Skip to content

Chris Loper

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.

How to Be Energized by Your Work

“The meaning you give work determines its difficulty. A coder working on a passion project works 12 hours straight and calls it energizing. That same programmer, doing maintenance on legacy code they consider meaningless, feels exhausted after 2 hours. Your relationship with the work shapes its weight more than the work itself.” –Shane Parrish1 In both of the cases above, the coder was working for money. But in the first… Read More »How to Be Energized by Your Work

Happiness is a Choice

“The hardest truth about happiness is that it’s a choice.” –Shane Parrish1 You can focus on what you don’t like about a situation, or you can choose to pay attention to the aspects that you do like. You can long for what you don’t have or be glad for what you do. You can resist what you’re experiencing or accept it with grace. You can focus on scarcity and feel… Read More »Happiness is a Choice

Using Mise En Place for Home, Work, and Life

Take a moment to remember the last time you cooked in an unfamiliar kitchen. Maybe it was at a friend’s house; maybe it was an Airbnb. Remember the feeling of not being sure where things are, the slightly frustrating inefficiency of working in that kitchen? Compare that to how it feels to cook in your own kitchen, where everything is exactly where you expect it to be. At home, you… Read More »Using Mise En Place for Home, Work, and Life

Sharing the Space

I’m in a crowded Trader Joe’s parking lot, trying to find a parking space. Other cars are slowly schooling around. Shoppers with bags and carts are crossing the pavement. It’s the kind of situation that could trigger impatience. But, instead, my brain generates a better interpretation: We all have to share the space. My mind expresses this thought calmly, with a positive tone, and I feel good. Peaceful. The truth… Read More »Sharing the Space

New here?

For over a decade, I’ve been focused on one question: How do we actually become better, in ways that last?

This blog shares the lessons, tools, and ideas I’ve found most useful—grounded in research and experience.

Subscribe to get new insights delivered to your inbox.