There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed eve...
There is a myth, sometimes widespread, that a person need do only inner work . . . that a man is entirely responsible for his own problems; and that to cure himself, he need only change himself. . . ....
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, New England Reformers
The pleasure of doing the same thing, in the same way, every day, shouldn't be overlooked. The things I do every day take on a certain beauty and provide a kind of invisible architecture to my life.
The most important step is the first step. All those old sayings are really true. Well begun is half done. Don’t get it perfect, get it going. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step....
The habit of the habit is more important than the habit itself. For this reason, it can be helpful to keep a habit symbolically, even if we can’t keep it literally, to keep a habit in place. Someone w...
The conduct of our lives is the true reflection of our thoughts. —Michel de Montaigne, Of the Education of Children
The Strategy of Safeguards requires us to take a very realistic—perhaps even fatalistic—look at ourselves. But while acknowledging the likelihood of temptation and failure may seem like a defeatist ap...
Studies show that in a phenomenon called emotional contagion, we unconsciously catch emotions from other people—whether good moods or bad ones. Taking the time to be silly means that we’re infecting o...
Studies show that if you reward people for doing an activity, they often stop doing it for fun; being paid turns it into work. Parents, for example, are warned not to reward children for reading—they’...
Studies show that if you have five or more friends with whom to discuss an important matter, you’re far more likely to describe yourself as very happy.
Studies show that each common interest between people boosts the chances of a lasting relationship and also brings about a 2 percent increase in life satisfaction.
Same person, same activity, different habit.
Researchers were surprised to find, write Roy Baumeister and John Tierney in their fascinating book Willpower, that people with strong self-control spent less time resisting desires than other people...
Recently I’d been intrigued to read about a self-publishing site, Lulu.com. According to the Web site, I could print a proper hardback book, complete with dust jacket, for less than thirty dollars.
Procrastinators may resemble Sprinters, because they too tend to finish only when they’re against a deadline, but the two types are quite different. Sprinters choose to work at the last minute because...
Physical activity is the magical elixir of practically everything.
Perhaps—like writing, leadership, and a sense of humor—good habits are something that must be learned, but can’t be taught.
People take less food when using tongs, instead of spoons, to serve themselves.
Outer order isn’t a matter of having less or having more; it’s a matter of wanting what we have.