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.
A little over a year ago, I got a membership to 24 Hour Fitness. I’ve long had a routine of working out at home, so I had no intention of using the gym for exercise. I got the membership because it was the easiest way to gain access to a hot tub. But I’m a big believer in little experiments, so about a year ago, I decided to try a… Read More »5 Lessons from 1 Year at the Gym
Everything you do is controlled by your brain. Muscle memory? Nope. That’s brain memory. Like all memories, it’s stored in your brain as a neural pathway – a connection between neurons. The first time you learn something – whether it’s how to throw a frisbee or the square root of 49 – your brain forms a new neural connection. It literally grows a tiny filament between two or more neurons… Read More »Habits are Neural Pathways
On April 16th, 1963, the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was in a bad position. Specifically, he was in a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama. More broadly, the civil rights movement had few allies and was being violently opposed by the people in power.1 He could have spent this time becoming bitter about his imprisonment or stoking anger among his followers. He could have despaired about how badly things were… Read More »Stoic Positioning
You: “Once I take care of this week’s unexpected chores, then I’ll have some breathing room.” Next week: “Hold my beer.” The “Yes … Damn!” Effect Tell me if this sounds familiar: You currently feel a little too busy, a tad overscheduled. Your to-do list feels a bit overwhelming. Someone asks you to do something in the near future that you either sort of want to do or kind of… Read More »Will You be Less Busy in the Future?