“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.” ― Jane Wagner
I knew something was wrong the moment she answered.
“Your father had a stroke,” my mother explained. “He’s in the hospital now. The doctors are trying to find out more.”
The memory of my grandfather rushed to mind — a man I’d only ever known to be in a wheelchair from a stroke he’d had years before I was born. We used to watch Wonder Woman and eat popsicles together. He’d get pissed because I thought it was funny to hold the popsicle just out of his reach. It was a dick move, even for a four-year-old, and the sudden…
Finding Real Value in a Mountain of Manipulation and Deception
“I think that there’s become a very clickbait mentality among a lot of reporters, where they’re more interested in their clip or their click than they are about the truth and the facts.” — Sean Spicer
In 2008, Classmates.com settled a false advertising lawsuit with over three million people. It cost them a cool $9.5 million.
Last time I checked, $9.5 million is real money. But, the case claimed that Classmates.com sent deceptive emails to their subscribers, promising to connect them with old friends if they upgraded to their Gold membership. Those connections never came. …
It’s quiet. Really quiet.
At 7:00 am, the only sounds are the hum of my heater blowing warm air through the house and the clicking of my mouse as I surf the web.
It’s my time. My time with a coffee and a computer. My time before the kids and wife get up. My time before the workday starts, and I can fit in a little writing to advance my passion project.
Just 30 minutes is all I have. Thirty minutes to craft this article. Thirty minutes to edit my second book. Once those 30 minutes are up, whether I’ve…
They’re watching you. It’s creepy. Here’s what to do…
No sooner had my wife arrived home from the pharmacy did she see an advertisement on Facebook for the very thing she’d just purchased.
She’d never bought anything like it before. She hadn’t searched for it. She hadn’t called or emailed anyone about it either. But there it was, sitting in her Facebook feed, eager and waiting for her click, enticing her to buy more.
And it kind of creeped her out.
Was it a coincidence that what she bought (for the first time ever) ended up being advertised in her Facebook feed? Maybe. But everyone she shared her story…
Uncover a massively productive and successful version of your future self
Bottom line up front?
This article is a shameless promotion of my 365-day holistic planner available on Amazon.
But before you click “back,” hear me out.
Because, by the end of this article, I’m going to give you a digital version of that planner for free (scroll down and click the link if you can’t wait). But also because I’ve spent the last decade refining and tweaking and tailoring a 360 degree, science-backed productivity system focused on improving all seven important aspects of my life.
It’s been so powerful for me that I wrote a book about it, have written…
You don’t need a complicated morning routine to make for a productive day
Ah, the coveted morning routine.
Never in the history of mankind have so many high-achievers worked so hard to uncover a perfect sequence of activities that would guarantee success while in a sleep-deprived daze.
Count me amongst the journeymen in search of said truth.
I once awoke to a 36-point morning routine that included exercise, journaling, mediation, affirming my gratitude, taking an ice-cold shower, talking to plants, walking uphill (both ways) through an enchanted forest, and injecting coffee directly into my eyeball.
It didn’t work.
Not only…
He breaks things, he wreaks havoc, and he’ll make us all the better for it
This is Chaos Monkey.
He’s a malicious, angry, out-of-control primate devised by Netflix to “rip apart” the very core of its business — the video delivery data center — one server at a time.
“Imagine a monkey entering a ‘data center’, these ‘farms’ of servers that host all the critical functions of our online activities. The monkey randomly rips cables, destroys devices and returns everything that passes by the hand [i.e. flings excrement]. The challenge for IT managers is to design the information system they are responsible for so that it can work despite these monkeys, which no one ever…
Starting with a Steve Jobs quote that is, in part, BS
Steve Jobs on the Last Day of Your Life
“If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?” —Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs spoke these words to thousands of graduating students in 2005 at a Stanford University commencement speech.
They were, in part, bullshit.
Yes, we are mortal. Yes we will all eventually die. That day might even be today. But if we were to live every day as if it were the last day of our life, then we’d do one of two things:
- quit our jobs and steal cool shit from stores, or
- quit our jobs…
The legend of the koi isn’t well know.
As it’s told, a school of koi swam upstream through China’s Yellow River. They worked together, against the current, until they came upon a waterfall called the Dragon Gate.
Upon seeing the obstacle, many koi turned away, unwilling to tackle the challenge. The rest remained, jumping with all their might in an attempt to reach the river above.
But their efforts brought more struggle.
Nearby demons heard the koi’s splashing and came to mock them. They raised the waterfall to discourage them from succeeding. …
How to dodge life’s punches and keep making progress
I faced my sparring partner on the canvas mat, gloves to temples, face fiery red, sweat dripping from every pour. We touch gloves. He tells me, “hit only as hard as you want to be hit.”
I laughed.
Then I remembered he’d been training for seven years. I’d been training for less than an hour (it was my first training session, ever). His statement was as much a reminder to play nice as it was a reminder that he was in control. The outcome of this fight was inevitable.
The bell rang. We danced for a few seconds, moving around…
