The 365 Commitment is a simple formula that I use to keep my life on track. This has ended up being a daily writing that I produce each day during my latest personal transformation.
You can read the daily blog or sign up for the daily update. This blog is about motivation, inspiration and encouragement to make and keep life changing commitments.
This article explores the journey of overcoming a lifelong habit of pretending to know everything. The author shares personal insights on learning to ask for help, detailing a three-step process: admitting “I don’t know,” being specific about needs, and accepting assistance. Ultimately, the piece highlights how asking for help can strengthen relationships and foster genuine connection.
Productive meetings often involve discomfort, as they are meant to resolve conflicts and challenge assumptions. Avoiding uncomfortable conversations can hinder improvement and problem-solving, suggesting that embracing discomfort can lead to more effective outcomes.
This article explores the idea that our unconscious daily habits and automatic responses, rather than our conscious decisions, largely define who we are. It suggests that while we often focus on deliberate changes, the multitude of small, unthinking actions throughout our day can either undermine or support our goals. The author encourages readers to observe these unconscious patterns to identify areas for significant personal growth.
This article explores the tradition of making gumbo on Halloween and reflects on the deeper meaning of food preparation as a way to preserve family history, teach valuable lessons, and strengthen relationships. It encourages readers to maintain their own food traditions, emphasizing that the experience of making food together is as important as the recipe itself.
This article explores the idea that while willpower is important, creating an environment that supports your goals can significantly ease the burden on your determination. By proactively removing obstacles and making positive choices easier, you increase your chances of consistent success.
This piece explores the personal significance of books collected over a lifetime, moving beyond their content to consider the stories they tell about the owner’s life experiences and values. It encourages readers to reflect on their own book collections as a way to understand and share a piece of themselves.
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This article explores the concept of tackling the most difficult tasks first, likening it to Mark Twain’s ‘eat a live frog’ analogy or ‘going downhill’ after an initial climb. The author shares a personal anecdote about a marathon and a daily exercise routine to illustrate how front-loading challenging activities can make the rest of the day feel easier and more productive, reducing mental resistance and improving overall well-being.
The N-of-1 experimental design involves tracking a baseline, making one modification, and then tracking the results over time to study individual responses to an intervention. This method is particularly useful for understanding how diet, exercise, or behavioral patterns impact an individual, with a recommended tracking period of 90 days for meaningful changes.
This piece explores the common human tendency to seek guaranteed outcomes before taking action, stemming from childhood anxieties about uncertainty. It argues that true confidence comes from trusting one’s ability to adapt to any situation, rather than waiting for external circumstances to be perfect.
This article explores a refined Stoic concept, expanding on Epictetus’s idea of controlling what you can and not worrying about what you can’t. It introduces a third category: what you can influence, which is crucial when desired outcomes depend on others.
This piece explores the anxiety that arises from uncertainty, explaining how the brain interprets unpredictability as danger and generates negative scenarios. It emphasizes that thinking harder doesn’t always lead to certainty, but often to more anxiety. The key takeaway is to recognize that a thought about a possible future isn’t evidence it will happen, and it’s okay to let things be uncertain.
The author shares two daily questions that help focus on achievement and contribution, leading to a sense of purpose and well-being. This approach, combining personal progress with helping others, serves as an anti-anxiety recipe and a path to living well.
This article emphasizes the importance of building systems that can withstand failure without collapsing entirely. It argues that continuous improvement, rather than striving for a perfect system or constant reinvention, is the key to progress. The author suggests that viewing failures as information for refinement, rather than reasons to give up, fosters an environment where habits can thrive.
Deliberate reflection is a foundational method for self-improvement, often overlooked despite its proven effectiveness. By reviewing experiences and understanding what went well or wrong, individuals can achieve greater progress than by simply accumulating experience. This practice is crucial for learning from mistakes and making necessary adjustments to achieve goals.
This article explores the concept of feedback loops, highlighting their effectiveness in both personal and business contexts. Using a personal anecdote about Weight Watchers and a professional experience with customer satisfaction, the author emphasizes that continuous feedback is crucial for improvement, despite our natural aversion to criticism.