Make a fist. Hold it as hard as you can, and don’t let go.
Strong at first. The knuckles go white, the forearm sets, and for a few seconds you’re completely in charge. Then it aches. Then it shakes. Then the fingers start to open on their own, and there’s not much your willpower can do about it.… Read the rest “How to Break a Habit Without Willpower: 4 Simple Moves”
Make a fist. Hold it as hard as you can, and don’t let go.
Strong at first. The knuckles go white, the forearm sets, and for a few seconds you’re completely in charge. Then it aches. Then it shakes. Then the fingers start to open on their own, and there’s not much your willpower can do about it.… Read the rest “How to Break a Habit Without Willpower: 4 Simple Moves”
I found a blue Post-it stuck to the inside cover of a notebook I abandoned around 2011. Marcus Aurelius, I think. Something about the obstacle becoming the path. I had pressed the ballpoint hard enough to dent the paper underneath. Clearing out a spare room last month, shifting damp cardboard boxes and old coats, I read the quote again.… Read the rest “The Uncomfortable Quotes That Fixed My Life (After Ruining My Ego)”
The raise landed on a Thursday in late October. By Sunday afternoon I had spent $260 on an ergonomic mesh desk chair.
That was not about making my flat look better. Three weeks of fourteen-hour days from a sagging sofa had locked my lower back into a spasm I could not sit or stand my way out of.… Read the rest “Golden Handcuffs in Tech: Why a Higher Salary Makes It Harder to Quit”
I write about guarding attention for a living. Most of what I have learned comes down to one habit I call intentional friction. One of my own rules for it held until about nine one evening, then lost to a thumb and a lit screen.
Last month I did the thing I keep telling other people not to do.… Read the rest “Everything in My Life Got Easier, and I Got Worse at Living It”
Stop trying to silence your inner critic. Put it on the right shift and it becomes the sharpest editor you’ll ever have.
It’s twenty to seven on a Saturday. Your coffee has gone cold, and you’re one paragraph into the piece you’ve been circling for a fortnight. Your shoulders are already up round your ears.… Read the rest “The 1-Minute Mental Shift That Turns Imposter Syndrome Into an Unfair Advantage”
Stop trying to silence your inner critic. Put it on the right shift and it becomes the sharpest editor you’ll ever have.
It’s twenty to seven on a Saturday. Your coffee has gone cold, and you’re one paragraph into the piece you’ve been circling for a fortnight. Your shoulders are already up round your ears.… Read the rest “The 1-Minute Mental Shift That Turns Imposter Syndrome Into an Unfair Advantage”
