“Don’t make a distinction between work and play, regard everything that you’re doing as play. And don't think for one moment that you’ve got to be serious.” — Alan Watts 

The concepts of Work and Play are popularly conceived as mutually exclusive activities.  Play is often synonymized with fun...

Repost from January 1, 2020 - New Year, same sentiment. 

The New Year begins today (Gregorian calendar), and again on February 12th (lunar calendar), and again on April 14th (Sinhalese tradition) — the list goes on.

We invented the symbolic day of new beginnings.

If you commit to making...

The idea of declaring a new beginning — a Fresh Start — as a way of increasing the odds of successfully adopting positive changes in your life actually has some solid footing in the field of psychology. 

In a 2014 study titled “The Fresh Start Effect,” Dr. Hengchen Dai,...

Some activities lose their justification over time without anyone realizing it (or at least saying anything about it). 

Certain recurring meetings persist for no apparent reason. 

We participate in some paradigms not out of any kind of conviction that they’re still
relevant, but because they’re familiar, they’re comfortable —...

As I wandered across a shopping center this past Black Friday, two notable remarks seemed to dominate the air regardless of what shop I was in: 

“You should buy that, that’s on sale!” and “don’t bother, that’s always on sale.” 

The thing about exceptionalism is that it’s not...

You probably don’t have to look very far before finding past examples where you’ve implemented a variation of the following logic in your mind: once this event happens, then I’ll be content.

Once this project is finished, then I’ll be happy. 

Once I get this new job, then I’ll...

James Dyson produced 5,127 prototypes before arriving at his first bagless vacuum cleaner, the DC01. 

Sara Blakely reportedly looked at hundreds of prototypes — let’s say 300 for the sake of argument — before arriving at the original Spanx.

It’s interesting to wonder what might’ve compelled Dyson and Blakely...

When you do something that prepares you well for the future, it's your future self that reaps the benefits. 

By that same token, when you do something that does not prepare you well for the future, it's your future self that has to deal with the consequences. 

The...

There are several reasons why you might hesitate to start: 

The odds of succeeding are low. 

It’s uncomfortable. 

People will judge. 

There’s one particularly compelling reason why you might hesitate to stop:

Stopping effort means an ending of possibility. 

The promise of making an effort...

Your project runs into a roadblock that will result in significant delays. 

Maybe you tell yourself that you’re the unluckiest person in the world; maybe you tell yourself that this is the perfect opportunity to learn. 

You receive a disappointing review for a product you’re selling. 

Maybe...