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Category: Living Well

Discipline Doesn’t Have To Be Hard

Published on March 31, 2022

The reason most people have a hard time with discipline is because they choose not to take small, easy, confidence-building steps.

  • They choose to sprint.
  • They choose to rush the process.
  • They choose to jump the high hurdles because they want results NOW.

THIS is what makes discipline hard.

  • You choosing a 60-minute body-destroyer workout vs. a 20-minute moderately intense one.
  • You choosing an insanely strict zero-sugar diet vs. choosing to adopt one new, healthy habit.
  • You choosing to hustle deep into the night at the expense of sleep vs. choosing to build in small, intentional steps each day.

If you want to make discipline easy—you have to make the daily steps easy.

Otherwise, doing the tasks that require discipline will always look gigantic, daunting, and intimidating.

This isn’t the path to a disciplined life.

Just Add Mindfulness

Published on March 30, 2022

Want to improve everything in your life?

Add mindfulness to it.

This came to me while lifting weights.

When I’m mindless, I’m focused on vanity metrics (e.g. how heavy can I go).

When I’m mindful, I’m focused on real metrics (e.g. how clean can I perform the move).

And being focused on clean form will result in far more benefit than being focused on sheer weight. Because the problem with “heavy as possible” is that, in most cases, the result is “cheating the reps.”

Either range of motion is shortened, momentum is counterproductively used, or bodily adjustments are made to make the movement “easier” by incorporating more muscle groups (that aren’t designed to be involved in the lifts).

Mindfulness makes us aware of these cheating tactics and reminds us to use lighter weights so that we can use full range of motion that’s free of momentum and is focused exclusively on the muscle groups that are being specifically targeted.

So, too, are the benefits of mindfulness evident in every other area of life:

  • Mindless mouth-stuffing becomes savory eating.
  • Mindless busywork becomes focused task completion.
  • Mindless word-gabbing becomes curious conversation.
  • Mindless weight lifting becomes deliberate strengthening.
  • Mindless media-scrolling becomes intentional consuming.

Mindfulness brings full presence to each task. And if the task is worth doing, you might as well do it right. Otherwise, why do it at all?

Come Alive

Published on March 29, 2022

The future is not “lost.”

We are not “hopeless.”

We are incredibly passionate, resilient, and innovative.

What we need isn’t a defeatist mentality.

What we need are more people to come alive and realize the impact their individual actions can have on the greater whole.

Upgrading Judgment

Published on March 28, 2022

Don’t be scared of bad judgment.

It’s where all of your good judgment comes from.

Be scared of not exercising your judgment at all.

It’s where bad judgment remains unchanged.

Personal Growth > Vanity Growth

Published on March 16, 2022

In today’s media driven world, there’s a ton of pressure to grow personal media accounts.

Which isn’t surprising because if what everybody is talking about is their favorite influencers, viral content, and follower counts—then, of course that’s what’s going to be at the top of everybody’s minds.

But, never let vanity growth take priority over interpersonal growth.

Like, when you feel obligated to consume all of your favorite creators new content, to post x new items to your socials, and to get that big project done for more revenue—but haven’t done anything for yourself…

…That’s a problem.

Maybe not immediately because maybe you can pull it off.

But, long-term? It will be. Because an absence of personal growth indicates a presence of personal atrophy.

And personal atrophy can only be hidden behind creative marketing for so long.

Eventually, people see through the shiny packaging and absorb the raw content for what it is.

And if what it is is regressing, then it won’t be long before they move to a different place where there is growth.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to influence more people or make more money.

There is something wrong with prioritizing those things at the expense of your interpersonal needs.

And not just because, you know, mental health, but because interpersonal growth IS the means to any worthwhile/ meaningful vanity growth.

So, remember, when you only have time to do one or the other, doing something for yourself should always get the priority.

Even when vanity growth seems to be the only thing everybody else is concerned about.

**Especially when.

Honest Living

Published on March 15, 2022
  • To believe in compassion, but to live with indifference—is dishonest.
  • To believe in wisdom, but to regurgitate ignorance—is dishonest.
  • To believe in connection, but to choose isolation—is dishonest.
  • To believe in health, but to purchase sickness—is dishonest.
  • To believe in calm, but to succumb to haste—is dishonest.
  • To believe in truth, but to speak in lies—is dishonest.
  • To believe in love, but to act in hate—is dishonest.

The more of these inner contradictions that you behold (whether you consciously realize them or not), the more uneasy and conflicted you will feel towards yourself. And the more in alignment your beliefs and actions are, the more at ease and at peace you will feel.

Honest living happens when what you do aligns with what you believe.

And the byproduct of honest living is inner peace.

Pace, Posture, Breathing…

Published on March 5, 2022

This was my mantra during my second marathon.

It was a constant call of my attention to revisit the fundamentals of what was going to get me across that far and away finish line.

And they’re fundamentals that can help you cross the far and away finish lines in your life, too.

  • Pace: Resist the urge to run your marathon at your 1-mile pace. When you’re fresh, of course you can run faster. Those who can resist this temptation and can force themselves to run their marathons at their 26.2 mile pace are the ones who will be able to keep running even when they’re no longer fresh. This is the pace you must plan for.
  • Posture: When you have to repeat around 39,733 consecutive strides, even a slight break in posture or form can cause repetitive use pains/injuries—as is the case in daily life. And not just breaks in physical posture (i.e. hunching your back), but breaks in mental posture, too. On average we have around 12,000 – 60,000 thoughts per day—marathons in their own right. Is your mind chronically “hunched over” or “postured upright?”
  • Breathing: Erratic, shallow breathing drowns the body in carbon dioxide and forces fatigue. Having a consistent, adequate supply of oxygen is the fuel that allows the muscles to keep working optimally. Set a pace in your life that allows you to stay fresh; that allows you to breathe deeply. Listen to your body.

Reflect: Which area of your long-term goal achievement game could use the biggest improvement? What’s a small, but impactful action you can take that will help you improve in that category? Can you start today?