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Why have some of the most wealthy and famous people in history been so miserable?
It's possible that they spent their lives chasing money or fame when what they really wanted was love, joy, freedom, or peace.
Maybe they wanted to be respected for their art, but all they got was admiration for their beauty. Life is rough, isn't it?
Read MoreWhen I was a music teacher, I had to present some counterintuitive ideas to parents who wanted to instill a love of music in their children.
Rather than advocating for a romantic, passionate affair with the instrument, I took a much cooler tone.
I suggested that practicing music is just like brushing our teeth. We do it whether we want to or not, and then it's done.
Read MoreWhen I was a kid, I would become deeply engrossed in an activity and only vaguely register that my mother was trying to get my attention to ask me to do what I considered to be an unpleasant chore.
When she left the room, I would not be able to recall what she had said; I'd be left with only the prickle of discomfort that had penetrated my youthful cocoon of self-centered fun-seeking.
Read MoreThe other day, I finally went back to a coffee shop that I had last visited sometime in March 2020.
I'd grabbed coffee and snacks there from time to time, but I hadn't brought my laptop to do work there since right before the pandemic.
Going there used to be a key part of my routine. I would convince myself that a change of scenery was necessary in the middle of my workday—that I could not possibly get more work done in the same spot I'd been sitting in for the past three hours.
Read MoreNebulous tasks are always the easiest ones to put off.
Even if you have clearly defined what you are going to do (“Write first draft” or “Fill out recommendation form”), there is an ugly amorphousness to certain things on our to-do list. We just don’t know how long they are going to take, and we suspect that it isn’t going to be a fun experience to do them. This one is going to require an uncertain amount of effort, attention, and focus; that one requires us to pull something out of ourselves that we aren’t sure we have. It makes perfect sense to choose something smaller, better defined, or practiced.
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