I’ve written before that taking any dip into the shallows before attempting deep work makes it much harder to sit down, focus, and get into flow. And while that is certainly true, I’ve come to realize that not all “shallows” are created equal. Some are much worse than others. What I mean by the shallows are things like the following: Texting Email Busywork YouTube Social Media Games on Your Phone… Read More »Not All “Shallows” Are Created Equal
Willpower. Discipline. Grit. Self-control. Call it what you want to, but we can all agree on two things: it’s important, and we don’t have enough of it. So, like any critical but finite resource, we need to spend it wisely. To do that, we have to know what willpower is actually for. Willpower, when used appropriately, should be spent in just two ways: Investing in better habits when you have… Read More »What Willpower is For
“Life is composed of joys and miseries. They go hand in hand.” –Bhante Gunaratana1 On the ride of life, pain is the price of admission. We know pain right from birth. Pain is with us, in ways large and small, every day of our lives. Our discomforts range from the annoying to the agonizing. Embarrassments, mistakes, and failures are inevitable. We must all face unfairness, misfortune, and tragedy. This, I posit,… Read More »The Price of Admission
“Our brains have not evolved for this world of plenty. As Dr. Tom Finucane … said, ‘We are cacti in the rain forest.’ And like cacti adapted to an arid climate, we are drowning in dopamine.”1 I’ve killed more houseplants by overwatering than by underwatering. Many plants aren’t evolved to receive very much water: snake plants, succulents, cacti. Keep that in mind because you are one of those plants, and… Read More »Are You Overwatered?