Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but everyday is a clean state and a fresh opportunity.
—Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography
Impunity.
Day three days a week for six weeks,
Couldn’t just jump into this happiness project. I had a lot to learn before I was ready for my year to begin. After my first few weeks of heavy reading, as I toyed with different ideas about how to se...
Colorful tin trays from my grandmother? A friend confided
The fact is, changing a habit is much more challenging if that new habit means altering or losing an aspect of ourselves.
Studies suggest that we repeat about 40 percent of our behavior almost daily. So if we change our habits, we change our lives.
Studies show that people tend to persevere longer with problems they've been told are difficult as opposed to easy.
Sprinters are pleased with their work product, because sprinting is how they do their best work. Procrastinators aren’t pleased with their work product; they know they could’ve done a better job if th...
Secret of Adulthood: Make sure the things we do to make ourselves feel better don’t make us feel worse.
People have an inborn disposition that's set within a certain range, but they can boost themselves to the top of their happiness range or push themselves down to the bottom of their happiness range by...
One flashy kind of commitment device is the nuclear option. A friend who enjoys experimenting with strategies of personal productivity used this approach to quit drinking for sixty days. He gave his a...
My resolution to Embrace good smells has developed into a full-blown obsession. A few of my favorite perfumes: CB I Hate Perfume Demeter Fragrance Library Frédéric Malle To See a Flower Firep...
It’s easy to assume that we should undertake a particular clutter-clearing task. When we’re very clear about why we’re doing it, it’s easier to use our time and energy productively—and also to recogni...
However, if you want to know how people would like to be treated, it's more helpful to look at how they themselves act than what they say.
How we schedule our days is how we spend our lives.
Generally, I’ve observed, we seek changes that fall into the Essential Seven. People—including me—most want to foster the habits that will allow them to: 1. Eat and drink more healthfully (give up sug...
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. —Journal of Thomas Merton
Epicurus wrote, We must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed toward attaining it....