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If you judge your life by your ability to climb a ladder, you will be leaving more potential on the table than you realise. The tragedy of life is operating at 10% capacity. Your zone of genius is where what you’re naturally good at meets what you care about.

It’s not just your skills.

But the alignment of interests, passions and skills.

Many people are skilled at things that bore them. I know a lawyer on Medium who would rather be teaching and writing in public on creative pursuits than practice what drains him. Your zone of genius is not passion either. Without skill, it’s just an expensive hobby.

The magic happens in the overlap.

I think of the Zone of Genius as a continuous spiral. You go higher and higher every day as you expand your capacity for more love, abundance, and success. It’s an upward journey with no upper limit.” ― Gay Hendricks

I would rather play games I’m uniquely positioned to win.

You’re not lazy for avoiding certain challenges.

You’re being strategic. If you’re a natural social connector who lights up when bringing people together, why force yourself to code alone in a basement? If you’re someone who sees patterns in data that others miss, why are you in a role that’s 90% selling to clients?

Most people internalise ideas about what they “should” be doing. What’s What pays well. What their parents respect. And end up playing games they’re doomed to lose. Or worse, games they could win but hate playing.

I studied Law.

But when I stumbled on my zone of genius (writing and sharing essays at the intersection of psychology, philosophy and self improvement), I run with it.Turned out, I come alive learning and sharing in public. I’m okay so far, making it a career path. What I love is the process of synthesising knowledge and explaining ideas.

Once I stopped fighting that, I changed my trajectory in life.

When you’re in your zone, you don’t need motivational quotes or productivity hacks. Your work pulls you in. You procrastinate less. You recover from setbacks faster. Criticism doesn’t destroy you. The work itself matters more than protecting your ego. And the quality is different.

Not just better.

But more alive. More you.

You can feel it in writing, in how someone leads a meeting, in the way a teacher explains a concept. There’s an ease to it. Like watching someone swim when they should be running.

People resist their zone of genius because what comes easily to them feels too easy. They devalue it. “If I can do this without trying, it can’t be that valuable.” They pursue the hard things.

And resist what the flow of skill.

Sometimes they are afraid. What if we go all-in on our actual strengths and still fail? At least when you’re playing the wrong game, you have an excuse. It’s not easy to pursue it for many. Especially if it doesn’t pay the bills. I’m not saying quit your job tomorrow and follow your bliss off a cliff. Bills are real. Responsibilities matter.

But you can start experimenting.

Take the projects that play to your strengths. Volunteer for the work that energises you. Build the skills that already feel natural. Network with people who value what you’re good at, not what you think you should be good at.

You may not want to redesign your whole life. But you can start playing a different game. One you’re actually built to win. You’re going to spend thousands of hours working over your lifetime. At least spend some of that time in your “zone of genius.” Do things that set your soul on fire.

Writer Simon Sarris on the value of effort

“If you make lists of lofty goals, it can be easy to leave them to accumulate, as happens sometimes, into a mountain of to-do’s and notes and half-forgotten plans. Dreaming alone is seductive, even a little sweet, since it lacks the pain of trying. So it feels proper to prize attempts more than dreams. You should have ideals, but you cannot only love an idealized future, you must cultivate a love of effort, too. If you really want something, then the soul must make demands of the body.”

Free read on Medium

Aristotle’s Golden Mean Is the Original Self-Help Hack You Need

I spend a lot of time looking at how we try to fix our lives. Modern self-help loves extremes. You’ve read the peak performance productivity books. You’ve tracked your atomic habits. And still feel like you’re either doing too much or too little. Never the right amount. Never just right.

Philosopher Aristotle has news for you.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Your brain runs on four settings. Four voices that require your attention for thinking clearly. Most people don’t listen the wisdom of all four. Brain dominance pioneer Ned Herrmann defined four thinking styles: analytical, practical, relational, and experimental. You switch between them all day without noticing. The problems start when just one of them runs your life. You’re probably favouring one or two of the styles. And judging the others.

Most people treat Herrmann’s model like a personality test. A box they shouldn’t try to get out from. But it’s not.

Your entire life requires all four.

First, the analytical brain. This is the “what?” part of your mind. It lives on facts, logic, and data. It’s the engineer, the critic, the part of you that reads the manual first. It needs to know why something works, not just that it works. You’re using this when you’re building a spreadsheet, dissecting an argument, or demanding proof. It’s necessary.

But there’s more to life than facts.

Then, the practical brain. It’s interested in the “what.” It’s the organizer or the doer. It takes an idea and starts with, “What’s the first step? And the second?” This is the part of you that makes lists, follows required instructions, and implements the plan, the analytical brain. It’s the engine of execution. But without a destination, you’re just a highly efficient machine going round in circles.

Now, the relational brain. It’s feeling, intuitive, connection-driven. It’s the heart of the team. Very empathetic if you allow it to do its work. It cares about the people in the room and the unspoken words. You’re in this space when you’re listening to a friend, sensing team morale, or making a decision based on a gut feeling. People mock this as “soft,” but a decision that ignores this style of thinking will fail because it overlooks the importance of people. Everything grows from the relational brain.

Finally, the experimental brain. The “what if?” side of the mind. This is the big-picture dreamer. The rule-breaker. It’s the part that hates manuals. But sees connections no one else does. You are working from here when you brainstorm with a blank whiteboard. Or skip steps to find a shortcut. Even when you imagine a future that doesn’t exist yet. It’s the source of novelty. But left unchecked, it can also be a source of chaos.

You can make the most of all of them if you stop choosing a favourite. Or stay in staying in just one mode for too long. Learn to use all of them, at the right time. You need the experimental brain to imagine a new life. You need your analytical brain to determine if an idea is worth your time. And the practical brain to build the steps to get there. And you absolutely need the relational brain to understand who you’ll become and who you’ll need to build your best life. Your whole life requires all four. The trick isn’t balance. It’s access. Know which voice to turn up and which to mute depending on the experience.

Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche on making and choosing

“Artists have an interest in … so-called inspirations; as if the idea of a work of art, of poetry, the fundamental thought of a philosophy shines down like a merciful light from heaven. In truth, the good artist’s or thinker’s imagination is continually producing things good, mediocre, and bad, but his power of judgment, highly sharpened and practiced, rejects, selects, joins together; thus we now see from Beethoven’s notebooks that he gradually assembled the most glorious melodies and, to a degree, selected them out of disparate beginnings. The artist who separates less rigorously, liking to rely on his imitative memory, can in some circumstances become a great improviser; but artistic improvisation stands low in relation to artistic thoughts earnestly and laboriously chosen. All great men were great workers, untiring not only in invention but also in rejecting, sifting, reforming, arranging.”

Source: Human, All Too Human

Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard on the power of walking

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. Even if one were to walk for one’s health and it were constantly one station ahead—I would still say: Walk! Besides, it is also apparent that in walking one constantly gets as close to well-being as possible, even if one does not quite reach it—but by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Health and salvation can be found only in motion… if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right.”

Source: Letters and Documents

Free read on Medium

Think Like a Renaissance Genius. These Habits Still Beat Modern Advice

I’ve been learning how genius minds think, solve problems, invent breakthrough ideas and set their souls on fire for a few years now. I found out that no group of people did this better than the thinkers of the renaissance. People like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Francis Bacon didn’t live like modern specialists. They didn’t lock themselves into a single path for life. They thought of life as a connected system. I will attempt to summarise how they became geniuses in a few minutes. And how you can apply thinking processes in your life.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Read more

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Author and finance writer Morgan Housel on money lifestyle

“If we have the same assets and I can earn an 8% annual returns, and you can earn 12% annual returns, but I need half as much money to be happy while your lifestyle compounds as fast as your assets, I’m better off than you are. I’m getting more benefit from my investments despite lower returns. Think about that in the context of how much time and effort goes into achieving 0.1% of annual outperformance in this business – millions of hours of research, tens of billions of dollars of effort – and it’s easy to see what’s potentially more important or worth chasing.

There are investors who grind 80 hours a week to add 10 basis points to their returns when there are two or three full percentage points of lifestyle bloat in their finances that can be exploited with less effort. Outperformance is amazing when it can be achieved, and some can achieve a lot of it. But the fact that there’s so much effort put into one side of the finance equation and so little put into other is an opportunity for most people, companies, and countries. This is not about living like a monk, hampered by frugality.

It holds true at every level of wealth and spending.

The value of all money is relative to expectations… The idea that reducing your needs has the same impact as increasing your income – but the former is more certain and in your control than the latter, so it has a higher expected value – is as true for someone spending $15,000 a year as it is someone spending $15 million per year.”

Source: The biggest returns

Philosopher Nietzsche on the art of doing

“The doer alone learneth.” Thinking isn’t enough. Reading isn’t enough. Planning isn’t enough. You don’t learn by watching. You don’t learn by thinking. You learn by doing. No amount of theory replaces wobbling on a two-wheel bike. Falling teaches balance. Practice builds confidence. “Experience is the best teacher,” but only if you’re in the arena.” Nietzsche had no patience for armchair philosophers. Get out there. Try, fail, adjust, repeat. Action is the only real teacher. Do more of what makes you come alive. Don’t just think about it. Live it. Get to work.

Source: 15 Nietzsche Philosophies For Life That Are All One Sentence Long

Writer Joan Didion’s life advice

“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it.

To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it.”

Source: 1975 Commencement Address at the University of California, Riverside

Historian and philosopher Will Durant on play

“Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than in consuming them. In Utopia, said Thoreau, each would build his own home; and then song would come back to the heart of man, as it comes to the bird when it builds its nest. If we cannot build our homes, we can at least walk and throw and run; and we should never be so old as merely to watch games instead of playing them. Let us play is as good as Let us pray, and the results are more assured.”

Source: ​Fallen Leaves

5 questions worth pondering

1. What single habit, if implemented consistently for the rest of this year, would transform your life the most?

2. When you wake up, do you expect today to have many joys or many frustrations?

3. If you had 10x the agency you have, what would you do?

4. How can I make today feel like play to find flow?

5. In what areas of your life would you benefit from setting clearer boundaries?

All lifelong learners need this: Shortform

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply.

Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts. Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning. Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Einstein had a curious mind. He knew the limits of his knowledge but was intellectually curious enough to discover amazing secrets about our universe. “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” He said. Einstein learned physics because he had an open mind. He was very observant and enjoyed asking thought-provoking scientific questions. The Wright Brothers never graduated from high school. Walter Pitts, who laid the foundations of cognitive sciences, taught himself mathematical logic, psychology, and neuroscience. Charles Dickens started self-learning at the age of 15. He wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories in his lifetime.

By the 20th century, he was recognised as a literary genius. Susan Fowler, Anna Wintour, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and hundreds of other global influencers learned to be experts on their own. They knew the limits of their knowledge but most importantly, how much they could learn on their own. Knowing what you don’t know is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool,” physicist Richard Feynman said.

Once you accept your ignorance, you can define the best path to move forward. And you can design your self-learning to help you grow or improve yourself. Knowing what you don’t know opens up a lot of learning opportunities. You become more curious and embrace a growth mindset.

A better understanding of your knowledge and skills blindspots can open up new paths for improving your intelligence. It can also give you a better perspective on what to learn in the short or long term. With the right kind of knowledge, you can become a better version of yourself. Improving our intelligence starts with intellectual humility . The consciousness of the limit of our knowledge and the ability to acknowledge our cognitive blind spots.

“The brighter you are, the harder it can be to see your own limitations. Being good at thinking can make you worse at rethinking,” writes Adam M. Grant, the author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know.

People who think they are never wrong don’t value growth. Better or improved knowledge matters less for them, even though their mental growth depends on it. You can only arrive at a better understanding if you are open to objective reasoning and make room for intellectual growth. Your knowledge in any field can be improved — gaps or blind spots can be reduced. But you can only get better if you don’t protect what you know (which can sometimes be wrong).

“An ignorant mind is precisely not a spotless, empty vessel, but one that’s filled with the clutter of irrelevant or misleading life experiences, theories, facts, intuitions, strategies, algorithms, heuristics, metaphors, and hunches that regrettably have the look and feel of useful and accurate knowledge.” Steven Novella said.

Many people are convinced that what they know is the only truth. The ugly truth is, reality can sometimes be subjective. To improve your intelligence, keep an open mind and learn to change your mind when presented with better knowledge.

The wisdom of ignorance.

“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. ”— Donald Rumsfeld

Knowing what you don’t know is more valuable than holding on to what you know. Many people hold on to their perceptions, behaviours, skills and opinions for too long, without thinking about the many ways they can improve their world-views. Truly intelligent people are looking for opportunities to prove themselves wrong. They stop assuming everything is black or white, true or false and think rationally about every point of view. The paradox of knowledge is that the more you know, the more you understand the level of your ignorance. It’s humbling if you are prepared and willing to acknowledge your blind spots. The simple recognition of your limits can help you ask better questions, find more intelligent sources of knowledge and engage in deeper rational conversations. Socrates was right, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

In all your “gettings”, get understanding.

James Clear on the qualities that lead to intelligence

1. The curiosity to experiment and explore.

2. The honesty to observe the world as it is, not as you wish it to be.

3. The humility to kill your favorite ideas when you learn something new.

4. The consistency to repeat this cycle for life.

Philosopher Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments for life

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.

4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

Source: The best answer to fanaticism: Liberalism(Russell’s article in The New York Times Magazine, 1951)

A Free Read on Medium

The Emperor’s Secret. The Most Important Stoic Rules For These Crazy Times

It feels like a personal conspiracy. All the things going wrong in your life. Like the universe is targeting you. No. It’s not. The experiences of life don’t disappoint us; our models of reality do. Stoicism works for me because it assumes reality is already at the door. Work with it or suffer twice in your head. Most of our suffering comes from resisting the reality that’s already here. You waste a lot of energy trying to force specific outcomes. Like expecting your relationship to go a certain way. It won’t.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

There are two types of readers . Those who prefer to skim, scroll and skip as fast as possible to save time (and still learn something new) and those who take their time to engage with content on a deeper level for better comprehension.

There’s a time to read fast and a time to read slow.

I prefer the latter, but I sometimes use the former to read posts and essays I save to Pocket or Instapaper. Fast reading a skill. Many people love to read faster for varied reasons — save time, get more knowledge in the shortest time possible and quickly decide what’s worth their limited time.

Speed reading can save you time, but it’s not always the best use of your time if you aim to comprehend the book or understand the topic deeply.

More often than not, people skim read. They flick pages in the hope of finding critical points. And when reading online or using an app, you are tempted to scroll as fast as possible.

Successful fast reading requires an insane amount of concentration to make it work. Otherwise, the brain quickly forgets. To improve your chances of success when you fast read, reduce external distractions and do everything you can to get your mind to the essay, post or book for as long as possible.

If you find yourself re-reading the same pages over and over again when you speed read, you are probably not focusing enough. You can use a headphone to minimise the external noise to concentrate better.

“When our brain wanders, it’s because we’ve become passive. We need to be curious,” says Jordan Harry. Speed reading is “a superpower which you can turn on and off,” he argues.

Many speed readers are also passive readers — they don’t absorb as much as they think. When speed reading becomes a habit, make sure you are not wasting your time. Measure your results. Find out if it’s working and change your approach where necessary.

If you prefer to turn on speed reading a lot of the time and still comprehend most of what you read, try and summarise when you finish reading.

If you learned something new, write it down. It will help you understand and retain the knowledge better. And always start your speed reading process with a purpose. What exactly are you hoping to get out of it? Make that clear right from the beginning.

Slow reading is an art. It’s active, intentional and deliberate. There’s no rush. No scrolling and definitely no skimming. I prefer to read my books slowly. That’s why I choose my books carefully. If I invest in a book, I want to make it worthwhile. And I pay attention to comprehend the ideas better.

Great books are meant to be read slowly.

“We can learn to pay attention, concentrate, devote ourselves to authors. We can slow down so we can hear the voice of texts, feel the movement of sentences, experience the pleasure of words — and own passages that speak to us,” says Thomas Newkirk.

Modern life makes it incredibly difficult to make quality time for slow reading. But you can find pockets of time to enjoy your books — you could read first thing in the morning before you start work. You can also read later in the evening before you go to bed.

To encourage slow reading, I take breaks from work to read. I read both physical and digital books. When I’m out and about, I read on my tablet and my phone. And when I’m home, I read physical books to take a break from the screens when I can. I don’t binge-read books in a single week. Knowledge for life or career is too precious to be hurried.

Slow readers are deep learners. They focus on comprehension and better understanding. It’s a better way to expand your knowledge.

“Slow-reading is for deep learners. If you are going to invest time reading for knowledge, take the time and do the work to get your money’s worth,” writes David Handel, MD. Slow, active or purposeful reading requires a higher level of thinking. Total immersion in a book or text makes you think about your thinking. It makes you question your worldview, perceptions and beliefs. It also makes you ask better questions.

Slow reading can reduce stress, especially when read in a distraction-free environment. If you don’t have that, design it. Use tools to your advantage.

Successful slow readers don’t set outcome-based goals. They don’t aim to finish 10 books a month. It ruins the experience and makes you rush to crush a goal. What’s the point if you don’t remember anything you read in the future, apply what you read in life or enjoy the process.

Aim to make slow reading a habit instead — don’t focus too much on how many books you are reading in a year. Build a great reading habit, and you will become a lifelong learner.

Even if that means reading for a few minutes before you start work or committing a few minutes to read your favourite book every night before you sleep. Aim to make it a daily habit — like watching TV or turning on Netflix every evening. Once that becomes a habit, you will read more than you think. And you won’t stress about crushing a goal without a long-term purpose.

Immersive reading changes how you acquire knowledge. If you choose your books carefully, you will make time to read them slowly.

In a hurried age, slow reading is increasingly becoming a lost art. For a more meaningful reading experience, embrace slow reading. “Every book should be read no more slowly than it deserves, and no more quickly than you can read it with satisfaction and comprehension,” writes Mortimer J. Adler in his book, How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading.

You can use fast reading once in a while to get a better idea of a post, essay or book, but for a deeper understanding of topics you care about, slow reading is a better approach.

Author Karl Ove Knausgard on being fully immersed in life

“What makes life worth living? No child asks itself that question. To children life is self-evident. Life goes without saying: whether it is good or bad makes no difference. This is because children don’t see the world, don’t observe the world, don’t contemplate the world, but are so deeply immersed in the world that they don’t distinguish between it and their own selves.”

Source: ​Autumn

Ralph Waldo Emerson on trial and error as a way of life

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little coarse, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.”

A Free Read on Medium

Miyamoto Musashi’s Samurai Secrets That Will Make You Unstoppably Resilient Right Now

I’m putting together a “resilience” life code to train myself to never break under pressure. I will need it as we are living through the reset of the world order. Don’t get me started on the middle east war, energy prices, the strait of hormuz control games and economic fallout we are all experiencing. Most people are responding to this by getting attached to the infinite news cycle. And feeling sick about it. Legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi’s secret code for becoming mentally unstoppable has been very useful.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

Shortform — All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply.

Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts. Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning. Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Becoming wise is a personal responsibility.

“Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else … Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it,” says poet and novelist Hermann Hesse. With the right knowledge, you can stay on the right trajectory for as long as possible. Remember what Confucious said, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”

These are a few practical ways to acquire wisdom for life.

Self-awareness. Aristotle was right when he said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” A wise person is self-aware and understands their strengths, weaknesses and values. They are aware of their goals and how they want to achieve them. They also understand their emotions so they can cope better when things don’t go as planned.

Practice. You stack wisdom by putting knowledge to work. The more often we seize opportunities to practice what we know, the higher our chances of stacking timeless wisdom. Practice means using what you learn as an opportunity to solve problems or change your life in some way. Learning to write? Write in public. Get to work. It’s the only way to truly learn it and stay proficient at it. “How can a man know what is good or best for him, and yet chronically fail to act upon his knowledge?” argues Aristotle.

Curiosity. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom,” says Socrates. Curiosity ignites our imagination, allowing us to think outside the box, develop new ideas and explore new possibilities. In other words, it makes us smarter. Curious people ask questions about almost everything, even if it seems like a random thing to do at first glance.

Self-directed learning. One of the best ways to gain wisdom is by reading books by smart people. Reading is one of the oldest hobbies, but it also has many benefits. Reading allows you to expand your horizons and learn from different people and perspectives. The practice not only expands your knowledge, but also exposes you to other ideas and ways of thinking. It can also improve your writing skills, develop your analytical and critical thinking skills, and become more mentally active.

Meaningful conversations. A simple conversation with someone can change the way you think (they may have valuable insights or perspectives that you haven’t considered before). The same is true for one-on-one meetings, group discussions, or small talk with strangers. If you’re willing to take the leap and open yourself up to someone else’s thoughts and ideas, you can gain wisdom for life. “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds,” Francis Bacon said. Lookout for wisdom sources everywhere.

Reflection. Life experiences are invaluable because they teach us something new and force us to think about our actions and how they affect others. Reflecting is an excellent way to get in tune with yourself as it helps you look at your life from different angles, reconsider your past decisions and find ways to improve for the future. It also encourages us to value what we have rather than focus on what we lack or don’t have.

Painter Helen Frankenthaler reminds us that everything — even the mistakes and misfortunes — is material for your next move:

“You have to know how to use your accidents.”

Writer and scholar C. S. Lewis on wisdom and skill acquisition.

“If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.”

A free read on Medium

Carl Sagan’s Most Powerful Rules for Life Will Instantly Change Your Priorities.

I’ve read a lot of self-help books. A lot of them recommend the same ideas. But life from an astronomer’s perspective is different. Carl Sagan spent his entire career studying the universe. His ideas will change your daily priorities. His wisdom goes beyond astronomy. He had so much to say on spirituality and psychology. “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious,” he said. Sagan’s rules for life are practical tools. They will force you to rethink your values in life.

Get them for free or donate what you want

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

Shortform — All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply.

Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts. Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning. Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Logical fallacies are sneaky little tricks. They hide in plain sight, disguised as convincing arguments. They’re tools of persuasion, manipulation, and control. Either way, they distort the truth. Once you start looking for fallacies, you’ll see them everywhere — in ads, news reports, and conversations. It’s like learning a new language.

Suddenly, you understand the hidden messages.

It’s annoying at first, but then you can’t stop noticing it. But just because someone uses a fallacy doesn’t mean they’re evil or stupid. Maybe they’re just careless. Or maybe they’re trying to manipulate you. Either way, if a story is far from the actual truth, it’s wrong. “Almost all those caught making a logical fallacy interpret it as a “disagreement,” author Nassim Taleb said.

Fallacies exploit vulnerabilities and ego (our fear of being wrong). They prey on our desire to belong, to be right, and to feel safe. Logical fallacies in news sources exploit our biases, fears, and hopes. They’re catchy and memorable. They distract us from the truth, leading us down misleading paths. Uncertainty is uncomfortable. Fallacies offer simple, black-and-white answers. Facts and evidence are often dull and complex.

We’re wired for shortcuts. Our brains love easy answers.

Fallacies offer those. Logical fallacies manipulate our minds through techniques like anchoring, framing, and scarcity. These tactics create illusions of control and urgency, driving our decisions. Social media rewards emotional responses. Outrage, anger, fear — these drive engagement. Fallacies play into these emotions perfectly. The truth gets lost in the noise.

Outrage gets likes and shares. Fear drives clicks.

Politicians use them to win votes. Friends use them in arguments. You see them everywhere: hasty generalisations, false dilemmas, slippery slopes, and ad hominem attacks. These manipulate emotions, not logic. “The simple repetition of a falsehood, even by a questionable source, can lead people to actually believe the lie,” according to Norbert Schwarz, Eryn Newman, and William Leach, experts in cognitive psychology.

People share what resonates, not what’s accurate.

Advertisers use fallacies to sell products. Fear, desire, exclusivity — these are powerful tools. “Look younger,” “be successful,” “join the elite.” It’s tempting. Anchoring sets expectations. A high price first, then a discount feels like a deal. Framing changes perception. “95% fat-free” sounds healthier than “5% fat.” Scarcity creates urgency. “Limited time offer”pushes you to buy now.

Fallacies distract us from reality.

It’s the sad truth.

We value speed and emotion over accuracy and reason. Fallacies spread faster because we don’t have time to check multiple sources. People are more likely to believe something that makes them feel good, even if it’s illogical. We prefer information that confirms our existing beliefs. Fallacies reinforce what we already think.

It’s comforting, but it’s also dangerous.

You must resist these shortcuts to get to the truth. If you become an active, logical thinker, you can differentiate between facts and opinions, evidence and emotional appeals. “The dangers of not thinking clearly are much greater now than ever before. It’s not that there’s something new in our way of thinking — it’s that credulous and confused thinking can be much more lethal in ways it was never before,” says scientist and educator Carl Sagan.

But why do logical fallacies matter?

Because critical thinking helps you cut through the noise, see the truth, and make better decisions. You’ll be less likely to be fooled by fake news, bad arguments, or manipulative people. Fear, anger, and excitement cloud our judgment; they prevent us from making informed decisions. Fallacies manipulate our emotions. Understanding logical fallacies is how you become a better thinker. It’s for seeking truth and building a foundation of critical thinking. It’s how you think for yourself or better still, protect yourself from misinformation.

I’m learning to spot fallacies to rise above them.

I like to question everything. I’m not afraid to disagree. My ability to think critically is my most valuable asset. Critical thinking may be dying a quiet death. The only way to improve how I think is to question the things I normally ignore. To be a wiser thinker, I need skepticism and intellectual humility — not cynicism but curious doubt. I must question everything, especially claims that align perfectly with my beliefs.

Being right isn’t always the goal.

Understanding the truth is.

The quiet rise of fallacies can distract you from the real truth. Look for evidence, not just assertions. Be wary of oversimplifications. Life is full of these tricks. Be aware. Think clearly. Make informed choices. We can seek the truth, not just the satisfaction of being right. The truth might not always be satisfying, but it’s essential. Let’s commit to pursuing it, no matter how difficult. Protect yourself from manipulation.

Question claims, seek evidence, get to the truth.

The psychologist Abraham Maslow on maturity

“The most mature human beings are also childlike. That is not as contradictory as it sounds. The most mature people are the ones who can have the most fun. They are able to regress at will; they can become childish and play with children and be close to them. It is no accident, I think, that children generally tend to like them and get along with them. Involuntary regression is of course a very dangerous thing; but voluntary regression seems to be characteristic of very healthy people.”

Computer scientist Alan Kay on why perceptions are limited

“A frog’s brain is set up to recognize food as moving objects that are oblong in shape. So if we take a frog’s normal food — flies — paralyze them with a little chloroform and put them in front of the frog, it will not notice them or try to eat them. It will starve in front of its food! But if we throw little rectangular pieces of cardboard at the frog it will eat them until it is stuffed! The frog only sees a little of the world we see, but it still thinks it perceives the whole world.

Now, of course, we are not like frogs! Or are we?”

“You can't learn to see until you realize you are blind.”

A free read on Medium

You Can’t Be Happy Alone. Was Aristotle Right?

If you could have everything you ever wanted. But must never speak to, see, or share it with anyone. For the rest of your life. Will you take that life? Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that we cannot achieve true happiness ( what he called eudaimonia or human flourishing) in isolation. To Aristotle, trying to live entirely alone defeats the very purpose of being human.

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1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

Shortform — All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply.

Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts. Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning. Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

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We are surrounded by rules. Mostly adopted from everywhere and everyone. Most of them are inherited moral ethics. And system rules for many areas of life. But they work. And keep everyone safe. Life functions better with functional rules. They quickly become our adopted rules.

Our heuristics (mental shortcuts). They become our filters. And help us move fast. But they can also distort reality. Heuristics are not absolutes. Especially those on how to live. Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist best known for his work on the psychology of judgment studied these shortcuts. In his book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” he explains how our minds rely on heuristics.

He observed rules simplify life but can mislead us. “By their very nature, heuristic shortcuts will produce biases,” Kahneman said.

Rules give us a sense of order. And reduce uncertainty. But the one thing I know is this: my rules on how to live are not absolute truths. And sometimes, we forget that. We start to think our way is the only way. We hold onto our beliefs. We judge others who do things differently. And close ourselves off to new possibilities. And that’s where the trouble starts.

I use questions like “Why do I believe this? Where did this rule come from? Is it really the only way to see things?” and Does this rule still serve me? to help me find the best adopted rules for life. How often have you heard someone say, “That’s just the way it is”? Or “That’s how we’ve always done it”?

Perfect signs of mistaking rules for absolute truths.

It’s like that quote by the philosopher John Stuart Mill: “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…”

We get stuck in our own little worlds.

We lose sight of the bigger picture. Take science, for example. For centuries, people believed the Earth was flat. It was a rule. It was “common sense.” But then, some brave souls dared to question that rule. They started asking questions and discovered the Earth was actually round.

Another classic example of adopted truth is social progress.

There were rules about who could vote, who could marry, and who could own property. Those rules were based on prejudice and discrimination. But people fought to change them. They challenged the status quo. They expanded our understanding of equality and justice.

Even in our personal lives, we can get trapped by rules.

Maybe you were taught religious rules were the way to a good life. Or what we learn in formal education is the only reality for your best life. You can define a “good life” on your own terms. Rules are meant to serve us, not to confine us. Don’t mistake them for absolute truths.

It’s okay to outgrow certain rules.

It’s a sign of learning. It’s a sign of evolving. I think of some rules of life as tools, not truths, especially when it comes tothe direction of my life. It takes away the pressure of living a specific lifestyle. And the freedom to experiment and adapt.

It’s like having a toolbox full of options instead of being stuck with a single, rigid instruction manual. I like to figure things out for myself. And just like with tools, some rules are more useful than others depending on the task. “Hard work always pays off,” is a classic rule.

And it has served me well in many ways.

But I’ve also learned that sometimes hard work alone isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to be in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. So now, I think of “hard work” as a tool. It’s a valuable tool, for sure. But it’s not the only tool in my box.

I’m always learning how to live.

All life is error correction.

And that means trying to be a little wiser today than I was yesterday. And adjusting my behaviour accordingly. I like investor and philanthropist Charlie Munger’s approach to life. He says you need a toolbox of different ideas and perspectives to live your best life.

You can’t rely on just one or two rules.

“You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely — all of them, not just a few, Most people are trained in one model — economics, for example — and try to solve all problems in one way. You know the old saying: ‘To the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail.’ This is a dumb way of handling problems,” notes Munger. “I had an early and extreme multidisciplinary cast of mind. I couldn’t stand reaching for a small idea in my own discipline when there was a big idea right over the fence in somebody else’s discipline,” he said.

The point is, life complicated.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. You have to be willing to question what you think to be the only reality. Ask. Unlearn. Rebuild. Make your own rules. Based on awareness. Based on your truth. That’s how we stay free. As Munger says, “Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.” Keep learning. Keep growing. Keep challenging your own beliefs.

That’s how you find your own truth.

There are no absolute facts: but a mix of opinions, judgements, stories, memories, theories and interpretations. Life is just a collection of different perspectives. What’s true for you may not be true for me. Once you let go of the need for absolute truths, you open yourself up to a world of possibilities.

It applies everywhere.

Take relationships. We judge people based on our own experiences. “They should have done this,” or “I’d never do that.” But everyone has their own stories, fears, and perspectives. When you accept that, you stop needing people to fit your version of the truth.

What’s true for me might not be true for you.

That’s what makes it interesting — and frustrating. But once you let go of needing absolute truths, something amazing happens. You open yourself up to new ideas. You start to see the world differently. You grow.

How do you apply this to your life?

Stay curious. Read things you disagree with. Talk to people with different opinions. Listen more. You don’t have to agree with everyone, but you might learn something. Be okay with changing your mind.

Life isn’t black and white.

It’s shades of grey.

Not everything that feels right is right. And not everything that feels wrong is wrong. Truth takes more than mental heuristics. It takes attention. It takes humility. It takes unlearning. That’s how I stay honest – with myself and others.

That’s how I stay human.

“There are no facts, only interpretations.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

A free read on Medium

Nietzsche’s Most Terrifying Mental Exercise Will Force You to Rethink Your Entire Life

In his own words, it’s “the heaviest thought” anyone can bear. I have tried it and it took me a while to make complete sense of it. In 1882, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche revealed the “eternal recurrence.” A psychological mirror for life that forces you to look at how you live right now.

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Read more

The new dread right now is “career anxiety.” And it’s everywhere people have a 9–5 job. It was never meant to be a source of existential anxiety. For most of the 20th century, it was the solution. You go to work, get the job done, and the company looked after you. You get your pensions. And promotion if you stick around long enough. The deal was basical…

Read more

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

A big discount code to join Postanly Weekly

My biggest discount for an annual subscription: £15 the whole year (usually £45). Paid subscribers will get my best work on:

• How to productise your expertise.
• How to make writing a fulfilling career path without burning out.
• How satisfied people around the world live (tools/life models)
• What I’m personally learning on growth

Paid supporters will also get:
– My upcoming book on thinking clearly, free
– The Weekend Discovery, now paid-only and ad-free

your discount code here

There are a thousand books on how to live. I’ve read dozens of them. A handful of ideas stood out for me. Practices, habits and rituals that go back centuries. In the Stoics. In the Taoists. In modern self-help. And many more wise people. These ideas are old and true because human nature doesn’t change much. Here are twelve rules I try to apply in my own life, from the longest experiment in history: being alive.

I think of these rules as lenses. Pick one. Reflect on it. See what it shows you about how you’re living versus how you want to.

1. Want what you have

The Stoics practised amor fati — love of fate.

What is, is.

Add to that the Buddhist practice of non-attachment, and you get the ability to want what you already have. It’s a reorientation of mental habit. The hedonic treadmill, the tendency to quickly adapt to any improvement and return to the same baseline, is one of the most well-documented findings in psychology. The raise wears off. The new apartment becomes ordinary. The next goal replaces the last one.

The antidote is presence.

Epictetus advised, “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” Stop living in the gap between where you are and where you think you should be. Close that gap with attention.

2. Die before you die

The Sufi mystics had a phrase.

Die before you die, and discover there is no death. The Stoics practised it too. The praemeditatio malorum, or premeditation of losses.

Imagine losing what you love.

Now, how does that feel?

It’s a practice. What it produces is presence. When you truly reckon with impermanence, your own life, the people you love, everything you’ve built, gratitude becomes non-negotiable.

The ordinary becomes extraordinary. You stop postponing your life to some future date when conditions are better. You arrive here. And here, it turns out, is where everything worth knowing was always waiting.

3. Aim for path ownership

Most people live as if life is happening to them.

The job fell through. The relationship ended. The timing was wrong. Viktor Frankl survived Nazi concentration camps and came out with one vital wisdom: between stimulus and response, there is a space.

In that space lives your freedom to be.

And live. You can’t control what happens. You control the meaning you assign to it. Life can happen for you. Own your path. It’s uniquely yours to nurture. Voltaire said, “cultivate your garden.” When you stop seeing yourself as the victim of your own story, you become its author. That mental perspective changes everything going forward.

Do it for you.

No one can save you but yourself.

4. Know your hunger

You think you want the promotion.

The house. That “specific” relationship. But outside all those is something you’ve been ignoring your whole life. Significance, original purpose and meaning. The Stoics called this “examining the impression.” Before you set any goal, get back to what you expect it to give you. And whether you can get that more directly.

A lot of suffering comes from solving the wrong problem better. Most people are hungry for something better than conventional goals.

Find it.

And let it set your soul on fire.

5. Build your mind like Einstein

Formal education teaches you to answer questions.

Practical learning teaches you to ask all the better ones that help you return to yourself. The self-taught geniuses like Einstein, Feynman and Dickson shared a common habit. They learned by obsession.

Obligation had nothing to do with it.

They followed questions until the questions led somewhere meaningful. Feynman rebuilt physics from first principles because he refused to memorise what he hadn’t understood. Einstein started with the wisdom of Spinoza, Kant, Schopenhauer, Hume and Mach. You don’t need a degree to become a serious thinker. You need an obsession that makes you come alive. And the discipline to sit with it.

6. Tame your attention

Attention is the first skill.

Everything you experience, feel, and become passes through it. William James wrote in 1890 that the ability to voluntarily bring back a wandering attention is the very root of judgment, character, and will.

“Everyone knows what attention is. It is taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seems several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought,” he said. He thought it might be the most important achievement possible.

He was right.

And today, attention is even more important.

The world is engineered to fragment yours. Every notification, every infinite scroll, is a small tax on your mind. Guard your attention like you guard your money. It’s your most valuable currency.

7. Let your body lead

Descartes convinced the western world that the mind and body were separate. Medicine spent centuries paying for that mistake. Your body is not a vehicle for your brain. It’s part of the thinking being. Sleep improves memory. Movement generates new neurons. Chronic stress physically rewires the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for judgment and decision-making.

Ancient wisdom knew this.

Aristotle taught while walking. The Stoics practiced cold exposure and fasting for mental clarity. Take care of the only “house” you have.

The rest of your life depends on it.

8. Choose your relationships ruthlessly

Aristotle divided friendships into three types: utility, pleasure, and virtue. The first two are fine. The third one though, friendship built on mutual admiration of character is rare and irreplaceable. You are your five closest influences. We are all social mimics. We absorb the standards, habits, and moods of people around us without noticing.

That means choosing who you spend time with is one of the highest-leverage decisions in your life. Some relationships drain your capacity to think clearly and act well.

Others expand it.

Know the difference.

9. Make peace with discomfort

Every meaningful thing requires discomfort.

Difficult conversations, creative risk, physical discipline, and intellectual honesty. They all do. The brain’s default setting is to avoid discomfort at all costs. It’s not a biological flaw.

It’s evolutionary wiring. You are running on a soft organ built to keep you safe at your own expense. It doesn’t care about writing a book or building a business. The Stoics understood that voluntary discomfort builds tolerance for the involuntary things. Marcus Aurelius pushed through hard things to build resilience. He was training himself not to need comfort to function well. Seek difficulty on purpose.

It makes everything else easier.

10. Work with what we want most

Time.

You are not just “spending” time; you are converting the finite currency of your life into something tangible, art, service, or security.

Seneca’s most urgent essay was about time. “We are not given a short life,” he wrote, “we waste it.” Time was more important to him than death or courage. Most productivity advice is about doing more in less time.

The result is more stress.

Does what you are doing deserve your hours?

Time is the only thing you can’t recover. Spend money poorly, and you can earn more. Spend time poorly, and it’s simply gone. The ancient practice of memento mori, remembering that you will die, was a clarifying habit.

It brings you back to the essential.

11. Speak clearly, think clearly

George Orwell argued that muddled language and muddled thinking are the same thing. People write in vague language because they haven’t thought through what they want to say.

The discipline of writing forces precision.

You can hold a fuzzy idea in your head for years. The minute you try to write it down, you discover whether it’s real. This applies beyond writing. How you speak is how you think. Speak in concrete terms. Say what you mean. The clarity you develop on the page rewires how you reason in every other area of your life.

12. Master the art of sitting still

Pascal wrote in the seventeenth century that all of humanity’s problems stem from the inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

He wasn’t exaggerating.

Boredom is not empty time. It’s the space where your mind finally processes what it’s been collecting. It’s where better questions become clear. Where original thought begins. Every major creative and intellectual tradition, zen, stoic, christian contemplative, taoist, built silence into the structure of the day on purpose.

The discomfort of stillness is the discomfort of meeting yourself without distraction. Most people avoid that meeting their entire lives. They fill every gap with distractions and wonder why they feel empty.

Sit with the discomfort.

Now, allow the silence to teach you everything you’ve been avoiding.

13. Become comfortable with not knowing

Western culture treats certainty as a virtue. Having a strong opinion, a clear position, a confident answer. These are all rewarded. Uncertainty means weakness for many people.

But the most rigorous thinkers in history, Socrates, Montaigne, and Feynman were all okay with not knowing. Socrates built an entire philosophy around the idea that wisdom begins with recognising the limits of what you understand. The Japanese concept of shoshin, beginner’s mind, explains this. Approach things with a fresh mindset. Stay open to being wrong. The expert’s curse is that expertise solidifies what they know.

Knowing a lot can make you worse at learning.

Hold your beliefs firmly enough to act on them. Hold them loosely enough to revise them. That tension is what keeps a mind alive.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

14. Do the harder thing first

Not the urgent thing. The harder thing.

Most people structure their days around what’s easy to start. The email, small tasks, and low-stakes decisions. It feels productive. The list shrinks fast. But the thing that matters, the work that requires thought or courage, keeps sitting there. They keep pushing them.

William James called this the “slow drift,” the daily accumulation of small avoidances that becomes your life. Each individual delay seems harmless. Compounded over years, it becomes the difference between who you are and who you meant to be.

The ancient practice of morning intention, used by Marcus Aurelius by countless contemplative traditions, was built on this exact wisdom. Front-load your day with what matters most, before the world fills your attention with what matters least.

The harder thing rarely gets easier by waiting.

It just gets more difficult.

15. Treat your life as an experiment

Your assumptions about yourself are not facts.

I’m not a morning person. I’m bad with money. I’m not creative. That’s just how I am. No you are not. These are mindsets that hardened into identity through repetition and confirmation bias. You tried something once, it felt awkward, and you filed it under not me. The scientific mind does something different. It stays curious about its own behaviour. It runs small tests. It updates based on evidence rather than defending the prior belief.

Epictetus taught his students to treat every day as a controlled experiment in living better. A practice to be refined. Montaigne built an entire literary form, the essay (from the French essai, meaning attempt), around the idea that self-examination is never finished. You are not a fixed being.

You are a process.

Stay curious about which inputs change the output. The willingness to be wrong about yourself is the beginning of knowing yourself.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

A free read on Medium

Montaigne’s Most Powerful Advice for Overthinkers

I take Montaigne seriously when he says, “My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.” This guy locked himself in a tower for years away from public life to figure out who he was. He was surrounded by thousands of books. Trapped in his own head. But knew exactly what it felt like to overthink.

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools for learning. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $9 per month or $60 for an entire year. There’s so much more for paid subscribers in 2026.

Life is finite. Learning is for life.

“As long as you live, keep learning how to live,” Seneca, a Roman philosopher, statesman, and playwright said.

He believed seeking knowledge and wisdom were key to living a fulfilling and meaningful existence. Lifelong learning, the process of acquiring knowledge and skills throughout one’s life, is a mindset that emphasises the importance of continuous learning and growing, not just in our formal education but also in our personal and professional lives.

It can take many forms: reading, listening to a great podcast, watching reality-altering videos, taking courses, attending meaningful events, or simply experimenting with new things. The important thing is to be open to learning and never to stop growing. The beauty of lifelong learning is that it’s an infinite game you can never lose. The more you learn, the more you grow, and the more you grow, the more you learn.

It’s a never-ending cycle of growth that can lead to a more fulfilling and satisfying life. It is an infinite game you can’t lose because you will stack wisdom for life. From acquiring new skills to staying updated with emerging knowledge, and trends, lifelong learning is a continuous process that keeps you ahead of the game of life.

It helps you adapt to new situations, challenges, and opportunities and enables you to make better decisions in all aspects of your life.

“The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live, author Mortimer Adler said.

In a finite game, a definite outcome means an end in site.

In contrast, an infinite game has no specific endpoint or winner, and the goal is to keep playing and continuing the game.

In the lifelong learning game, there is no losing; you will keep winning for life — the focus is on the learning journey itself.

You become a self-directed learner for life.

Self-directed learners take responsibility for their learning, setting goals, and developing strategies for acquiring knowledge and skills. They proactively seek learning opportunities rather than waiting for someone else to provide them. Self-directed learners tend to be more adaptable and resilient in the face of change. They can quickly acquire new skills and knowledge to meet the demands of their changing environment.

This adaptability is particularly important right now.

“All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.” — Naval Ravikant

Charlie Munger on how to avoid falling victim to unclear thinking

“I have what I call an ‘iron prescription’ that helps me keep sane when I drift toward preferring one intense ideology over another. I feel that I’m not entitled to have an opinion unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people who are in opposition. I think that I’m qualified to speak only when I’ve reached that state…

“That is probably too tough for most people, although I hope it won’t ever become too tough for me… This business of not drifting into extreme ideology is very, very important in life. If you want to end up wise, heavy ideology is very likely to prevent that outcome.”​

Source: Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

A concept worth understanding

Scout mindset

We tend to approach discourse with a “soldier mindset”; an intention to defend our own beliefs and defeat opponents’. A more useful approach is to adopt a “scout mindset“ by Julia Galef. A scout isn’t trying to win. A scout is trying to understand. Galef says “The goal is not to defend your position—it’s to see the world as accurately as possible.”

The scout mindset is “the motivation to see things as they are, not as you wish they were. Scout mindset is what allows you to recognize when you are wrong, to seek out your blind spots, to test your assumptions and change course.”

It applies to everything—work, relationships, even how I see myself. If I’m stuck in the soldier mindset, I hold onto decisions because I don’t want to look stupid. But if I switch to the scout mindset, I can adjust without shame. “Oh, that didn’t work? No worries. Let’s try something else.”

It’s choosing curiosity over ego. Truth over comfort. Growth over winning.

It takes practice. But it’s worth it.

Author Paul Millerd on the pathless path to a great life

“On the pathless path, the goal is not to find a job, make money, build a business, or achieve any other metric. It’s to actively and consciously search for the work that you want to keep doing. This is one of the most important secrets of the pathless path. With this approach, it doesn’t make sense to chase any financial opportunity if you can’t be sure that you will like the work. What does make sense is experimenting with different kinds of work, and once you find something worth doing, working backward to build a life around being able to keep doing it.”

Source: The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life

A free read on Medium

The Genius of Lao Tzu. These Are His Most Practical Rules For Life

I have read the Tao Te Ching. It’s one of the wisest books I’ve ever read. If there is such a thing as a manual on the art of living, it’s one of them. Philosopher Lao Tzu’s paradoxical rules and observations on how life works will blow your mind. It’s a manual for thinking and living more effectively.

Lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply.

Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts. Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning. Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of Postanly Weekly wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools you missed. I’d love for you to get the full experience and access all my posts.

Some of the best advice on earth is thousands of years old. Roman emperors, greek thinkers, and eastern wise teachers faced the same human suffering. From the dawn of civilisation, people have sought to discover the secrets of life. From the teachings of Confucius and Plato to the wisdom of the Bible, ancient teachings have remained relevant and applicable today.

By reflecting on these timeless lessons, we can discover a path to living a life of fulfilment, purpose, and joy. Stoic philosophy stress on the importance of living in accordance with reason and virtue and accepting the struggles of life as the way forward. Stoic philosopher Seneca wrote extensively on the importance of self-control, rationality, and wisdom in the face of adversity.

He noted that wisdom is the “master of the passions” and the key to living a virtuous life. The Taoist philosophy of ancient China teaches the importance of living in harmony with the natural world, living in the present, and valuing simplicity and humility over material wealth and power. The epicurean philosophy wrote on the value of living a simple and contented life, free from fear and anxiety. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for,” Epicurus said.

“The greatest wealth is to live content with little,” Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher, also said.

Epicurus believed that the good life is one of pleasure and the absence of pain. He taught many to seek pleasure in moderation and avoid unnecessary pain. The Bible, particularly the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, also contains many wise sayings and teachings on living a virtuous life.

“Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.” — Ecclesiastes 7:12.

Ancient wisdom also speaks of the importance of self-awareness, reflection and contemplation. “The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival,” Aristotle said. By reflecting on our thoughts, feelings, and experiences, we can gain insight into our lives and better understand the world around us. It is only through the practice of reflection that we can learn from our mistakes and be better prepared for the future.

Seneca and Marcus Aurelius encouraged us to reflect on the important things in life. 'Ask yourself at every moment, 'Is this necessary?' says Aurelius.

“...because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time and more tranquillity. Ask yourself at every moment, is this necessary…” he wrote. Seneca watched people waste their lives on busyness. Meetings, obligations, social activities. All motion, no direction.

Is this necessary takes you back to the right path.

Not “is this good?”or “could this be useful?” Is this routine, habit or task necessary. Try it for a week. Ask it before you agree to something. Before you say something. Before you spend an hour on something.

Many ancient thinkers thought self-knowledge was crucial for a good life. Socrates believed that the key to a good life was self-knowledge and living in accordance with one’s nature.

“Know thyself,” he says.

Socrates believed that living an examined life, which is a life of questioning and self-reflection, is the best way to achieve a meaningful life.

“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realise how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us,” Socrates said.

Aristotle believed that the good life is one of flourishing and living by reason. He thought happiness was the ultimate goal of human existence and could be achieved by cultivating virtues such as courage, wisdom, and justice. The common thread among ancient thought leaders is the emphasis on living a virtuous, meaningful, and balanced life and the importance of self-reflection and self-improvement.

“Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend,” Hypatia of Alexandria said. A good life is not only enjoyable. But a life of virtue, purpose, appreciation, self-knowledge and alive time. Making the most of our short time is vital for living well.

Morgan Housel on rules

1. There’s a sweet spot where you grasp the important stuff but you’re not smart enough to be bored with it.

2. The line between bold and reckless is thin and often only visible with hindsight, so be careful who you admire and what you admire them for.

3. People who are exceptionally good at one thing tend to be exceptionally bad at other things, but if you’re good at one thing people will try to emulate everything you do.

4. “It’s very common to be utterly brilliant and still think you’re way smarter than you actually are.” – Charlie Munger

5. You’re not a machine, so don’t expect to always be rational. Aiming to be reasonable is the best anyone can do.

Source

Writer Harold V. Melchert on savouring the path

“Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance toward the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. Climb slowly, steadily, enjoying each passing moment; and the view from the summit will serve as a fitting climax for the journey.” — Source: The Toastmaster magazine (October 1965)

3 questions to ponder

1. What single habit, if implemented consistently for the rest of this year, would transform your life the most?

2. When you wake up, do you expect today to have many joys or many frustrations?

3. If you had 10x the agency you have, what would you do?

A free read on Medium

The Most Powerful Mindset Habits Right Now For These Crazy Times

The “great discontinuity.” That’s my term for these tough times. The break between what used to work and what works now. These are strange times. Tech tools are eating jobs. Geopolitical certainties are resetting. The systems you were told to trust (governments, employers, markets) are actively betraying our trust. All certainties are out of the window.

But people must still figure life out. They have to keep going. We still have to build things, solve personal problems, raise children, find meaning. And stay sane through it all. I’m relying on a few sets of mindsets that save my sanity and logic. Things that help right now.

Shortform: All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply. Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts.

Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning.

Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of Postanly Weekly wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools you missed. I’d love for you to get the full experience and access all my posts.

Shortform: All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply. Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts.

Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning.

Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

“Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up” ― Veronica Roth

Fear is a natural response to the unknown, the uncertain, and the potentially threatening. For many people, fear is a villain. An unwelcome adrenaline and stress hormone that keeps them chained to the comfortable corners of their known universe. But there is more to fear than doubts and paralysed limbs. Fear, the perceived enemy, is key to our best lives. Your biggest fear, in truth, could be your greatest teacher.

Every climber has a fear story.

At the peak of her climb, the mountain climber’s fingers clenched around the cold, unforgiving rock. Fear gnawing at her every move. Each gust of wind threatens to send her plummeting, but within that terror lies a potent lesson: resilience. Each step, shaky though it may be, is a testament to her strength, a challenge met and conquered. The fear doesn’t diminish her; it hones her instincts and pushes her to new limits of determination.

So, too, is the public speaker battling stage fright.

The tremor in his voice and the clammy palms are merely the preparation for a newfound eloquence. Facing his fear forces him to harness his raw emotion to channel nervousness into powerful persuasion. He holds on and emerges from his fear, no longer a victim but a master of his own narrative.

Fear is the reason a writer ia paralysed by the blank page.

Yet, it is within this abyss of fear that she finds inspection. The very struggle to overcome self-doubt sparks good ideas. It forces new perspectives and cultivates a depth of expression she needs to get started and keep writing. The fear that once silenced her becomes the fire that fuels her words.

Many people have similar fear stories.

They overcame fear by learning from it. They looked inward to find the strength to keep going. Stories of fear inspires action. They remind us that the darkness we find within ourselves can also be the path towards personal triumph. Listen to your fears. Understanding their messages. Use them to achieve what we once thought impossible. The rewards of facing your fears and emerging stronger on the other side are truly immeasurable.

Fear exposes the strength within

“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” — Aristotle

Fear becomes a teacher not by inflicting pain but by revealing cracks in our defenses. It illuminates our vulnerabilities, exposes hidden insecurities, and forces us to confront them head-on. It exposes the beauty within, pushing us to refine our skills and strengthen our resolve.

But facing our biggest fear is not an act of reckless bravery. We can’t conquer our fears through blind defiance. It is a deliberate and calculated leap of faith. Even though we are vulnerable. It requires acknowledging the monster in the shadows, understanding its grip, and then, with proactive steps, approaching it with respect and courage.

Life through fear is rarely smooth.

But “nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood,” says physicist and chemist Marie Curie. There will be stumbles, setbacks, and moments when the darkness threatens to overwhelm. But within these stumbles lies the most incredible wisdom. Each falter reveals a previously unseen path, a lesson learned in self-doubt.

The next time your biggest fear threatens you, its shadow, do not turn away. See it as the only way forward. I like what essayist and novelist Anais Nin said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” Make peace with the discomfort of life. Let your fear be your teacher. After all, the greatest victories are often forged in our anxieties. So, turn up the volume on your self-doubt; your greatest triumph depends on it.

12 tiny habits for life

1. Take quarterly personality inventory to understand how you are evolving.

2. Write down disturbing emotional experiences: what are the triggers

3. Track your time to know where it’s going.

4. Reflect on what worked well at the end of each week.

5. Choose to just be, let be.

6. Start your day with a glass of water; hydration first as a rule.

7. Reflect on and adjust your productivity techniques monthly.

8. Focus on the “process” of living, not the “outcomes” you expect.

9. Do more of what’s working.

10. Repeat habits with the highest return on investment.

11. Limit all-or-nothing thinking or catastrophising.

12. Write down recurring worries and explore their origins.

James Clear on sprint downhill, not grind uphill

“Look for situations where the energy is already flowing downhill. Invest in relationships where there is already mutual respect. Create products that tap into a desire people already have. Work on projects that play to your strengths. And then, once the potential of the situation is already working for you, add fuel to the fire. Pour yourself into the craft. Act as if you have to outwork everyone else—even though the wind is at your back.

The idea is to sprint downhill, not grind uphill.”

A free read on Medium

This Simple Mental Reset Eliminates 80% of Your Daily Anxieties

I’ve been fighting my own mind for years. The goal is to reset why it immediately jumps many hours, sometimes days, ahead the minute I wake up. It doesn’t shut up about what could go wrong. This is the price we pay for having a highly evolved brain. We are great at anticipating threats. But right now, as uncertainty is the order of the day, it creates daily anxiety. A lot of our anxiety is not so much about the fear of the present. But the paradox of trying to control a future we can’t control. Fortunately, you can eliminate about 80% of it with a mental reset. No, you don’t need meditation apps, journal tools, or a complete lifestyle change.

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

Most career advice is backwards. Or incomplete. There was too much focus on competence a decade or two ago. Don’t get me wrong. It’s necessary. But it’s not sufficient for our present world of work. A great career reset is happening. Tech intelligence has a lot to do with it. If you don’t have specific, indispensable leverage, you could be pursuing your…

Read more

Hello,

Here is your weekly dose of Postanly Weekly wisdom for smarter living. If you are new here, check out the archive for all the essays and tools you missed. I’d love for you to get the full experience and access all my posts.

Shortform: All lifelong learners need this

Shortform is one of my indispensable tools for learning. I’ve been using it for a while now. I find their actionable summaries of self-improvement, philosophy, and psychology books easy to apply. Shortform helps you level up without wasting time you don’t have. And they don’t stop at books. They’ve got guides for articles and podcasts.

Experience a new level of lifelong learning with Shortform. Over 10,000 people use it to accelerate their learning.

Join me on Shortform.

Postanly readers get a free trial and $50 off the annual plan.

Learning never stops. The ongoing process of picking up knowledge from as many sources as possible has changed my life. We unconsciously pick up something new every day. What if you make it intentional? You could 10x your learning if you made it a conscious habit. The concept of lifelong learning is not new. It’s been around for decades.

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is,” Isaac Asimov said. But with the pace of change in the world today, lifelong learning has taken on a whole new meaning. We need to do more than just read a book or watch a documentary. We have to be aware of everything going on in the world and how it impacts us to become better thinkers and more productive professionals.

Lifelong learning can help you pursue new interests, develop new skills, stay current with emerging ideas and make better decisions.

The more you know, the greater your chances of success.

It’s a cliché, but it’s also true.

More self-directed learning means more opportunities to find fulfilling work and make a better life for yourself. You might also see lifelong learning as a way to keep your brain active and engaged. But, with the demands of work, family, and other commitments, it can be challenging to find time for other forms of learning outside experience and reflection.

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest,” Confucius said.

Self-learning shouldn’t become a chore.

If you are trying too hard, you will give up. If you struggle to fit it into your schedule, you will struggle to make it a habit. We all have those moments of downtime where we can’t help but feel like we’re just sitting around and wasting time. And even though we may spend these pockets of time on social media or watching TV, it’s still frustrating to feel like we’re not doing anything productive. If you are intellectually curious enough, there are plenty of ways you can use a little bit of your downtime for lifelong learning.

A few minutes daily is all you need to make learning a habit

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will,” says Vernon Howard.

Learning doesn’t need to be a full-time commitment.

In fact, you can use your downtime to improve your skills and develop better habits — all without making any drastic changes to your schedule.

The good news is, no matter how busy you are, you can still make time for personal growth to learn something new every day.

An effective way to pick up skills for life is the 10% time approach: break down your learning into short, bite-sized knowledge you can consume in just 10 percent of your time.

You don’t have to disrupt your schedule to make massive changes to embrace the learning habit. It’s a simple step toward learning something useful every day. Learning new and valuable things can help you reinvent yourself to become indispensable in our rapidly changing world.

The goal is to make learning a habit without trying too hard.

Using just 10% of your time for personal development will pay off for the rest of your life. You can always read or listen to something new when waiting for your coffee, on your work break or commuting.

You can even use 10% or more of your evening time for reading your favourite book. I tend to do a lot of my reading in the evenings. Even the busiest people can find time to learn something new. Many people think that they don’t have time for it anymore when it comes to lifelong learning. Lifelong learning is all about making the most of any spare moments in the day. The best thing about pockets of time is that you can learn anything you want! From learning how to speak another language to mastering a new skill, there are endless opportunities for anyone who wants them.

There are many ways to sneak in small bits of learning throughout the day while still maintaining focus at work and being present with family.

Every minute you don’t really value as productive can be used for learning.
No time is too little or too small for learning.

You can easily make learning new things a habit by deliberately investing even just 10% of your gap time for learning.

A question worth asking

‘What leverage do I have, and how am I using it?’

This is a particularly interesting exercise in relation to employment, where talented individuals often assume their leverage can only be exchanged for more salary and responsibility. But what about fewer working hours for the same pay? How we utilise our leverage can align with our personal values and priorities, rather than simply move us up someone else’s ladder.”

A piece of advice worth passing on

I make time to reflect on these words by Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett: “I must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” The resilience we all require to move beyond the unexpected shocks that most of us will experience during our lifetimes must be learnt over time. We can, and will, overcome. Resilience is a feature of humanity, in all of us, to be tapped into.

Writer Edith Wharton on habits

“The producer of old age is habit: the deathly process of doing the same thing in the same way at the same hour day after day, first from carelessness, then from inclination, at last from cowardice or inertia. Habit is necessary; but it is the habit of having careless habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive… one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways.”

Source: ​A Backward Glance

A free read on Medium

A Great Life Takes Work

A better life is hard. Mere existence is also hard. I’ve chosen my hard. And working on it. Nurturing your best relationships is also hard. Anything worth doing takes work. Everything worth having, a great body, a better marriage, a smart brain, or a successful project has a price. You pay that in effort, or you pay it in regret. Either way, you pay. “No man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself,” Seneca said. If you avoid the work, you become a burden on your mind. Regrets eat you alive. To build a “great” life, choose your “voluntary hard.”

Get them for free or donate what you want.

1. The little book of life rules they forgot to teach

2. The Little book of Carl Jung Wisdom

3. A short book on how to live

About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.

“The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.” Philosopher and scientist René Descartes said that. Einstein didn’t think alone. He was in great company. He wasn’t a lone genius. Or a singular brain working in isolation. Einstein was a thinker who learned and…

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