Book quotes

I read “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones”, by James Clear.

I liked this quote a lot:

I refer to this as the difference between being in motion and taking action. The two ideas sound similar, but they’re not the same. When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result.

Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action. If I search for a better diet plan and read a few books on the topic, that’s motion. If I actually eat a healthy meal, that’s action.

Sometimes motion is useful, but it will never produce an outcome by itself. It doesn’t matter how many times you go talk to the personal trainer, that motion will never get you in shape. Only the action of working out will get the result you’re looking to achieve.

Of course, you need to read things, prepare for a meeting, and do some exercise. But the actual action is using the learned knowledge/way of thinking, holding the meeting and running the marathon.

This is a very important piece of information – I sometimes get lost in preparing things, but the real focus should be on starting new things.

Quite a realization!

The book is great, I wholeheartedly recommend it!

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