If Questioners believe that a particular habit is worthwhile, they’ll stick to it—but only if they’re satisfied about the habit’s usefulness.

I love the library! It’s a treat to work there. It’s one block from my apartment, so I don’t spend a lot of time going to and fro. It’s helpful to walk out into the fresh air and sunlight, and to have a little break between “home” and “work.”

Once we’ve truly adopted a habit, it comes easily, without decision making. But until that point—and many habits, alas, can never be completely taken for granted—giving ourselves a little boost with treats helps us maintain our self-command. Goethe pointed out, “Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us mastery over ourselves is destructive.”

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

Scheduling is an invaluable tool for habit formation: it helps to eliminate decision making; it helps us make the most of our limited self-command; it helps us fight procrastination. Most important, perhaps, the Strategy of Scheduling helps us make time for the things that are most important to us. How we schedule our days is how we spend our lives

How I Like to Spend My Time At what time of day do I feel energized? When do I drag? Do I like racing from one activity to another, or do I prefer unhurried transitions? What activities take up my time but aren’t particularly useful or stimulating? Would I like to spend more time with friends, or by myself? Do I have several things on my calendar t

Once again, I saw that when people frame their habits in the way that makes the most sense to them, they succeed better. It would never occur to me to characterize exercise as “an obligation to diabetes,” but I could immediately see why that formation resonated with her.

A reward obstructs habit formation, for three reasons. First, a reward teaches me that I wouldn’t do a particular activity for its own sake, but only to earn that reward; therefore, I learn to associate the activity with an imposition, a deprivation, or suffering. This well-documented—but too often ignored—consequence of rewards relates to the diff

the less we do, the less we feel like doing. If my office is a wreck, I don’t feel like cleaning up.