Here’s a powerful shield against anxiety that we can take everywhere. Meditation takes advantage of it, but we don’t have to meditate to quiet anxious thoughts or help us sleep. The fastest way to reduce stress is to take a breath and a half. In the 1930s, scientists found that all mammals have this automatic […]
It was always funny to me that dragons hoard gold. In almost every story we have about a dragon, they harbour some deeply valuable and important treasure; the hero must outwit or outfight the beast to get it. But why? What does a giant flying lizard want with a pile of shiny metal or a […]
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 […]
Hugh Laurie is an interesting chap with an expressive face and an impressive career. If you’ve been struggling to get started on your goals this year, he said something that might help you out: “It’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that, actually, no […]
I don’t want anchovies on my pizza, but I don’t hate them. I don’t care enough about anchovies to hate them. We have to love something or be scared of losing something we love to hate anything. I often hate writing. I hate the thought that I’m going to dedicate my life to doing it, […]
Perfection is an illusion of the mind. It’s natural, though, to look at all the ‘perfect’ pictures on social media and wonder if they have something we don’t. But there is no one-size-fits-all magic solution to get what we want overnight. We might get lucky, but even winning the lottery screws people up. And trying […]
Words are great, but music is the best thing we’ve ever made. Hands-down. It took me a long time to realize what a powerful tool it is. We’re the only animal that responds to music at a physical level. It’s so powerful that it can even relieve the symptoms of neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and […]
Words are incredibly powerful. These little sounds and symbols are programming for humans. Without them, our world falls apart. Some words are so powerful they stick in our brains — ringing in our ears — and changing us forever. It becomes true. The words we use to talk about ourselves are the most powerful because […]
You’ve probably heard of the US Navy Admiral who speaks about how making your bed can change the world. He even wrote a book about it — he was obsessed. But with good cause. Our physical surroundings affect our behaviour, and mess causes stress. Being the kind of person who makes their bed makes us […]
There’s lots of advice out there these days, so it’s tough to hear the wisdom in the noise. But sometimes, you hear something that rings so loudly with Truth that it’s hard to ignore. Whether they’re his or not doesn’t matter, because when the compelling Chris Voss uttered his ‘three truths of life’ they hit […]