Matt Hogan's Blog

Pace Your Brain

Published on October 3, 2021

Most people never talk about pace when it comes to learning.

Most of what I hear is about consuming as much as possible in the shortest amount of time possible (e.g. 2x speed while watching YouTube videos or listening to podcasts).

Pace matters just as much in learning as it does in running a marathon.

Move too quickly through the information and you’ll burnout and resent the process.

Move too slowly and you’ll bore yourself to death (and resent the process).

Find your sweet spot and you’ll become a learner for life.

Keep This At The Top Of Your Priority List

Published on October 2, 2021

You know what one of your top priorities should be?

Figuring out what your top priorities are.

Imagine if you spent your money without any notion of what needed to be budgeted for bills.

Maybe you even remember living like this at one point in your life.

…Probably not for long though.

Because what usually ends up happening is you spend more than you should’ve and then are left short when it comes time to pay bills.

And not because you didn’t have enough money, but because you didn’t properly prioritize your money.

This is how it works for spending time, too.

Spend/budget time on your top priorities first and then spend what remains how you’d like.

The other way around almost always ends with regret.

P.s. 23 Greg McKeown Quotes from Essentialism and How To Live Better Via Less

Deplete Pain Of Its Power

Published on October 1, 2021

All pain is real.

Because pain is subjective and is only really experienced by the experiencer.

This is why no one can or should tell you how to feel about your pain.

Only you can be the judge of that.

That said, the intensity of your pain is also only yours to manage.

So, here’s one handy trick that can help deplete pain of its power: stop trying to prove how badly you’ve been hurt.

You have nothing to prove.

And even your best attempts to prove your pain only end up intensifying it.

Better would be to treat pain like the signal it is and respond to that signal deliberately and with compassion.

Much better than catastrophizing it just so that people might believe you that it’s there.

Love Renewed

Published on September 30, 2021

You can’t just give love once and expect it to last.

…Or twice, or three times, or ten.

Love needs to be regularly renewed.

…Twice, three times, ten times per day!

…Or week or whatever works for you and yours.

But it will only last so long as it is renewed.

As soon as you stop renewing your love, like Netflix, it’ll only be a matter of time before it expires.

Do Not Touch

Published on September 29, 2021

From where do you allocate extra time when you get really busy?

From:

Family time?
Reading time?
Sleep time?

Or:

TV time?
Video game time?
Social media time?

Here’s the thing: Certain priorities should never be touched.

If they are, you’re too busy.

Or, hate to break it to you, they aren’t (really) a priority.

Period.

Don’t Sleep On This One

Published on September 28, 2021

Underrated productivity hack: move slower.

When you move slower your mental and physical state calms.

When you’re calm your mind thinks more clearly.

When you think more clearly you get more done.

How To Clear A Pond

Published on September 27, 2021

Step 1) Stop agitating it. Every disturbance clouds the water and sends ripples of distress throughout. This causes the pond to become cloudy and mudded.

Step 2) Filter the water. When a pond is still, most of the wandering particles will settle and the water will clear. But, running the water through a filtration process will expedite and enhance the process of clearing the water. Filtering also removes particles from the pond altogether rather than simply allowing them to settle to the pond’s floor.

Why should you care?

Because a pond is often used as a metaphor for the mind.

And understanding what disrupts and clears a pond can help us understand what disrupts and clears our mind.

So, how can we follow this same two step process for our mind?

Step 1) Stop agitating it. Every disturbance that you allow in through your senses will cause your mind to cloud and become mudded. Every hateful, demeaning, negative, hurtful, upsetting, gossipy, self-limiting, comparison-oriented thought does this. Exposing yourself to more of the opposite helps; meditating helps; blocking sources that agitate you helps.

Step 2) Filter your thoughts. Writing is thought filtered. When you start writing regularly, you’ll think more clearly, act more deliberately, and understand your emotions more than ever before. You could do gratitude themed writing in the morning, reflective/day-planning/goal oriented writing in the evening, thought-releasing journaling during the day, or just write to a blog like I do about whatever is on your mind.

You’d be surprised at how effective this process is at clearing your mind.

And just think about how much easier it will be to see the content of your mind’s pond once it’s finally cleared…

Matt Hogan's Blog Posts