00:00
Support comes from WISE, the smart way to sendmoney around the world.
Your life is global. Your money should be too.Some providers promise no fees on overseas
transfers, but extra costs often hide in bloatedexchange rates. Choose WISE.
You can send money overseas for education or spendin over 40 currencies while traveling.
Get the exchange rate that you'd usually see onGoogle. Plus, count on 24-7 customer support.
Be smart. Get WISE. Visit WISE.com. T's and C'sapply.
I have decided to change my life completely.
Oh, really?
Starting tomorrow, I will wake up at 4 a.m.
Okay.
Then I will read three books.
Three books in one morning?
Yes, and then I will run a marathon beforebreakfast.
Martin, please stop.
Why?
Because by Wednesday, you will be exhausted.
I suppose you're right.
And by Friday, you will have quit everything.
This is the problem with ambition, isn't it?
It is.
We think we need to make giant changes to getgiant results.
But today we are going to look at the oppositeapproach.
We are exploring the book Atomic Habits by JamesClear.
This book argues that real change comes from tiny,invisible improvements.
It is the science of the one percent.
Welcome to Your English Toolbox, your slow Englishpodcast where we train your ears step by step.
I am Julia.
And I am Martin.
Today we are decoding the secret of long-termsuccess.
Martin, what are we going to talk about today?
Today we're starting a new series of episodes
where we take a deep dive into the ideas from thebook Atomic Habits.
After our previous episode on this topic,
we received many requests asking us to go deeper.
So that's exactly what we're going to do.
In today's episode, we'll explore the first twochapters of the book,
Fundamentals and Identity.
And along the way, we're going to break one of thebiggest myths about success,
the idea of instant results.
We will learn why winners and losers actually havethe exact same goals.
We will discover why cleaning your room solvesnothing if you don't change your habits.
And we will explain why you are not a person whowants to speak English,
03:02
but a person who is a speaker.
If you listen until the end, you will understandthe math of success.
You will learn how to build a routine that runs onautopilot.
And you will finally understand why you feel stuckjust before a big breakthrough.
Part 3. The Math of the 1%
Let's start with the math of success.
Don't worry, it is simple math.
Imagine you improve by just 1% every single day.
1% seems invisible.
It is tiny.
You wouldn't even notice it in the moment.
But if you do that for 365 days, the result isshocking.
You don't end up 2 times better.
You end up 37 times better.
37 times.
That is the power of compound interest.
Just like money multiplies, habits multiply.
But we have to be careful because there is alsothe math of decline.
If you get 1% worse every day, you degrade nearlyto zero.
Time is a magnifier.
If you have good habits, time is your ally.
If you have bad habits, time becomes your enemy.
But Martin, does this apply to everything?
Absolutely.
Take productivity.
If you automate one small task, you free up mentalspace for the next one.
That is positive compounding.
Or knowledge.
Learning one new idea doesn't make you a genius.
But a lifetime of learning transforms yourworldview.
However, stress compounds too.
Traffic jams plus parenting plus work worry equalshealth issues.
And negative thoughts compound the fastest.
The more you think of yourself as worthless, themore you interpret life that way.
So we need to be on the right side of the math.
Part 4. The Aggregation of Marginal Gains
Martin, this theory sounds nice, but does it workin the real world?
Let me tell you the story of British cycling.
For 100 years, they were mediocre.
06:00
They had won almost nothing.
Then they hired a man named Dave Brailsford.
He did not try to make one giant change.
He used a strategy called the Aggregation ofMarginal Gains.
He looked for 1% improvements everywhere.
They redesigned the bike seats to be morecomfortable.
They rubbed alcohol on the tires for better grip.
They bought electrically heated shorts to keepmuscles warm.
They even painted the floor of the truck white tospot dust that could degrade the bikes.
Wait, they painted the floor?
Yes.
And they tested different pillows to see which onegave the best sleep.
These sound like tiny, silly details.
But when you add them all up, the result wasexplosive.
In the 2008 Olympics, they won 60% of the goldmedals.
They went from zero to heroes just by aggregatingsmall gains.
Support comes from WISE, the smart way to sendmoney around the world.
Your life is global.
Your money should be, too.
Some providers promise no fees on overseastransfers,
but extra costs often hide in bloated exchangerates.
Choose WISE.
You can send money overseas for education,
or spend in over 40 currencies while traveling.
Get the exchange rate that you'd usually see onGoogle.
Plus, count on 24-7 customer support.
Be smart. Get WISE.
Visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply.
Part 5.
The Valley of Disappointment
So, if small steps work, why do we give up soeasily?
Because of the plateau of latent potential.
That sounds complicated.
It just means we expect progress to be a straightline.
We work hard for a week and we don't see a change.
We expect results instantly.
But reality is curved.
Results show up late.
James Clear calls this gap the Valley ofDisappointment.
It is that painful period where you are workinghard but seeing nothing.
He uses the ice cube analogy.
Imagine an ice cube sitting in a cold room at 25degrees.
You heat the room to 26.
Nothing happens.
27, 28, 29.
The ice is still solid.
Did you waste your time?
No, you were storing energy.
At 31 degrees, nothing happens.
09:02
But at 32 degrees, the ice begins to melt.
The work done heating it from 25 to 31 was notwasted.
It was just invisible.
This is the bamboo tree metaphor.
Bamboo spends five years building rootsunderground.
You see nothing.
And then in six weeks, it shoots up 90 feet.
So if you are in the Valley of Disappointmenttoday, do not quit.
You are just building your roots.
Part six, forget goals, focus on systems.
Now we need to talk about goals.
Everybody tells us to set big goals.
But James Clear says forget about goals.
Focus on systems instead.
What is the difference?
A goal is the result you want, like winning agame.
A system is the process you follow, like yourpractice schedule.
Think about it.
Winners and losers have the exact same goals.
Every athlete at the Olympics wants the goldmedal.
So the goal cannot be the thing that makes thedifference.
This is survivorship bias.
We only look at the winners and say they had agoal.
But the losers had the same goal.
The difference was their system.
Also, goals have a clean room problem.
If your room is messy and you clean it, you have aclean room for now.
But if you don't change your sloppy habits, theroom gets messy again.
You treated the symptom, not the cause.
Goals also create a yo-yo effect.
Once you run the marathon, you stop training.
The motivation is gone because the goal isfinished.
And finally, goals restrict your happiness.
You tell yourself, I will only be happy if I reachthe goal.
It is binary success.
But systems allow you to be satisfied any time thesystem is running.
There is a quote I love.
You do not rise to the level of your goals.
You fall to the level of your systems.
So how do we build these systems?
We have to look at the onion of change.
Imagine an onion with three layers.
12:00
The outer layer is outcomes, what you get.
The middle layer is processes, what you do.
The center core is identity, who you are.
Most people try to change from the outside in.
They focus on the outcome.
I want to be thin.
But the strongest habits start from the center.
Identity-based habits.
Imagine two people resisting a cigarette.
Person A says, no thanks, I'm trying to quit.
They still believe they are a smoker who is tryingto stop.
Person B says, no thanks, I'm not a smoker.
That is a shift in identity.
Behavior is evidence.
If you believe I am bad at math, you will notstudy math.
That is a negative identity.
It creates cognitive dissonance to act againstyour beliefs.
It is mentally painful to do something thatcontradicts who you think you are.
True behavior change is identity change.
You might start a habit because of motivation.
But you stick with it because of identity.
You become a runner whenever you put on shoes.
You become a writer whenever you write.
The goal is not to write a book, but to become awriter.
Pride is the fuel here.
The more pride you have in an identity, the harderyou fight to keep it.
But first, you might need to do some unlearning.
You have to unlearn the old identities that don'tserve you.
Part 8. The Voting Machine
So, how do we change our identity?
It is a two-step process.
First, decide who you want to be.
Second, prove it to yourself with small wins.
Think of your life as a voting machine.
Every action you take is a vote for the type ofperson you want to become.
Every time you practice English, you cast a votefor, I am a linguist.
Every time you choose a salad, you cast a votefor, I am healthy.
You don't need a unanimous vote to win theelection.
You just need the majority.
You don't need to be perfect.
You just need to be consistent.
As the votes mount up, the evidence changes.
And you start to trust yourself.
There is a feedback loop.
15:01
Your habits shape your identity, and your identityshapes your habits.
Can we fake it?
Yes.
Fake it till you make it.
Ask yourself the question, what would a healthyperson do?
What would a fluent English speaker do?
And then, just do that small thing.
One small workout doesn't make you an athlete.
But it provides evidence that you could be one.
Part nine, conclusion.
So, Martin, we covered a lot today.
Let's recap the main philosophy.
Stop trying to make giant leaps.
Trust the math of the one percent.
Don't worry if you are in the valley ofdisappointment.
Your roots are growing like the bamboo.
Forget the goal of finishing English.
Build a system of daily contact.
And finally, change your identity.
Don't say, I want to learn.
Say, I am a learner.
Cast your votes every day.
If you enjoyed this episode, please write a smallcomment before you go.
Your comments show the platforms that ourcommunity is real, active, and growing.
This support is crucial for us to continuecreating new episodes every week.
Tell us, what vote are you casting today?
Are you voting for the runner, the writer, or theEnglish speaker?
We need your comments because your voice is moreimportant than ours.
Your voice and comments will show us the rightpath.
Thank you for listening.
