It’s been five years since dad passed away.

If I’ve learned anything in the last several months, it’s that the grieving process is unpredictable.

The first year was painful, years 2-4 were a little more bearable, and now year 5 is fucking painful again.

I’ve tried to channel into my...

The question “what needs to change?” is a slightly different question from “what needs to happen?” in that it encourages you to specifically audit what is already happening and evaluate if it’s helping or harming your progress. 

When we ask ourselves if anything needs to change, we recognize that...

I’ve long held this belief that fulfilling work is supposed to always be gleeful — that it’s always fun, easy-going, and difficult but not too difficult… just the right amount. 

Over time though, I’ve come to realize that this perceived relationship between fulfillment and glee is pretty spurious and, if anything,...

It’s impossible to be satisfied with your efforts if the goal is to accomplish everything in a world where there will always be one more thing you could do. 
There will always be one more thing. 

One more message you could respond to, one more problem you could solve,...

Realizing that I can’t possibly fit all the things I want to do in one lifetime has been one of the most frustrating, humbling, and empowering realizations I’ve had lately. 

The hard truth that comes with what Oliver Burkeman calls being a ‘finite being’ is that there are always...

cc abrahamKim - read more WoA and liked it. 

In his book The War of Art, Steven Pressfield speaks of a force called Resistance that conspires at all times of day to stop us from following through on our creative pursuits. 

Procrastination,...

Workouts are uncomfortable by design. 

The idea of participating in a session filled with arduous movements and breathlessness isn’t exactly something most people would be eager to do. 

But, it’s exactly the kind of experience that’s required to trigger adaptations in the body that lead to stronger mental...

During a period of intense work on a project with a colleague, we inadvertently started a tradition where we would end our daily calls saying to each other that “we’ll figure this out”.

This affirmation of our confidence in our ability to find a solution was a source of solace...

A summary of thoughts based on Oliver Burkeman’s talk, ‘How Distraction Works’, from the Waking Up App.

Distraction is often positioned as an obnoxious thief — as something that takes us away from the important matters of life like our relationships and our work.

But if you really pay close...

There are two ways to respond to a setback: 

You can engage in repetitive negative thoughts about the event — what is commonly referred to as negative rumination. 

Or you can spend time figuring out how you’re going to respond to the situation. 

Rumination doesn’t have a...