Attribution: Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear

The {{c1::aggregation of marginal gains}} is a strategy of searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything that you do. Break down everything that you can think of that goes into something, make each thing better by 1%, and when you put it all together it will improve the overall result greatly: {{c1::aggregation of marginal gains}}.

Small habits make a big difference. Do not undervalue making small improvements on a daily basis. Improving by 1% is not very noticeable but is meaningful in the long run.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them.

Small changes do not seem to matter very much in the moment. Unfortunately, the slow pace that habits cause effects make it easy to let bad habits slide. When we repeat 1% errors day after day, the small choices compound into bad results. A slight change in your habits can guide your life to a different destination. Success is the product of daily habits.

What matters is your current trajectory. Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses and see how your daily choices will compound over a long time. {{c1::Time}} magnifies the margin between success and failure. With {{c1::good habits}}, {{c3::time}} is your ally, and with {{c2::bad habits}}, it is your enemy. Productivity compounds: automating old tasks or mastering new skills allows you to free your brain to focus on other things. A commitment to life-long learning can be transformative because knowledge builds up like compound interest. People reflect your behavior back to you. By helping others, people will help you too.

A {{c1::breakthrough moment}} is often the result of many previous small actions that increased the potential of a sudden change happening. Consider an ice cube melting as the critical temperature threshold is reached. There can be a valley of disappointment where progress seems slow at first. The most powerful outcomes will be delayed: this is one of the reasons why it is hard to build {{c1::good habits}}. You will not see results immediately, so it's easy to let good habits go. You must cross the plateau of latent potential. People will see it as an overnight success, but in fact it is the result of a lot of work that happened way back when it seemed no progress was being made at all.

All big things come from small beginnings. Breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a tree, and forming a habit is like cultivating a flower.

How can we survive the plateau of latent potential? Focus on systems instead of goals. Results have a lot more to do with the systems being followed than the goals that were set.

{{c1::Systems}} are the processes that lead to the results. If you want better results, focus on your system. Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems make progress. Spend more time designing your systems than setting your goals.

If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then it cannot be the goals that separate the successful from the unsuccessful.

Achieving a goal is only a momentary change. Do not treat symptoms without addressing the cause. The results are not the problem. What needs to change is the systems. Solving problems at the results level is temporarily.

Goals restrict your happiness. The implicit assumption behind a goal is that happiness is put off by achieving the goal. Happiness is not something for your future self to enjoy. Goals create an either-or conflict. This is misguided. It is unlikely your path will match your exact journey you set out at any time. A systems first mentality is an antidote. Fall in love with the process, not the product.

Goals are at odds with long term progress. It can create a yo-yo effect. As soon as you achieve the goal, you may have nothing to push you forward. True long-term thinking is goalless thinking. Endless refinement and continuous improvement.

Bad habits repeat themselves again and again because you have the wrong system. {{c1::Atomic habits}} are small habits that build a larger system that will deliver remarkable results in the long term. Each is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement. They build on each other and fuel bigger wins. A regular practice or routine that is small and easy to do and a component of the system of compound growth.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement but are a double-edged sword. It is therefore essential to understand them. Small changes appear to make no difference until a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of a compounding process will be delayed. To get better results: focus on your system. You fall to the level of your systems.