It’s easy to get caught up in our thoughts, but that doesn’t mean we have to stay in them. Thoughts are just random brain cells talking to each other. There’s rarely meaning there; it’s just a biochemical process that happens automatically to stop us from getting bored. And we get to choose what we think […]
People think that to change your behaviour or reach your dreams, you have to change your mind. But that’s backwards. Mindset plays an important part, but the truth is, when we change our actions first, our minds will follow. That’s why even a tiny behavioural change — like drinking a glass of water in the […]
Doing the bare minimum is often a negative thing. But some days, it’s the best we can do. On those days when all we want to do is crawl back into bed, turning up is often enough to make progress. Putting in the minimal effort every day isn’t how to get what we want from […]
It’s human nature to look for meaning in the world; to attach labels and think up laws to make sense of the chaos. But there is only one True Constant in the Universe: everything changes. All empires eventually falter. Our things break and need replacing. Fashions cycle, meanings shift, and one way or another, every […]
A few years ago, James Altucher taught me something that helps calm dark and anxious thoughts. Life wasn’t easy at the time. A cruel twist of fate had me walking past my new ex-girlfriend’s road almost every day after work. Grim visions of mistakes and arguments would envelop me as I passed, blackening my mood for […]
We’ve talked before about what a kaizen mindset means and how to apply kaizen in your life. Nurturing the following six elements will help you cultivate a kaizen mindset. 1. Seeking knowledge Even if we’re looking, it isn’t easy to see how and where we can improve; we need other people to show us. A […]
This last year was a mad one, it’s true. At times, things seemed closer to breaking than when we nearly nuked ourselves into oblivion, and the next few years will be a real mess too. But it’s not your fault the world is like this. It’s not really anybody’s fault. Our world has such astounding […]
Trees have a sturdy grace that makes good company. And they can probably teach us a thing or two about living on this planet, after 400 million years of it. They don’t worry about how fast they’re growing or what their neighbours are up to. When the sun is shining, they lean into it; when it […]
It’s easy — and very common — to think that you’re not enough. Lots of people worry about it. We think we’re not smart enough to be funny, or rich enough to be happy, or attractive enough to be loved. But that’s all rubbish that someone else made up. The world is full of other […]
Walking through a wall is very very very very unlikely, but science tells us it’s not impossible. It’s called ‘quantum tunnelling’ and it’s why the sun explodes, and how your DNA replicates, and how light passes through a solid object. A very clever teenager explained this to me this morning in under three minutes and […]