including her TEDx Talk called “How to stop screwing yourself over” which is one of the most popular of all time. One of the reasons she’s so beloved is because she’s so incredibly real. This book features the High 5 Habit for which the book is named AND a dozen other life-changing tools AND at least that many stories about her own (Heroic!) challenges and how she’s used these tools to flip the switch and create a life of deep meaning and joy. The book is packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share a handful of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
Philosopher's Notes
15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management
The Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs
by Kevin Kruse
Kevin Kruse is a Forbes Leadership columnist and successful entrepreneur. He’s built and sold several multimillion dollar technology companies, winning both Inc 500 and Best Place to Work awards along the way. He’s also written a number of bestselling books. I got this book after a long-time student and Heroic Coach connected me with Kevin. Apparently my new friend was being interviewed by Kevin about his new book on creativity for a Forbes article. At the end of their chat, my new friend told Kevin that he should check out Heroic. And, apparently, he had JUST signed up for Heroic the day before. (Awesome.) This book, as per the sub-title and intro quote, is all about the top productivity habits of some of the world’s most productive and successful people. It’s written in a straight-forward, conversational style. There’s a reason it has over 1,400 reviews—it’s fantastic. It’s packed with Big Ideas. I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!
Philosopher's Notes
Black Box Thinking
Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes--But Some Do
by Matthew Syed
Failure. Some of us lean into it and learn as much as we can from it, and some of us prefer to avoid thinking about it and/or pretend it never happened. As you may guess, one approach leads to dramatically better performance over the long run. (Hint: Seeing failure as feedback + learning opportunities is a very wise idea.) Big Ideas we explore include a quick look at the aviation vs. health care industries, the importance of quantity of work if you want quality, marginal gains, cognitive dissonance and pre-mortems.
Philosopher's Notes
The Power of Habit
Habits. They can make us or break us. This great little book by Jack D. Hodge is a quick-reading 115 pages of goodness to help us change our lives by changing the habits that drive us. It’s packed with Big Ideas. In this Note, we’ll have some fun learning about the difference between “Dreamers” and “Doers” (hint: it’s their habits!), the common denominator of success, how to become a genius, daily drudgery and the power of focus. Good stuff!
+1s
Emotional Stamina
#28
What to Do When You’re Having a Rough Day
What do you do when you’re having a rough day?
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+1s
Bright Lines
#45
How to Make Good Contracts with Yourself
I dropped out of law school before a semester was over but I do remember one Big Idea from Contracts class.
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+1s
Commitments: 100% Is a Breeze
#46
99%? Not So Much.
So, as per our last +1, bright lines are super helpful in making deals with ourselves.
+1s
Quick How to on Habits
#47
100% on ONE Keystone Daily Micro Habit
So, we’re ready to go ALL IN and make that 100% commitment with super bright lines.
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+1s
How to Avoid Habit Suicide
#48
OK to Suck. Not OK to Skip.
Let’s say you’re building a new habit a la the Quick How to on Habits +1.
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+1s
Two Easies
#51
Easy to Do. Easy Not to Do.
Jim Rohn tells us that our success in life is all about the two easies. It’s all about consistently doing the tiny (!) fundamentals that are simultaneously super easy to do and super easy not to do.
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+1s
How to Put on Your (Life-)Socks
#57
Wisdom from the Greatest Coach Ever
John Wooden’s UCLA basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, including an 88-game winning streak. (Go Bruins!)
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+1s
Digging Foundations
#58
What the World’s Tallest Building Can Teach Us about Building the World’s Tallest You
One more +1 on the fundamentals theme to finish our trifecta following Greatness = Consistency on the Fundamentals and Coach Wooden teaching us How to Put on Our Life-Socks.
+1s
Chore vs. Gift
#117
Choosing the Right Why Turns Your Behaviors from One to the Other
Michelle Segar, the scientist we learned about in our last +1, tells us that when we choose the Right (concrete) Why (“Feel better now!”) rather than the Wrong (fuzzy) Why (“Get healthier!”), we can turn our health behaviors like exercising and eating well into GIFTS rather than CHORES.
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+1s
What's Your #1 Self-Care Habit?
#129
Perhaps the Most Important Question We Can Ask Ourselves
As we’ve discussed, Michelle Segar is one of the world’s leading researchers studying the science of how to Optimize our health behaviors.
+1s
Want Willpower: Play Offense not Defense
#138
How to Win the Willpower World Series
Most of us wonder how we can have more willpower in those moments of temptation.
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+1s
Reduce the Variability of Your Behavior
#188
To Increase the Likelihood of Rocking It
We’ve had a number of +1s on how to Optimize the use of our limited Willpower to install Habits that run on autopilot.
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+1s
How to 100,000x Your Performance
#331
2 AI’s + 100 Algorithms
As we’ve discussed, Ray Dalio is one of the most influential (and wealthiest) people on the planet. In his great book Principles, he walks us through HOW he created his success and wealth.
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+1s
Blissipline
#392
Bliss + Discipline = Secret Sauce
Michael Beckwith coined one of my favorite words: blissipline.
+1s
Want Better Habits? Start With Who
#653
Identity = “Repeated Beingness”
Continuing our quick tour through James Clear’s Atomic Habits, let’s talk about the importance of your Identity in forming better habits (and breaking the bad ones). (Soon we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of his 4 Laws of Behavior Change.)
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+1s
The 4 Laws of Behavior Change
#656
Make It: Obvious + Attractive + Easy + Satisfying
In our last number of +1s, we’ve been having fun swimming in and out of the Atomic Habits pool. Most recently, we had fun measuring Michael Phelps’ inseam and noticing the fact that it PERFECTLY matched the domain he chose to dominate. (Does YOUR soul-inseam fit your life?)
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+1s
How to Build a Good Habit
#657
Easy as 1, 2, 3
In our last +1, we took a quick look at James Clear’s “4 Laws of Behavior Change.”
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+1s
How to Break a Bad Habit
#658
Easy as 1, 2, 3
In our last +1, we had fun tweaking James Clear’s 4 Laws of Behavior Change as we applied The 3 Laws of Creating a Great Habit.
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+1s
Pilot + Co-Pilot + Autopilot
#865
The Art and Science of Installing Good Habit-Algorithms
In our last couple +1s, we talked about Seneca’s wisdom on the importance of “fortifying our pertinacity” until our will to do the right thing becomes a disposition to doing the right thing.
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+1s
How to Avoid Being Miserable
#992
William James on Habits
Ryan Holiday has written a bunch of great books.
+1s
Building an Epic Bridge
#1033
I Hereby Challenge You to Have a Series of Really Bad Days
In our last +1, we talked about the Big 2 Virtues.
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+1s
Shaping Our Brains
#1174
Millisecond by Millisecond
In our last +1, we spent some time on the cortisol-melatonin teeter totter, reminding ourselves to give our melatonin a chance to have some nice, relaxing fun by turning off our cortisol-spiking inputs nice and early.
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+1s
B = MAP
#1198
The Behavior Design Equation
BJ Fogg founded the Behavior Design Lab at Stanford University.
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+1s
How to Delete a Behavior
#1199
Remove the Prompt and Make It Hard!
In our last +1, we talked about BJ Fogg and his Behavior Design Equation.
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+1s
The ABCs of Tiny Habits
#1205
Anchor + Behavior + Celebration
Today we’re going to revisit BJ Fogg’s Behavior Design Lab at Stanford.
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+1s
Celebration
#1206
As Powerful as Mindfulness and Gratitude?
In our last +1, BJ Fogg taught us the ABCs of Tiny Habits.
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+1s
How to Celebrate
#1207
Hint: IMMEDIATELY + INTENSELY
In our last +1, we talked about the power of Celebrating our tiny successes.
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+1s
Character Flaws vs. Design Flaws
#1214
Note: There’s a BIG Difference
In our last +1, we talked about me and the weed.
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+1s
How to +3 It
#1232
When -1 → +1 = +3
This morning I was preparing for the third session in our Algorithms Module in our Mastery Series for our Coach program.
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+1s
“That Works!”
#1257
Let’s Do It Again (And Again) (And Again)
In our last +1, we talked about Trevor Moawad’s distinctions on Conscious Competence from his great book It Takes What It Takes.
Philosopher's Notes
A Better Way to Live
by Og Mandino
Og Mandino was the most popular inspirational author of his era. Before that he was a 35-year-old drunken derelict! In this book, he tells us how he found "a better way to live" and shares his 17 Rules to Live By so we can rock it as well. We'll start by building foundations below our air-castles, counting our blessings, going the extra mile and learning from Lady Liberty's Hair-do.
Philosopher's Notes
Everyday Enlightenment
The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth
by Dan Millman
This is Dan Millman's magnum opus where he walks us through "The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth" and in the Note we check out Big Ideas ranging from the importance of discovering our self-worth (and how to do so) to the fact that, although "Carpe diem!" sounds good, it's impossible to do. We can’t "Seize the day!" but we *can* "Seize the moment!" or , as Dan says: "Carpe punctum!"
Philosopher's Notes
My Morning Routine
How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired
by Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander
Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander created a popular site and interview series called “My Morning Routine” (they’ve now interviewed over 250 people) and this book is a distillation of the best stuff they’ve learned. As they say, it’s “Part instruction manual, part someone else’s diary.” If you’re looking for some simple, practical ideas and inspiring examples of how to Optimize your mornings I think you’ll dig it, too. Big Ideas we explore include how to avoid decision fatigue, what NOT to do if you want awesome routines (and to avoid reducing your IQ by 10 points), 5 tips for focused and productive mornings, your life as an experiment (with you as observer and subject) and evening routines (remember: tomorrow begins tonight!)
Philosopher's Notes
One Small Step Can Change Your Life
One small step. That’s all we ever need to take! In his great, quick-reading book One Small Step Can Change Your Life, Robert Maurer helps us understand why the small steps are so important. In this Note, we’ll take a look at the difference between kaizen and innovation, learn how to tiptoe past our fear, and identify one small step we can take on our journey to rockin’ it!
Philosopher's Notes
The First 30 Days
Your Guide to Making Any Change Easier
Ariane de Bonvoisin is the founder of First30days.com and her great book is packed with wisdom on navigating the first 30 days of any (and all) of the changes we inevitably encounter. In the Note, we'll look at how to become a change optimist as we see all the amazing opportunities that come in a time of change and as we work out our change muscles and battle the change demons! Good times.
Philosopher's Notes
Today We Are Rich
Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence
by Tim Sanders
Tim Sanders is awesome. He was the Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo! back in the day and wrote the uber-cool book Love Is the Killer App—which was one of the books that planted the seed for these PhilosophersNotes. In this great book, Tim shares the wisdom of his beloved Grandma, Billye, who taught him the power of total confidence. The key? As Tim says: “The secret to renewal and true confidence is simple: Get back to the basics.” In this Note, we’ll learn how to be truly rich via powerful daily practices as we become healthy-thought nuts and POETs who practice persistence. Fun!
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+1s
Atomic Habits: Tiny = Mighty
#649
You, a Quadrillion Times Better
James Clear wrote a great book called Atomic Habits. One of the things I most love about it is the fact that he quantified our +1 game for us. 🤓