Some of you, like me, are entrepreneurs or business leaders … and perhaps you’re ready to take your business to the next level. But sometimes, it can feel like you’re butting your head against a wall — no matter how hard you work, you’re not making a ton of progress. It can also feel like there’s not enough time in the day to do everything. If you could add 5 more hours in each day, or clone yourself, things would be much better. So how do you move past this plateau? What got you here won’t...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Many times, we find a cool productivity system in a book or an online content creator … then we get excited about it and try to implement it. But more often than most people realize, the system fails. Most people will think it’s because there’s something wrong with them — they failed to be disciplined about it. But that’s not it. Productivity systems fail because they’re not a good fit for us. And because we don’t know how to put them into action in a way that sets us up for success. In our...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
It can feel disheartening when you want to create something meaningful and suddenly run straight into a wall. The ideas might be there, yet something inside tenses up, pulls back, or shuts down. Creative resistance can feel confusing, frustrating, and even a little mysterious. Why does this happen? That’s the topic of my upcoming webinar, Beneath the Creative Block: What Your Resistance Is Trying to Tell You. I’ll be co-teaching with Amanda Goddard, my friend, fellow coach, and Zen Habits...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Every year in December, I encourage everyone in Fearless Living Academy to go through our Sacred Bow Challenge (note: “Bow” rhymes with “cow”), which is a process of reviewing your year to get the most out of it, and then setting intentions and structure for the coming year. I find it a powerful process for reaping the most learnings from our year, and setting ourselves up for success in the year to come. But there’s another benefit of going through the Sacred Bow Challenge — it can be a...
2 months ago • 1 min read
It can be a real struggle these days, in the over-stimulated environments we work in, to set clear intentions, stay focused and actually do work that creates an impact. In the face of this, many of us are trying to build solid productivity habits… and a lot of the time, these efforts fail. Then we blame ourselves and lose trust in ourselves. Why do we struggle to create good habits around focus and productivity? That’s the topic of my upcoming webinar, Why Your Productivity Habits Keep...
2 months ago • 1 min read
We all have setbacks. From personal crises to failing at habit change to having a really messy week … this kind of stuff can get us feeling discouraged. I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can pick ourselves back up again, and what I’ve been loving is the idea of fresh starts. A fresh start is putting the discouraging stuff behind you, and starting anew. It’s exciting and hopeful! And we can have a fresh start on any day we choose. That’s the topic of our November Fearless Living Academy...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The questions I get from the Zen Habits community — in comments, emails, and conversations — are a gift. They remind me how much we’re all navigating, and I wanted to create a space to explore them more fully. That’s what this month’s YouTube Live is about. It will be an open Q&A session where I’ll respond to your questions on habits, mindfulness, simplicity, and the challenges of creating meaningful change. I’ll be answering some of the questions you’ve shared ahead of time, and I’ll also...
3 months ago • 1 min read
These days, it can be hard to be true to who you are — we might have the tendency to people-please, to try to not be judged, to protect ourselves from criticism — and so we feel like we either have to be someone we’re not … or withdraw from engaging with others. How can we put ourselves out there, express ourselves, and still be authentic? In our October Fearless Living Academy workshop, we’re going to explore how to express our core values even under the pressure to conform. Topics we’ll...
4 months ago • 1 min read
A lot of us are feeling overwhelmed just about every day — there’s so much going on in our lives, so many commitments, so much to do, and never enough time. What if we could simplify our lives? What would it be like to live a simpler life, on a day-to-day basis? That’s the topic of our September Fearless Living Academy workshop, where we’ll look at some practical ways to create a simpler life and have a little breathing room. Identify what matters most — let your calendar reflect your...
5 months ago • 1 min read