There is a great article in Money magazine interviewing Charles Duhigg, the author of the Power of Habit. He has written a new book called Smarter, Faster, Better to address why he felt he was falling behind the harder he worked. Here are 3 things that struck me:
- “Your brain craves control.”- if you don’t have the ability to control, you’re just reacting to your environment, your emails, what’s happening to you. Control allows you to prioritize based on what’s important. Don’t treat everything at the same level of importance.
- “It has to matter“: if you don’t think it’s meaningful, you won’t care. He talks about reframing choices: such as saving $50 a month by bringing in lunch isn’t about not being able to go out, it’s about taking care of your family.
- “Force yourself to interact with data“: he talks about people who regularly sit down and look at their account balances, credit card debt, etc. and keeping track of it through writing. Those folks tend to make the best financial decisions.