17 hours agoHow to start when you don’t know how to startThe larger the scope of the problem, the harder it can be to know where to start. If you don’t know where to start, you will not start. This has nothing to do with a lack of motivation, it has to do with a lack of clarity. Here are three…1 min read1 min read
1 day agoNot minding what happensThe Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti famously revealed his “secret” to the attendees of one of his lectures: “You see, I don’t mind what happens.” So much attention and energy is burned when we mind what happens — when we lament about or anticipate what it will be like if certain…1 min read1 min read
2 days agoCut the list in halfIf you have more than 10 things on your priority list, you probably won’t complete them. Cut the list in half. And for good measure, cut it in half again. Aggressively subtract. A former colleague famously set up a calendar event titled “Good Idea Cut Off Date” — his way…1 min read1 min read
3 days agoIt’s the peopleWhat do you think will you be most proud of when you’re 80? When the octogenarian participants of all kinds of different backgrounds in the longest-running study on adult development (The Harvard Study of Adult Development) were asked what they were most proud of looking back, almost all of them…1 min read1 min read
5 days agoWhat do you expect out of today?I used to wear a fitness tracker that would give me a report on my recovery levels every morning. Interestingly, there would be mornings where I felt great but the tracker said my recovery was poor. Over time these two things eventually became in sync, as if I’d become conditioned…1 min read1 min read
5 days agoSpeculationI showed up 20 minutes early to the new Godzilla movie today (Godzilla Minus One) — yes, I am that person. While waiting for the film to start, I couldn’t help but overhear the people next to me speculating ad nauseam about whether or not they were going to like…2 min read2 min read
6 days agoFocus on what you can controlSuccessfully navigating any challenge requires you to figure out how to make peace with what you cannot control and to focus your energy on what you can control. Figure out is the operative term here because it’s not always straightforward or easy to do. When I lost a parent to…1 min read1 min read
Nov 30PerceptionJust about everything we experience is colored in by the facts of the situation and our perception of those facts — particularly the response we believe they warrant. Some perceptions shut the door while others pave a path forward. Say you fail a test according to some metric — fact. …1 min read1 min read
Nov 29What is your worth anchored to?“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” — Marcus Aurelius In middle school, I desperately wanted to be perceived as a “cool” kid. Because perception was the ultimate goal, my sense of self-worth frequently rose and fell with the opinions of the…2 min read2 min read
Nov 28Aim 1% higherThe most satisfying and worthwhile goals tend to be the ones that feel just out of reach. I used to test the maximum amount of weight I could lift for one repetition — a 1-rep max — every 8–12 weeks. Depending on the lift I was testing, the goal was…1 min read1 min read
