Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life
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Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits--to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life
A bright-line rule is a clearly defined rule or standard that eliminates any need for interpretation or decision making; for example, observing the Sabbath, or using The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage to decide grammar questions, or never buying bottled water, or answering every email within twenty-four hours, or calling home every Sunday
... See moreSprinters choose to work at the last minute because the pressure of a deadline clarifies their thoughts;
A good habit and a bad habit are the mirror images of each other; a person might want to “quit eating junk food” or “eat better,” or to “get more sleep” or “stop staying up too late.”
The reward for a good habit is the habit itself.
Andy Warhol said, “Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more.” Gertrude Stein made a related point: “Anything one does every day is important and imposing.”
Aside from the energy required to start over once we’ve crossed the finish line, the very fact that we’ve achieved a finish line creates its own problem. Once we decide that we’ve achieved success, we tend to stop moving forward.
I think constantly of that stark line from John Gardner, so significant for habits, when he observed, “Every time you break the law you pay, and every time you obey the law you pay.” Keeping a good habit costs us: it may cost time, energy, and money, and it may mean forgoing pleasures and opportunities—but not keeping a good habit also has its
... See moreMany strategies help us change our habits, and four strategies tower above the others: Monitoring, Foundation, Scheduling, and Accountability.
“First things first.” That is, begin by addressing big, obvious problems.