Impunity.
How a couple fights matters more than how much they fight.
Habits eliminate the need for self-control.
Getting one extra hour of sleep each night would do more for a person’s daily happiness than getting a $60,000 raise.
Gave up Nutella in December 2011. A few years later I thought I would be able to handle the Nutella once more so I bought two jars on sale. I ate 4,000 calories of Nutella over 36 hours.
Else. Self-measurement brings self-awareness, and self-awareness strengthens our self-control.
Day three days a week for six weeks,
Another reason not to say critical things about other people: spontaneous trait transference. Studies show that because of this psychological phenomenon, people unintentionally transfer to me the trai...
When we do stumble, it’s important not to judge ourselves harshly. Although some people assume that strong feelings of guilt or shame act as safeguards to help people stick to good habits, the opposit...
When it comes to fake food, I’m like Samuel Johnson, who remarked, Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult. In other words, I can give something up altogether, but I can’t indulge...
When I think of myself in the third person, many things become clearer.
When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
When Churchill was running for office for the first time, he went door to door to ask for votes. He knocked on the door of an irritable man who, when Churchill introduced himself, said, Vote for you?...
Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us mastery over ourselves is destructive. And whatever liberates our spirit while giving us mastery over ourselves is constructive.
We often learn most about ourselves by learning about other people,
We manage what we monitor.
Walking had an added benefit: it helped me to think. Nietzsche wrote, All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking, and his observation is backed up by science; exercise-induced brain chemical...
Upholders may struggle in situations where expectations aren't clear or the rules aren't established. They may feel compelled to meet expectations, even ones that seem pointless. They may feel uneasy...
To achieve greater clarity in my actions, I often invoke a bright-line rule, a useful concept from law. A bright-line rule is a clearly defined rule or standard that eliminates any need for interpreta...
This was exactly what I had noticed about the stopping aspect of First Steps. When we try a new habit for the first time, it feels full of promise, even if it’s arduous. But most of that excitement is...