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Doing the thing you need to do means you get to do the thing you want to do.

…the way your brain evaluates rewards in inconsistent across time… Usually this serves us well… But occasionally, our bias toward instant gratification causes problems.

…the Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.

If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff… the last mile is always the least crowded.

At some point, success in nearly every field requires you to ignore an immediate reward in favor of a delayed reward.

…immediate rewards are essential. They keep you excited while the delayed rewards accumulate in the background.

…it is important to select short-term rewards that reinforce your identity rather than ones that conflict with it.

Tracking can become its own form of reward.

Research shows that levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine surge when the brain is expecting a reward.

…what draws us to act is not the sensation we received from the reward itself, but the need to alleviate the craving for that reward.