I want you to think about how you feel when you have to listen to someone else complaining. Does it feel good? Now I want you to think about the fact that, when you complain, you’re making other people feel just as crummy as you feel when they complain. I also want you to think about the fact that, when you complain, you’re making yourself listen to yourself complaining. Does… Read More »Why Complaining Makes Things Worse
Last week I gave into temptation and splurged on myself. In one of the nerdiest splurges imaginable, I bought an expensive board game (Terraforming Mars), and I bought three expansions for it, and I bought a custom organizer for all the game pieces. Total cost: $169. I spent the next hour looking forward to it with great excitement, but I hardly ever spend that kind of money on myself, so,… Read More »My New Rule for Money and Happiness
“It’s OK to suck. It’s not OK to skip.” –Brian Johnson1 We’ve all been there. Too tired to have a “good” workout. Too stressed to have a “good” meditation. Too busy to write a “good” blog post. These are all perfectly legitimate reasons to do a short workout, have a distracted meditation, or write a mediocre blog post. They are not legitimate reasons to skip. The key to sticking with… Read More »The Most Important Rule for Sticking with a Habit
Some people avoid self-improvement because they believe that devoting time to becoming better is inherently selfish. The world has so many problems and the people around us have so many needs that it’s selfish to devote energy to self-care and personal growth. After all, any time spent helping yourself is time not spent helping others. In this view, things like meditation and yoga are self-indulgent, frivolous luxuries, hiking should be… Read More »Is Self-Improvement Selfish?