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.
In March of 2015, I was severely depressed. Actually, I had been down for a long time, but this was the worst it had ever been. There were many external reasons for this: I was single and lonely, I was working six days a week to barely afford a noisy apartment in a crummy neighborhood, and I was in constant pain from seven different injuries. To “deal” with my problems,… Read More »The Importance of Living with Integrity
“Do we choose to see ourselves as the latest descendants in a long line of ancestors who have been struggling valiantly and against the odds, toward a better world? Or are we the bastard children of irredeemable racists, pillagers, and monsters? Are we the future of humanity – progress – or are we a plague upon the earth?” –Ryan Holiday1 In other words, what is our story? This is a… Read More »Our Story is About Becoming Better
“The rules: (1) know precisely what you want, (2) determine the cost of what it will take to get it, (3) don’t bargain over the price.” –James Clear1 Many people get the first two rules right, but then they bargain over the price. They have a clear goal, and they know the conventional cost of achieving that goal. But then they resist paying the full price. They look for shortcuts,… Read More »Don’t Bargain Over the Price
“The highest form of leverage is reputation.” –Shane Parrish1 The Temptation of Status Your social status is your standing relative to other people. Your rank. Your prestige. It’s tempting to pursue status because it feels good to rise within the social hierarchy. Status usually comes with power. You seem to have more influence. You get your way more often. Whether or not that’s actually a good thing is questionable, but… Read More »Reputation vs. Status