James Clear (born 1986) is an

American writer The Lists of American writers include: United States By ethnicity *List of African-American writers * List of Asian-American writers * List of Cuban-American writers * List of Egyptian-American writers * List of Italian-American women writers ...

. He is best known for his 2018

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...

Atomic Habits ''Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones'' is a 2018 self-help book by James Clear, a researcher of habit formation. The book received acclaim from most critics, with a few strongly disapproving of its claims. ...

.''

Early life and education

Raised in

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in Butler County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located north of Cincinnati along the Great Miami River, Hamilton is the second-most populous city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area and the List of municipaliti ...

, Clear received his degree in

biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

from

Denison University Denison University is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio, United States. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. It was first called ...

in 2008, where he also served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the baseball team. During his time at university he took part at the St. Gallen Symposium twice and won the Global Essay Competition in his second year attending.

''Atomic Habits''

Building on exchanges he had with readers of his e-mail list, in 2018 Clear published his book ''

'' on how to build tiny, frequent habits that have a large beneficial and cumulative effect on one's life. According to the intro of his book, he had to build such habits when rehabilitating from a severe cranial injury that he suffered when playing baseball. In his book, he also argues against formulating goals and plans as a large majority of people do not have trouble designing them, but following them in everyday life. This is reminiscent of the

implementation intention An implementation intention is a self-regulatory strategy in the form of if-then-plans that can lead to better goal attainment, as well as create useful habits and modify problematic behaviors. It is subordinate to goal intentions as it specifie ...

s that emerged in the research activities of German psychologist

Peter Gollwitzer Peter Max Gollwitzer (born 29 June 1950 in Nabburg) is a German professor of psychology in the Psychology Department at New York University. His research centers on how goals and plans affect cognition, emotion, and behavior. Gollwitzer has devel ...

. Several authors have built upon ''Atomic Habits'' by publishing workbooks and implementation guides.E.g. Robin Read (2022, ISBN 979-8371648952)

Career

Clear graduated from Denison and started his career as a performance coach for athletes and executives. He then got into writing and public speaking. In 2012, he began writing on

self-improvement Personal development or self-improvement consists of activities that develops a person's capabilities and potential, enhance quality of life, and facilitate the realization of dreams and aspirations. Personal development may take place over the c ...

debuting his book, ''Atomic Habits.'' His work has also been featured in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', and ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''.

References

External links

*
Books by James Clear on Google Play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clear, James Living people American self-help writers Denison Big Red baseball players Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ohio 1986 births