Goal-Driven Focus

If you want to have unwavering focus but have struggled to achieve it, this Buddhist story has an answer. Once a king gave one of his subjects a challenge. He said, “You have to walk around the palace carrying a bucket full of hot oil on your head, with one...

Bird by Bird

When you are overwhelmed, what do you do? Read this quote from Anne Lamott’s book ‘Bird by Bird.’ “Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three...

Pick one habit and start

Sometimes, life feels like an out-of-control mess. We want to fix it, but we don’t know where to start. If it feels like all bad habits have descended on us at once — procrastination, smartphone addiction, lethargy, low energy, lack of confidence —...

Hack for alertness and clarity: good sleep

Many years ago, after late-night work and minimal sleep for a few days, I was struggling to stay alert. But there was a ton of work to be done. So a colleague suggested taking espresso shots. I don’t normally consume coffee or tea. But on his advice, I took two...

Why You Should Build Habits

Even after running for a decade, my 10km morning run today felt just as hard. But then, should habitual actions not become effortless? Why bother building a habit if the task is going to still feel hard? Because even though I find running hard, my desire to run is...