When you need to learn quickly, learn from others. When you need to learn deeply, learn from experience. - James Clear

10 years or 1 hour. Those are the two time frames worth prioritizing.

10 years is shorthand for thinking longer-term than nearly everyone else and doing things that are really ambitious or meaningful. Most of the deeply meaningful things in life require long time horizons: building a business, cultivating a happy marriage, growing a family, getting in the best shape of your life, etc.

How do you work toward the 10-year things? In 1 hour increments. 1 hour is shorthand for doing things that can be accomplished from start to finish in a single session like a good workout, a good writing session, reading a chapter of a book, going on a fun date, etc. The key is that you finish with something accomplished, not with half-work still waiting to be completed.

If you spend 1 hour working toward a 10-year project—and you repeat this day after day—you're going to end up living a lovely life.

Here’s the punch line: You can break a habit, but you’re unlikely to forget it. Once the mental grooves of habit have been carved into your brain, they are nearly impossible to remove entirely — even if they go unused for quite a while. And that means that simply resisting temptation is an ineffective strategy. It is hard to maintain a Zen attitude in a life filled with interruptions. It takes too much energy. In the short-run, you can choose to overpower temptation. In the long-run, we become a product of the environment that we live in. To put it bluntly, I have never seen someone consistently stick to positive habits in a negative environment.

The question is not: will today be a good day?

Every day is a good day.

The question is: how much good will you get out of today?