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Title: Systematic Moderation for Sustainable Good Habits Authors: everydaysystems.com Category:articles Number of Highlights: 5 Source URL: https://everydaysystems.com/?mc_cid=09ec5fa590&mc_eid=35ed4ce0bb Date: 2026-02-11 Last Highlighted: 2026-02-11
Highlights
Systematic Moderation. Everybody from Aristotle to your Grandma agrees that moderation is a good idea. Itâs the wisdom of the philosophers and the virtue of the common folk. At least, it used to be. These days itâs no longer held in such high esteem â and even more rarely practiced. Instead, people look for ways to get around having to moderate their desires and inclinations: with pills, miracle products, even surgery. Or they simply ignore their desires altogether and embark on impossibly ambitious and restrictive programs of self-discipline. But if thereâs a way around moderation, we clearly havenât found it yet; as the relentless rise in obesity rates and other depressing metrics make plain, our modern workarounds simply donât work.
Note: Itâs funny how we avoid moderation so much that we prefer to go cold turkey and feel terrible when we fail. Simply turning the knob enough to make it a challenge over time would be easier.
Compliance with rules requires willpower, and willpower is a very limited commodity. A good system of moderation will utilize this resource efficiently by focusing on building habits: semi-automatic behaviors that require little willpower to maintain once theyâve been established.
Note: I like that it acknowledges that willpower is limited. Systems that rely on it tend to make us feel bad when we fail.
good enough
Common sense is great, but too vague to be a practical guide.
Everyday systems make pleasure integral.