“Wait. You do what?!” “I tape my mouth shut at night.” “Why?!” Great question. I’ll tell you why. Breathing: The Lost Fundamental “We can live without food for weeks and water for days, but air for just a few brief minutes. While we spend a great deal of time and attention on what we eat and drink, we pay practically no attention to the air we breathe.” –Patrick McKeown1 Long-time… Read More »The Benefits of Taping Your Mouth Shut at Night
In my breakdown of willpower, I discussed “The Great Willpower Debate” – an ongoing disagreement among psychologists about the nature of willpower. Long story short: Some researchers have found that willpower is a finite resource that gets depleted as you use it. If you use willpower for one task, you’ll have less for the next task.1 Meanwhile, other researchers have found that using willpower for one task can actually boost… Read More »Warming Up Your Willpower Muscle
“Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, a peak state where we both feel our best and perform our best. It is a transformation available to anyone, anywhere, provided that certain initial conditions are met. Everyone from assembly-line workers in Detroit to jazz musicians in Algeria to software designers in Mumbai rely on flow to drive performance and accelerate innovation. And it’s quite a driver. Researchers now believe flow sits… Read More »How to Get Into Flow at Work and at Home
Like many folks, I thought we were on our way out of this mess, but the recent spike in cases has made it clear the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. And, like many folks, I rode out the spring in a sort-of holding pattern – not taking on new projects or pushing myself much in the arena of self-improvement. Sure, I’ve kept up with my writing and my full-court… Read More »Self-Improvement In The Time Of COVID