There’s a part of today’s consumerist world that drives us to want more, buy more, act on our impulses, hoard, spend to solve our problems, create comfort through shopping, seek thrills through travel, do more, be more. What would happen if we broke from our addiction to wanting and buying Read more…
Here’s the method in summary: Notice your dissatisfaction. Notice your ideals that you’re holding tightly to. Loosen your hold on these ideals, and turn to the present moment. Really see the present moment with curiosity, find something to appreciate. Accept the present moment completely, with love. From this place of Read more…
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CHALLENGES, AND A CHANGE IN PLANS
When I signed up to do the Brooklyn Half, my body felt great. But the moment I started training runs, my hip started giving me trouble. So I stopped running, but continued my strength training: a 6-day-a-week barbell and kettlebell training program starting 2 months out from the Brooklyn Half. I never missed a workout.
My friend Passa had followed a strict half marathon program along with our weight training, so I determined I would get to the park entrance with her, and then let her go. At mile three, we entered the park and I still felt pretty good. Not wanting to suffer the long, steep, s-o-b of a hill halfway through the park alone, I decided to stick with Passa a little longer, until we exited the park.
A 2014 research review found in Marketing Letters examined three studies that explored the relationship between diet and exercise for weight loss. Interestingly, the review looked at the association between people’s framing of exercise as fun and their subsequent food choices. It concluded that those who perceived exercise as a fun activity (and not just a ton of effort) were less inclined to compensate with junk food after their workouts.
In the first two studies, participants performed exercises that were either described as exercise, or as fun, and were later served food: an all-you-can-eat scenario with both desserts and “normal” foods in the first study, and M&Ms from a self-serve container in the second. The findings from both suggest that the people who felt exercise was “fun” chose less junk food during those meals. Similarly, runners that had fun during a race in the third study tended to choose the healthier option of two given snacks.
What It Takes to Earn Passive Income Before we get into the passive income ideas I think it’s a good idea to first clear up a couple of misconceptions. Although the word “passive” makes it sound like you have to do nothing to bring in the income this just isn’t Read more…
4. Thank Your Items for Their Service (Then Give Them Away)
Marie Kondo, the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, offers this strange but effective tactic: Say goodbye and thank you to items that you need to let go of. Sometimes sentimentality is the root of a lot of clutter, so think utility first and ditch the guilt. Thank your old coat for keeping you warm, your kids’ stuffed animals they no longer play with for bringing them joy, and your collection of duplicate computer cables for connecting your stuff once upon a time. Then you can move on. It might also help to think “this isn’t my stuff” when you’re decluttering.
On September 1, I updated my profile picture and perused Instagram briefly. Then I turned off the computer, made some coffee, and read the paper. Social media hadn’t won after all; I had.
So here are the rules I’m going to try to follow: One browser tab open. I want to focus on reading one thing, responding to one email at a time, doing one task in my browser at a time. I realize that I might have to open multiple tabs to Read more…
We know what it is. It’s the stuff that constantly gets in our way because it is not where it belongs. It’s that disorderly mess of items that end up complicating even the simplest tasks. Papers, clothes, shoes, books, backpacks, dishes, gadgets, toys, bicycles, magazines, laundry, jackets, tools…you get the idea. It’s anything and everything that’s in the way because it has not been put away properly.
While we may excuse our clutter as a lack of storage or being too busy, its threat to our life’s priorities is greater than most of us realize. We try to dismiss it as no big deal – a mere inconvenience – when, in fact, it is robbing us of the valuable time and energy we should be leveraging toward more productive purposes.
According to Brian Tracy:
“If you read only one book per month, that will put you into the top 1% of income earners in our society. But if you read one book per week, 50 books per year, that will make you one of the best educated, smartest, most capable and highest paid people in your field. Regular reading will transform your life completely.”
What have we learned so far?
Most people don’t read
If you read 1 hour per day, you can quickly become an expert
If you read 1 book per month, you can be in the top 1% of income earners