3-2-1: How to be great, the power of cold emails, and the dangers of working late

Happy 3-2-1 Thursday!

Quick announcement: We are having a Memorial Day Sale on our popular Atomic Habits engraved pens.

I partnered with the Baronfig—the #1 pen company as selected by New York Magazine—to create a special edition pen with engraved quotes from Atomic Habits.

​Click here to check them out and use the code HABITS20 to get 20% off.

And now, it's time for the main event. Here are 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question to consider this week...

I.

"Clarity isn't about knowing what you want to do with your life, it's about knowing what you want to do this week.

You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step."

(Share this on Twitter)

​II.

"Your life will not magically exceed your standards. Improve your boundaries and life improves too."

(Share this on Twitter)

III.

"You can cold email nearly anyone, but nearly everyone overlooks how powerful it can be.

Sending one email each week that feels like a stretch can change your life. Will you get turned down? Sure, most of the time. But you only need one to pay off for something amazing to happen.

Take your time, write a thoughtful message, and muster the courage to press Send."

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I.

Software engineer David Clarke on priorities:

"20 years from now, the only people who will remember that you worked late are your kids."

Source: Reddit

(Thanks to Reddit user salinungatha for identifying the original source.)
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​II.

Sociology professor Daniel Chambliss, who spent years researching the qualities of elite swimmers, on what creates excellence:
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"Excellence is mundane. Superlative performance is really a confluence of dozens of small skills or activities, each one learned or stumbled upon, which have been carefully drilled into habit and then are fitted together in a synthesized whole. There is nothing extraordinary or superhuman in any one of those actions; only the fact that they are done consistently and correctly, and all together, produce excellence.

When a swimmer learns a proper flip turn in the freestyle races, she will swim the race a bit faster; then a streamlined push off from the wall, with the arms squeezed together over the head, and a little faster; then how to place the hands in the water so no air is cupped in them; then how to lift them over the water; then how to lift weights to properly build strength, and how to eat the right foods, and to wear the best suits for racing, and on and on.

Each of those tasks seems small in itself, but each allows the athlete to swim a bit faster. And having learned and consistently practiced all of them together, and many more besides, the swimmer may compete in the Olympic Games... the little things really do count."

Source: The Mundanity of Excellence ​

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What is something you would be proud to fail on, if you had the courage to attempt it?

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Want to share this issue of 3-2-1 via text, social media, or email? Just copy and paste this link:

https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/may-23-2024

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Until next week,

James Clear
​Atomic Habits, the #1 best-selling book
​Atoms, the official Atomic Habits app
​3-2-1 newsletter with 3 million subscribers

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p.s. To be fair, the hospital food isn't great.

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