Latest / the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day / James Clear - "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

Transcript

James Clear - "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become." · the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day

• 0:00
  Podcasthero.com. Welcome to the Daily Quote, the
• 0:06
  podcast designed to kick start your day in a positive way.
• 0:11
  I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, and this episode is brought to
• 0:14
  you by the Great News Podcast because good news should be
• 0:17
  heard. Find it in your favorite podcast
• 0:20
  app. And just in case, I left a link
• 0:22
  in the show notes, today's quote comes from James Clear, the
• 0:28
  author of Atomic Habits, one of the best selling books on human
• 0:32
  behavior and habit formation ever written, with over
• 0:36
  25,000,000 copies sold and translations in more than 60
• 0:42
  languages. Wow, I'm one in 25,000,000.
• 0:50
  He wrote. Every action you take is a vote
• 0:55
  for the type of person you wish to become.
• 0:59
  Most people think identity is something they either have or
• 1:03
  they don't. You're either a discipline
• 1:06
  person or you're not, either a healthy person or you're not,
• 1:11
  either someone who follows through or someone who doesn't.
• 1:16
  Identity feels fixed, like something assigned to you rather
• 1:20
  than something you build. Clear dismantles that completely
• 1:25
  with one sentence. Identity isn't assigned, it's
• 1:30
  accumulated one vote at a time. Think about what this actually
• 1:36
  means. Every single action you take
• 1:40
  today is a ballot being cast for a particular version of
• 1:44
  yourself. No single instance will
• 1:47
  transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the
• 1:52
  evidence of your identity. This is why habits are crucial.
• 1:57
  They cast repeated votes for being a certain type of person.
• 2:03
  Go for the run you didn't feel like taking.
• 2:06
  That's a vote for the person who prioritizes health.
• 2:10
  Write the paragraph when you'd rather scroll.
• 2:13
  That's a vote for the writer. Have a difficult conversation
• 2:18
  instead of avoiding it? That's a vote for the person who
• 2:22
  faces things directly. And here is the flip side.
• 2:28
  Every avoided action is a vote, too.
• 2:31
  Every time you skip, the thing hits news.
• 2:34
  Take the shortcut. You're casting a ballot for a
• 2:37
  different version of yourself. Not with malice, not
• 2:42
  dramatically. Just quietly.
• 2:45
  One small vote at a time. Clear's insight is that
• 2:49
  meaningful change does not require radical change.
• 2:53
  Small habits make a meaningful difference precisely because
• 2:58
  they provide evidence of a new identity.
• 3:01
  And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big.
• 3:08
  That's the paradox of making small improvements.
• 3:11
  You don't decide who you are by thinking about it.
• 3:14
  You decide by voting every single day, in every single
• 3:21
  action. This podcast exists because of
• 3:25
  accumulated votes. Not one dramatic decision to
• 3:29
  become someone who creates daily, although I did have a
• 3:33
  goal. But hundreds of small votes cast
• 3:36
  every evening. Show up, record, publish and do
• 3:43
  it again, each one a tiny ballot for the identity of someone who
• 3:49
  follows through. There were plenty of days the
• 3:52
  vote was tempting to skip, but the running tally that
• 3:57
  accumulated evidence of showing up every day is what eventually
• 4:03
  made the identity feel real. Not declared earned one vote at
• 4:10
  a time. So here's the question.
• 4:13
  Look at the actions you've taken today, the choices you've made
• 4:17
  since you woke up. What kind of person are those
• 4:20
  actions voting for? Because the ballot box is always
• 4:24
  open and the next vote is always the next action you take.
• 4:29
  Choose deliberately. Vote for the person you want to
• 4:33
  become. That's it for today.
• 4:37
  I'm Anna McGivern, signing off for now, but I'll be back
• 4:42
  tomorrow. Same pod time, same pod station
• 4:49
  with another daily quote.