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.
Two trees we found in Spain whose branches have fused together. They grow up in parallel but hold hands along the way. My wife and I just celebrated our five-year anniversary. It was a little surreal to realize that five years had gone by since we got married on the couch in my parents’ living room (back in COVID times). The occasion prompted me to reflect on how much we’ve grown in… Read More »Growing in Parallel
I’ve written before that taking any dip into the shallows before attempting deep work makes it much harder to sit down, focus, and get into flow. And while that is certainly true, I’ve come to realize that not all “shallows” are created equal. Some are much worse than others. What I mean by the shallows are things like the following: Texting Email Busywork YouTube Social Media Games on Your Phone… Read More »Not All “Shallows” Are Created Equal
Willpower. Discipline. Grit. Self-control. Call it what you want to, but we can all agree on two things: it’s important, and we don’t have enough of it. So, like any critical but finite resource, we need to spend it wisely. To do that, we have to know what willpower is actually for. Willpower, when used appropriately, should be spent in just two ways: Investing in better habits when you have… Read More »What Willpower is For
“Life is composed of joys and miseries. They go hand in hand.” –Bhante Gunaratana1 On the ride of life, pain is the price of admission. We know pain right from birth. Pain is with us, in ways large and small, every day of our lives. Our discomforts range from the annoying to the agonizing. Embarrassments, mistakes, and failures are inevitable. We must all face unfairness, misfortune, and tragedy. This, I posit,… Read More »The Price of Admission