Quotes About Behavior

For this reason, we should pay close attention to the convenience of any activity we want to make into a habit.

I concluded that the real key to habits is decision making—or, more accurately, the lack of decision making.

When the Schiphol Airport put the image of a housefly above the drains of urinals, men began to aim at it—a change that reduced spillage rates by 80 percent. "Gamification" is used in the design of devices and apps to help people improve their habits.

I concluded that the real key to habits is decision making—or, more accurately, the lack of decision making. …A habit requires no decision from me, because I've already decided. …This freedom from decision making is crucial, because when I have to decide—which often involves resisting temptation or postponing gratification—I tax my self-control.

When scheduling a new habit, it helps to tie it to an existing habit, such as "after breakfast," or to an external cue, such as "when my alarm rings

Although people often assume that cravings intensify over time, research shows that with active distraction, urges—even strong urges—usually subside within about fifteen minutes. Drawing on intrinsic motivation makes us far more likely to stick to a behavior, and to find it satisfying.

Surprisingly, stress doesn't necessarily make us likely to indulge in bad habits; when we're anxious or tired, we fall back on our habits, whether bad or good.

The second reason rewards pose a danger for habits is that they require a decision. A habit, by my definition, is something we do without decision making.

We can build our habits only on the foundation of our own nature.

It was interesting to have a better sense of my daily habits

habits eliminate the need for self-control.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while

Research suggests that when we have conflicting goals, we don't manage ourselves well. We become anxious and paralyzed, and we often end up doing nothing.

The reward for a good habit is the habit itself.

The fact is, changing a habit is much more challenging if that new habit means altering or losing an aspect of ourselves.

For this reason, it's all the more important to try to shape habits mindfully, so that when we fall back on them at times of stress, we're following activities that make our situation better, not worse.

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.        You

Studies show that if you reward people for doing an activity, they often stop doing it for fun; being paid turns it into "work.

For an extensive and fascinating discussion of the use and pitfalls of rewards, see Edward Deci, Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation (New York: Penguin, 1996); Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999); Daniel Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (New York: Riverhead, 2009).

Now that I know I'm an Upholder, an Abstainer, a Marathoner, a Finisher, and a Lark, and have spent a lot of time thinking about what is, and isn't, important to me, I'm much better able to shape my habits.

Studies show that if you reward people for doing an activity, they often stop doing it for fun; being paid turns it into "work." Parents, for example, are warned not to reward children for reading—they're teaching kids to read for a reward, not for pleasure.

Researchers were surprised to find," write Roy Baumeister and John Tierney in their fascinating book Willpower, "that people with strong self-control spent less time resisting desires than other people did.… people with good self-control mainly use it not for rescue in emergencies but rather to develop effective habits and routines in school and at work." In other words, habits eliminate the need for self-control.

When possible, the brain makes a behavior into a habit, which saves effort and therefore gives us more capacity to deal with complex, novel, or urgent matters.

What we do every day matters more than what we do once in a while.