"We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"

It was March 2020 and my country of residence announced a seriously tough lockdown because of the virus that shall not be named.   We were prisoners in our own home; allowed out for groceries only if we brandished our quarantine pass.  Everything else was off limits.   At the time of writing this (some 18 months later),

At the time of writing I’m in a lockdown that’s lasted for … the best part of a year at this point.  The Philippines, where I’m currently based, has had one of the longest COVID lockdowns in the world and I think it’s fair to say that I’ve found it a bit of a struggle.  Haven’t we

So you’re going through a patch where you feel completely demotivated to do anything positive.  Your mind is stucking in a loop of negativity and it’s bringing you down to the point where you just can’t get yourself to do anything.   You ask yourself “what’s the point?” and your self talk becomes increasingly destructive. You

My last one of these monthly reviews was 2 years ago!   Unlike 2 years ago, we’re now in the midst of a pandemic, and I’m in quarantine in Manila (and have been for the last year).   We’ve not been allowed outside of our homes except for “essential needs” for large parts of the year and,

Generic self help advice is full of polar opposites:Get up at 5am.  Sleep 8 hours a night.  Sleep when you’re deadDon’t quit.  Know when to quit.  Fail quicklyEat vegetarian.  Eat only meat.  Only mix protein and fats.  Don’t eat carbsJust get started.  Finish one thing before you start something new.Ship fast. Fail quickly.  Go above

Seth Godin, one of my favorite authors, has a very strong and consistent message in his books and lectures:- get good at shipping. To ship simply means to release that software, publish that book, open up that company for business, finish that video course…It means releasing whatever you’re working on into the wild. The only purpose

One of my first semi-successful bootstrapped businesses over a decade ago was an online training portal designed to show non technical entrepreneurs how to create authority sites to generate income.   Before the launch, I remember spending months and months creating videos, writing blog posts, books and recording webinars.  After about 3 months of solid work

Skill hacking is the art of developing either a new or existing skill in the shortest time possible.  I’m particularly fascinated with the topic and regularly do experiments to try and accelerate my learning. On of my favorite and most reliable ways of learning a new skill as fast as possible is the 30 day challenge.

At 19 years old I had no confidence in myself and was incredibly insecure.  I had suffered from terrible acne my whole life (which I was really embarassed about), I had hardly any friends, and I had literally no experience with the opposite sex.   To say that I struggled socially would win an accolade for

Critics of those that spend their lives working on themselves often cite the so-called paradox of self development.  It goes something like this:- “There’s a paradox with self-improvement and it is this: the ultimate goal of all self-improvement is to reach the point where you no longer feel the need to improve yourself.” – Source The idea