Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

Sprinters choose to work at the last minute because the pressure of a deadline clarifies their thoughts;

novelty lovers may do better with a series of short-term activities—thirty-day challenges, for instances—instead of trying to create an enduring, automatic habit.

The habit of the habit is even more valuable than the habit itself; for instance, the habit of tracking expenses each day is more valuable than any one particular calculation. Keeping a habit, in the smallest way, protects and strengthens it.

We do well to begin by tackling the habits that help us to: 1. sleep 2. move 3. eat and drink right 4. unclutter

(Side note: people weigh their highest on Sunday; their lowest, on Friday morning.)

I should monitor whatever is essential to me. In that way, I ensure that my life reflects my values.

As architect Christopher Alexander described it: If I consider my life honestly, I see that it is governed by a certain very small number of patterns of events which I take part in over and over again. Being in bed, having a shower, having breakfast in the kitchen, sitting in my study writing, walking in the garden, cooking and eating our common lu

They wake up and think, “What needs to get done today, and why?”

some people do better when they’re very ambitious. Sometimes, counterintuitively, it’s easier to make a major change than a minor change. If a habit changes very gradually, we may lose interest, give way under stress, or dismiss the change as insignificant. A big transformation generates an energy and excitement that helps to foster habits.