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Category: Living Well

The Beauty Of The Streak

Published on November 15, 2023

The beautiful thing about doing something for long enough is that eventually your subconscious starts doing most of the work for you.

Today is my 1,415th day of consecutive daily posts.*

(*Minus the days I was at Burning Man, off the grid).

And the beauty of this streak is that the task has seeped its way into my subconscious.

Which means, rather than needing to remember that I have to send a post out, actively blocking out time in my calendar, doing time-intensive brainstorms for topics, and stressing out about the final product like it was being graded by a college professor… my subconscious takes care of most of that for me.

I don’t need to remember to write—it’s an automatic reflex in my day.

I don’t need to actively block out time in my day—it’s already accounted for before I do any conscious blocking.

I don’t need to do any time-intensive brainstorms for topics to write about—my brain bubbles up ideas all day long… because it knows the writing is coming.

And as far as the stressing out about the final product? Well, after you do anything for 1,415 days in a row… hitting the submit/publish/ship button becomes a helluva lot easier and increasingly less intimidating.

This is all to say: don’t make things harder than they need to be. Do less now… so that you can do more over a longer period of time.

Eventually, the daily habit will start to take care of itself and require a fraction of what it used to when you were yo-yo-ing.

P.s. I also published: How Do I Know If Meditation Is Working?

Show Up and Add A Little Value

Published on November 12, 2023

When I have nothing to write about, I challenge myself to write as little as possible while still adding value.

It’s a trick I use to get started.

But, it isn’t really a trick—it’s the goal.

And I oftentimes have to remind myself of it.

Because there have been plenty of days when I’ve spent hours crafting these 1-minute messages… days when I’ve gotten a ton of great feedback on a piece… days when I was feeling myself and wrote something that felt so good it surprised even me… that could each easily contribute to making that new day’s writing task feel that much harder.

…All caused, at its root, by comparison.

When I’m pressuring myself to create something that compares to some of my best pieces… that have garnered some of my best known results… of course the starting from scratch feels harder.

…But, when I drop the comparisons and remind myself what the goal is—to show up and add a little value (both to myself and others), starting suddenly feels a helluva lot easier.

Which is as true for exercising, reading, meditating, working, creating, etc.—as it is for writing.

My Reply To Thank You

Published on November 9, 2023

Hey Sonya,

It’s so great to hear from a fellow quote enthusiast. Love love love hearing that you have mountains of notebooks filled with quotes.

The act of reading quotes is definitely not the same as the act of writing quotes. The former brings the words in through the eyes which are quickly deposited into the brain, but the latter… the latter allows you to bring the words in through your body… through your fingers, up your arms, into your torso, and up your spinal cord and into your brain.

It’s the literal embodiment of the words.

So, while you may feel like there’s no sense or order to them all… just know that the process is not for nothing. You have embodied 10x more insight from this simple practice than your counterpart who merely read those same quotes and does nothing with them.

Cheers to quote collecting and embodying the insight that’ll guide us forward on our paths!

~ Matt

The reason I share this reply is twofold:

1) To remind you that reading insights is not the same as doing things with the insights. Whether that’s applying the ideas to your life (opting in to the expressed gratitude challenge); typing, tagging, ordering, and making them digestible and accessible (like I do at MoveMe Quotes); or simply writing them into notebooks (like Sonya)—it’s the application of insight that leads to better living—not the looking at it. And…

2) To challenge you to start doing things with insights, too!

…You’re not really just going to nod along and do nothing with these insights after reading them are you?!

Enough looking; time to start embodying.

…Your better life depends on it.

Thank You

Published on November 8, 2023

Hi Matt,

I just wanted to write and thank you so much for all your work pulling all these quotes together. I am a fellow quote collector and have mountains of notebooks filled with them, with no sense of order at all. Your website is a treasure trove, and I really appreciate the labour of love it must have been (and still is).

Many Thanks,

Sonya

Sent from my iPhone

The reason I wanted to share this email that I received this morning is two-fold:

1) It’s a beautiful example of expressed gratitude. Something I challenged the readers of this blog to integrate into their lives during the month of November. It’s pure, it’s short, there’s no ask or expected favors in return, and it was sent evidently on a whim—as is indicated by the “Sent from my iPhone” stamp which was included at the bottom of the email (which is why I included it above). If you haven’t started the challenge yet or are just hearing about this now, consider this your invitation. Because…

2) It’s a beautiful example of the rippling effect expressed gratitude can have. This email made my morning. It brought a big smile to my face, made me feel pride towards the work I’ve done building MoveMe Quotes, and inspired this very post that’s being sent out to hundreds of readers—something that never would’ve happened without the expressed part of the gratitude. And now, maybe some of you will go out on a whim and send an email / text / or note to someone you want to thank in your life.

I hope you will.

Questions To Snap You Back To Happiness

Published on November 6, 2023

The following was inspired by Claudia Dawson and a Duke University study on Happiness via Recommendo.

First, here’s the Duke University study findings:

(Click here if you can’t see the above infographic).

Next, here’s what Claudia Dawson so brilliantly recommended based on these findings…

“I’ve found the quickest way to dispel unhappiness is to ask myself introspective questions to find the source. Based on these 8 factors of happiness, I would ask myself: 

  • Am I feeling suspicion and resentment? 
  • Am I living in the past (or in the future)? 
  • Am I wasting time and energy fighting conditions I can’t change? 
  • Am I isolating myself or withdrawing from the world? 
  • Am I indulging in self-pity?
  • Am I expecting too much of myself? 

…I then continue the line of questioning to gain more self-awareness or I pivot to an easy gratitude practice, like listing 10 things that make me happy on my fingers. This usually gets me out of my head and back to the present moment, as well as in alignment with the values and experiences that make me happy.”

Finally, here’s my take:

The thing about thinking is that so much of it is done unconsciously (like 99%?). As in, we have no idea that we’re bathing in self-pity, replaying the past, cancelling plans so we can “introvert,” comparing ourselves to the greats, nurturing suspicion, etc…

Don’t take the above insights or questions lightly—this is life-changing stuff. Print / write it all down and display it in a place where you’ll see it regularly.

This way, it’ll snap you out of undesirable (unconscious) thought patterns and back to the place where happiness is much more likely to be found.

The 30 Day Expressed Gratitude Challenge

Published on October 30, 2023

Join me in, not just thinking gratitude, but expressing gratitude every day for the next 30 days.

The difference is that one leaves your mind about as quickly as it enters whereas the other—the expressed gratitude—makes an impression on the mind of another (that’s remembered), creates an atmosphere that’s felt, has the potential to linger (as a smile often does), and can resultantly ripple outward to touch countless other lives, too.

And the kicker is that the gratitude given to another affects the giver as much as the receiver—it’s a double positive.

There is nothing lost and everything is gained when the gift of gratitude is given away.

That said, here’s how the challenge works:

  • Either share publicly (on a social site) or record privately your daily acts of gratitude.
  • It must be expressed—not just thought of.
  • Expressed could be shared verbally (e.g. “I just want to sincerely thank you for…”), written physically (e.g. A surprise post-it note), posted about socially (e.g. “Today, I’m grateful for ______. Join me for 30 days of expressed gratitude.”) , or even gifted tangibly (e.g. Flowers just because).
  • The more specific the better. The more detailed the better. The more thoughtful the better.
  • …But, “done” is the best. Don’t let “the perfect gesture” stop you from expressing at all.

And that’s it. Who’s in?! Forward this to whoever you think would join. Let’s flood our lives with positivity, warmth, and support for the next month. Lord knows we all could use it.

I’ll record my acts here. Day 1: Today, I texted a coworker expressing my gratitude for an above and beyond effort that they did with grace. :)

How To Get A 200%+ Return On Investment With Your Time

Published on October 28, 2023

I went to bed early last night.

About an hour earlier than usual.

And what never ceases to amaze me is how much more productive I feel, how much better my self-control is, and how much clearer my mindset presents—all from just a one hour investment.

Which is exactly what we should be looking at going to bed earlier as.

As discussed in yesterday’s piece, more awake hours ≠ more productivity / more joy / more living—per se. It’s more quality hours (not quantity) that leads to that.

And what I’m noticing in my own life, today particularly, is that the move from 7 hours of sleep to 8 hours causes more good in awareness, clarity, and productivity than the move from 8 hours of sleep to 7 hours causes good in extending length to “do more stuff.“

In other words, let’s say an hour less of sleep causes a 12.5% dip in general functionality across the board (if eight hours = 100% recharge, then one hour = 12.5% of that recharge).

That 12.5% dip then affects the rest of my 17 hours in the day that I’m awake.

And a 12.5% reduction (in awareness, clarity, and productivity) over 17 hours amounts to 2.125 hours in total lost time (17 x .125 = 2.125 hours)!

So, how do you get a 200%+ return on investment with your time…?

Go to bed an hour earlier.

P.s. I also published: A Wise Woman’s Advice To A Young Man Whose Life Was “Full Of Pain” [Excerpt]