By Angela Duckworth

How to make self-control effortless.

“I promise you, Mrs. Duckworth. Tomorrow, you’re gonna have my homework assignment on time. This is a whole new me. Just watch.”

When I taught middle school math, many of my struggling students would swear up and down that they were going to turn around their performance in my class. This year is going to be different. Some of them did exactly that. But many others did not.

Likewise, it’s possible you’re following through on every plan you made at the start of the new year—or you may have already fallen off the wagon.

In the long run, the superpower that enables people of all ages to realize their aspirations is habit.

What is a habit, exactly?

A habit is a behavior that, when repeated in the same situation over and over again, and reliably rewarded, becomes automatic. Unlike other kinds of behavior, a habit runs on autopilot when triggered. Why? Because mental links are gradually...

By Jenn Beatty

When I was 10 years old, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. I began attending an elite, private school in Los Angeles on a full scholarship. I was one of two black students in my entire class, and one of only a few to wear second-hand uniforms and receive free lunch.

Although I’d been performing well in my previous school, the demands of the new curriculum were far greater than what I was accustomed to. I was overwhelmed. It felt like the demands I was facing exceeded my ability to meet them.

Have you ever felt this way? I think we all do, at some point or another. When we run into these problems, it can be difficult to ask for help. Either we’re embarrassed to ask, or we don’t know how. As a fifth grade girl, I was in the latter category. I had no idea that there were people that I could reach out to.  

Thankfully, I was blessed with a caring and perceptive 5th grade teacher who saw that I needed help and volunteered to tutor me....

By Danny Southwick

“As you get older, you realize that championships come and go, but the most important thing you can do is to pay it forward.” —Kobe Bryant

On January 26th, at approximately 9:45 AM PST, the world lost a legend.

Kobe Bryant, along with eight other people, including his thirteen-year-old daughter, Gianna, tragically died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.

Those words still don’t seem real.

How does the world process losing someone who seemed so invincible—someone whose tenacity for greatness made us believe in the impossible?  

What are we to do with the hurt we feel, especially the hurt we feel for Kobe’s family?

Everyone who loved and respected Kobe Bryant will deal with his loss in their own way, but I believe that there is one thing that everyone can do to honor his legacy: learn from the lessons he taught. 

Teaching people to dream and do the impossible was, perhaps, Kobe’s chief aim in...