How To Build Better Habits With the 21/90 Rule

The numbers 21 and 90 on a black background

Building good habits is the key to a better life.

If you go to the gym each morning, you cannot help but get fit. If you train yourself to call 5 new clients each day, your business will prosper.

Yet the tricky part is not introducing the habit, but sticking with it.

This is where the 21/90 rule comes in. By not breaking the chain for 111 days, the new behavor will eventually become effortless.

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Monk Mode: The Ultimate Guide

A concrete tunnel

How much of your time is spent on activities that prevent you from achieving your goals?

Those two hours each day watching Netflix. Taking out your phone at random times to check your Instagram. Getting drunk with friends on a Saturday night.

In monk mode, you eliminate all of these.

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What To Do When You Have Too Much To Do

A power pole with lots of random wires

It seems like there is always too much to do.

That urgent project at work. Your doctor telling you to take up yoga. The 64 unanswered emails in your inbox.  Your family demanding more attention.

The longer this goes on, the more you lose agency. You are not in control of your life anymore — it controls you.

There are two things you need to do to get out of this fix.

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What Are You Selling?

Me, thinking

I work in marketing and sales. One of the first questions I ask new clients is, “What are you selling?”

As to be expected, they name whatever product or service they list on their website.

And while this answer is technically correct, it doesn’t go deep enough. It doesn’t consider the emotional benefit the product is providing to the customer.

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15 Reasons To Stop Watching the News

A couple of broken TVs on a shelf

Oh, the news. Our daily dose of crime, war, natural disasters, and celebrity scandals. All cut into bite-size pieces for our entertainment.

It is not only that this stuff is so addictive. It is also peer pressure. You allegedly must watch the news. To keep informed. To be a better citizen.

Nonsense.

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What Is Dreamlining? How-to Guide & Critique

A sky full of contrails

In this article, we will take a closer look at dreamlining, a goal-setting exercise by Tim Ferriss, as outlined in his bestseller “The 4-Hour Workweek.”

Dreamlining is meant to get you out of your rut. Instead of aiming for conventional goals like getting a promotion, you are encouraged to dream without limits. Think traveling the world, deep sea diving, or becoming a professional musician.

But how exactly are you supposed to do that? And is it realistic, or just a hyped-up marketing gimmick?

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You Can’t Change People

Me, with my arms crossed in front of my chest

Many people will waste their lives away fantasizing about how things would be better if person X changed.

“If only he listened when I talk to him.”

“If she would only read that book that I recommended to her.”

“If only they would start exercising so they would live longer.”

But the truth is, you can’t change people. They are who they are.

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How To Escape the 9 to 5

Me, sprinting away from an office building

Right after I graduated from high school, for the first and the last time in my life, I worked a 9-to-5 job.

The job was at a hospital, where I did everything. I worked in the administration. I worked in the warehouse. I even worked as a substitute nurse.

It was the greatest waste of time I have ever experienced.

Half of the things we did, didn’t need doing. The other half could have been automated and done in half the time.

But that wasn’t even the worst part. The people were. They had adopted a zombie like mindset. They would sleepwalk through the hallways, devoid of any initiative, just fantasizing about the end of their shifts.

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Quality Over Quantity: What It Means And How To Live By It

One smooth stone next to a bunch of rugged stones

Are you getting a nagging sense that you should choose quality over quantity in your life more often?

Maybe you are weighed down by a plethora of consumer goods that keep breaking.

Maybe your large social circle doesn’t provide the fulfillment you were hoping for.

Maybe you have a million ideas, but feel that you should focus on just one.

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How To Not Let Things Bother You

Me looking out to sea

I used to be easily bothered by other people (and sometimes still am).

On my worst days, it would take one bad ten-second interaction and for the rest of the day, I would obsess about how that person could be so ignorant.

I would play an endless movie in my head, imagining what I should have said, coming up with reasons why they were wrong, making threats, etc.

But a couple of years ago, I made a conscious decision to do something about it. I would reclaim that emotional energy and use it for something worthwhile.

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