You can have almost anything you want in life as long as you a) help enough other people get what they want, and b) you don’t care that in the beginning, most people will just think that you’re failing. Today, I’m going to show you the hidden benefits of letting people think just that.

The genesis of this idea came to me after reading Plato’s Republic, specifically when Socrates is talking to (arguing with?) Glaucon about virtue (being a good person). They’re discussing whether it’s best to be thought a good person by everyone in the world but really be…

The last third of this book, A Study of Gurdjieff’s Teaching, by Kenneth Walker, I would “generously” refer to as pseudo-science, but the first two-thirds contain some of the most important ideas you’ll ever come across in any book ever. I’m serious about this.

Written by one of his students, this book details Gurdjieff’s “Fourth Way,” a method of self-discovery (called Self-Remembering, by Gurdjieff) that unites all the faculties of the fully alive individual: the body, the emotions, and the intellect.

You can safely skip all the stuff about hydrogen and “centers” and all that, but I believe I’ve captured…

The simplest explanation of a black hole is that it’s an area of space so dense and tightly compact that not even light can escape. It’s so black, and dark, and well…focused…that once light particles get pulled into the “event horizon,” or boundary of a black hole, that particle is never seen or heard from ever again.

Now…

Imagine if that was the level of your focus on your goals and dreams.

That’s what Isaiah Hankel’s book, Black Hole Focus, is going to help you to do, and where Hankel devotes all his attention to helping you get right what…

Written by Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, Be Water, My Friend goes into Bruce Lee’s philosophy of martial arts, and his philosophy of life, which is often powerfully expressed via his famous water metaphor.

Water always keeps going, is always looking for an opportunity to move forward, and is never in a hurry. Water is always relaxed and ready, willing to adapt and flow. Given enough time, it wears down the very stone of the Earth and ultimately prevails even against solid rock.

I wouldn’t say this is a spectacular book, but it’s very well worth reading if you’re a…

Having read two of her other, better known books, I knew that Jen Sincero would have some excellent advice to offer in the area of habits, and I was not disappointed.

Whereas James Clear’s phenomenal book, Atomic Habits, is what I would consider the definitive book on habits, I feel that it lacks some of the humanity, intimacy and care that’s present in Sincero’s work.

That being said, Badass Habits lacks a lot of the best stuff in Clear’s book too! Reading both — and applying both — will give you the benefits of both.

Reading Badass Habits, you really…

Along a crowded downtown street, I had all their eyes on me. Fixated. Wondering just what I was going to do next. Was I going to release a primal scream? Roundhouse kick my driver’s side door? Lose my proverbial shit?

None of the above. I was like a cucumber. As in cool-as-a. All I did was reach over, surreptitiously remove the parking ticket from my windshield, and slide it silently into my pocket without even checking the amount of the fine. I felt fine. No unexpected, unwanted expense would disturb my equanimity this day, or any day. …

It doesn’t make sense at first glance, but a higher salary doesn’t actually mean that you make more money than someone else. I don’t know why you’d want to compare your own singular, idiosyncratic, irreplaceable life with anyone else’s anyway, but if you absolutely must, then we should at least get the math right.

For example, a person making $40,000 per year might actually be making more per hour than someone earning $70,000 per year. How does that work?

Well, two ways.

Both can be so insidious in that, on the surface, you’ll never see these two factors eating away…

Good Morning!

Before we start, I have to admit right up front that you might find this Progress Report rather boring. I wrote this for me, to keep myself accountable to whomever might read it (people like you!), and to ensure that I don’t lose focus and distract myself from achieving my highest and most important goals.

So yea, I’m pretty much just going to be talking about myself and what’s important to me for the next few minutes.

No one will blame you if you find that boring or self-indulgent! …