Creatures of Habit

There are things that I'm good at (lecturing, pushing paper, talking about Doctor Who, cleaning bathrooms), and things that I'm not good at (drawing, playing the piano, speaking French, ballroom dancing). Read More

I know of two techniques that can substantially improve your life right now. The first, forming what I call mini-plans, I have written about before. The second, called self-affirmation, I will write about soon. But, for now, let's take it as read that self-affirmation is a powerful way to dramatically improve your life. Read More

I go on vacation a few times a year. Sometimes I hang out at home and sometimes I go away, but I always make a point of disconnecting from the office. Read More

Life is busy and there is lots to be done. But, where's the time for you? When can you kick back and relax? You haven't been to a movie in ages. You can't remember the last time you read fiction, or the back of a cereal box for that matter. What about just laying back and listening to the radio? Read More

Here's a little exercise for you. For the next week or so, put all of your "authorized spam" (junk email really) in a mail folder. Put all of the hotel discount emails, car rental deal emails, web coupon emails, and any other regular to semi-regular commercial email into a folder.

The number of emails that you'll have at the end of the week might surprise you. Read More

You're working on self-change. Feeling good. Getting a new habit. And then it happens. Something interferes with your new routine. After all, life happens. Someone gets sick, something breaks, you go on a vacation. It's a long list. Read More

Now we're getting down to the nitty-gritty. You've come a long way. You read my earlier posts, this last one being extremely important, and you have a plan. Good for you!

But it's not enough.

You need mini-plans. Read More

Believe it or not, you've come a long way. I know, I know. You haven't actually done anything yet, in the sense that your behavior hasn't changed yet. But, that's okay. You've done a lot of important up front work. You've nailed down the behavior that you want to work on. Time to get started, right?

Hold on a second! Read More

Occasionally I meet someone who did a 'total personal makeover.' In the space of a few weeks or months, they: 1) started exercising; 2) ate better; 3) read more books; 4) learned a new hobby . . . Read More

There is no secret that will give you instant success. There is no magic pill that will transform you over night. There is no mantra that can cure you of your ills. You know that. Ultimately, there's only one way to get what you want out of life:

You need to work at it. Hard. Read More

I just read Tim Wilson's fascinating book, Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious. It's a succinct synopsis of a lot of scientific research, and that research speaks loud and clear: Much of the time we don't know why we do the things we do. Also, we don't know as much as we think we do about our futures. Read More

Recently, I wrote about the fact that we are social creatures. The implications for habit maintenance and habit change are far-reaching. I did not stop to consider, though, why it is that we are social creatures. That's one of those great psychological questions. When you look into it, the answer that you get informs and edifies; but it also causes you to ask other questions. Read More

We are social creatures. Almost all of us desire the company of others on a regular basis. And others, we hope, desire ours. We (mostly) enjoy the company we keep and we tend to see the same lovely folks on a regular basis. We get used to them and they get used to us. Read More

Every once in a while someone emails me and asks something like, "I sit on the couch too much. I'm trying to be more active. How many days will it take before my new exercise routine becomes a habit? My friends tell me it will take about thirtydays, but I think it will only take 25. What do you think?" Read More