When I was a young scholar, my life changed when I read this quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” I thought that Aristotle said this. For years, I ended my newsletters with this marvellous line, attributing it to the Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. For [...]
I know that New Years Resolutions are ridiculed and lampooned by many, but I find them to be an indispensable goal-setting tool. The annual act of lifting my gaze into higher possibility keeps my attention focused upward, on what I could become, instead of behind me, on my mistakes. Yesterday before my annual review, I [...]
After working on it for more than a year, I've finally launched my new blog! This project is a culmination of 2 years of investigation. When I went to Pioneer Nation in 2014, I had just come back from Costa Rica, and I was trying to figure out some way to brand myself beyond the 'web [...]
Ordering two cups of coffee, my wife and I sat down for one of our most cherished rituals of the year. We had our favorite notebooks, with the pens that made us feel powerful when we wrote across the page, and together we wrote our New Year’s Resolutions. Yesterday’s Annual Review helped me calibrate myself for the year [...]
“Gratitude is the single most important ingredient to living a successful and fulfilled life.” - Jack Canfield Without gratitude, life is just bleak. You can be rich or poor, healthy or sick, lonely or loved, but only appreciation will assign value to that which you possess. James Clear, an expert on making habits, uses the power [...]
One of the best things you can do to improve yourself is to fail at something new. The first time you rode a bike, you failed. Repeatedly. And if you were willing to get up and try again, and again, you learned a new skill. Failure was the price you paid to learn. Becoming Friends with Failure [...]
My best habits emerge in late January every year. After a few weeks to try out my New Years resolutions, it becomes apparent what works, and what doesn't. Related: Why breaking New Years Resolutions is good for you As of today, I have kept 5 out of my 12 resolutions for 2015. I suppose I could [...]
In the middle of a geek-out session with a good friend, comparing productivity apps, he asked the big question: How do you manage all these lists without getting overwhelmed? I reviewed the basic principles of Getting Things Done, the task management philosophy developed by David Allen. Even after reading the book, implementing these productivity protocols can break [...]
I'm writing this post on my phone, and I'm hitting 'Publish' before it's ready. This is one of the few blogging ideas that can make Corbett Barr stop and say, "Hey, I've never heard that before." He was interviewing Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, as part of a Fizzle course called Start A Blog That Matters. [...]
I think New Year's Resolutions are okay to break. The purpose of a resolution isn't to stick to a plan, but to calibrate which habits are the right ones for you, right now. Disclaimer: I break most of my resolutions within a week. My birthday is January 7, and I believe that holidays and birthdays [...]