Chris Loper has been writing about self-improvement and helping busy adults with habit formation since 2017. He also writes an education blog for parents and students for Northwest Educational Services. Along with Greg Smith, Chris is the cocreator of Parenting for Academic Success, a series of transformative classes that create empowered parents, confident students, and harmonious families. His most recent endeavor combines his academic and habit-formation expertise to help students thrive in college. Visit SmartCollegeHabits.com to learn more. In 2021, Chris published a humorous memoir titled Wood Floats and Other Brilliant Observations, a book that blends crazy stories with practical life lessons. He lives in Issaquah, WA where he is the owner of South Cove Tutoring.
When I was a kid, my parents would sometimes admonish me for wasting my life in front of “the boob tube.” (Readers from certain generations know that means television.) I scoffed and continued watching reruns of The Simpsons. But a funny thing happens when you get older: You often realize that your parents were right. It’s usually much more fulfilling, more memorable, and more fun to actually do something. Doing… Read More »Doing is Greater than Watching
You probably know the importance of cross-training. In athletics, cross-training means doing a wide variety of physical exercises, including those outside of your typical sports. My three sports are skiing, rock climbing, and hiking. And I could get in shape for those sports by just doing those three activities. But I’ll be better off in a number of ways if I cross-train, so I also do a lot of other… Read More »Cross-Training For Your Brain
A little while back, we discussed the problem of ANTs – automatic negative thoughts – and what we can do about them. Let’s add another tool to our ANT-defense toolkit: thought bouncers. Imagine that your mind is an exclusive night club. There is a bouncer guarding the front door. Lots of thoughts want to get in. But many of these thoughts are unwelcome guests; they are irrational, unfounded, unpleasant, or… Read More »Thought Bouncers
You know that big, important thing you’ve been putting off doing? That project? That chore? That behavioral change? Yeah, that thing. It’s time to get started. Oh, you thought I was joking? Get started, right now. Seriously, stop reading this and get started. Wait, you’re still here? Why are you still here? Let me guess… I bet you’re experiencing some kind of resistance. Resistance is a psychological phenomenon that arises… Read More »Resistance is a Compass