Charles Duhigg • The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Be mindful not to abandon a project prematurely because you have given in to all-or-nothing thinking. I have witnessed several artists start projects and throw them away for this very reason. It’s easy to create a piece, recognize a flaw, and want to discard the entire work. This reflex happens in all areas of life.

the real lesson is that under conditions of true complexity—where the knowledge required exceeds that of any individual and unpredictability reigns—efforts to dictate every step from the center will fail. People need room to act and adapt. Yet they cannot succeed as isolated individuals, either—that is anarchy. Instead, they require a seemingly con

1. I know what makes people grow more reliably than anything else. It is: taking on a difficult project with some amount of public accountability. This can be large or small: a lecture series, a business, a blog, a house, a child, etc.


2. It’s strange, but I know that it’s common to resist positive emotions, as well as negative ones. Ask yours