Possible Or Impossible - You Decide

And Mr. Webster says...

Possible - feasible, practicable, practical, viable, within the bounds/realms of possibility, attainable, achievable, workable, doable

Impossible - not possible, out of the question, unfeasible, impractical, impracticable, nonviable, unworkable, unthinkable, unimaginable, inconceivable, absurd, unattainable, unachievable, unobtainable, unwinnable, hopeless, impractical, implausible, far-fetched, outrageous, preposterous, ridiculous, absurd, impracticable, unworkable, futile.

Notice there are twice as many words that are synonymous for impossible as possible - does this mean anything? Well - read on and you will discover why so many people focus on what is impossible rather than possible.

We all face barriers when we try something new or take a risk but the real question is do we really believe what we are doing or attempting is possible or doable or are we just trying and hoping?

I believe that very few people (given the population of the US) actually believe that what they are trying is possible and I don't care if it's the Wright Brothers, Bill Gates, John F. Kennedy or anyone who has little experience, few contacts, a poor background or just a victim mentality. Imagine what would not exist today if so many people hadn't just kept trying and believing no matter the odds, number of failures or mistakes and the constant ridicule or invalidation from others.

We have what we have today because people didn't quit and never believed what they were aiming for was impossible.

How about you - a new business, a new career, a new relationship, new skills, new anything - wishing and hoping, staying stuck in the past or going for it with gusto? 

Thinking about writing a book or taking up a new hobby of painting or sculpture?

Waiting for just the right moment?

As a mentor to over 50 aspiring authors I can tell you every one of them keeps telling me - "I have a book in me." And I keep asking them is this book in you any good? And if it is will it help others? And if it will, how many people is it helping while it's still inside of you? What are you waiting for? It won't get done on its own.

Want a new career or position - and you don't have the experience or skills - go out and get them. Stop dreaming and hoping and start moving in the right direction.

Again, how about you - waiting for the right time, the right connection, the right inspiration, the right something? Stop waiting and erase the word impossible from your vocabulary and then get to work and watch the miracles unfold.

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8 Harsh Reasons as to Why You’re Still Broke

Okay so you’re broke, perhaps in debt, and just really wanting to have a career that you love and can be proud of? One that will make you good money? Well then maybe this is for you.

We all want to make a lot of money, but for most people who have this common goal they struggle to ever get anywhere near where they want to be, and all it raises within them is doubt. Doubt of why it’s not happening for them but is for others. Here’s 8 reasons as to why you’re still broke.

1) You Give up too Easily

The first half a year, or year of starting a business, a website, a career or whatever it is you want to do is a test. You’ll be tested on your commitment and love to do what it is you’re doing.

Within this time you will experience struggles, and failure, but this is all part of the test and if you want to prove that you’re in this for the long run, and that you deserve to have the things you want, then you need to do what must be done to prove yourself worthy.


2) You’re Lacking Motivation

There are far too many people in this world that sit around saying “I wish I was rich”, “It’d be nice if we had a pay rise” and all the other garbage that they just expect to come to them. You don’t just wake up one day and find someone’s deposited a hundred grand into your bank account.

The wealthy people in this world aren’t wishing for things and just hoping they’ll come into some money. They’re the people who spend less time wishing and more time doing. If you really want something then you need to go out and put your heart and soul into it.

Don’t just think to yourself that someone kind will just come along and give you what you want.


3) You’re in Love With Your T.V
My dream car is a Lamborghini Murcielago, in a less common color like blue or green. It’s just one thing I’ve always had in my mind ever since I was younger playing the ‘Need for Speed’ games. Anyway, one day I was looking for the perfect one on Google images, as you do, and I found a quote that really spoke to me.

“Why haven’t you ever seen a Lamborghini commercial before? Because the people who can afford them aren’t sitting around watching T.V.” The truth is, if you’re sitting around watching T.V for most of the day or evening, then you’re basically watching what’s going on in other people’s lives instead of going out and creating a life of your own.

T.V is not real life. Turn it off and start living.


4) Sleep is Your Best Friend

If you really want to be rich and successful, but you’re still getting more than 8 hours of sleep, then you’re wasting valuable time. 6 to 7 hours sleep is perfectly fine, but if you’re not getting up early enough in the mornings you could be missing opportunities to make money or improve upon yourself.

When you go to sleep tonight, place your alarm clock next to your bedroom door and set it to go off an hour earlier than normal. When you get up to turn that annoying sound off, you’ll be up out of bed and facing your bedroom door.

All you have to do is walk out of the door, make yourself a cup of coffee and have an extra hour of working on yourself! Whatever it may be. The laziest thing you could do is to turn that alarm off, turn around and then get back into your bed.


5) You’ve Adopted Bad Habits

All that smoking, drinking, watching T.V, browsing Facebook and other crap you’ve been doing, isn’t going to have an amazing effect on your life. If you’re going to grow as a person, then some discipline needs to be gained in these areas, in order for you to have strength of body, mind and soul.

Kick the habits, and start trying to actually improve your life.


6) You Hang out With the Wrong Crowd

They say that you become just like the 5 people you spend the most time with. Which should make you question yourself whether you’re current friends are actually good for you. Sure they may be a great laugh, and that’s a good thing.

But do they have any dreams, goals or aspirations?


7) All Talk no Action

Are you familiar with a process where you have this amazing idea pop into your head, and instead of then proceeding to work on it, you start adding more thoughts onto the idea you already have.

At the end of your life, you end up with this incredible idea that you’ve thought through for so many years, but it’s useless because you have no time left to take action on it.

The wealthiest place in the world is the graveyard. It’s where so many ideas and inventions come to die. Champions don’t start out with a perfect idea. They start out with an idea and make it perfect through the hard work that they put in.


8) You Have no Plan

Having a plan isn’t exactly essential to become wealthy and successful, but if you’ve been broke up until now then perhaps you should think about creating one for yourself.

Where do you want to be in a few years time? Do you still want to be where you are or do you want to be in the job of your dreams, earning a great amount of money?

If it’s the latter, then you’ll need a plan of how you’re going to be able to get there. Do you know what you need to do to make this dream become a reality? Then write it down, and split it into small baby steps.

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Turn Your Negative Mindset into a Positive Mindset

Negative thinking seems to be easier than positive thinking. Many people seem to believe that positive thinking requires effort while negative thinking is easier because it’s something that seems to “naturally” occur.

Your predominant mental attitude reflects how you view the world. If your mental attitude is negative, you’ll be running into many problems because your life, and the situations that occur to you every day, will be mirroring the attitude you carry around with you.
The Negative Mindset

Individuals with a negative outlook on life constantly repel positive things. Not because they want to, but because the human mind does not “judge” whether something is positive or negative, so what it sees, hears and feels is constantly negative. It just accepts this as the norm. This is really evident when there is something new to try or a new way of doing something. Often, one would rather stay with the status-quo. Things are fine the way they are, so why improve them? This part summed up things for me.

Are things really fine the way they are? Of course, not. But that is the negative mindset doing what it does best. It is like having a wall between the negative and positive mentality. As soon as the positive starts climbing the wall, the negative reinforcements arrive. What if I fail? What if it takes too much of my time? What if others think I am crazy for trying this? These are the first few questions that come to mind when deciding whether or not to go ahead with a plan, strategy or goal—like starting a career in internet marketing.

Society has a way of contributing to the negative mindset. We feel safe when we do not have to change the daily routine. Remember that old phrase, “Got to keep up with the Jones’?” Guess what I realized? The Jones’ were in a bad financial shape as the rest of us. They were not trying something new; they were settling for a negative status quo. And that, my friend, was the moment that the proverbial light went off in my head.

I thought of a crazy concept: What if you actually try something new? And what if you do really, really well at it?

These were the next questions I asked myself right before I decided to try something new with internet marketing. For the first time in my entire career, I let the positive mind break down that negative wall.
The Positive or Open Mindset

Individuals with a positive outlook on life are aware that the mind has energy. It is not a good or bad type of energy, but our thoughts develop whether good or bad things will or will not happen.

If you have a negative mindset, you need to learn how to replace it with a positive one. If you don’t believe you can, you are still a victim of your own mind. Believe that you will succeed at something new.

Don’t let your mind hold you back because you’re using it wrong. The human mind has power—the power that you can control everything in your life. Will there be setbacks? Sure. But, your positive mindset prepares you for handling those moments. Internet marketing is a challenging career, to say the least. Come to think of it, for every three setbacks, there is one really big success. And that success tastes very, very good my friend. So, be positive.

What is even more surprising is that you can control that power within you. The negative outlook you have, if you actively work on it, you can change it.

One surefire way to shift your negativity into positivity is by learning the art of replacement.

Every time you think about failing, replace that thought by thinking about how you can succeed. Visualize success instead of failure. After all, they are only thoughts, so why not make them fun ones that make you feel good instead of bad?

Start being your own best friend. Think about it, if you have a good friend telling you the same things you tell yourself all the time, would the two of you still be friends? Probably not! Start thinking this way, start being kind to yourself. There really is no point in constantly criticizing yourself or always telling yourself that you can’t do certain things. Always remember to ask yourself what you would think of your friend if they said the same thing. If you’d dump them, then dump that thought!

Let those Jones’ go about their same ways, that’s fine. But, do not stay the same way they did. You deserve better. Why not try something new? After all, you might even do very well and before you know it, people will be saying, “Got to keep up with the (insert your last name here)!”

Your positive mindset is there, just let it start coming to the surface. Let go of all that negativity because you really don’t need it!

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Becoming Rich in Your Own Way

If you really want to become rich, then begin by evaluating your work habits and work environment. That's how most millionaires made their first million. According to Dr. Srully Blotnick, a psychologist and consultant who spent 20 years studying how people became rich, most millionaires didn't make their money in real estate, the stock market, or waiting for their ship to come in.

They made theirs, instead, through their business or profession. They became so good at their job that they made quite a bit of money. Then, and only then, did they turn to real estate and stocks as sites to invest and grow their money. Even then, their basic business continued to produce the bulk of their gains; their investments usually produced only mediocre results by comparison.

There's a monumentally important lesson to be learned from the hundreds of millionaires that Dr. Blotnick studied for 20 years. The lesson is this: If you really want to become rich, invest in yourself first; invest in real estate, stocks, and other ventures later. Dr. Blotnick divided this into two stages:

· The first takes place when you're consumed by a business or profession that you enjoy so much that you would do it for nothing.

· After it pays you enough income, you enter the second stage. This is when you become a bona fide investor. You start thinking of and looking for opportunities to use your surplus income.

To set yourself and your career on track, evaluate yourself by answering these questions about:

liking your work:

· How much do I really like my job?

· Does my job bring out the best in me?

· Has it caused me to do more than I ever thought I could do? If you answered any of these questions in the negative, consider a job or career change.

determining if your work is right for you:

· How can I tell if I really like my work?

· How do I know if I'm doing my work right?

· How do I know if I'm doing the right kind of work?

The best way to determine that is to apply these test questions:

· What would I do for free?

· Am I enjoying my work so much that time seems to fly by?

· How would I like the work to be done if I were on the receiving end?

· What would I do if I didn't have to support myself, but did indeed want to work?

· What work would I do if my doctor told me that I had only five years more to live?

considering my financial rewards:

· Am I contended with my current income?

· Am I in position to influence a change in my income?

· What if the work I enjoy doing doesn't pay very well?

If you're satisfied with the first two, then I say, "Hang in there! You're on your way to becoming rich." People who became rich did so because they persisted. Only a personal involvement with what you enjoy doing will produce the kind of persistence that propels you out of bed in the mornings and makes you willing to work long and hard.

investing in yourself:

· Am I developing my skills, talents, and abilities?

· Have I made a plan that will help me to develop them?

· Am I constantly improving my relationship with others?

· Do I ask my co-workers for feedback about my performance?

Investing in yourself means developing both of these aspects: the technical knowledge you need in order to do your work effectively and the human relations skills you need in order to work effectively with others. Mr. Joseph Brooks, CEO at Lord & Taylor, once said, "If you love your work, and do it well, someone will spot that ... Let the quality of your work do it for you."

To become rich, do it your own way. Rely on your own talents, skills, and abilities. Invest them in a business or profession that you enjoy doing very much. Invest in your personal growth and development. Become the very best at what you do at your work even if it pays you little right now. If you really like what you are doing, eventually a fat salary will catch up with your reputation. The bottom line is persistence. Become an expert at relating well with others.

Remember: When you maximize your potential, everyone wins. When you don't, we all lose.

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Top 5 Reasons Why You're Not Living Your Dream

1. "I'm too old to make a change."

Maybe you're over 30 and settled in your career. You don't even want to think about making a move somewhere else. Besides, at this point in your life, you're supposed to be doing what you want, right?

For some reason we seem to think that we have to "act our age". But what does that mean? Where is there a definition of what it means to be a certain age?

The next time you think you're too old to make a change, think about Colonel Sanders and Wally Amos. Age is truly nothing more than a number.

2. "I need more money."

You might have dreams of owning your own business. You automatically think about all the money you'll need to do that. Just the thought of it overwhelms you and stops you in your tracks.

Using money as a reason not to change is just another excuse. Sure, it does take money to start a business. But who says we have to have all the money at once? Sometimes just the process of planning out our dreams makes what seems impossible, possible.

When you start to visualize your dreams, new opportunities open up for you. You may even find options that don't require that much money.

3. "I'm afraid to make a change."

You may have made a career move in the past and things didn't turn out like you expected. Maybe your boss didn't treat you well or you weren't challenged enough. Now you might be afraid to make the same mistake again.

Fear can take over and paralyze us. The funny thing is that most of the things we fear generally do not become a reality. When we come up with reasons why we can't make a move, we are just avoiding true happiness.

Basing your future on events that happened in the past is a sure way of stopping yourself from growing. It's best to learn from the past so that you can move forward.

4. "I don't have time to try to live my dream."

You may be so focused on your daily duties that you don't stop to think about your dreams. They might be buried deep within.

Some of us have spent so much time trying to make a living that we really don't have a life. We haven't taken the time to learn what we are passionate about.

Listen to those inner voices. Acknowledge the ideas that keep popping into your head. Make note of what you do in your spare time. Ask yourself if you would do these things even if you weren't getting paid. Or, ask if you would do them as a hobby even if you won the lottery.

5. "I don't think anyone will approve of my dream."

You've been thinking about making a change in your career. But what will people think of you? Will they believe that you can be successful? Will they be waiting for you to fail?

We often sabotage ourselves by worrying about what other people think of us. A family member, co-worker, or friend passes judgment on our dreams. All of a sudden, that's enough to stop us from moving forward.

You have the right to do what makes you happy. As long as you are not hurting anyone, including yourself, go for it. You might upset some people in the process. But, ultimately, it is your life.

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Why Taking A Day Off Can Transform Your Life

Entrepreneurs are passionate, driven, and hardworking folks. We love to grind. We love to go hard. “I’m building my future”, is what we all say. No more 9-5!

The problem with this attitude is that it can lead to burn out – that state where youKNOW you should be doing something productive, but you physically and/or mentally can’t.

All you can do is sleep, watch YouTube or Netflix, and deal with the guilt and shame that comes with that. You can hardly get out of bed. It’s even hard to go to social things with friends because you are so zapped of energy.

The stress behind this will kill you. Seriously.

So you keep promising yourself things will be different. “I’ll take it easier next week! I’ll take some time to myself!”, but you know it’s probably not going to happen.

You over-complicate things unnecessarily stressing yourself out even more. So, you hope the burn out guilt and shame kicks you in the ass tomorrow to get going for being so unproductive today.

But for now, you just feel like you’re wasting time as you mope and watch The Walking Dead.


I’m going to discuss why taking a day off every week has helped me and many other workaholics, counter-intuitively, do better work. Here’s what I’ll be going through:
I’ll start by talking about you shouldn’t work continuously everyday and where this all comes from.
What’s the idea behind taking a day off per week.
I’ll get into some science and the psychology behind it all (decision fatigue and ego depletion), as to how all humans were built for cycles of energy and productively, and how you CANNOT work continuously.
I’ll wrap it up connecting the ideas with the science so you have proof that not only should you take time off, but YOU NEED TO.

By the end of reading this you should be convinced (even if your mind says you should be working CONSTANTLY on your business) that time off and a day off are both necessary.


Who Else Feels Like They Should Be Working 13-16 Hour Days?

Many entrepreneur gurus and acolytes promote the working 13 hours a day getting a business started thing, especially in the early years. Personally coming from an engineering background in University, I know I can do this. My life was spent going from class to class, then burning oil on my homework.

But you know what? I missed out on eons of socializing, connecting with people, and growth.

I get the whole work hard now, enjoy the fruits later thing… But I don’t see the reason why we can’t have a balance. After all, a human can only output 6 hours of productive work a day. The rest will be sub-par, or downright crappy.

Would you like to make decisions with a brain that’s tired, that could potentially cost you thousands?


Amount of hours working per day is an easily quantifiable metric.


Quality of work is not. Doing the right things to really push your business forward is not.

I’m not saying that this is an excuse to slack off and do one hour of work per day or that you shouldn’t work hard, but there needs to be a balance with friends, hobbies, and so on. These things re-charge you so that you can do BETTER work.

We were not made to run at full on productivity all day, everyday. We need re-charge cycles. This applies to at the end of the work day (not doing work at night and going to the gym), during the work day (only working in 1.5 hour spurts with breaks in between), and all throughout your life (vacations).

For a step-by-step breakdown of turning this into an entire productivity system and organising your day to get the most done, check this out.

Sure, there are certain times you’re going to grind. You’re going to have to. For my new book, Mastery Of The Mind, I grinded out 13 hour days for a week and it was worth it because it sold far past my expectations and became a #1 bestseller… but then I took a few days off and went back to a normal work schedule.

It’s better to work at your maximum productivity level, stop, re-charge, and then begin over again, compared to burning oil and doing crappy work.

So how can we apply this to output better work week after week?



How To Feel Better And Re-vitalised For Work – Take A Day Off

While the energy cycle idea applies everyday – work to a certain point, then relax: be with friends, go to the gym, play a musical instrument, read, sleep, etc… It also applies to your entire week.

People SEVERELY under-estimate how much a day completely off from work can do for them. If your muscles need days off from the gym to grow and strengthen, why the hell shouldn’t your brain be any different? It needs dead time as well.

Back a few years ago during my stressful Master’s degree, a good friend of mine recommended I do this.

Initially, I resisted. But now while being busier than ever (working on two businesses of my own along with a full-time job working with for else’s business, gym, socialising, cooking, errands, having to deal with some family issues, trying to stay healthy emotionally, etc.etc.)… I refuse to give up this day off. I’d rather get less “stuff” done.

For one day (your choosing), you have a completely blank day.

There are no responsibilities. No set plans. You sleep in. No work. No e-mail.

Just laziness, relaxation, and fun.

Think I’m pulling your leg? Check this out. Here’s my current schedule as it is (yeah I’m a bit OCD with it but it really helps me XD):

You can see I’ve got writing, work for my blog, a company I work for, the gym all there, but Saturday… there’s nothing. Even when I look at that I just breath a sign of relief because I know I grind on all these great things during the weekdays but on Saturday… That’s time to do whatever I want.

Alright so this all SOUNDS good and you think taking a day off is great, but again, you keep telling yourself you should and it doesn’t happen and the shame/work cycle continues.

Let’s get into the science and psychology that will help convince you to take a day off:


Why You Make Bad Decisions – The Science Of Decision Fatigue And Ego Depletion

This has been an obsession of mine as of late, along with looking into outsourcing (I need to get on those virtual assistants!).

We’ve all felt it… At the end of the day we want to stick to our diet but we’re tired and we can’t fight our brain. We crack a beer and pig out on pizza and ice cream. “I deserve it”, you say. True, you might. But why couldn’t you hold back?

Decision fatigue, or ego depletion, refers to the phenomenon of how we only have so many “points” of making good decisions everyday. This is why many successful people advocate setting up habits, because then you don’t need to make decisions at all… The habits are nearly automatic for good but simple tasks (e.g., you usually don’t have to decide whether you brush your teeth or not).

The thinking is that for the really important decisions during the day where you need your “points”, such as in business mergers, software to use, choosing employees to hire and so on…

If you’ve used up your energy on way less meaningful decisions like what to eat for breakfast and because of that you get lazy and make rash decisions based on whom to hire… yeah, you’re going to run into issues.

It doesn’t matter the type of decision (what type of toothpaste to buy in the store vs. whether to accept a business proposition or not), it’s making decisions in general. Decision fatigue does not discriminate.

It’s also why many people have set rules for making decisions to make their lives easier and less stressful. For example, Tim Ferriss discusses in an article on simplifying life and decisions some things he does to make things easier. He suggests you:
Eat the same thing for breakfast everyday.
Limit your options in any one decision to 3-4 choices (e.g. at restaurants, for new hires, and so on). More options doesn’t mean you make a better decision. In fact according to Dan Ariely in Predictably Irrational, the more options we have, the more difficult it is to make a decision, and the less satisfied we are (because we always wonder “what if” about the options we didn’t choose).
Consider if a decision will only result in a potential loss of $100 (or whatever monetary amount you choose), you should let an assistant make the call.


How Can A Day Off Help Me Make Better Decisions?

You can read more about how decision fatigue works and you might be thinking “OK, this is interesting, but what’s the point? What does it have to do with taking a day off?”

Well after a long week of hard, regimented work, hopefully where you HAVE been taking breaks when you are done for the day… you’re still going to feel exhausted.

Having a set, strategic day where you can do whatever you want gives your body a HUGE re-set and lowers your stress. You’re giving yourself permission to not be productive, not follow through on any habits, and not do work for an entire day. Basically, here, you should give in to hedonism and be a kid and do whatever you want.

Follow the 80-20 rule: If 6 out of 7 days (86%) a week you are doing work and working towards your goals, don’t worry about one day off.

By giving yourself a day where you don’t need to do anything, you are strategically fighting decision fatigue for the next week and after a day off, you will feel re-charged and can get back to crushing it.

An example of where a strategic “day off” produces better results: diets. Wonder why some diets don’t work or people have a hard time sticking to them, yet something like Ferriss’ slow carb diet seems very successful?

One main reason is Ferriss’ inclusion of a strategic cheat day where people can eat whatever they want – Not only does their willpower get re-charged, but I can tell you from having a day where you eat pizza and ice cream… you get pretty amped to just get back to healthy eating (and swear you won’t eat crappy food… until the week ends again and the cycle repeats *sigh*).


4 Other Reasons Why Taking A Day Off Can Help You

It injects play and fun into your life for a whole day, which gives you inspiration to work harder.
It allows you to catch up on lost sleep (slept debt).
It allows you to catch up with friends, socialize, etc., which entrepreneurs typically neglect.
The time off actually allows your mind to subconsciously work on new ideas you wouldn’t get if you constantly churned and burned with no breaks.


“I Don’t Feel Like I Can Stop”

Stop making excuses. I’m a workaholic and I do it too, all entrepreneurs do. I know how hard it is, but trust me, you will feel better because of it. If you don’t feel like you can take an entire day off, just try taking half a day and see how you feel and continuously bump it up.

As Tim Ferriss says, work will always be there tomorrow, but your life is passing you by. It’s up to you to prioritize what’s important, because work expands to fill the available time you give it.

Don’t just work, that’s not what makes life – Working on your passion will make you happy for sure, but so will relationships, trips, exploring new places, and travelling – even if it’s just an hour away.

Rules: No work. Go have fun. Play. Get outside. Spend time doing something you love. No e-mail. Cutting off tech completely can be a good idea (unless you are trying to arrange when to meet up with friends).

Laugh. Nap. No responsibilities. Make “bad” (i.e. non-productive) choices. Eat chocolate cake and ice cream. Drink some good wine.

Your body, mind, and work will thank you when you get that next project done feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and inspired.

Good luck, enjoy your life, and I’ll see you when I get out of bed at… I dunno, maybe 2PM?


Further reading:
Most links go back to Tim Ferriss’ site. Tim has written extensively on escaping technology and work to enjoy life, and I’ve found that he is one of the best resources on the topic.

• How 1 Day Off Can Help Your Career at The Muse – Dr. Matthew Sleeth worked constantly in emergency medicine with little breaks. Learn about his book (advocating the 24/6 work week) and how he and many others started taking a full day off, feeling renewed enthusiasm for work. If you take one day off and live to 70, that means you’ve spent roughly 10 years relaxing, having fun, and being with family.

• Preventing Burnout: A Cautionary Tale at The Four Hour Work Week Blog – Charlie Hoehn, who used to be Tim Ferriss’ assistant and go-to helper for publishing The Four Hour Body, talks about his reliance on work to be thought of as “good”. Also: how he burnt out many times with associated panic attacks, uncontrollable shaking, crying, and feeling like he was about to die.

• How to Cure Anxiety – One Workaholic’s Story, Six Techniques That Work at The Four Hour Work Week Blog – Charlie talks about 6 simple things he started doing that helped alleviate his stress and anxiety. No, they weren’t meditation, yoga, or therapy (though he tried all of them). Almost everything was FREE or if not, extremely cheap.

• The Choice-Minimal Lifestyle: 6 Formulas for More Output and Less Overwhelm at The Four Hour Work Week Blog – Tim’s article on the 6 rules/guidelines he uses for decision making and greatly reducing his stress, so he can save his energy for the more important things.

• Understanding the Dangers of “Ego-Depletion” at The Four Hour Work Week Blog – Dan Ariely, Professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, talks all about knowing ego depletion and what it can do to you. Also: some experiments that have been done to examine decision making. Surprisingly, using brain power to make a silly decision before another more important decision makes it easier for us to give in to the bad option in the important decision.

• How to be More Productive by Not Being Productive at Crew – I re-read this article every few weeks. It talks about how the best people (e.g. star athletes and musicians) only output 4.5 hours of work a day, and how humans can do a maximum of 6 hours of productive work in one day (think about THAT when you’re trying to burn for 10-12 hours).



Also a reminder – why are you trying to be productive? What’s the real reason behind getting things done faster? Is it so you can do more work, or so that you can go live your life?

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