Starting is easy. Sustained progress is the hard part. Anyone can begin. You’ve begun dozens of times. The gym membership in January. The business idea in March. The diet that lasted eleven days. The side project that filled a weekend before quietly disappearing. Beginning feels like progress because it involves movement. But movement without direction,…
You’ve finished this course, which was designed to help you cope when you find yourself in a new situation. Well done, genuinely, for getting this far. I hope you’ve reflected after each article and made some small changes in your mindset, your approach, and your life. Most people don’t get this far. I told you…
You can rewire your brain. Most people just don’t bother. Your brain, its structure and how it works, isn’t fixed. It isn’t hardwired, and it isn’t the finished article you’ve been handed and have to make do with for the rest of your life. I know that’s not what it feels like when you’ve thought…
This isn’t therapy. If you’re dealing with clinical depression, severe anxiety, or trauma, please see a professional. I say this as a doctor, not as a disclaimer. You might walk out of that exam with 80%. And you spent the next three days picking apart the 20% you got wrong. You gave a presentation at…
You can get stuck because what’s going on inside your head doesn’t match what’s actually happening in the real world. Let me show you what I mean. You believe you’re terrible at your job. The evidence? Your boss gave you some feedback that you didn’t really think was fair. Meanwhile, in reality, you’ve been promoted…
By now, the honeymoon period is over and the excitement has worn off, and you’re staring at the reality of what you’ve signed up for. You’ve already found out the obstacles are bigger, the path is harder, and part of you is still wondering if you should just go back into your old life. The…
You’re getting older. That’s the one thing that’s always true. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a grown-up, and like me, you left your childhood behind many years ago. But here’s the question. When you left your childhood behind, did you also leave behind some of the life skills you had when you were young…
Your life is already a game. You just didn’t realise you could design the rules. Look around. You get reward points when you shop at certain stores. Coffee shop loyalty cards. Fitness apps counting your steps and giving you badges. Credit cards offering cashback and airmiles. Your work probably has performance targets with bonuses attached….
Sometimes gradual doesn’t cut it. Sometimes you need to burn the bridges. Disruptive change is major change that happens all at once. It’s not gradual, it’s not incremental, it’s not marginal gains compounded over time. It’s sudden, complete, and irreversible. It’s the opposite of everything we’ve discussed about small steps and one percent improvements. But…
Finding life difficult? Maybe you’re aiming too high. Ever thought about aiming for being only one percent better each day? That’s all. Not ten percent. Not revolutionary change. Not dramatic transformation. Just one percent better. Do that consistently, compound it over time, and you’ll end up somewhere completely different from where you started. This is…