Why Attention is the Currency of Achievement
As the expression paying attention suggests, when you focus, you’re spending the limited cognitive currency that should be wisely invested, because the stakes are high. – Winifred Gallagher, Rapt After nearly a decade of doing creative work for a living, I’ve found that activities requiring depth, focus, and attention produce a much higher ROI than those…
The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Your Craft
When it comes people mastering their craft, we see the result. We rarely see what went into getting there. However, when we start to dig deeper, we see that to master your craft you need a combination of purpose, practice, performance, recovery, and of course years on end, possibly a lifetime. To master your craft…
7 Critical Ingredients to the Greatest Work of Your Life
The greatest work of your life doesn’t happen in one fell swoop. It’s a process of planting seeds, putting messages in bottles, being patient, persistent, committed and doing the work. It’s the work and journey of a lifetime, not a brief moment in the spotlight. 1. Stop Waiting for Permission For so much…
Why Your Massive Failure Might Be a Gift From The Universe
Our biggest failures, setbacks, and obstacles in life can inform us or define us. We can respond to them or react. The choice that we make in those moments will determine whether or not they will eventually become a gift from the universe or like a parking ticket, a “fu#$ you” from the universe. When…
5 Essential Investments that Every Human Being Should Make In Themselves
Small things have big consequences. Over time, those consequences compound. We are the accumulated momentum of all our choices. Some of those choices are binary. Go to the gym or not: that choice in that moment is going to change your day. Over time that choice will change your life. We tend to ignore the…
Happiness is an Input into a Great Life, Not a Bonus You Get At the End
We all have this idea that we’ll be happy when we… Fall in love Get a book deal Sell our startup Have kids Graduate from college It’s deeply embedded into our social programming, particularly in the Western world to seek our happiness from external circumstances and events. But this equation is entirely backward. By waiting…
The Exponential ROI of ONE Focused Hour
Sadly, for most people, the ability to focus on one thing for an hour is a challenge. The world we live in is becoming more and more distracted thanks to the perpetual stimulus of social networks, notifications, and other distracting websites. Because people can’t manage their attention and they struggle to manage their time. As…
The Daily Routine Backed by Science That Will Make You a Happier Person
As somebody who has dealt with depression on and off over the course of my life, happiness is not something that comes naturally to me. It’s something I have to work at. Fortunately, our baseline level of happiness is not set in stone. Happiness is a skill that can be developed. And with practice, we…
40 Powerful Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger
I’d been dreading this day for months. Anytime I thought about it, it made me anxious. Every year for eight years I’ve written something. It’s become my birthday ritual, a lesson for every year. It’s almost always a list of things I wish I knew when I was younger. Contemplating 40… I thought maybe I…
The Investment With Highest ROI is The One You Make In Yourself
When most people hear the word investment, they typically thinking of stock markets, venture capitalists, and startup financing. But there’s one investment that produces a much higher ROI than any of those, the investment you make in yourself. My friend Michael Ellsberg even refers to this as The Last Safe Investment. I have an interest…
