Deep work significantly impacts all three of the aims of this blog: time, money, and what matters most. In this post I will define deep work. Then, I’ll show how it helps you have more time and money and how it helps you realize what matters most in life. Finally, I’ll share four ways to infuse your life with deep work.
Einstein modeled deep work, employing intense focus to achieve greatness.
The 80/20 rule states that 80% of effects are determined by 20% of their causes. The rule is also known as the Pareto Principle, after the 19th Century Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto noticed that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of the peapods. (Weird thing to notice.) He also showed that about 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.
The Pareto Principle is not a law, like gravity. It’s a rule of thumb. It fits a wide array of phenomena. Consider, for instance, these applications of the rule across a variety of fields: (more…)
What do you dream about when it’s quiet? On a hike, on vacation, on retreat, or when lying awake in bed–what desires emerge? Is there something you want to do that the noise of life drowns out but that resurfaces whenever the noise subsides?
If so, life is too short to ignore such dreams. I know, because I’ve ignored them and wished I hadn’t. (more…)
Forming good habits is one of the most powerful means of pursuing what matters most. That’s because habits make up more than 40% of the actions people perform each day, as noted in Charles Duhigg’s 2012 bestseller The Power of Habit.
Today is an especially great day to begin a new habit. That’s because today is the first day of Lent, a period of 40 days of preparation leading up to Easter Sunday. Although the primary focus of Lent is not habit formation, many Catholics and other Christians seek to adopt better habits during this time. As this article in the Los Angeles Times recently pointed out, non-Christians also use Lent as a chance for a resolution reboot.
So, how can you create a habit that sticks? (more…)
Would you like to give more to the charitable causes you care about? Do you shop at Amazon? If you answered “yes” to both of those questions, you should take advantage of AmazonSmile, an easy way to benefit the charity of your choice at no additional cost to you.
The way AmazonSmile works is simple: (more…)
My wife and I recently returned from dinner to our hotel room while on vacation. She soon realized that she couldn’t find her iPhone. Because she is a sane person, she doesn’t have it glued to her 24/7 like I do.
I called her phone, but we didn’t hear it ring. We listened more carefully: we didn’t hear it vibrate. Uh oh.
I used the “Find My iPhone” app to track her phone from mine. I could see her phone moving at a pretty good clip up and down nearby streets. That was actually good news because it all but confirmed her suspicion that she had left it in the taxi we had taken to the hotel. Having not gotten a receipt from the driver, I had no way of getting in touch with him through the cab company.
I called my wife’s phone again. I texted it. I used the “Find My iPhone” app to play a sound, which overrides even silent mode. No response. “$700 down the drain,” I thought (and maybe said aloud). (more…)
As someone who writes about money, I might be expected to check my conscience at the door. After all, one cannot pursue both virtue and money, right?
The easy reply is that it’s not money, but the love of money, that is the root of all evil. So as long as you don’t love it, you’re okay.
The problem with that reply is the failure to acknowledge that it’s easy to love the stuff.
Its attractiveness is understandable. After all, together with time, money is one of our very most powerful resources. But whereas time can only be saved, money can be both saved and acquired, so it has an extra way of captivating us.
What matters most to you? If you had more time and money, how would that help you pursue what matters most?
Saving money is great. Making money is fun. Being hyper-efficient makes you feel super-human. (Or is that last one only true for me?)
But having more time and money fails to satisfy unless directed toward a greater end. (more…)