My Perspective I first heard of this book – Atomic Habits – when the author, James Clear, did the Podcast rounds when the book first came out in late 2018 / early 2019 (this podcast episode was a favourite). On the various podcasts I enjoyed, and resonated with, many of his viewpoints on habits, but what convinced me to buy the book and read it in full was how consistently the book was – and still is – being praised…
Introduction: I’m always looking at ways to enhance my routine, improve my good habits and eliminate the bad. One I’d been struggling to keep over the last year or so was going to the gym 3 times a week, I was very good at going at the weekend but with a busy job and wanting to see friends I struggled to go during the week. In this piece I want to explain how I managed to hack my morning routine and…
Introduction In another post I have detailed the theory, application and importance of successfully forming good habits and routines, you can find it here. As important though, is how to break bad habits and routines, which is the topic I want to cover now. While I think there is a set process everyone can follow to create a good habit, breaking bad habits is a lot more personal, and therefore I would suggest a trial and error approach, not just…
Introduction I wonder if there is anybody in this world who always has 100% happiness in themselves? If you are such a person then please do get in contact, I’d love to speak to you and hear your secret. For the rest of us, there is always something we want to improve about ourselves. Admittedly the spectrum is large. Some people wish they could change everything about themselves almost constantly, others have that small niggling thing that sometimes gets…
Introduction Common behaviour towards posture isn’t too dissimilar to common behaviour towards pensions. Towards both, individuals often fail to invest suitably in them while they are young, they fail to compound the benefits and don’t take corrective action early or invest sufficiently, and they suffer later in life as a result. Under-investing in a pension when young can lead to you having to work until past statutory retirement age and/ or having insufficient funds to live the life you’d like…
Introduction The term ‘Personal Creed’ is one that I’ve been loosely aware of for a while, and not just because it reminds me of ‘Assassin’s Creed’, although my memory isn’t good enough to recall who I first heard use it. The term ‘Internal Scorecard’ is most associated with Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger, and I was initially introduced to the term through the work of Shane Parish at Farnam Street. Other terms which you may have heard of which are…
Introduction Social media plays such a central role in the way we engage with others and stay informed it’s sometimes hard to remember how we all functioned and stayed in touch before the likes of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Instagram, to name but a few, established themselves. And yet, as they take over more and more of our mental effort and sit at the core of our cultural engagement, there is a growing body of evidence and opinion that we…
Introduction I’ve loved quotes for a long time and have been collecting quotes that have made an impression on me for at least the last 5 years. I agree with Adam Grant when he said of quotes and aphorisms, “they’re memorable and They give meaning and direction. They spur new thoughts or new actions—or remind us to revisit old ones.” The quotes we love and remember are those that we feel speak directly to us, they transcend the individual context in…
Introduction to mental models I am standing on the shoulders of giants when writing this post, which is a similar pattern with many of my posts. Some of the most inspirational individuals I’ve listened to, read or heard about have given incredible insights which have been the basis of my thinking on this topic. The most important are: Daniel Kahnman & Amos Tversky, Charlie Munger, Shane Parish (CEO at Farnam Street), James Clear (author of ‘Atomic Habits’) & Gabriel Weinberg…
Introduction There are few more famous American authors than Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau’s name doesn’t look out of place in lists which include the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and J.D. Salinger. Thoreau lived from July 1817 to May 1862, a very interesting period of American history, and has left lasting contributions on natural history, environmentalism and philosophical austerity. I had been wanting to read Thoreau’s most famous book ‘Walden’ and finally managed to do so on…