Archive for the ‘Mental Health’ Category

The Simple Guide to Optimal Health & Fitness

March 17th, 2010 The FLHC

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” -Theodosius Dobzhansky

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple.

As wild animals with massive brains and the ability to respond to sensory stimuli with more than just base instinctual behavior, we humans have the tendency to overthink pretty much, well, everything.

Don’t blame yourself. You can’t escape your head. It’s always there.

Everything you perceive or ponder is filtered through a dense network of constantly firing neural synapses. And whether you’re a strict materialist who thinks it’s all meaty wiring and circuitry up there, or you’re of the opinion that consciousness exists independently of your physical brain, we’re stuck with that consciousness filter – whatever its origin. It’s a blessing and a curse. Technology and science begat both the Internet and the atom bomb, after all. Or, both Youtube and the Youtube comments section.

Our hyper-consciousness often separates us from our surroundings. It erects a barrier that severs the pleasure and immediacy of visceral experience. Imagine the bird watcher who spots a rare woodpecker and immediately buries his nose in his bird ID handbook to confirm the find. The bird flies away. He gets to add a bird to his logbook, but he missed out on seeing a rare animal peck for grubs, stretch its glorious wings, and take flight in search of the next tree. Does a checkmark in a bird logbook compare to the memory of a majestic feathered beast? Ever take a literature course that was so chock full of analysis and essays that you were never able to actually enjoy the great books you were reading? Ever go to the movies with that guy who simply cannot suspend an ounce of disbelief and won’t shut up about the admittedly glaring plot hole the entire ride home? Seeking a deeper understanding of a fascinating and important subject is one thing; over-analysis is another entirely, and it can remove us from the enjoyment of a pleasurable pastime.

Human health and physical fitness are important, crucial things to consider, and millions find them fascinating subjects to discuss, analyze, and optimize. I’m one of them. Millions more overanalyze; they make things harder than they need to be, and they generally get poorer results in the long run. Or, they may get objectively good results, but their lives are consumed by the minutiae of calories, miles, reps, and nutrient counting. I’d say there’s got to be an easier way to do things. There has to be a path that utilizes our big brains without them getting in the way. There’s got to be a balanced, rational method to obtain optimal health and fitness that successfully marries our tendency to think with our animal instincts. Getting fit and being healthy should be simplistic, intuitive, and, most importantly, enjoyable.

Does wildlife obsess over calories eaten or reps performed? How do deer maintain their trim figures and impressive athleticism without a dietitian and weekly personal training sessions? Conversely, why does the house cat grow obese and lethargic, while a bobcat with nearly identical genes stays fit? It isn’t just the simplistic calories in/calories out model. It couldn’t be. Wild animals don’t count calories. They don’t worry about eating before bed, or getting enough exercise to burn off that squirrel they had for breakfast. They just are. They simply exist in an ecosystem hundreds of thousands of years in the making. Evolution has made sure, by its impartial, unconscious hand, that the flora and fauna live in harmony with each other and internally. The bobcat thrives on rodents and small birds because its digestive system and metabolism evolved eating these things; the house cat gets fat because its digestive system and metabolism aren’t suited for grain-based kibble. If the balance is upset in a given environment, organisms die out or move on, but things always reset. This is simply how nature works. When thinking about how to optimize our health and physical fitness, perhaps we should consider how animals do it – and how our ancestors did it.

We’re animals – no one disputes that. We are subject to evolution and natural selection – that one’s a bit more controversial, but it’s true nonetheless. If you keep those two facts in mind while noting the lesson of the fit, lean bobcat, a thread begins to emerge. Shouldn’t the same concept hold true for us? Isn’t there an evolutionarily suitable, effortless lifestyle for us humans, too?

There is, and I call it the Primal Blueprint. It eschews complicated workout regimens, tedious calorie counting, and weight loss gimmicks. My Primal laws are based on a rock solid foundation: evolutionary biology and anthropology mixed with modern human ingenuity. I take what worked for tens of thousands of years throughout human prehistory and incorporate contemporary science to confirm its veracity. When you go back and look at the fossil records of our hunter-gatherer, pre-agricultural ancestors, you find that they were healthy, strong, and largely free of degenerative diseases – especially compared to the health of post-agricultural and even modern humans.

The result is an incredibly simple, incredibly effective way to live, move, and eat: eat the things our ancestors ate, get the amount of sleep our ancestors used to get, and make the same movements our ancestors used to make before agriculture.

Take Action

If you take anything from this post remember these two action items:

1. The ideal human diet should consist of only whole, unprocessed foods – meat, fish, fowl, plants, fruits, and nuts. Whatever you can kill, pick, or dig up and eat on the spot. This is what your ancestors ate and what your body is meant to consume.

2. By the same token, the best exercise consists of natural, full-body movements – lifting heavy things, sprinting, walking, swimming, hiking, climbing, crawling. This is how your ancestors moved and how your body is meant to function.

Amazing Results

The results of following these simple rules are numerous and almost immediate:

  • The weight melts off, if you have some to lose, or added muscle appears, if you could stand to gain a few pounds.
  • You reset your taste buds. Sugar becomes cloying; processed industrial vegetable oil tastes unnatural.
  • You realize you don’t need grains, beans, and potatoes to feel full.
  • You crave real food, and you realize that real food tastes good – better than anything you could find on a convenience store shelf and more satisfying than anything in a fast food restaurant. Hunger no longer dictates that you eat every few hours.
  • You get stronger and faster, sure, but you learn to move again. You regain lost mobility.
  • You get sick less often as your immune system begins to function more effectively.
  • You take pleasure in real movement and become more confident in your own skin.
  • Eating and moving becomes intuitive, easy and fun.
  • The world becomes your gym. Can’t make it to the weight room? Pick up a rock, toss it a couple times, pull your own body weight, then go running in the park. As long as you can manipulate your own body weight, you’re strong enough.

Man is an opportunist above anything else. We love the easy way out, but we tend to make fitness and nutrition so incredibly complicated. Just cut out the foods we’ve only been eating for a few hundred generations (and do eat the things we’ve been eating for thousands of generations), drop the ridiculous fitness contraptions to focus on natural movements, and streamline your health. And don’t be afraid to turn off that big brain every once in awhile.

Read more from Mark Sisson at his popular blog, Mark’s Daily Apple, or check out his new book, The Primal Blueprint.



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The Simple Way to Stick to a Meal Plan

March 13th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Not long ago, I was against meal plans because I felt they were too restrictive. I generally prefer to stick to simple principles of eating whole foods, staying active, and eating moderate portions.

But I’ve had a change of heart recently as I’ve focused on losing the last of my bellyfat — in the last year I’ve lost about 35 lbs., and in the last 3.5 months of sticking (mostly) to a general meal plan, I’ve lost 18 lbs.

That’s a goodly amount, to be sure, and I don’t think I could have done it (healthily) without sticking to some kind of plan.

Diet is the biggest component to losing fat — you can burn 600 calories (for example) in a workout, but you can easily eat 2-3 times that much in one sitting if you’re eating junk food. As they say, you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. I’d still recommend getting active and burning calories as much as you can (with adequate rest), but if you really want to lose fat, you need to look at your diet.

So if diet is important, how do you stick to a good diet? The meal plan is often the simplest answer — plan out the foods you’re going to eat, measured for your calorie goal, and then just eat those meals (for the most part). You don’t have to track your eating because it’s already planned out.

Sticking to the meal plan is often the hard part, though. Most people aren’t used to it, and they often fail and feel guilty. So I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned, what’s worked for me, in hopes that it’ll help you.

I’ve gotten pretty good at sticking to my plan, and I actually enjoy it. Go figure.

The Simple Method

So here’s what I’ve done, and what I’d recommend. Keep it simple.

1. Eat real, whole foods you love. Do NOT see this as a sacrifice. If you hate carrots or eggplant but you eat them because they’re somehow “virtuous” or you think that sacrifice is the only way to lose that fat, you’ll fail. You cannot stick to something you hate for very long. Instead, go for healthy foods you actually enjoy eating. For me, this is berries, fruits of all kinds, raw almonds, veggies cooked tastefully in stir-fries or chili or what have you. Your list will be different, and it could take some experimenting with different recipes you find online, in magazines or in cookbooks to find the healthy foods you like best. Main rule of thumb, though: try for real foods, not packaged ones (not even “healthy” convenience foods). In as natural a state as possible — meaning, not processed or extracted, not fried or smothered with cream or sauces.

2. Improve in iterations. Cut back a little at a time. You don’t have to go from Standard American Diet to a diet of Only Raw Carrots in one day (nor should you ever eat only raw carrots, but you know what I mean). Try a meal plan that’s a little better than the diet you’ve been eating for years — perhaps cutting out the liquid calories at first, or adding more fruits or veggies you love. As I said above, cut the calories just a little. This first meal plan doesn’t have to be perfect — just a little better. Then, once you get used to that, make a meal plan that’s a little better yet — maybe a couple hundred calories less, more veggies, less fatty stuff, less snack food, or more real food. With each iteration of your meal plan, get a little better. I’m still getting better at mine.

3. Look ahead for bumps, and plan. We all have those bumps in our routines: an office party, someone’s birthday dinner, going on a date with your honey, taking a trip, being on the road all day and not having access to your usual foods. The key is to think ahead — what’s going on tomorrow? How will I deal with it? Should I pack food, or find out what the menu is at the restaurant so I can pick something healthy, or should I use this as a cheat meal? Thing is, don’t just do cheat meals all the time — then you’re not on a meal plan anymore. More on that below. Again, plan ahead and prepare — as you keep doing this, you’ll get good at packing snacks or meals so you’re covered, no matter what the occasion.

4. Make it public. Use your blog or Twitter/Facebook or a public forum or just email to let people know how your meal plan is going (I use Daytum, but that’s only one way to do it). Or get a partner and report to each other. Making it public or having a partner gives you accountability and motivation, and works like a charm. Don’t skip this step.

5. Cheat, & don’t feel guilty. Guilt often derails people from meal plans — they indulge and then feel like they failed, and so they stop. Don’t fall into this trap. You’re not going to be 100% complaint to any plan — shoot for 90% and be happy if you come close to that. Know that you’ll cheat sometimes, and make this part of your plan. However, learn to control the cheating: only do it a couple times a week, perhaps, and even then don’t just pig out. Eat reasonable portions of things you’d consider cheating, eat them slowly and enjoy them, and then move on. Get back to your plan. Over the long term, a little cheating won’t stall you, but a lot might.

A few warnings

1. Watch out for sneaky calories. Liquid calories are a good example — sodas, teas, coffees, sports drinks, vitamin waters and more, all contain calories that many people don’t account for, and then wonder why they’re not losing weight. Other examples include salad dressings, sauces, little bites of foods that “don’t count”, smoothies, candies or chips you snack on from the break room, meals that are bigger than you realize. There are many others, of course.

2. Do not make it extreme. This should be clear from the above method, but I have to say it explicitly. People will try any diet if they think it’ll work — the Grapefruit Diet, the Cookie Diet, a liquid diet, a “cleanse” or “detox”, an 800-calorie a day diet, the Cabbage Soup diet, the Lemonade detox. Please don’t do these diets — they’re not healthy and you won’t get good nutrition. Remember: you’re in this for the long term.

3. Don’t starve yourself. A little hunger is OK — I’ve learned that it won’t kill me to go slightly hungry for a couple hours. But if you feel like you’re starving, you might be reducing too drastically. Again, it’s best to reduce portions a little at a time, get used to that amount, and then reduce a little more.

My 1800-cal meal plan

For most of the last few months, I created (with the help of my sister and running partner, Kat) a 2,000-calorie meal plan and have been sticking to it, varying it a bit when I get tired of the foods. Recently as I’ve lost a lot of weight I’ve cut the plan down to 1,800 calories, as my lighter body requires fewer calories for maintenance.

Calorie goal: You shouldn’t follow my calorie goal — use an online calculator to calculate your basal metabolic rate (or BMR — the amount of calories you need just to maintain each day), and then subtract perhaps 200-300 for your meal plan’s target. If you exercise, you’ll be adding to the calorie deficit, which is good, but even if you don’t exercise on some days, you’ll still have a 200-300 calorie deficit. My calorie goal is actually closer to a 500-calorie reduction of my BMR, but it’s usually best to start smaller and adjust as you get used to it and as you see results, after maybe 3-4 weeks. Please, don’t drop below 1,200 calories (women) or 1,500 calories (men) — it’s hard to get good nutrition if you go too low on calories. Remember, this is long-term, not a quickie fix.

Basics: For the most part, the meal plan is:

  • measured for my calorie goal
  • broken into 5 meals (although this can be varied to any number that suits you)
  • made of whole, real foods I love
  • pretty much the same every day — I don’t mind routine, though you might want some variety
  • flexible — I can eat out if I want without guilt

My plan: Here’s my current plan — please note that it changes as needed:

  • Breakfast: loaded oatmeal – whole rolled oats, blueberries, raisins, cinnamon, raw almonds, flaxseed + cup of coffee (450)
  • Lunch: Typically scrambled tofu or lentil-spinach-squash curry or veggie chili, on top of quinoa (400)
  • Snack: soy yogurt, berries, raw almonds (350)
  • Dinner: Typically scrambled tofu or lentil-spinach-squash curry or veggie chili, on top of quinoa (400)
  • Snack (whenever I get hungry): fruits & nuts (200)

You could use this if you like the foods, but be sure to measure all your foods at first to get the calories you want for each meal. For example, if you want a 1600-cal meal plan, you could cut 100 cals from two of the meals or skip the last snack. However, if these aren’t foods you love, don’t follow this plan — make your own or find one you like. This is provided for illustration only.
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5 Ways To Travel More With Less

March 9th, 2010 The FLHC
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Annabel Candy of Get In the Hot Spot.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that there’s a global recession at the moment. People all over the world are feeling the pinch and the travel industry is suffering because we all have less money to spend these days on luxuries like travel.

But not being able to afford it doesn’t stop people from wanting to travel. Apart from general happiness, I think dreaming of travel, visiting new places and seeing new things is probably one of the most universal life goals.

Travel is also one of the most popular search engine terms and the more we see of the world on TV and read about in books, or on the Internet, the more we want to explore planet earth ourselves.

Yet although many of us want to travel more we don’t. There are so many excuses for not traveling: the expense, the kids and the job are all commonly used to explain to ourselves why we can’t travel right now.

But what’s the point in deferring your dreams? To me you should be able to follow your dreams even if you do have limited funds, a growing family and a demanding career. All you need to do is change your mindset, make travel one of your top priorities and get on with it. These are my ideas on 10 ways you can travel more with less.

1. Start Local. First try changing your mindset. The purpose of travel is to see new things and experience new cultures. Many people think that in order to see things they’ve never seen before they need to travel far afield but that’s not true. Find out more about your local area. Anywhere within a two or three hour drive should be fair game for a weekend trip. If you’ve got longer you can extend your range further.

First head to your local library or get on the Internet for ideas of things to see and do close to home. There are probably some walks, caves, rivers, lakes, forests or waterfalls that you’ve never visited before but have always wanted to. Pick one and make sure you check it out as soon as possible.

When I lived on the beautiful Waiheke Island in New Zealand I was amazed by the number of Aucklanders who, on hearing where I lived, would wistfully say:

“What’s it like? I’d love to visit some time.”

But Waiheke is only a 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland so I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just jump on the ferry and check it our for themselves.

2. Accommodation. Think outside the box. For me, travel isn’t about staying in boutique hotels or luxury spas. Travel is about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing things you’ve never tried before.

Cheap sleeps include camping and house swapping. If you want to try camping ask around and see if you can borrow some camping gear. As soon as you do you’ll be amazed at the number of people who have all the camping equipment but hardly ever use it. For a couple of nights all you really need is a tent, bedding, an icebox and a small stove so you can cook pasta or risotto. Or forget the cooking part and just grab a take away.

If you don’t want to camp organize a house swap with friends or through out of town friends. Find someone in an area you’d like to visit and swap away. The added bonus of this is that it will motivate you to clean out your house.

3. Food. Who needs fancy restaurants? Even eating out at fast food joints will eat into your precious travel budget. With a little advance planning and some basic equipment you can feed yourself twice a day for a minimal cost. Here’s how.

Take a couple of plastic plates, bowls and beakers with you and buy a picnic knife that comes with a cover so it won’t pierce a hole in your bag. For breakfast pick up some local seasonal fruit, yogurt and muesli bars. One of the healthiest breakfasts is a thin layer of peanut butter on bread and you can’t get easier than that. Just buy a plastic jar of peanut butter to carry round with you and pick up bread, chapati, tacos or rolls fresh.

For lunch fresh bread, tomatoes and cheese or ham are simple, nutritious food. Eating outside is a real pleasure and you’ll have more time to explore because you won’t be stuck inside or limited to places with restaurants. If you’re staying in a hotel ask if they can include breakfast at no extra charge.

When it comes to the evening meal watch where the locals eat, don’t head straight to the touristy restaurants. Street food can be excellent and extremely cheap too. I ate lots of street food from stalls in India and never got sick once. In fact, I may be the only person in the entire universe who went to India for three months and put on weight. My secret is to pick stalls that are poplar with the locals, watch what they order and get the same.

4. Sight-Seeing. There’s a lot of store set by seeing the big sights, like visiting Disneyland, going up the Eiffel Tower or touring the Sydney Opera House. But these things tend to be expensive. They’re big ticket items so limit yourself to one at the most per trip.

Some of the best things have no entry charge and there are plenty of lesser known attractions which may be free or low cost like hanging out at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or browsing the Paddington markets in Sydney. All fun, interesting and easy on the budget too. You get the idea, no matter where you’re going don’t feel you have to spend big on the main tourist attractions. That’s all they are, you can learn more by hanging out with the locals.

5. Relax. This is my top tip. Too often a vacation or travel becomes a check list of things to do. Promise yourself that you’ll stop trying to tick things off just for the sake of it.

For example, f you do make it to Paris then visiting the tourist attractions needn’t be your top priority. You won’t see many French people paying to climb the Eiffel Tower. They’re all sitting in the cafes having a short black coffee (the cheapest option) and people watching. Or you can join them wandering free of charge around the parks, visiting the local markets and walking along and over the bridges of the River Seine.

You may not be heading to Paris this trip but you get the idea. Just travel to get to your destination and then be. Stop rushing, relax, enjoy and see what happens. Travel is all about getting rid of your agenda and going with the flow, allowing a little spontaneity into your life.

That’s it! Don’t delay. Get your calendar out and write in when you’re going away for the weekend. My next trip is to the hinterland which features waterfalls and bush walks and is only about a ninety minute drive from my house. Definitely not something you’d want to do for a day trip with 3 young kids in the car so I think we’ll pack the tent, relax and make a weekend of it.

Happy travels everyone!

Read more from Annabel Candy at her blog, Get In the Hot Spot, a virtual treasure trove of inspiration, information & idiosyncrasies for people who want to live their dream. Or subscribe to her free feed to keep yourself posted on the latest articles.
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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.

Also see Leo’s related ebooks:

  1. Zen To Done.
  2. The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.
  3. The Zen Habits Handbook for Life.
  4. Essential Motivation Handbook.



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How to Reclaim Your Attention

March 5th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Awhile back I (a bit ironically perhaps) tweeted this message:

Consider what you give your attention to each day. It’s a precious resource, & determines the shape of your life.

This seemed to strike a chord with many people, who I think are feeling overwhelmed these days. Our attention is being pulled in too many directions, leaving us feeling overloaded, distracted, chaotic, spread thinly, without focus.

There are a million blogs, people, services, media, competing for our attention. Our attention is limited, and valuable, making it one of the most precious resources we have.

The world wants that attention. Only you can decide where it goes.

And it does determine the shape of your life: what you pay attention to becomes your reality. If you watch and read the news all the time, you will become obsessed with the latest crises. If you watch and read about celebrities, your life will revolve around them. If you socialize on social networks all day long, this will become your world.

If instead, you choose to give your attention to work you’re passionate about, that you feel is important, that will change your life and the world in some small way … this will become your life.

If you choose to give your attention to your friends, family and other loved ones — really give your attention to them instead of only half-heartedly while also checking text messages and emails and other updates — your life will be rich in many ways.

And so I urge you to reclaim your attention.

Here’s how:

1. Limit your friends. Not real-life friends, but social network and blogging and forum friends. Not that these can’t be good relationships, but having too many makes them meaningless. And each friend will take up a little bit of your attention — when you read their updates, click on their links, reply to their messages, look at their photos, and so on. The more you have, the more attention they’ll require. Limit them to just the essential.
2. Limit your feeds. Blog subscriptions, newsletters, other updates and news subscriptions and so on. Limit them to a handful of essentials, and let the rest go. The more you have, the more attention they require.
3. Limit your communication time. Going into your email inbox? Just give yourself 10 minutes to read, reply, delete, and get out. Going to do Twitter? Give yourself 5 minutes. Seriously, set up a timer. Don’t let these things take up all your attention.
4. Give up on news. It’s a never-ending cycle. And if you’ve paid attention to the news as long as I have (I’m a former journalist), you know it’s all the same, year after year. Unless your job depends on it, the news is usually a waste of your attention. Let go of the need to stay updated. Even if your job does depend on it, keep it limited.
5. Be brief. Write brief emails, tweets, updates, blog posts. With some exceptions, of course. But make brief your de facto. Read more.
6. Give your attention to the important. This is the crucial part: choose what you give your attention to, and do this choosing carefully. What is important to you? Writing? Photography? Design? Coding? Creating a new business that helps others? Your kids? Figure this out, and give this the majority of your attention.
7. Become conscious of your distractions. Once you’ve decided to focus your attention on the important, become more aware of distractions as they come up. Make note of them, and as you get the urge to be distracted, learn to pause, breathe, and return to the important.
8. Surround yourself with the positive. If you want your life to be positive, let the positive have your attention. This applies to blogs, people, projects, and more.

For more, read my new book, focus: a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction.

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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.



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The Little Guide to Inspiration

March 1st, 2010 The FLHC

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” - Jack London

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

We all have days when we’re just not very inspired, when we need passion and creativity breathed into us.

I know I do.

For anyone who needs a little shove, whose creativity has dried up, who needs to be moved … I humbly offer this simple guide.

While I never claim to have all the answers, nor that my way is the only way, I share here some things I’ve learned about inspiration, some tricks I’ve learned that work for me.

I’m often in need of inspiration, but in all cases I’ve found it. And it’s a wonderful thing.

What Is Inspiration?

Many people think of it as an elusive quality that can’t be forced, and yet it can be found if you look for it.

Others think it’s a way to find ideas, but it’s more than ideas … it’s being moved to put those ideas into action.

Inspiration is finding something else that is divinely inspired (people, nature, amazing ideas), having that inspiration breathed into you (“breath” is the root of “inspiration”), and then taking action on it. Creating, doing, inspiring others.

How to Find Inspiration

Inspiration is just about everywhere you can look, if you’re looking for it. That’s the key: to keep your eyes open. Too often we miss beautiful sources of inspiration, because we’re too busy thinking about other things.

Be observant. See everything around you as a possible source of inspiration.

Some possible sources of inspiration:

  • blogs
  • books
  • magazines
  • films
  • people around you
  • nature
  • children
  • art
  • music
  • history
  • exercise
  • religion
  • great projects
  • dreams
  • social media
  • photographs
  • forums
  • google
  • success stories
  • life, everywhere

Just keep your eyes open, at all times, staying present whenever possible, and allow yourself to breathe in that inspiration.

How to Stay Inspired

Inspiration isn’t just a one-time thing. You’ll need it on a regular basis.

When you practice the above method — keeping your eyes open, staying present, and breathing in inspiration — you get better at it. It becomes a skill you can use at any time, and you’ll use it often.

Some tips for keeping the inspiration coming:

  • Work with inspired people – one of the best ways to stay inspired is to work with creative, energetic, positive people.
  • Read daily – varied things, from blogs to magazines to books of all kinds.
  • Get outside – nature is one of the biggest inspirations, and you’ll miss it if you’re inside all day.
  • Talk with new people – they’ll always expose you to new and interesting things, if you’re open to it.
  • Break out of your routine – see things from a different perspective. Take a new route home. Go to a new restaurant. Visit someplace new in your area.
  • Find time for silence – it’s more inspiring than you might think. Unfortunately, not enough of us do it.
  • Exercise – or at least get moving. It helps the blood to circulate, and gets ideas moving around. My most inspired thoughts come during runs.

Now Take Action

Don’t just feel inspired. Take this inspiration and use it, be moved, and do something. Channel that inspiration into creating something amazing.

Put that something out into the world, and in turn, you will inspire others.

Having trouble taking action? Read The Little Rules of Action.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” ~Vincent van Gogh

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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.

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Read more about simple effectiveness in my book, The Power of Less.



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The One Deadly Sin of Changing Habits

February 25th, 2010 The FLHC

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” ~Woody Allen

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Often you’ll read an article called “The Seven Deadly Sins of” (fill in your topic here). But when it comes to changing habits, there aren’t Seven Deadly Sins.

There’s just one.

You can do a lot of things wrong when you’re trying to form a new habit — just jumping into it without a plan, not having public accountability, not having the right support, etc. But there’s just one thing you can do wrong that will cause the habit change to absolutely fail.

The One Deadly Sin of Habit Change?

Not doing the habit.

If you don’t do it, it won’t become a habit. As obvious as that may sound, too many people fail at this one thing. They start the exercise habit (or flossing habit, or filing their papers habit, or waking early habit) and they do it with enthusiasm for a week or two, and then they stop. For whatever reason — work, or family problems, or other interests taking over.

Life gets in the way, right? Well sure, but if you’re not doing the habit, the habit will never form. If you want to form the habit, you have to do it regularly.

Let’s repeat that, and then talk about how to actually do it: If you want to form the habit, you have to do the habit regularly.

That’s how habits form. You do it one day, then the next, then the next, then the next, right after your habit trigger. Soon, it becomes so ingrained that … it’s a habit.

How To Avoid the Deadly Sin
So it’s easy to state the blindingly obvious, but it’s harder to put it into practice, right?

Sure. So I’m here to help. Some tips for avoiding the One Deadly Sin:

  • Just start. Not feeling like doing the habit today? Tell yourself all you have to do is take the 1st step. Usually the 2nd step will follow, but if not, at the very least you got started. And that’s what matters most.
  • Do it, no matter how small. Need to exercise but don’t have much energy? Do it for a few minutes at least. Need to meditate? Three minutes will do.
  • Do it, no matter how badly. Want to form the habit of blogging? Write a quick and dirty post that takes five minutes of writing, no proofreading or formatting. Quality doesn’t matter when you’re forming habits — doing it matters.
  • If you fail, don’t beat yourself up – do it the next day. Let’s be clear: missing one day won’t kill your habit. Feeling discouraged about missing one day, and then missing the next and the next, is what will kill the habit. So let go of the guilt and just get back on your horse. Start again, immediately.
  • If you don’t do it the next day, do it the day after. If you miss two days, don’t let yourself miss a third.
  • Figure out what’s stopping you. If you find yourself struggling and missing a day or two, think about why. What’s getting in the way? How can you adjust for that?
  • Plan ahead. Life gets in the way, but if you know something’s coming up, think ahead and be sure to get your habit in.
  • Engineer success. Knock down the barriers and set it up so it’s harder to fail than to actually do the habit. Public accountability is a good way to do that.

In the end, all that matters is doing it. So go do it already.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~Aristotle

If you liked this article, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my peeps.

Want more? Read my site on habit changes, 6 Changes, or check out my book, The Power of Less.



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4 Simple Principles of Getting to Completion

February 21st, 2010 The FLHC

“If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.” ~Wu-Men

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

When I hear about a great idea that a friend has, I get excited. I can’t wait to see that idea become reality.

Then I ask about the idea a few months later, and it often is not one bit closer to completion.

Ideas stop short of becoming reality, and projects seem to drag on endlessly, because of one thing: complexity.

A software programmer can allow the development of a new app he’s building to drag on and on for years (I know of cases where this happened), only to find Google release something that makes his app obsolete. The problem: the program grew and grew in complexity and features, but never shipped.

A web developer can work on a rad new website with killer features, but after months of work the website never launches. Problem: too complex, and too much of a perfectionist.

A writer can work on a novel, working in characters and plotlines, and then work on revision after revision, only to abandon it. The complexity of a book can become overwhelming.

If your project has been dragging on, or you’re having problems completing, try simplifying, and stop trying for perfection.

I’ve launched a number of projects over the last few years, and learned a thing or two about making ideas take life, and getting to done.

Here are some of those key principles:

1. Keep the scope as simple as possible. You don’t need to do everything with this project. In fact, if you can just do one thing, that’s perfect. As small a thing as possible. Don’t redesign an entire city — just work on one building. If the project starts to get complex or seem overwhelming, narrow the scope. Do less. It’ll help you get things done.

2. Practice ‘Good Enough’. Perfectionism is the enemy of completion. Nitpick and worry about getting it “just right”, and you’ll never get it done. Done is better than right. So if you start to nitpick and worry about perfect, say “screw it” and then just try for “good enough”. You can always make it better in the next version.

3. Kill extra features. Similar to simplifying the scope, you’ll want to try to make your creation do as little as possible. Want it to talk and walk and cook breakfast? Just try for talking. Want your website to publish great content and have social networking and podcasts and news and a newsletter and a membership area? Just shoot for great content. Whenever you find yourself adding new features, see if they can’t be killed.

4. Make it public, quick. Your goal should be to get your project in some working form out to your customers/readers/public as soon as possible. In as few steps, as quickly, as easily, as simply as possible. Remember: don’t worry about perfect, and don’t let this first public release be wide in scope or full of features. Release it with as few features as possible. Releasing it publicly will 1) get you to done faster and 2) put some pressure on you to make it better, quickly.
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On minimalism

February 17th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

How does ’simple’ differ from ‘minimalist’?

That’s the question someone asked me on Twitter recently, and it’s a good one.

Zen Habits has become known as a leading simplicity blog, and at the same time I recently started mnmlist, a blog about minimalism.

Why the two blogs? What’s the difference? It’s an important question as it forces us to examine each concept a little more closely.

First, let’s acknowledge that the two concepts are related, and in some ways are two ways of saying the same thing. When you simplify your life, you’re cutting back on the complexity of what you do and what you own. Minimalism is about the same things.

Each concept is really a striking back against the growing complexity of the modern world, against consumerism, against the mindset that we need to buy to solve our problems, that we need more and bigger. Against the idea that busier is better and that we must always be connected.

So how is minimalism different? It’s basically an extension of simplicity — not only do you take things from complex to simple, but you try to get rid of anything that’s unnecessary. All but the essential.

Minimalism says that what’s unnecessary is a luxury, and a waste. Why be wasteful when the unnecessary isn’t needed for happiness? When it just gets in the way of happiness, of peace? By eliminating the unnecessary, we make room for the essential, and give ourselves more breathing space.

Now, exactly what is essential will vary from person to person. So someone might look at my essential things and say “That’s too much — it’s not minimal!” But they’d be wrong — because essential is subjective.

How to do minimalism
There’s no one right way.

I talk more about my recommendations in my ebook, The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life. You can also read weekly (or so) articles at my other blog, mnmlist.

Some recent articles at mnmlist you might find useful:

Another great guide to minimalism is a new ebook by Everett Bogue called “The Art of Being Minimalist.” I just read it and it’s excellent.

You might also enjoy these other blogs on minimalism: mnmlist links.
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Potential Bloggers!
I’d like to let you know about my new blogging webinar — Blogging 101: How to Create a Blog that Rocks.

It’s aimed at absolute beginners, who want to create a professional blog but are overwhelmed with what to do. I’ll help you get started and navigate through all the confusing choices with some solid information I’ve learned, as well as other excellent bloggers.

The sign-up for the webinar has just opened up, and slots are limited, so sign up soon!



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Stillness is a Powerful Action

February 17th, 2010 The FLHC

“Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat.” ~ Lao Tzu

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

It’s a bias of our culture that stillness is regarded as lazy, as being stuck in inaction, as a negative.

It’s not. It’s an action, and a powerful one.

What’s more, it can change your day, and in doing so change your life.

You’re in the middle of a frazzled day, swamped by work and meetings and emails and interruptions, or hassled by kids and phone calls and errands and chores.

You pause. Stay still for a minute, and breathe. You close your eyes, and find a stillness within yourself. This stillness spreads to the rest of your body, and to your mind. It calms you, centers you, focuses you on what you’re doing right now, not on all you have to do and all that has happened.

The stillness becomes a transformative action.

Stillness can be a powerful answer to the noise of others. It can be a way to push back against the buzz of the world, to take control. It can remind you of what’s important.

How to Practice
Stillness, oddly, doesn’t come naturally to many people. So practice.

1. Start your day in stillness. Whether it’s sitting with a cup of coffee as the world awakes, or sitting on a pillow and focusing on your breath, stillness is a powerful way to start your day. It sets the tone for things to come. Even 5-10 minutes is great.

2. Take regular stillness breaks. Every hour, set an alarm on your computer or phone to go off. Think of it as a bell that rings, reminding you to be still for a minute. During this minute, focus first on your breathing, to bring yourself into the present. Let the worries of the world around you melt away — all that is left is your breath. And then let your focus expand beyond your breath to your other senses, one at a time.

3. When chaos roars, pause. In the middle of a crisis or a noisy day, stop. Be still. Take a deep breath, and focus on that breath coming in, and going out. Find your inner stillness and then let your next action come from that stillness. Focus on that next action only.

Let stillness become your most powerful action. It could change your life.

“Through return to simple living Comes control of desires. In control of desires Stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.” ~ Lao Tzu

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Email Sanity: How to Clear Your Inbox When You’re Drowning

February 17th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

The beauty of an empty inbox is a thing to behold. It is calming, peaceful and wonderful.

An inbox that is overflowing with actions, urgent calls for responses, stuff to read … it’s chaos, it’s stressful, it’s overwhelming.

A friend recently posted:

“Help! I’m drowning in email!”

Let’s look at how to get your head above water first, and then how to get safely to dry land.

Head Above Water
You need to give yourself some breathing room. A flooded inbox is overwhelming, and you don’t know where to start. So here’s where we’re going to start:

1. Create an “actions” folder or label in your email. This is where you’re going to store any emails that you need to take action on (other than just replying or filing or whatever).
2. Pick the most important. Go through your inbox and check off 10-15 that are the most urgent action emails, and file them in this new folder. If you don’t get to the sections below right away, you can at least work from this folder for now.
3. Temporarily archive. Now create a “temp” folder. File everything that’s still in your inbox into this temp folder. Everything. You’re going to get these out of the way and not worry about them at the moment. We’ll get to these, but it gives you a little breathing room.
4. Set a new policy. Every new email that comes in will follow the rules in the next section. No more allowing your inbox to pile up.


New Emails
So what to do with new emails that come in? Set some rules, and commit right this minute to ruthlessly sticking to them:

1. Process from the top down. When you open up your email, process the inbox completely. Start with the top email in your inbox, and open it. Take one of the following actions, in this preferred order: (1) delete (use this liberally), (2) archive (in case you want to look it up later), (3) quick reply (four sentences or less) and then archive, (4) put on your to-do list for action (if you don’t have a list, start one now) and then file in your “action” folder. This last item includes long replies (which should be as rare as possible). If you take one of these four actions, you should dispose of every email.
2. Go to the next email and take quick action, and so forth. Don’t spend longer than 20 seconds on any one email, and even then you should only do that if you’re doing a quick reply or adding the item to your to-do list. If you process this quickly, you’ll be done with your inbox in minutes.
3. Only when you’ve processed should you start worrying about the to-do items. You can choose to do those now, or later. Don’t start doing the to-do items when you’re processing.
4. Newsletters, etc. You’re never going to read all those newsletters, notices from services, catalogs from companies, and so on that regularly get delivered from your inbox. So go into your “temp” folder and delete all of them right now. All of them. And whenever new ones come in — emails that are not from real people directed just for you — you’re going to go to the bottom of the email and click on the “unsubscribe” link. Every single one of them should have an “unsubscribe” link — if not, mark as spam. It only takes 10 seconds to click on the unsubscribe link and then go to the new page and hit the unsubscribe button. And if you do this for every single one, you’ll soon get a lot less email.

Follow these four rules and you’ll never have a full inbox again.

Stop the Flood
OK, things should feel a bit more manageable now. Now we want to set some long-term policies so that you get fewer emails from now on.

Here’s what to do:

1. Unsubscribe from everything. This was talked about in the section above, but just in case you missed that, go back and read the newsletters item. You don’t need newsletters flooding your inbox.
2. Stop sending so many emails. The more emails you send, the more you’ll get. Use email as little as you possibly can. Call people if you can, or walk over and talk to them. If those aren’t possible, see if you can figure it out for yourself. If you send an email that doesn’t require a response, say so.
3. Send shorter emails. They’re more likely to get read and acted on, and it’ll take less of your time to write them. Try sticking to 4 sentences or fewer.
4. Check email less often. Set times each day, and only check email on those times. When you do, process your inbox to empty using the rules above.
5. Filter out notifications. If there are notifications you do want to see, create a folder or label for them, and create a filter (Gmail is great for this) so that the notifications go straight to that label/folder and skip the inbox.
6. Set policies. Put up policies on your website or send the policies out to the people you work with. These policies should be aimed at reducing the number of requests you get. For example, if requests are coming to you that should be going somewhere else, put that in your policies. If people should deal with things through a different channel than email, say it in the policies. Try to figure out your most common types of emails, and find solutions so you don’t have to respond to all of them.
7. Post FAQs. Similarly, if you get a bunch of questions regularly, post the answers publicly so that you don’t have to repeatedly answer them by email. It’ll save you a lot of time.

Processing the Old Emails
You’re going to want to return to your “temp” folder, when you have the time, and start processing it. Some steps:

1. Process it in chunks if there are too many to do now. Just do it for 5 minutes and then come back later.
2. When you process, follow the rules for processing your inbox above (under the “New Emails” section). Start at the top, take quick action on each email, moving it out of the temp folder as fast as you can.
3. Feel free to mass delete emails. If you know you’ll never reply or act on emails, just check a bunch of them off and delete or archive. You can get big chunks done at once this way. Give yourself the freedom to let these go — and just worry about what you need to do from this point on.
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