Everyone fails at some time in their lives and failure hurts, it undoubtedly leaves scars, mentally and emotionally. Every day of my working life I see people sitting opposite me telling me about something that has failed in their lives, their relationships, their body, their treatment, their marriage, their business, or something else in their…
Some people believe luck is a mystical force, a kind of invisible favour that gets distributed to the chosen few and withheld from everyone else. An explanation for why some people seem to have everything handed to them while you’re left grinding away with nothing to show for it. I understand the appeal of that…
It’s the 1% that makes all the difference. For some thirteen to fifteen hundred years, Japanese swordsmiths have forged iron sand and charcoal into tamahagane steel, crafting it into katanas (the really sharp swords the Samurai used). Even today, coke and iron ore combine in blast furnaces to produce steel. This alloy is stronger, harder,…
You’ve got it backwards. You think you need motivation before you can take action. That’s why you’re stuck. That’s why the project stays on your hard drive and never makes it into the world. That’s why you join gyms in January and stop going by February. That’s why you tell yourself you’ll start when you…
Positivity’s brilliant. That is until it becomes a substitute for action. There’s an entire industry built on selling you the idea that if you just think positive thoughts, visualise your goals, manifest your desires, and believe hard enough, the universe will provide. You’ll get the job, the relationship, the money, the life you want. All…
For nine years, nobody could do it. For decades before that, people had been getting closer. And then the record just stopped, like it had hit an invisible wall. The four-minute mile. 240 seconds. A barrier that scientists, doctors, and athletes believed was close to the absolute limit of human capability. It’s a story about…
Most achievements happen one unremarkable step at a time. Not dramatic. Not inspiring. Not worthy of a motivational poster. Just you, showing up, doing the same thing, and repeating. Small steps every day in the right direction. Building momentum. Keeping going. And eventually, if you stay on track and keep moving, you get to where…
You’re stuck. You know you need to move. You’ve been stationary too long, but you’re not moving. What you need is leverage. Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, is supposed to have said something that’s stuck with me throughout my career: give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum to place it on, and I…
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…
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….