What Actually Makes Life Work

Struggling to keep your New Year’s resolutions? Science suggests willpower isn’t the whole story. Research points to a smarter approach—trading effort for environment—and suggests that how your life is arranged matters more than how motivated you feel. ⁽ⁱ⁾

What if this were the year you finally prioritized what 85 years of Harvard research says matters most? The study followed the same people across their entire adult lives, allowing researchers to trace how early patterns of connection echo forward into health, aging, and overall well-being.

You could also swim against the tide of declining church attendance ⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ by making a simple resolution: show up every week. A recent study indicates the payoff includes stronger emotional well-being. Rather than measuring long-term commitment, the research focused on short-term emotional effects, highlighting the formative power of repeated, embodied participation.

i. Social psychologist Roy Baumeister writes in The Self Explained that ‘decision fatigue’ is a huge part of this problem; and that Starbucks doesn’t help by offering 19,000 beverage options.  Seriously.  Page 259.

ii. I once asked Dallas Willard why people should go to church.  I expected him to say something about corporate worship or instructed learning, so his answer surprised me: “To find people to love.”