Happiness x Willpower

"Dear, what's gotten into you lately? You've been so helpful." – My wife last night.

As someone who cares deeply about living an intentional life and who also struggles with willpower (hence building GritGrow), I'm on a continual quest for philosophies, frameworks & tools that give me energy and alignment. In this spirit, I'd like to share a couple of recent podcast episodes t....

Nov 8, 2023

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10-Year Plan For A Remarkable Life

GritGrow uses Dr. Angela Duckworth’s definition of grit: “Passion and perseverance for long-term goals”.

Notice that vision is fundamental to drive. What are your long-term goals and are they worth your precious passion and perseverance?

To answer this vitally important question, imagine that today is actually ten years from this very day…

....

Aug 8, 2022

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Hacking Habits Via Visualization [Neurobiology]

Visualize the specific sequence of steps from start to finish required to perform a desired habit.

This simple and powerful grit tip comes from Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The scientific literature on this technique is "robust", says Huberm....

Aug 1, 2022

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Three Tasks Trick: Grit Tip #1

Grit Tip #1 comes from the fantastic book Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkman.

Decide on your three top tasks, and then stick with each until you either complete it or delete it.

Here’s what mine looks like today:

Tree to_do’s:

• Write this blog
• Code for 30 mins
• Finish "Four Thousand Weeks"

Note: “tree”....

Mar 7, 2022

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A Formula For Success

I asked my partner three critical questions when we first started dating:

What’s your spirit animal? What super power would you want? And finally, how do you define success?

Apparently it had been a while since I had answered that last question for myself, as all I could honestly come up with was “success is being present”.

My partner wasn’t the biggest fan of tha....

Feb 25, 2022

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Beechnuts, IBM, & Belief

I recently learned in The Hidden Lives of Trees the staggering odds that tree seeds face. For a beech tree, "Assuming it grows to be 400 years old, it can fruit at least sixty times and produce a total of about 1.8 million beechnuts. From these, exactly one will develop into a full-grown tree… [Wohlleben, pg. 29]” This has me thinking: with an almost unbelievable rate of fail....

Jan 14, 2022

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Failure To Follow Through

For much of my life I have been a chronic procrastinator and a quitter! Sounds harsh, I know. Feels good to say though.

This sort of airy personality mix of mine is not all bad. I’m often spontaneous, creative, care-free, yada yada yada, and I really love myself. But, the truth is, there is a lot of weakness here rooted in fear and ego.

Right now, I am pursuing ....

Jan 7, 2022

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