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Post written by Leo Babauta . Most people are unaware of why it’s so difficult to create lasting changes in their lives. Here’s the secret: it’s all about the mechanisms of creating new habits. Most people try to exercise, or become more productive, or start meditating … only to give up a few days or a couple weeks later. And then they feel bad about it, and wonder why they suck at making changes. What we don’t realize is that there are certain forces working against us, mostly because we don’t understand how habits are created. What I’ve learned is that you can turn those forces around, and make them work for you. On Monday, Sept. 26, 2011 at 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern , I’ll share some of the things I’ve learned about creating habits (read My Story for some of the habits I’ve changed). I’m host a free webinar that will take about an hour. No signup or email address required. Just show up, listen to me talk about my habit system, and then ask any questions you like. Join me here at 3 pm Pacific/6 pm Eastern time ( Mon. Sept. 26, 2011 ): Free Habit Webinar I’m looking forward to talking with you guys. Note : Yes, this webinar will be recorded for those who can’t make it, but I encourage you to join me live so you can ask questions.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Baker of Man Vs. Debt . Every time we automate a process in our lives, we trade a piece of consciousness away for a piece of convenience. This can be fantastic, as long as we ensure that we automate positive, sustainable habits. The problem with automation comes when we try to apply it to areas in our lives that need more consciousness. We run into trouble when we try to solve a problem by automating it. Automation itself doesn’t fix anything. In fact, automating a undesirable process only buries the problem even further. “Problems can’t be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” -Albert Einstein. We cannot solve problems by trading away consciousness. We need to reverse this trend. We need  unautomation . Unautomation is the act of deliberately trading back pieces of convenience for increased consciousness in return. In our financial lives, there are plenty of examples were we can benefit from unautomation : Creating a list of every item you own. While far from convenient, this will drastically increase the awareness of our clutter. Using a 30-day list for wants. Waiting 30 days to purchase an item can be a drag, but we’ll likely realize how little we really desired it in the first place. Tracking our spending with pen and paper. Carry a small pocketbook and record every purchase by hand rather than just on your plastic. Converting the cost of items into time we’ll need to work. This can be a tough exercise, but will put things in perspective quickly. Purging 2 items for every 1 you bring into your life. Yet another inconvenient (at times) rule-of-thumb that can raise awareness around just how much clutter we bring into our lives. Quit signing contracts. Until you’ve ever tried to quit signing them, you don’t realize how fundamental contracts are in our society. Spending with cash over plastic. Going without plastic isn’t easy, but you can’t get much more aware than we spending cold, hard cash. Taking public transportation. You may have to leave early or plan a little more in advance, but taking public transportation will open your eyes the other side of your daily commute. These examples are only a handful of hundreds of money instances where we could benefit from a path of less convenience and more consciousness. The next time you look to change a set of behaviors in your life, don’t turn to automation. Start with unautomation. Registration is now open for You Vs Debt , Baker’s 6-week online class with daily videos, challenges, and accountability forums to empower your battle against debt.

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Post written by Leo Babauta . Often we think of having very little as a hardship. It’s bad to be poor, right? It’s not easy struggling with low wages, with debt, with scarcity. And while all that is true, it’s also not true. There can be joy in getting rid of things, in living with less, in freeing yourself of debt and possessions. It’s all in your mindset. I grew up poor, and it wasn’t long ago that I was struggling with an income that was too low to meet my mounting bills and debt payments. One of the worst times of my life, actually. But as I worked to eliminate my debt, I learned to live with less. And I learned that it can be a wonderful thing. Struggle is hard, no matter how you paint it. But living in scarcity doesn’t have to be struggle. That’s completely up to you. Reducing Debt When my wife and kids and I began reducing our debt, more than five years ago, it was a scary time. We were overloaded with bills, over our heads in debt, and it was one of the most stressful things we’d ever faced. So we cut back on spending, which meant learning a whole new way of living. Zap … we got rid of the cable TV, magazine subscriptions, mocha coffees, regular outings to the movie theaters and restaurants and the mall, and more. We changed our entire lives. And yet, while we could have thought of this as sacrifice, in truth, we learned to enjoy it. We were living with less, but we were happier. We were happier because we saw this as an opportunity to reconnect with each other, doing things that were cheap or free. We took the kids outside more, and played with them. Playing kickball and soccer and tag … these things cost nothing. We dusted off board games and decks of cards, played charades, and had a blast. We visited family and friends more. We cooked at home and had better meals than ever, got healthier, enjoyed eating together. It wasn’t all roses and cream, but there were many, many positive things that came out of this scarcity. When you are forced to cut back, you can moan, or you can find joy. We chose the path that made us happiest. And once we were out of debt, that was one of the most liberating things ever. So we reached an amazing destination, but the journey was just was wondrous. Reducing Clutter Clutter is another scary thing for a lot of people. Just facing the piles of clutter in your home can be overwhelming. In truth, clutter is a mountain of procrastination … putting off decisions and fears and emotional issues and shopping addictions and more. Facing those fears and issues is too much for most of us. I faced them, and learned that when you deal with these fears and emotions, even a little at a time, it is freeing. You feel clean and spare, not just because you’re burdened with fewer possessions, but because you’re burdened with fewer emotional baggage that you’re hiding in the back of your mind. Reducing our clutter meant tough choices, it meant a lot of discussion about what we wanted and why we really need things, it meant learning a whole host of new habits. But it also meant getting rid of things that were weighing us down, that we didn’t need but that were still costing us time and energy and mental cycles. We learned to love a spare-looking room, and the amazing feeling of sitting or lying around in a room that was clean and uncluttered. Living with fewer possessions can be a pure joy that is unmatched by anything you can buy. Less Food Losing 70 lbs. has been a journey of exploring my relationship with food. In days of fatness, I ate because everyone else was eating, I ate because I was bored or stressed out and needed the comfort of food, I ate because I didn’t want to confront my health issues, I ate because it was one of the only ways I knew of finding pleasure. Now I know that less food can also be a joy. Eating simple foods, rather than fast foods or convenient foods or sweet or fatty or fried foods, can be a joy. I’ve learned the simple pleasures of drinking a cup of unsweetened tea made from whole tea leaves. I’ve learned the deliciousness that comes from eating a single fresh fig, half a handful of berries, a few raw almonds. When you stop putting so much sugar and sauces on things, you learn their real beauty. When you stop killing animals and learn to appreciate the natural taste of plants, you feel incredible and alive. I now skip breakfast so I can remember what it’s like to feel a little hungry — something I never did when I was fat. I eat two meals a day because it’s easier to prepare, and I like a little scarcity in my life. I eat what I want, but I find that I enjoy the simple foods more than ever now. Fewer Choices We think we want a lot of choices, but really we want freedom. There’s a difference, and the overwhelming number of choices in our lives these days leads to confusion, paralysis, and unhappiness. Scarcity choices can be seen as a bad thing, but I see it as liberating. I’m not saying we should have no choices, but fewer is better. Try narrowing down your choices, in as many ways as you dare. Watch fewer TV shows by picking just three you watch every week. Pick just one book and read that until you’re done. Have a to-do list that’s only three items long each day. Make a weekly menu that only has two or three meals you cook in big batches, and eat those all week. You might worry that you’re making the wrong choices — you’re not. There are no wrong choices, there’s only the fear of making the wrong choices. I find limiting my choices to be an opportunity to let go of the worries about making the wrong choices, and to focus on enjoying the choices I do make. As I’ve explored scarcity, I’ve been left with this one truth: every path I take is perfect. Tw | G+

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Editor’s note : This is a guest post from Michael Bungay Stanier of Box of Crayons . You’ll know Michelangelo’s comment about how he worked, so let me paraphrase: “I just carve away anything that doesn’t look like a lion, and I’m left with a lion.” In that statement is the fundamental choice at the heart of Great Work : focus on the No to become clear on the Yes; define the Yes by clarifying the No. I think it’s the essence of doing more Great Work; or at least it seems to be the critical lesson I keep needing to learn. (You do know we teach what we most need to learn, don’t you?) Here are four elusive pairs I’d like to do a better job at saying No and Yes to, and the four experiments I’m going to start to see if I can move in the right direction. 1. Saying No to Control … so I can say Yes to Freedom My very first boss was creative, prolific and a touch insane. I remember one of my early Career Limiting Moves when, in front of the whole company, I clicked into mouth-operating-before-brain mode and joked he needed to have a finger in every pie. I have become that very same person. Pies? I’ve got pies everywhere I look, way too many pies. Or perhaps it’s not enough fingers. But in any case, we – and by that I mean I – have reached a point where it can’t go on. If I haven’t dropped a ball yet, it’s only a matter of time. And hamster-in-wheel is not a job description worth much. I’m inspired by Chris Brogan whose philosophy, as I understand it, is to start something, hand it over and then get the hell out of the way. Here’s the shift in thinking that might make the difference for me. Realizing I am not Box of Crayons but that I only serve Box of Crayons. And I’m going to test that by staring one thing, something I’d normally hold on to, hand it over, move aside and see if it will be the end of the world (which has been my theory to date). How about you? Where has staying in control become your own mind-forged manacle ? 2. Saying No to Popularity … so I can say Yes to Friendship I’m not super obsessed with numbers, and in fact am pretty lousy at metrics. (I mainly go with “Is this the right mix of Great Work and Good Work?” “Am I having fun?” “Are we in the poor house?” I hope for Yes Yes No as the answers.) But the rise of new technology means that one way of spending time is hanging out in the social media mirrored rooms waving at many (Woo hoo! 14,000 people on Twitter!) but never really holding hands, looking into the eyes and having a real conversation with a few. I notice that this week, Gwen Bell is leaving Twitter and moving to Google+, because she feels it’s a place where she can create intimacy, community and digital sanctuary . And Scott Stratten , one of the Twitterati, has said his greatest mistake was to follow back blindly. My shift in thinking is to recognize it as a width vs depth thing, and see if I can find the hunger for the depth. I think it’s there somewhere. I’m going to start taking the Call a Friend option once a day to connect to people I love. You? 3. Saying No to Money … so I can say Yes to Impact For the last eighteen months I’ve been walking a fine line, working on the business that I love and that pays my bills, and working on my Great Work Project , a new book whose sale raises money for an important cause. It has been a constant struggle to give this Great Work the appropriate time and space to come together, and that’s primarily because of the seductive comfort of Good Work. Great Work, because it’s work that truly matters to me, makes me fret, gives me sweaty palms, and invites all sorts of doubt and self-sabotage. Good Work on the other hand is the relatively simple task of rolling up my sleeves and getting things done, having some fun and making some money along the way. And yet, Great Work – unsafe and uncertain as it so often is – is where I hang out on the edges of my own competence and ambition, learning what’s possible for me and for the world. Great Work is also where I can most easily invite other extraordinary people in to help me create the meaning and impact I’m hungry for in my life. The shift in thinking is to remember (and remember and remember) that Great Work projects take time and need time, and your calendar never lies about what really is most important to you. And the experiment for now is to look again at “the bottom 10%” of what I do, to see if I might say No to that in some way, to say Yes to Great Work. What is it for you? Where might you trade money (or time) for meaning? 4. Saying No to Plans … so I can say Yes to Now Truth is, I’m unlikely to ever say No to plans. I love them – which is one reason at least that I hang out with Charlie Gilkey , who’s a master at them. I’ve got plans for the week, the month, the quarter, the year. When in doubt, I pull out a piece of paper and start sketching out a plan (which, it must be said, often looks exactly like the plan I’d done two weeks earlier and then “filed” somewhere safe and forgotten about.) But it’s time to plan a little less. Leo has been talking about No Goals for a while, and (following in his footsteps as I so often do) I am becoming aware that the price I pay for planning is that I spend more time in the future and less time in the here and now. For instance, the last few months I’ve been deep in the planning of today’s book launch. The price I’ve paid is that summer has slipped by largely unnoticed. I haven’t stopped enough to feel the heat of the sun on my shoulders, to hear the ice clink in my drink on the deck, to give myself up to the swing of the hammock. And as I write this now, the first of intimations of Fall are here and I know I’ve missed a season that I won’t have back. The shift in thinking is to realize that planning comes at a cost. A price I’m willing to pay, but perhaps to pay less these days. My action is to not fill up the final months of the year, but to try to wander a little in the white space that’s there. Got any non plans? Yes is too easy But a strong Yes is hard, and say a strong Yes to the things that really matter is harder still. So rather than starting with the Yes, start with the No. Get to the heart of the choice you want to make, then design your own experiments to see what might be possible. ? Michael’s Great Work Project is End Malaria a collection of essays on Great Work from 62 brilliant people and where $20 from every book sold goes to Malaria No More.

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Post written by Leo Babauta . For at least a couple of years, Zen Habits was one of the top productivity blogs, dispensing productivity crack for a nominal fee (your reading time). I’d like to think I helped people move closer to their dreams, but today I have different advice: Toss productivity advice out the window. Most of it is well-meaning, but the advice is wrong for a simple reason: it’s meant to squeeze the most productivity out of every day, instead of making your days better. Imagine instead of cranking out a lot of widgets, you made space for what’s important. Imagine that you worked slower instead of faster, and enjoyed your work. Imagine a world where people matter more than profits. If any of that appeals to you, let’s look at some traditional productivity advice, and see why we should just toss them out . 1. Get Organized . Sounds good, but getting organized is just rearranging the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. It does nothing to stop the ship from sinking. Instead, simplify. If you have a desk with 5 things in it, you don’t need to organize. If you have a closet with only a handful of clothes, it doesn’t need a closet organizer. If your day has only one or two appointments, there’s no need for a detailed schedule organizer. Simplifying means making important choices about what’s important, rather than ignoring that question and just trying to cram everything into your day (and space) in a logical way. 2. Keep an Idea List . The idea is that whenever you have an idea, you should write it down. Then you’ll never lose an idea, and you’ll always have a list of ideas that you can come back to. Sounds great, right? Except in practice, the idea list is never filled with your best ideas. That’s because when you have a really great idea, you get so excited about it you jump up and want to work on it immediately. Your best ideas are ones that you can’t put off until tomorrow. That’s how you know it’s a great idea. The ideas that go on the Idea List are not your best. 3. Set a Lot of Goals . Only five years ago, I had a long list of goals for each year, and I was pretty decent at getting them done (better than 50% at least). Then I experimented with three goals a year, and I was even more focused. Then I did One Goal , and that was amazing, because it really helped me focus everything I did. Now I do No Goals , and it’s best of all. I let go of future-focused thinking, and focus on what inspires and excites me now. I get even more accomplished, but let go of all the time I used to spend on goal administration (it’s more than you might think) and all my mental energy is freed to do what I want to do right now. You might not want to do No Goals, but try One Goal or three goals. 4. Track Everything . If you want to change it, you have to measure it, right? If you want fast results, you need to track it. Except that’s complete crap. Why do you need such fast results in the first place? And who says you need to track something to change it? I’ve found more meaningful, lasting results when I don’t track, but focus on enjoyment of the activity. For example, if I focus on enjoying running, that makes me want to run more often, and that’s a habit that lasts much longer. If I focus on tracking the running (mileage, speed, VO2 max, intervals, etc), that takes the enjoyment away from the activity (running) and focuses on the results. If you are so focused on the results, the activity becomes only a means to an end. That makes the activity less enjoyable, and therefore less sustainable over the long run. I’ve become fitter than ever by not tracking, but instead enjoying being active. I’ve grown my site more now that I don’t track stats, but instead enjoy the writing. Over the long run, not tracking is better. 5. Be Productive When You’re Waiting . Lots of people do this — you bring a laptop or mobile device or some papers to do some work while you’re waiting at a doctor’s office or at DMV or on the train or in traffic. There’s nothing wrong with this, really, except in the philosophy behind it: that every second should be filled with work, or it’s wasted. I object to this. Sitting in a waiting room, doing nothing but sitting in silence or watching other people, is a beautiful way to spend your time. Reading a novel on a train, or taking a nap, is also wonderful. Waiting in line at DMV or the post office and eavesdropping on other human beings, or making conversation with someone, or just soaking in the sounds of humanity, is arguably more important than doing more work or reading work-related documents. Life isn’t only about work, and productivity isn’t everything. Try some unproductivity instead. 6. Keep Detailed, Context To-Do Lists . In the early days of Zen Habits, back in 2007, I did exactly this — I kept a series of contextual to-do lists for home, work, phone calls, errands, someday, and so on. This became too much work for me, and so instead of organizing, I simplified. I now focus on one or two things to do each day, and if when I get them done, my day is golden. Everything else I do that day is gravy. And the to-do lists gather dust, which turns out to be a very productive thing for them to do. 7. Work Hard in Bursts, with Frequent Breaks . Work hard for 10 minutes and take a break for 5! Or maybe 12 and 3? Maybe 30 minutes of hard work and 10 minutes of break? The exact numbers really depend on your flavor of productivity, but at their heart they miss the point: you shouldn’t be forcing yourself to work hard on something you dread doing, and then take a break to reward or relieve yourself from that dreaded work. You should work on stuff you love, so that you can’t wait to do it, and taking a break is just a matter of enjoying something else (maybe a nice walk, a nice book, a nice conversation with a friend). Life where you work hard in bursts, with some breaks, is dreadful. Life where you’re always doing something you love is art. Tw | G+

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Post written by Leo Babauta . I’m a big proponent of slowing down , simplifying , doing less , and being less busy … but what if you can’t? What if your life can’t be made less busy — are you doomed to a life of anxiety and unhappiness? No. I’m going to share with you a very simple tool that might just transform your life. It’s something I’ve been trying in the last few months, and I can attest that it works brilliantly. This one little method will help you to: Be more present, so life doesn’t rush past you without you noticing. Enjoy every activity you do more, so life is better all the time. Feel more relaxed, so every day is as good as a vacation. Be ready to handle anything that comes your way. Not bad for a very tiny method, no? Let’s dive in. Busy vs. relaxed Normally we have two different modes in life. There’s the busy of our everyday lives, and then there’s the relaxed mode, which happens when we have some unstructured time: vacation, a day at the beach, a spa getaway, some time in the park with the kids. Relaxed mode is one where we perhaps think less and feel more. We just soak in the sun, the sounds, the sensations. This is a child-like time, because it’s the mode that young children are in the most. We do our best to train kids not to be like this, so they can be good workers when they grow up and serve our corporate masters. And so we grow up to be in busy mode most of the week, and if we’re lucky we get a day or two, maybe only an hour or two of relaxed mode. When the Internet sucks us in, we have less relaxed mode because the Internet keeps us in our minds, and we forget about the physical world around us. How can we change this? How can we bring the child-like relaxed, sensory mode back into our everyday lives, not just during breaks and meditation/yoga time and vacations? It’s not that difficult, if you practice. The Zen State When we are in relaxed mode, we notice the sensations of the wind and sun, the sounds of water and laughter, the brilliant colors of nature, the smiles around us, the grass or sand between our toes. We are feeling instead of thinking. The sensations of our bodies flow into our minds, and it makes us relaxed, happy. We can re-learn this mode of being with practice. Do it now. You’re reading a computer or mobile device screen, so your mind is in the world of the Internet … but your body is in the physical world. If you’re sitting, your butt can feel the chair. Your back might be a bit hunched. Your fingers are on a keyboard or mouse. Is the air around you cold or warm? Are there sounds you can notice? Is your jaw clenched? Notice your breathing. When you put your focus into physcial sensations, you are entering relaxed mode instead of thinking mode. It’s not that you’re completely relaxed, but you’re in the same state of mind as the times you are relaxed, like yoga or the beach or lazing away a Sunday in bed. Once you learn to do this, you can do it any time. In fact, all the time. If you’re taking a shower, feel the water running down you, soak in the temperature and the sound of running water. If you’re eating, taste every little nuance of the food, smell the food, feel the texture in your mouth, feel the movement of your hand going to your mouth. Do this as you work, as you talk on the phone or respond to emails or walk to a meeting or drive to an appointment, noticing the sensations on your skin, the colors around you, the sounds of humanity, your breath coming in and leaving you. Do this at home, as you do chores or prepare food or clean up or get ready for work. Do this throughout your day, and you will be in a constant state of relaxation and enjoyment. It will transform everything you do, if you do it. It will turn busy-ness into being present, harriedness into enjoyment. Life will be lived, instead of ignored. Tw | G+

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Post written by Leo Babauta . Your first thought as you look at this article will be, “I’ll read this later.” But don’t. Let the urge to switch to a new task pass. Read this now. It’ll take you two minutes. It’ll save you countless hours. I’ve written the book on ending procrastination, but I’ve since come up with a very simple technique for beating everyone’s favorite nemesis. It is incredibly easy, but as with anything, it takes a little practice. Try it now: Identify the most important thing you have to do today. Decide to do just the first little part of it — just the first minute, or even 30 seconds of it. Getting started is the only thing in the world that matters. Clear away distractions. Turn everything off. Close all programs. There should just be you, and your task. Sit there, and focus on getting started. Not doing the whole task, just starting. Pay attention to your mind, as it starts to have urges to switch to another task. You will have urges to check email or Facebook or Twitter or your favorite website. You will want to play a game or make a call or do another task. Notice these urges. But don’t move. Notice the urges, but sit still, and let them pass. Urges build up in intensity, then pass, like a wave. Let each one pass. Notice also your mind trying to justify not doing the task. Also let these self-rationalizing thoughts pass. Now just take one small action to get started. As tiny a step as possible. Get started, and the rest will flow. Tw | G+

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Editor’s Note : This is a guest post from Joshua Millburn of The Minimalists . I do not have a daily routine. I no longer need one. I do, however, have habits on which I focus every day. Don’t get me wrong, I used to have a daily routine — before I quit my six-figure job to pursue my passions and live a more meaningful life. And I hated that routine. Every day felt like Groundhog Day : awake to a blaring alarm, shower, shave, put on a suit and tie, spend an hour or more in mind-numbing traffic, succumb to the daily trappings of emails and phone calls and instant messages and meetings, drive home through even more mind-numbing traffic, eat something from a box in the freezer, search for escape within the glowing box in the living room, brush my teeth, set the alarm clock, sleep for five or six hours, start all over again in the morning. That was life most days. The same thing over and over and over. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. And then last year I decided it wasn’t for me anymore. I realized working 60 to 80 hours a week to make the money to buy more superfluous stuff didn’t fill the void I felt inside. It only brought more debt and anxiety and fear and loneliness and guilt and stress and paranoia and depression. So I canceled my routine. Or, rather, I traded in my routine for better habits. It didn’t happen overnight, but over a few years I pared down my possessions, got into the best shape of my life, paid off my debt, jettisoned my TV, eliminated Internet at home, left corporate America, started pursuing my passions, stopped buying junk, and started living a more meaningful life — a life focused on growth and contribution. During that time of personal growth I developed new habits I love, habits I look forward to each day, habits that make me happy: exercise, writing, reading, establishing new connections with people, and building upon existing relationships. I am also developing the habit of contribution . I believe giving is living — we don’t feel truly alive unless we contribute to other people in meaningful ways. Donating time to Habitat for Humanity, local soup kitchens, and various other community organizations has been a starting point on my journey towards developing this habit. I also enjoy contributing to the readers at our website and inspiring them to change their lives, much like Leo and Zen Habits inspired me to change mine. Many readers ask me what my typical day looks like now that I’m no longer forced into an unnecessary routine. My answer is always the same: every day is a blank page, although there are habits I act upon daily. Presenting last Thursday as an example, this is how I enjoyed the day: I woke at 4:50am without an alarm, excited and refreshed. These days my habit is to wake when my body tells me it’s rested. But there is no routine. I ate a banana, drank a cup of coffee, then wrote from 5am to 11am. As I primarily write literary fiction, I prefer writing in the morning when it’s quiet and I’m closest to the dream world. My writing room contains only a desk, a chair, a laptop, and my notes — the only things I need. Nothing else. There’s no phone, no Internet, no clock — no distractions. Just me and my habit, which I enjoy immensely. Each day I write until I don’t feel like writing anymore. But there is no routine. After a writing-fueled morning (interrupted only by push-ups every hour or so), I walked to the neighborhood park and alternated between pull-ups and push-ups under the midday sun. Exercise is important for me, and I enjoy it daily. But there is no routine. I showered, dressed (jeans and a T-shirt), and walked to a local burrito joint to eat a modest, vegetarian lunch. I eat when my body tells me I’m hungry, irrespective of the time (I don’t own a watch). Some days I eat lunch at noon; other days I might eat at 10am or 3pm. But there is no routine. After my meal, I walked to my favorite coffee shop, ordered an herbal tea, used their Internet connection to check my email and publish some writing online, then visited with some of the regulars (as well as some strangers). There were 37 emails in my inbox, which was okay as I only check email two or three times per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But there is no routine. After two or three hours on the Internet, I walked to a park, sat on a bench, and read a novel while the sun set fire to the sky. Some days this habit invites me to devour chapter after chapter, hour after hour; other days I read for only half an hour. But there is no routine. After a few chapters, I hit the gym with my best friend (and online writing pal), Ryan Nicodemus, and enjoyed some cardio and weight training. We habitually visit the gym four or five days per week. We drop by at different times each day. But there is no routine. Throughout the day I made sure I was hydrated. Besides coffee and herbal tea, I drank only water. No alcohol. No sugary drinks. No soda (or ‘pop,’ for those of us in the Midwest). I attempt to drink my body weight in ounces of water each day, which isn’t always easy — so sometimes I drink only half that. But that’s okay: there is no routine. I own a car, but I didn’t drive it on Thursday. I didn’t need to. It was a nice day, so I walked instead (even though Dayton, Ohio, isn’t exactly the most walkable city in the world). Some days I need to drive to where I want to go; other days I can walk. But there is no routine. Later that evening I enjoyed dinner and a conversation with a friend, and afterwards we walked to a local concert. Other days I might watch a movie at the indie theater or visit a friend’s house or spend time in an art gallery or volunteer a few hours of my time, all habits I enjoy. But there is no routine. After the concert, I walked a few miles by myself, gathering my thoughts. It had been a beautiful day, followed by a beautiful night — a denim sky illuminated by a waning crescent moon, a million diamonds afire, and the prospect of a new day at midnight. The good news is my life is no different than yours, minus the routine. Sure, the details are different, the circumstances are different, but we all have the same 24 hours in a day. We all have one life to live, and that life is passing by one day at a time. The only real difference lies within the decisions we make and the actions we take. Joshua Millburn writes essays with Ryan Nicodemus about minimalism and living a meaningful life with less stuff at The Minimalists . Follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his website .

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“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”- Hardy D. Jackson Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Scott Dinsmore of LiveYourLegend For the past 8 years I’ve run experiments on myself and others to better understand what makes us come alive. This has taken me on ultra-marathons, to the tops of mountains, the bowels of bookstores, around the world and in front of some pretty fascinating people on some very deep soul searching. Finding passion and helping folks do work that embodies it has become a bit of an obsession of mine and has turned up some interesting results. It turns out passion is not as elusive as we think. Just like daily exercise leads to a more fit and healthy body, there are habits that lead to fire in your belly. If we are to cultivate such a lifestyle we must act accordingly. 1. Surround yourself with passionate people. This is the foundation. Most people don’t believe you can do work you love because they’re constantly around people who hate their jobs and don’t know what excites them. This has to change. Those around you have everything to do with your success and your belief of what’s possible. You’ll either rise up or sink down depending on who’s next to you. Passion is contagious. You must have an environment that embodies it. You need a support crew who believes what you believe. People who dream as big as you or bigger. Not only will they give you ideas but they’ll condition the belief that doing what you love is the norm. They fuel our passion and make the unthinkable possible, even normal. You’ll begin to expect the same of yourself. It’s crucial to get this right. It’s why Leo and I get out on barefoot runs in San Francisco every week or so and why I’m on a quest to document 1,000 people across the world living their dreams . We all need encouragement. Look around you. Do the people you see inspire and motivate you? Are they doing epic things? Do they love their work? Learn how to make genuine connections with new people doing interesting things. Check Craig’s List, MeetUp, coffee shop bulletin boards, Chamber of Commerce, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Find people in your own town and online. Befriend them. Make them a part of your life. Get out on adventures together. Schedule a weekly dinner or drinks just to talk about what’s exciting. Environment is everything. 2. Create space. If you don’t give big ideas room, they’ll never show up. Purpose and passion are no different. Lack of space creates pressure – the ultimate killer of creativity. And nothing requires more creative juices than passion. Start small with five minutes each morning. Schedule downtime. Start walking to work instead of taking the bus. Don’t multitask. Get out in nature. Just be, let things flow and see what comes up. Give yourself permission to dream. Passion thrives in emptiness. 3. Help someone in a way only you can. We all have natural strengths and talents that can dramatically help those around us. What comes easy for you is no doubt challenging for others. We tend to take these for granted, often hardly noticing our own gifts, and rarely share them with others. Passion comes from using those on a routine basis. Ask yourself, What do people thank you for ? What do people routinely ask for your help with? Most people’s passions help others in one way or another. Perhaps for you it’s knitting, teaching children math, cooking a good meal or leading a yoga class. Devote time each day to sharing your talents. 4. Keep a journal of what inspires and excites you. Let your thoughts run wild. Most importantly, keep a running list of what inspires you. Books, magazines, movies, people, products, music, stories, careers, everything. Most people have a brush with passion almost daily, unfortunately we’re often too busy thinking of our 97-item todo list to take in the education. Anytime something catches your eye or excites you, open up your journal and get it onto paper. Over the years you will have a running story of how you might enjoy spending your time. 5. Challenge the norm. Ask questions. Don’t take things as gospel just because that’s how they’ve always been done. Don’t aimlessly listen to those around you. Question everything you’ve been doing and are about to do, especially if you don’t enjoy it. Is it really what you want? Is it in line with who you are? Perhaps there’s a better way. There often is. 6. Scare yourself – Live outside your comfort zone. Passionate people thrive off uncertainty. If you aren’t doing things that give you a few goose bumps you’re either not learning, dying or bored out of your mind. None of which are good. Do something at least mildly uncomfortable daily. This could be as small as making a phone call or sharing your art with someone. Be vulnerable . There’s a pretty direct correlation between pushing limits and epic living. 7. Find the right reasons. If a passionate person gets fired, they brush it off and get excited about the opportunity the lost job must be presenting. You can’t control what happens but you can control your reaction to it. What challenges have come up today? How could you reframe them? The juiciest possibilities often have the best disguises. Notice them. 8. Learn something new. Become obsessed with learning everything you can find – new skills, approaches, ideas, you name it. If it interests you then it’s important enough to get in your brain. We have to fuel what excites us. Grab a magazine or book that interests you and read a few pages on the way to work or before bed. Passionate people almost always have a book within reach. Ideas can be found anywhere. Start looking. Be a sponge. 9. Start at blog. Surprise, surprise, right? But blogs are much more powerful than most realize. They’re a simple way to explore and share the thoughts and beliefs you’re excited about and for people to immediately see and provide feedback. Don’t worry about whether you’ll make money from it or who will read it. That’s not the point. The point is to constantly fuel something that interests you. For years my wife has loved to cook vegetarian meals. Then last month she started a simple blog and the most fascinating thing started to happen. Her cooking changed from something she simply did, to something she eagerly shared and talked to others about. She suddenly had an audience to teach something she cared about. People started to thank her and cook her meals. Now she wants to do something more with it. Maybe private cooking classes or a recipe book. This would have never come if she hadn’t taken her interest to the next level. It didn’t have to be a blog. That just happens to be one of the easiest ways of doing it these days. Seriously start a blog. It takes a few hours max. Write about what excites you and nothing else. Publish it for the world to see. Do it daily or weekly. Give your passion room to breathe. See what happens. Your life’s an experiment Everything you do, everything you try, everything that does or doesn’t work out, whether you like it or not, it’s all an experiment. It’s up to you to decide to learn from it. That’s the ultimate daily practice. Test how you can help people. Test what excites you. Test what you like. Test what scares you. Realize that if you do what you’ve always done, your results are never going to change. Living a life of purpose and passion is just that, a way of life. Those who wake up excited aren’t just the lucky ones, they condition themselves to experience and deserve it. Scott Dinsmore is the founder of LiveYourLegend , where he writes and helps people discover passion & purpose and do work they love. Check out his latest articles or download his free Epic Work Toolkit . — Tweet

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‘Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.’ ~Benjamin Franklin Editor’s note : This is a guest post from Tess Marshall of The Bold Life . When I decided to quit smoking, I was 27 years old, my two oldest daughters were seven and five, and the twins were three. I didn’t want to be a bad example, I hid my smoking from them. I smoked when they were sleeping or when they were with the babysitter. As my addiction grew stronger, I began smoking in the bathroom with the window open. One day, my five year old knocked on the bathroom door and said, “Mommy, I smell something in there!” I freaked out, flushed my cigarette down the toilet, gathered my composure, and nonchalantly walked out. That evening, still freaking out, I explained to my husband what had happened. He calmly told me, “Tess, the way I see it, you have two choices: you can either quit or come out of the closet.” I chose to quit. I also decided to replace smoking with running. I began running laps on an indoor track, at a nearby college. Eight laps equaled one mile. At first, I couldn’t run a lap without losing my breath, so I walked. When I could run a mile without stopping or walking, I decided I would add one mile per month to my training. I wanted to join my neighbor in a 10K race and, only six months later, I crossed the finish line, as my family cheered! Soon after, Hubs and the girls began running as well, and it wasn’t long before we were racing together on weekends. Today, thirty years later, two of the girls work for an athletic company, one runs marathons, and another participates in triathlons. With my new habit, I changed our entire family. Each one of us has the power to improve our quality of life, one habit at a time. And running isn’t the only way I’ve made changes. The Keys to Habits A couple of months ago, I became a beta tester for The Habit Course created by Leo Babuata, Katie Tallo, and Barrie Davenport. I decided to make daily meditation my new habit. I made a commitment to read through the course material, listen to the podcasts, attend the webinars and spend time in the forum for four weeks. During the first week, I made my plan and built up my anticipation. Over the following three weeks, I sat in daily meditation for only five minutes. I can now say “I meditate” just like I say “I run.” When you create a new habit, it’s tempting to jump right in and do too much. I discovered the practice of the new habit is more important than the habit itself. The more you practice the easier it becomes. When the course ended, I increased my morning meditation time to 10 minutes. My goal is to add five minutes per month until I’m up to twenty minutes each day. Once I achieve my goal, I plan on adding an afternoon meditation session to my daily practice, using the same process. For me, learning the skill of creating a new habit has been empowering and life-changing. Read on for the steps you can take to create a new habit: 1. Make a plan. Forget about failures in the past, set a date, and start fresh with a solid plan. My plan included using the acronym RPM, rise, pee, meditate. Each morning I would rise, use the bathroom, and immediately meditate. I also arranged for getting positive feedback on my progress, reporting to a social group for accountability, and rewarding myself. 2. Choose a trigger. A trigger is an event that kicks off your habit. My previous habit was drinking coffee after I peed in the morning. Peeing was my trigger and drinking coffee was my habit. Now I rise, pee, and immediately go to my meditation chair. To strengthen the habit, when I go to use the bathroom I consciously think about my trigger and meditation to create a bond between the two. 3. Get positive feedback. It’s easy to give up without accountability and support. You need praise for your efforts and encouragement when it’s difficult. I’ve had Hubs and the Habit Course forum for my positive feedback. I also reminded myself every day about the health benefits I’d gain from my daily meditation habit. 4. Report your habit to a social group. Announce your new habit on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog. Ask friends and family for support. Tell them you want to be held accountable. I used the Habit Course forum for this as well. If you miss a day, feel discouraged, or get stuck, report it so your friends can cheer you on and encourage you. 5. Reward yourself. My reward is an espresso maker. I use it to reward myself daily, but only after meditating. Sticking with my new meditation habit became easier as I looked forward to my cup of espresso each morning. Changing a habit is a skill. Many people fail when they decide to create new habits because of poor planning and trying to do too much at once. My new habits have become easier for me. I’m getting more comfortable with meditation and, if I fall back in the future, I will remind myself of my new skills and begin again. It’s that easy. I was so invigorated by my success that, when The Habit Course was offered to everyone, I signed up again! Currently, I’m building a new habit of making time for creativity each night and, once again, life feels fresh and brand new. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet, desperation.”I never want to be a part of that group. How about you? Read more from Tess at her blog, The Bold Life and sign up for her free guide, Peace, Love, Connection . — Tweet

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