The Futility of Comparing Yourself to Others
By Leo Babauta
One of the biggest reasons we’re not content with ourselves and our lives is that we compare ourselves to other people.
Picture it: you see photos of what someone else is doing on Facebook and think your life isn’t exciting enough. You see someone else who has a cool job and think you’re not doing that great in your career. You see someone with a hotter body, and feel bad about yours. You see someone who has created an awesome business, and think you’re not doing enough. You read about people who are traveling the world, learning languages, going to exotic resorts and restaurants, a...
Source: Zen Habits - June 17, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
A Secret to Dad Greatness
By Leo Babauta
I have six kids, ages ranging at the moment from 7 to 20. And while I’m not perfect as a father, I have learned a thing or two from my 20 years of service.
I’ve learned to pay attention, to give them space, to accept them for who they are, to be a guide and not a director, to help them through teachable moments, to love reading a book with them, to walk and talk when we have problems, to give hugs when they are in pain and hugs when they experience a triumph, to set limits and then remove the limits when they’re excited about something.
It’s a lot to learn, a lot to tackle at once....
Source: Zen Habits - June 16, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Finance & Family Happiness Source Type: blogs
Habits: A Simple Change in Mindset Changes Everything
By Leo Babauta
One of the best tricks I’ve learned to improve my likelihood of sticking to a habit is so simple it’s sinful.
Stop thinking of a new habit as something you have to do, but as something you are allowed to do.
Let’s say you’re starting a workout. Many people think, “OK, I gotta do this. It’s good for me, I’m way too lazy, I need to burn off my fat, if I do this I’ll feel better about myself.” This is wrong, because then the workout is a chore you have to get through to get the benefits, and so you struggle through this boring, hard, sucky thing in order ...
Source: Zen Habits - June 13, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Habits Source Type: blogs
The Worry That You’re Doing the Wrong Thing Right Now
By Leo Babauta
It’s first thing in your workday, and you open up your email. There’s a host of messages, old and new, asking for your attention. You also open up other inboxes in social media and the like. You quickly go through them and get a picture of what you need to get done right now.
But where do you start?
You begin one task from an email, but then quickly have the urge to see if there’s something else more important you should be doing. And this problem repeats itself — every time you sit down with one thing, the dozens of others on your mind (and the many potential urgent items that mig...
Source: Zen Habits - June 10, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Productivity & Organization Source Type: blogs
6 Steps To Being More Creative
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Marc Lesser, CEO of SIYLI, Zen priest, and author of Know Yourself, Forget Yourself.
For most of my life I did not think of myself as creative at all. Then, many years ago, I started a greeting card company, despite that I had rarely purchased or sent greetings cards. My motivation was combining business with taking care of the environment, by making products from recycled paper. I found myself in a role where I needed to be very creative – in developing new products as well as how to distribute products. I also found that the act of leadership – my perspective about ...
Source: Zen Habits - June 7, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
How I Finally Faced My Weight & Debt Problems
By Leo Babauta
There was a time when I was overweight, but didn’t want to admit it to myself. I didn’t feel in control of my health, because I couldn’t quit smoking or eat healthier for longer than a few days, nor exercise regularly.
Thinking about my weight made me feel horrible, so I didn’t want to even think about it.
Of course, not thinking about it meant I never did anything about it. Not facing my problems made it worse, which just made me feel worse. It was a downward spiral, and really hard to stop.
I had the same downward spiral when I was in debt (at the same time in my life, about 8 y...
Source: Zen Habits - June 5, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Finance & Family Habits Health & Fitness Source Type: blogs
Working with the Obstacles in Your Path
By Leo Babauta
Let’s say you are sitting at your desk, with something to write, and you notice some anxiety, and an urge to go instead to one of your favorite distractions.
And let’s also say you decided to adopt my approach, the Obstacle is the Path.
So the anxiety, and the distraction, are your obstacle … but how do you “work with them” as I advised?
First, you don’t run from the obstacle. So instead of seeing the anxiety as something to be avoided (with distraction and procrastination), see it as the place you go to. Same with the fear of failure, the worry that things will go wro...
Source: Zen Habits - June 3, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Habits Happiness Source Type: blogs
The Simplify Your Day Challenge in June
By Leo Babauta
Are you up for a 30-day challenge that will make your days simpler, more focused, less stressful?
Starting tomorrow (June 1), my Sea Change Program members are tackling the Simplify Your Day Challenge, and I’m inviting you to join us.
The challenge will be tracked through with Lift, the excellent habit-tracking app on the iPhone … and Lift is now offering early access to the new web version of the app, for Sea Change members.
The Simplify Your Day Challenge is to say “No” to one thing per day.
What kinds of things should you say “No” to? Well, not to the important stu...
Source: Zen Habits - May 31, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Simplicity Source Type: blogs
9 Rules for a Simpler Day
By Leo Babauta
Our days fill up so fast, and are so rushed and filled with distractions, that they seem to be bursting.
It’s a huge source of stress for most people, and stress is perhaps the most important factor determining whether we’re healthy or sick.
So how can we simplify our days? It’s not incredibly hard, but I’ve found it’s best done in steps.
These are the steps I followed, though of course calling them “rules” means we should test them and break them as needed. No rules should be followed blindly. I’ve found these to work really well, though.
See below for my...
Source: Zen Habits - May 29, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Little Book of Contentment
Conclusion
Summary of Action Steps
The book is uncopyrighted.
Download the Book
You can download the book for free in several formats:
PDF version (406K) – right-click and select “Save As” to downoload to your computer
Epub version (for the iPhone/iPad and other ebook readers) (84K)
Kindle version (Note: To add it to your Kindle, first make sure your Kindle is connected to your computer via USB. Then, copy the downloaded file to the “documents” folder of your Kindle. It will appear on your Home screen.)
Mobi version (have not tested)
Please note that you shouldn’t download th...
Source: Zen Habits - May 23, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
The Obstacle is the Path
By Leo Babauta
Often we’re discouraged because of some tough challenge or obstacle in our way. But a shift in mindset from a Zen proverb can change everything: “The obstacle is the path.”
The obstacle isn’t something standing in our way. It’s the way itself.
That might seem strange, so let’s look at a few examples:
You are struggling with writing, and procrastinate. Procrastination is the symptom, but it also illuminates the path you should take: you are dreading something about the writing, you are shying away from discomfort, you are afraid of the writing or what will happen when ...
Source: Zen Habits - May 21, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Goals & Motivation Source Type: blogs
5 Lessons in Contentment from Billionaires Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger
By Leo Babauta
I sat in a crowd of 45,000 about 10 days ago, watching super-billionaire investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger riff off each other and deliver quick wit and worldly wisdom about finances and life in general, at the famous Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha.
As I listened to these titans of the investing world, it struck me how content they are.
Not just content because they have all the riches in the world and all their needs met (they do), but because they understand fundamentals of contentment with life, which I believe is a superpower.
It was amazing to listen to these two m...
Source: Zen Habits - May 16, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Finance & Family Happiness Source Type: blogs
Smile in Each Moment
By Leo Babauta
There’s a tendency to get caught up in the tasks of our day, the urgency of what’s coming up, the distractions of being online.
And we forget to smile.
In the rush of the day, the stress of wanting things to happen a certain way, we lose the enjoyment of each moment.
In every moment, there’s the capacity for happiness. It’s not that we need to be ecstatic, full of pleasure, excited or even joyous each and every second of the day. Who needs that kind of pressure? And it’s not that we can never feel sadness or anger or stress. It’s that we can feel happiness, in some for...
Source: Zen Habits - May 13, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
A Guide to Practical Compassion
By Leo Babauta
If I’ve found two guiding principles in my life, they are contentment and compassion.
With these two ideas, life becomes better.
Contentment makes every moment better. And compassion makes your connection with others better.
What Compassion Is, & Some Difficulties
Let’s talk about compassion for a few minutes, because as important as it is, very few people talk about how to actually do it.
First a definition: the simple definition of compassion is feeling and understanding the pain of others, and then wanting to reduce that suffering.
In practice, it’s a lot harder. How do you un...
Source: Zen Habits - May 10, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
6 Steps To Healing Yourself
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Lissa Rankin of 6 Steps To Healing Yourself.
Take a moment and check in with yourself. How is your body feeling right in this moment? If you’re generally healthy, check in for subtle symptoms. Is your neck feeling tense? Does your lower back ache? Do you have a headache? Are you exhausted — again? Or perhaps you’re battling a more serious health diagnosis and you’re experiencing symptoms from your health condition.
Whether you’re experiencing the nuisance of a minor physical symptom, the more concerning stress of a serious health condition, or simple curiosity ...
Source: Zen Habits - May 7, 2013 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Health & Fitness Source Type: blogs
