The map
The 12 ideas
Each idea on its own line, from the earliest source we can find to the newest book on our list.
Hover or tap a book to see every idea it carries.
The time scale is stretched: recent years get more room than distant ones, so the modern books do not pile up at one end. A dotted line: 500 years or more with no book on our list.
Earliest the earliest source we can find Echoes same idea, no credit found Cites credits an earlier source by name Conflicts argues against it Grey: secondhand, from a summary
The map as a list
Every idea, its earliest source and the books that said it again, oldest first.
06 Small steps add up
c. 700 BCE Hesiod, Works and Days
- c. 300 BCEEchoes Laozi (attributed), Tao Te Ching
- 1859Echoes Samuel Smiles, Self-Help
- 2004Echoes, per a summary Robert Maurer, One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way
- 2018Echoes, in his own writing James Clear, Atomic Habits
05 You become what you repeatedly do
c. 335 to 322 BCE Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
- 1791Echoes Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography
- 1890Echoes William James, The Principles of Psychology
- 1926Cites Aristotle, per a summary Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
- 2018Echoes, in his own writing James Clear, Atomic Habits
04 What you think, you become
3rd to 1st c. BCE Dhammapada
- c. 175Echoes Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- 1903Echoes James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
- 1948Echoes, per a summary Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- 1952Echoes, per a summary Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking
08 Keep your death in mind
by the 2nd c. BCE Psalm 90
- 64 CECites Epicurus Seneca, Moral Letters
- 125 CEEchoes Epictetus, Enchiridion
- c. 175Echoes Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- 1427Echoes Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
- 1580Cites Horace Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1677Conflicts Baruch Spinoza, Ethics
- 2021Echoes, in his own writing Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
07 Do the work, let go of the results
2nd c. BCE to 2nd c. CE Bhagavad Gita
- 1896Cites the Bhagavad Gita Swami Vivekananda, Karma-Yoga
- 1910Conflicts Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich
- 1929Cites the Bhagavad Gita, per a summary M. K. Gandhi, Anasakti Yoga
- 2002Cites the Bhagavad Gita, in his own writing Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
- 2018Echoes, in his own writing James Clear, Atomic Habits
03 It’s your view of things that upsets you
45 BCE Cicero, Tusculan Disputations
- 125 CEEchoes Epictetus, Enchiridion
- c. 175Echoes Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- 1580Cites an ancient Greek sentence Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1600Echoes William Shakespeare, Hamlet
- 1962Cites Epictetus, per a summary Albert Ellis, Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy
- 1979Cites the Stoic philosophers, per a summary Aaron T. Beck, Cognitive Therapy of Depression
10 Live one day at a time
23 BCE Horace, Odes
- c. 550 BCEConflicts Aesop’s Fables
- 64 CEEchoes Seneca, Moral Letters
- c. 80 to 90 CEEchoes Gospel of Matthew
- c. 175Echoes Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- c. 1120Echoes Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
- 1427Echoes Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
- 1580Cites Seneca Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1891Echoes Carl Hilty, Happiness
- 1913Cites Christ and Horace William Osler, A Way of Life
- 1948Cites Sibyl F. Partridge, per a summary Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- 1997Echoes, per a summary Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
09 Life is long enough if you use it
c. 49 CE Seneca, On the Shortness of Life
- c. 400 BCEConflicts Hippocrates (attributed), Aphorisms
- 1580Echoes Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1751Echoes Samuel Johnson, The Rambler
- 1887Echoes John Lubbock, The Pleasures of Life
- 1891Echoes Carl Hilty, Happiness
- 2021Cites Seneca, in an interview Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
12 We suffer more in fear than in fact
c. 64 CE Seneca, Moral Letters
- 1588Echoes Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1816Echoes, per a summary Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Adams
- 1948Cites Montaigne, per a summary Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- 1997Echoes, per a summary Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear
- 2017Echoes, in his own writing Tim Ferriss, ‘Why you should define your fears instead of your goals’
02 Believe it and it will come
c. 65 to 75 CE Gospel of Mark
- 1903Echoes James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
- 1910Cites Jesus Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich
- 1937Echoes, per a summary Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich
- 2006Cites Matthew 21:22, per a summary Rhonda Byrne, The Secret
01 Some things are up to you
c. 125 CE Epictetus, Enchiridion
- c. 175Cites Epictetus Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- 1580Cites Epictetus Michel de Montaigne, Essays
- 1637Echoes René Descartes, Discourse on Method
- 1908Cites Epictetus Arnold Bennett, The Human Machine
- 1910Conflicts Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich
- 1930Echoes Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
- 1933Echoes, per a summary Reinhold Niebuhr, as printed by Winnifred Wygal, The Serenity Prayer
- 1989Echoes, per a summary Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- 2017Cites Epictetus, per a summary Massimo Pigliucci, How to Be a Stoic
11 The obstacle is the way
c. 170 to 180 CE Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
- 12th centuryEchoes, per a summary Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, The Seven Points of Mind Training
- 1841Echoes Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, First Series
- 1894Echoes Orison Swett Marden, Pushing to the Front
- 1898Echoes William George Jordan, The Majesty of Calmness
- 1946Echoes, per a summary Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
- 1948Cites Julius Rosenwald, per a summary Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- 2014Cites Marcus Aurelius, per a summary Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way
Books on more than one idea
One book can carry several ideas. These sit on two lanes or more.
- Essays, Michel de Montaigne 6 ideas Keep your death in mind (Cites Horace); It’s your view of things that upsets you (Cites an ancient Greek sentence); Live one day at a time (Cites Seneca); Life is long enough if you use it (Echoes); We suffer more in fear than in fact (Echoes); Some things are up to you (Cites Epictetus)
- Meditations, Marcus Aurelius 6 ideas What you think, you become (Echoes); Keep your death in mind (Echoes); It’s your view of things that upsets you (Echoes); Live one day at a time (Echoes); Some things are up to you (Cites Epictetus); The obstacle is the way (earliest we can find)
- How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie 4 ideas What you think, you become (Echoes, per a summary); Live one day at a time (Cites Sibyl F. Partridge, per a summary); We suffer more in fear than in fact (Cites Montaigne, per a summary); The obstacle is the way (Cites Julius Rosenwald, per a summary)
- Atomic Habits, James Clear 3 ideas Small steps add up (Echoes, in his own writing); You become what you repeatedly do (Echoes, in his own writing); Do the work, let go of the results (Echoes, in his own writing)
- Enchiridion, Epictetus 3 ideas Keep your death in mind (Echoes); It’s your view of things that upsets you (Echoes); Some things are up to you (earliest we can find)
- Moral Letters, Seneca 3 ideas Keep your death in mind (Cites Epicurus); Live one day at a time (Echoes); We suffer more in fear than in fact (earliest we can find)
- The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles 3 ideas Do the work, let go of the results (Conflicts); Believe it and it will come (Cites Jesus); Some things are up to you (Conflicts)
- As a Man Thinketh, James Allen 2 ideas What you think, you become (Echoes); Believe it and it will come (Echoes)
- Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman 2 ideas Keep your death in mind (Echoes, in his own writing); Life is long enough if you use it (Cites Seneca, in an interview)
- Happiness, Carl Hilty 2 ideas Live one day at a time (Echoes); Life is long enough if you use it (Echoes)
- The Imitation of Christ, Thomas à Kempis 2 ideas Keep your death in mind (Echoes); Live one day at a time (Echoes)