When deciding what to buy, remember that some things are easy to buy—but then we have to them. If they're not used, they don't enhance our lives; they just contribute to guilt and clutter.
We won’t make ourselves more creative and productive by copying other people’s habits, even the habits of geniuses; we must know our own nature, and what habits serve us best.
The single most important element in developing an expertise is your willingness to practice
Like Dr. Johnson, I’m an Abstainer: I find it far easier to give up something altogether than to indulge moderately. And this distinction has profound implications for habits.
Jamie is a funny mix. He has a sardonic side that can make him seem distant and almost harsh to people who don’t know him well, but he’s also very tender-hearted. (A
It's easy to make the mistake of thinking that if you have something you love or there's something you want, you'll be happier with more.
By mindfully deciding how to act in line with my values instead of mindlessly applying my rules, I was better able to make the decisions that supported my happiness.
Any single happy experience may be amplified or minimized, depending on how much attention you give it.
One of my key realizations about happiness, and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists, given its emphasis in popular culture, is that outer order contributes to inner calm. More tha...
One of the best ways to make yourself happy in the present is to recall happy times from the past. Photos are a great memory-prompt, and because we tend to take photos of happy occasions, they weight...
It was my interest in happiness that led me to the subject of habits, and of course, the study of habits is really the study of happiness. Habits are the invisible architecture of everyday life, and a...
As goofy as it sounds, I try to sing in the morning. It's hard both to sing and to maintain a grouchy mood, and it sets a happy tone for everyone - particularly in my case, because I'm tone deaf, and...
In the scope of a happy life, a messy desk or an overstuffed coat closet is a trivial thing, yet I find - and I hear from other people that they agree - that getting rid of clutter gives a disproporti...
You
We set out to be wrecked.
Upholder, I see its dark side, too
Research suggests that about 40 percent of our behavior is repeated almost daily, and mostly in the same context.
Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath describe
It’s a Secret of Adulthood: Happiness doesn’t always make you feel happy.
In an interview in the Paris Review, novelist and Rebel John Gardner made an observation that I’ve never forgotten: Every time you break the law you pay, and every time you obey the law you pay.