What does it mean that internal contracts?

Make explicit agreements with yourself about how competing drives will be satisfied.

Example: You've been telling yourself for months that you'll 'balance work and rest.' But you never defined what balance means, never specified when rest happens, and never established what counts as a violation. The result: work wins every ambiguous moment because it's louder. Now try this instead — write down: 'I will work with full intensity Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm. Evenings after 6pm and all of Saturday belong to rest and relationships. Sunday morning is for planning the week ahead.' That's not a wish. That's a contract between your achievement drive and your restoration drive, with specific terms both sides can reference.

Try this: Identify one internal conflict you've been managing through willpower or vague intention — work versus rest, ambition versus presence, security versus growth. Write a contract between the two drives. Include: (1) what each drive gets, (2) when and where each drive operates, (3) what counts as a violation, and (4) what happens when circumstances change. Read it back. If it's too vague to violate, it's too vague to follow.