Simply giving employees a sense of agency- a feeling that they are in control, that they have genuine decision-making authority - can radically increase how much energy and focus they bring to their jobs.

Hiding what you know is sometimes as important as knowing it.

If you dress a new something in old habits, it’s easier for the public to accept it.

Once people learned how to believe in something, that skill started spilling over to other parts of their lives, until they started believing they could change. Belief was the ingredient that made a reworked habit loop into a permanent behavior.

When people have a willpower failure, it's because they haven't anticipated a situation that's going to come along.

But countless studies have shown that a cue and a reward, on their own, aren't enough for a new habit to last. Only when your brain starts expecting the reward--craving the endorphins or sense of accomplishment--will it become automatic to lace up your jogging shoes each morning. The cue, in addition to triggering a routine, must also trigger a craving for the reward to come.

I think I'm smart, and I know I was a good mom. But there wasn't a lot I could point to and say, that's why I'm special.