Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results

particular, I want my mom and dad to know that I love them. It is a
special feeling to know that your parents are your greatest fans.
Third, to my assistant, Lyndsey Nuckols. At this point, her job defies
description as she has been asked to do nearly everything one could
imagine for a small business. Thankfully, her skills and talents are
more powerful than my questionable management style. Some sections
of this book are as much hers as they are mine. I am deeply grateful for
her help.
As for the content and writing of the book, I have a long list of
people to thank. To start, there are a few people from whom I have
learned so much that it would be a crime to not mention them by
name. Leo Babauta, Charles Duhigg, Nir Eyal, and BJ Fogg have each
influenced my thoughts on habits in meaningful ways. Their work and
ideas can be found sprinkled throughout this text. If you enjoyed this
book, I’d encourage you to read their writing as well.
At various stages of writing, I benefited from the guidance of many
fine editors. Thanks to Peter Guzzardi for walking me through the early
stages of the writing process and for a kick in the pants when I really
needed it. I am indebted to Blake Atwood and Robin Dellabough for
transforming my ugly and insanely long first drafts into a tight,

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readable manuscript. And I am thankful to Anne Barngrover for her
ability to add a little class and poetic style to my writing.
I’d like to thank the many people who read early versions of the
manuscript, including Bruce Ammons, Darcey Ansell, Tim Ballard,
Vishal Bhardwaj, Charlotte Blank, Jerome Burt, Sim Campbell, Al
Carlos, Nicky Case, Julie Chang, Jason Collins, Debra Croy, Roger
Dooley, Tiago Forte, Matt Gartland, Andrew Gierer, Randy Giffen, Jon
Giganti, Adam Gilbert, Stephan Guyenet, Jeremy Hendon, Jane
Horvath, Joakim Jansson, Josh Kaufman, Anne Kavanagh, Chris
Klaus, Zeke Lopez, Cady Macon, Cyd Madsen, Kiera McGrath, Amy
Mitchell, Anna Moise, Stacey Morris, Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Taylor
Pearson, Max Shank, Trey Shelton, Jason Shen, Jacob Zangelidis, and
Ari Zelmanow. The book benefited greatly from your feedback.
To the team at Avery and Penguin Random House who made this
book a reality, thank you. I owe a debt of special thanks to my
publisher, Megan Newman, for her endless patience as I continually
pushed back deadlines. She gave me the space I needed to create a
book I was proud of and championed my ideas at every step. To Nina,
for her ability to transform my writing while still retaining my original
message. To Lindsay, Farin, Casey, and the rest of the PRH team for
spreading the message of this book to more people than I could ever
reach on my own. To Pete Garceau, for designing a beautiful cover for
this book.
And to my agent, Lisa DiMona, for her guidance and insight at every
step of the publishing process.
To the many friends and family members who asked “How’s the
book going?” and offered a word of encouragement when I inevitably
replied “Slowly”—thank you. Every author faces a few dark moments
when writing a book, and one kind word can be enough to get you to
show up again the next day.
I am sure there are people I have forgotten, but I keep an updated
list of anyone who has influenced my thinking in meaningful ways at
jamesclear.com/thanks
.
And finally, to you. Life is short and you have shared some of your
precious time with me by reading this book. Thank you.
—May 2018

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I
Notes
N THIS SECTION
, I have included a detailed list of notes, references, and
citations for each chapter in the book. I trust that most readers will
find this list to be sufficient. However, I also realize that scientific
literature changes over time and the references for this book may need
to be updated. Furthermore, I fully expect that I have made a mistake
somewhere in this book—either in attributing an idea to the wrong
person or not giving credit to someone where it is due. (If you believe
this to be the case, please email me at
[e-mail]
so I can
fix the issue as soon as possible.)
In addition to the notes below, you can find a full list of updated
endnotes and corrections at
atomichabits.com/endnotes
.