The cooperation of NASCAR - or any other system, it turns out - persists only when everyone believes he has the opportunity to win.

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.

At some point, if you're changing a really deep-seated behavior, you're going to have a moment of weakness.

If you want to do something that requires willpower - like going for a run after work - you have to conserve your willpower muscle during the day.

For a habit to stay changed, people must believe change is possible.

Cravings are what drive habits. And figuring out how to spark a craving makes creating a new habit easier.

Companies aren’t families. They’re battlefields in a civil war. Yet despite this capacity for internecine warfare, most companies roll along relatively peacefully, year after year, because they have routines—habits—that create truces that allow everyone to set aside their rivalries long enough to get a day’s work done.