At least one study of blocked writers has found that they were more productive and more creative when they were essentially forced to write instead of scribbling only when the mood struck them.

Our choices add up; each one influences others, and cumulatively a series of delightful short-term choices can leave us much worse off in the long run.

While we don't have much say over the desires that we have, we certainly can decide which we prefer-and then search for ways to act on that basis.

Exercising self-restraint can be depleting, yet it can also be ennobling.

Be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test.

When we exercise self-control on a given occasion, we win for ourselves a little credibility we can rely on the next time around. Pretty soon we develop a reputation to ourselves that we want badly to uphold. With each test that we meet, our resolve gains momentum, fueled by the fear that we may succumb and establish a damaging precedent for our own weakness.