Episode · Huberman Lab · 2026-01-05
Books mentioned on Best Ways to Build Better Habits & Break Bad Ones | James Clear
James Clear is an expert on behavioral change and habits and the author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits. We discuss the best ways to build new healthy habits and end bad ones without relying on motivation or willpower.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The War of Art
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is a classic exploration of the creative process that identifies internal psychological barriers and offers strategies to overcome self-imposed resistance.
Discussed“And then Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, sat in the exact chair you're sitting in right now and he said, "Oh, no, you want kind of an uncomfortable chair."”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (16) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Atomic Habits
“James Clear is the author of Atomic Habits and one of the world's foremost experts on how to build rock-solid habits that better your physical and mental health, work, and relationships.”
Passing Atomic Habits
“Your book is everywhere and now I get to actually meet the person behind it.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“Looking back on, you know, now Atomic Habits has sold 25 million copies, I'd say that's maybe the biggest lesson that I have is that the people who make it easy to get started and who master the art of getting started tend to stick with it and succeed.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“Um in a way all of Atomic Habits is an answer to that question.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“I wrote parts of Atomic Habits on my parents' couch when I was visiting them for the holidays. I wrote parts of it in the passenger seat of a car while we were on a road trip.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“That was how I built my audience and got the book deal that eventually became Atomic Habits.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“I mentioned him in Atomic Habits and he when he first started working out, he had this strange little rule for himself where he wasn't allowed to stay at the gym for longer than 5 minutes.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“In my language and the Atomic Habits language, it's what I call identity-based habits.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“There really, there is no one version of Atomic Habits. There are 25 million versions. And it's what those 25 million people who have read have thought.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“And I don't feel that way about Atomic Habits. I'm like, it can just be a project that I worked really hard on...”
Own book Atomic Habits
“I got into this thing for a little while when I was actually working on writing Atomic Habits. I tried to lock everything down...”
Own book Atomic Habits
“If there was any one thing that I could add to Atomic Habits that wasn't in there, it would be more on the social environment.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“In some ways, I feel like everything that I teach through Atomic Habits and the writing that I do is just me teaching what my parents taught me...”
Own book Atomic Habits
“Atomic Habits is like runaway freight train. I'm trying to keep a hold of that.”
Own book Atomic Habits
“So, you know, if you're looking for more on all this, how what else can I do to make habits easier, obvious, and so on, Atomic Habits is, you know, the the full guide there.”
Own book Protocols
“For those of you that haven't heard, I have a new book coming out. It's my very first book. It's entitled Protocols, an Operating Manual for the Human Body.”