All Articles
A Truly Productive Life Shouldn’t Feel Like Work
Don’t waste energy figuring out how to live a productive life. Ask yourself how to tune into your innate values, passions, and talents.
Why I’m Glad That I’ve Been Unsuccessful
Being unsuccessful has helped me discover and appreciate the value of the more important things in life.
The 2024 Unrutty Awards: My Best and Worst of the Year
The third-annual awards spectacular celebrating best, worst, and most memorable from my past year.
Why I Changed My Life’s Guiding Principle
I ignored my old guiding principle, trusted my instincts instead, and now have a new and improved heuristic for directing my life’s decisions.
Are You Getting Your 10,000 Mental Steps a Day?
What if you made as much time in your day for mental wandering as you do for getting your 10,000 steps in?
$526,000 a Year for the Intangibles That Make You Happy?
If we add up all the studies that put a price tag on the intangible sources of happiness, it’s a lot—but is it enough?
Is Where You Live a Home Field (Dis-)Advantage?
Winning at life can be easy or darn near impossible depending on whether you optimize the field you play on (i.e, where you live).
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Why I will never ask my son what he wants to be when he grows up and what I’ll ask him instead.
How I Compared How Others See Me to How I See Myself
The simple “mirror straightening” exercise that helped me better understand how others see me versus how I see myself.
Make Time for Not Urgent But Important Work With “Pre-Fun”
Lack of urgency led to me doing fewer fun and important things, but now I have a new “pre-fun” system that’s working.
The Simple Way to Get More of What You Really Want
What happens when you get in the habit of asking yourself “What for?” and “What instead?” before acting.
The Optimal Level of Difficulty for Life is Radically Moderate
There is an optimally efficient slope for climbing a mountain, so is there also an optimal level of difficulty for the “climb” of life?
Ideas For Taking Your Life in Extraordinary Directions
A thought-provoking collection of ideas for shaking up your status quo and taking life in extraordinary directions.
Time to Give Yourself a Reality Check? Consider This
Every year I give myself a reality check that straightens the deluded stories I tend to tell myself. Here’s how.
Why Don’t We Walk Barefoot More Often?
Barefoot walking is toughening, sensational, super cool-ing, biologically sound, and fun. Plus is saves money on socks and shoes.
Ranking The Year’s 15 “Best” Self-Help Trends
The ultimate power rankings of the best, hottest, most life-changing trends to hit the self-help world this past year.
Delayed Gratification Is Overrated: The Untold Marshmallow Story
The surprising story from the famous Stanford marshmallow experiments that changed my thinking about delayed gratification.
Time for a “Funth”: A Month Challenge to Have More Fun
My plans for my “funth”, during which I will push myself to avoid everything boring and serious and have more fun.
Innate by Kevin Mitchell: Implications on My Clone Army
Summarizing Kevin Mitchell’s book, Innate, and applying what he teaches to questions about what my clone army would look like.
The Right and Wrong Way to Find Your Unique Path in Life
How to find your path in your life by affording patience to explore the extraordinary (APEX)—and mistakes to avoid.
Be Smarter About Finding Your Career Fit
You’ll spend 80,000 hours working, so not systematically seeking a career fit for your unique profile is a devastating mistake.
The Most Important Thing You Can Afford Is Patience
To live your “dream life” optimize your finances not for retirement, real estate, or rhinoplasty but to afford oodles of patience.
Capture the Vibes of Your Next Trip With a Family Rap Video
How we created a family rap video on a recent trip to immortalize it, have fun, and bond—and the easy steps you can follow to do the same.
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