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generally, an activity that one person finds satisfying is likely to satisfy someone else.
The desire to start something at the “right” time is usually just a justification for delay. In almost every case, the best time to start is now.
Thoreau warned, “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes,”
I try to make my good habits as fixed as possible, because the more consistently I perform an action, the more automatic it becomes, and the fewer decisions it requires; but given the complexities of life, many habits can’t be made completely automatic.
on average, a habit took sixty-six days to form.
in many situations, we do benefit from scheduling a habit every day.
“What I do every day matters more than what I do once in a while.”
For most people, whenever possible, important habits should be scheduled for the morning.
self-control wanes as the day wears on,
To clear time to schedule a new morning habit, many people try waking up a bit earlier, but this can be tough. One trick? Use the autumn end to daylight saving time as a painless way to add an hour to the morning.
Consistency, repetition, no decision—this was the way to develop the ease of a true habit.
the habit of the habit is more important than the habit itself. On any particular morning, it was more important to try to meditate than actually to meditate.
leisure must be entered on the schedule as its own activity; it’s not something I get only when I have nothing else to do. Because I always have something else to do.
I also wanted to use weekly Scheduling to tackle the long list of small, mildly unpleasant tasks that I kept putting off. These tasks weren’t urgent (which was the reason they didn’t get done), but because they weighed on my mind, they sapped my energy. I decided that once a week, for one hour, I’d work on these chores.
“Power Hour.”
Scheduling can also be used to restrict the time spent on an activity.
The Strategy of Scheduling is a powerful weapon against procrastination. Because of tomorrow logic, we tend to feel confident that we’ll be productive and virtuous—tomorrow.
I suggested that he write from 11:00 to 1:00 every weekday. During that time, he was to write or do nothing. No email; no calls; no research; no clearing off a desk; no hanging out with Jack, my adorable, three-year-old, train-obsessed nephew. Write, or stare out the window.
“working is one of the most dangerous forms of procrastination. You want to use your writing time for writing only. Nothing else, including no other kinds of work.”
The goal is to develop habits that allow us to have time for everything we value—work, fun, exercise, friends, errands, study—in a way that’s sustainable, forever.
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.
Accountability means that we face consequences for what we’re doing—even if that consequence is merely the fact that someone else is monitoring us.
“declarations are important. I have to say, ‘I don’t eat cupcakes’ to make myself go through with it.”
public resolver, but for some people, public declarations actually undermine their ability to stick to a new habit. A private resolver wrote: “I have to keep my goals private or they lose their magic.”
team up with an accountability partner.
Accountability partners often work better if the people aren’t particularly close, or if the accountability is mutual, or if a person is paid to hold someone accountable. Adam Gilbert calls this the “peer or pro” issue, and he’s very pro-pro. “People don’t take peers seriously,” he told me. “They do better with a pro.”
“Maybe people value it more if they pay for it.
Sometimes we expect someone to act as an accountability partner—but that person doesn’t accept that responsibility. A
A Better Than Before habits group would be a terrific way for people to hold each other accountable for whatever habits they’re trying to form.
Another way to harness the Strategy of Accountability is to use a “commitment device”—that is, some mechanism that bolsters our habits by locking us into a decision.
commitment device is probably more useful for hitting a limited goal, such as giving up drinking for sixty days or finishing a big report, rather than for tackling a habit change that’s intended to last indefinitely. However, used wisely, it might help to jump-start a long-term habit.
Every action has an ignition cost: getting myself to the gym and changed into my gym clothes can be more challenging than actually working out. That’s why good habits are a tremendous help: they make the starting process automatic.
a mental habit to correct for that kind of tomorrow logic. He told me, “If I’m asked to do something—give a speech, attend an event—I always imagine that it’s happening next week. It’s too easy to agree to do something that’s six months off, then the time comes, and I’m sorry I agreed to do it.”
When taking the first step toward a new habit, a key question from the Strategy of Distinctions is “Do I prefer to take small steps or big steps?” Many people succeed best when they keep their starting steps as small and manageable as possible;
Scrivener, a writers’ software program.
If I feel anxious about the fact that I haven’t started, I become even more reluctant to start, which just makes me more anxious.
the trap of procrastination, and taking the first step is a way to escape. If I dread starting a task, just making a plan for beginning— jotting down a to-do list, finding the right link (as I did for the Scrivener website), locating the instructions—helps me start.
every first step requires some kind of transition.
Running activities too closely together makes me feel harried and irritable, and habits of transition help me to switch gears more calmly.
transition rituals.
Regular bedtime habits can ease the challenging transition from waking to sleeping, and help us fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply.
while some habits are almost unbreakable, some habits remain fragile, even after years. We must guard against anything that might weaken a valuable habit. Every added link in the chain strengthens the habit—and any break in the chain marks a potential stopping point.
don’t-break-the-chain is a powerful strategy—
No matter what our Tendency, when faced with an unavoidable stopping point—such as a long trip or a summer break—it helps to commit to a specific day to jump back into the habit,
Something that can be done at any time often happens at no time,
Habits are the behaviors that I want to follow forever, without decisions, without debate, no stopping, no finish lines. Thinking about forever can be intimidating, so the one-day-at-a-time concept helps many people stick to their good habits.
at certain times we experience a clean slate, in which circumstances change in a way that makes a fresh start possible—if we’re alert for the opportunity. Many people deliberately use the New Year or their birthdays as a clean slate, but it can take many forms.
Or the slate may be wiped clean by a change in surroundings: a new apartment, a new city, even rearranged furniture. Or some major aspect of life may change: a new job, a new school, a new doctor.
where I sat for the rest of the semester. I now pay very close attention to the first few times I do anything because I know those decisions will shape my baseline habits; to deviate from them will feel like a deprivation or an imposition.
she didn’t use the clean slate to start over, she was unlikely to shake that habit.
