health
Choose your stressor.
Here’s just a quick lesson I learned from a road trip to the Smoky Mountains this past week. Even with the views, the southern cooking, and time with family, I put in plenty of work — both for myself and others (related: see my new post at StudioNorth on B2B
Brainless Tasks
When you’re burned out, in the 2pm slump, or not in the mood to “produce,” keep this in mind: 1. It’s OK to not be productive all the time. Humans were likely designed for a 15-hour work week. Go a little easier on yourself. 2. Know that you
My ADHD Wearable
That’s how I refer to my Apple Watch. I only take it off once a day to charge for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time it keeps me on track with my schedule, reminders, and messages (from VIPs only — minimal interruptions). It alerts me if my security
Overthinking? Try this iOS Shortcut.
As usual, I found myself overthinking this week about small details and not getting much done on the big stuff. It’s been happening too often lately, delaying my newsletter and book projects. But this week, I decided to do something about it. I built a kind of break-glass-in-case-of-emergency shortcut
The Arguments Folder
My son was scrolling through my notes app recently and saw a folder with a skull and crossbones icon. He saw the fear in my eyes and asked me what was in this dark, scary folder. Are you an over-thinker like me? If you are, you know there are some
Survive
Simply getting [https://www.anxiety.org/remission-of-anxiety-symptoms-may-occur-as-you-grow-older] older [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3263387/] is probably the best cure for anxiety. Some of the reasons: 1. You learn how to deal with triggers better. 2. You experiment more. 3. You realize more and more that you’re
Play
Kids used to play a lot more than they do today [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/05/19/4-ways-to-get-kids-to-play-more-and-to-enjoy-it/] . I think the same is true of adults. Remember how it was so common, as to be a cliche´, that every dad was part of a bowling league
Eliminate Extra Inboxes
There’s a lot of productivity advice out there about what to do to organize and process your many inboxes. But the best rule is often forgotten: have as few of them as possible. Inboxes are input. Every added inbox is a new firehose of information for people already drowning
Get Lost in Music
Poppy music sends me into a rage. Raging music makes me happy. Why is that? And why does music have such a profound effect on our brains? Just this week, a Harvard study, published in Science [https://science.sciencemag.org/content/366/6468/eaax0868], found that music is indeed a
Declare Independence
One of the themes this month has been the role of independence in anxiety. The more agency you have over areas of your life, the less likely you are to experience anxiety in those areas. Yes, luck is involved. That’s no excuse not to seek greater independence in your