If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

In my book The Four Tendencies, I describe the personality framework that I’ve devised to explain how people respond differently to expectations. This Four Tendencies framework distinguishes people based on how they respond to outer expectations (meet a deadline, answer a request from a friend) and inner expectations (start meditating, keep a New Year’s resolution). UPHOLDER responds readily to outer and inner expectations. QUESTIONER questions all expectations; they’ll meet an expectation if they think it makes sense—essentially, they make all expectations into inner expectations. OBLIGER meets outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations. REBEL resists all expectations, outer and inner alike.