Quick Facts
Biography
James Clear (born 1986) is an American writer. He is best known for his book Atomic Habits.
Early life and education
Raised in Hamilton, Ohio, Clear received his degree in biomechanics from Denison University in 2008, where he also served as captain 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 Atomic Habits 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 intentions that emerged in the research activities of German psychologist Peter Gollwitzer.
Several authors have built upon Atomic Habits by publishing workbooks and implementation guides. In February 2024 Clear announced he had created a new habits app called Atoms.
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 debuting his book, Atomic Habits. His work has also been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and Time.
