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.
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” –Albert Einstein1 We live in a culture that prizes fame and fortune over contribution and service, so it’s understandable that many people are driven to achieve conventional success. I too am driven, in part, by the desire for money and status. But while wealth and prestige do provide a certain sort of pleasure, they do not… Read More »Doing Work That Matters
Imagine that it’s almost bedtime. Your workday is done. You’re winding down. You’re getting sleepy. But then, you think, I’ll just check email one more time. Or you think, I’ll just take one more look at the news. It’s so tempting. It doesn’t seem like a big deal. It’ll only take a minute, you think. And maybe it does only take a minute. But then, your mind, which was all… Read More »Don’t Shake the Snow Globe
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor and practicing Stoic The Stoics of ancient Rome were a diverse group. On one end of the spectrum, there were people of great wealth and power, like emperor Marcus Aurelius, pictured above. On the other end of the spectrum, there was Epictetus, a crippled former slave. People from all walks of life found value in the philosophy of Stoicism. The Stoics were not ivory-tower philosophers. They… Read More »10 Essential Principles and Practices of Stoicism
The other day I was chatting with my brother about life in quarantine. As of this writing, we’re now five months into coronavirus-enforced social distancing in the United States. He and his wife live in California with their two young boys. Things were going fine, he said, “but it’s like Groundhog Day around here.” He was referencing the classic Bill Murray film, of course. It has probably been a while… Read More »Life Lessons From Groundhog Day