Personal growth
Habits, attention, and changing without needing iron willpower.
Personal growth
The Zeigarnik effect: why unfinished work follows you all the way to bed
A waiter in Berlin remembered every item on every unpaid bill and forgot the lot the moment a table settled up. That story started nearly a century of research, and led to a very simple way to quiet the noise in your head.
24/09/2026 · 5 min read
Personal growth
Habits small enough that you cannot fail them: why to aim at your worst day, and how long it really takes for a habit to become automatic
A London study found it takes 66 days on average for a new behaviour to become automatic, and missing one day makes almost no difference. People usually abandon new habits not from laziness but from setting a target too big for their worst day.
07/09/2026 · 4 min read
Personal growth
Why you procrastinate, and why it is not laziness: procrastination as avoiding a feeling, and how to undo it feeling by feeling
In 1830 Victor Hugo had his clothes locked away so he could not go out and would have to write. The worst procrastinators are often the people who care most about the result. This piece explains why, and why forgiving yourself leads to procrastinating less.
07/09/2026 · 4 min read
Personal growth
Read slower: why we read so much and remember so little, what science says about speed reading, and four ways to make an idea stay
We read more than ever and remember less than ever. A 2016 review concluded that reading faster almost always costs understanding. The problem is not memory but speed, and what we do after reading.
07/09/2026 · 3 min read