How Simple Mini Habits Can Change Your Life

By Stephen Guise

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. ~Alan Watts It was late 2012, just after Christmas, and like many others I was reflecting on the year. I realized that I had ample room for improvement in too many areas of my life, but knowing that New Years Resolutions have a poor 8% success rate (University of Scranton research), I wanted to explore some other options. I knew I wanted to start before January 1st too, because arbitrary start dates dont sit well with me. On December 28th, I decided that I wanted to get in great shape. In the previous days and weeks, however, I hardly exercised at all and felt quite guilty about it. My goal was a 30-minute workout, and it seemed impossible. I wasnt motivated, I was tired, and my guilt was making me feel worthless. Feeling stuck, I remembered a technique I learn ed from a book, and little did I know that this technique would change my life in a big way in 2013. The technique is from the creativity book Thinkertoys, and it is to consider the opposite of an idea youre stuck on. So I lo oked at my 30minute exercise goal, and my giant fitness plan to get in great shape, and I thought about the opposite. You could say the opposite is eating fast food and sitting on the couch, but the opposite that came to my mind was one of size. What if, instead of carrying around this overwhelming fitness anvil on my shoulders, I just did one push-up? Initially, I scoffed at the idea. How absurd to do a single push-up and act as if it means anything! But when I continued to struggle with my bigger plans, I finally gave in to the idea and did one, and since I was already in push-up position, I did a few more. After that, my muscles were warmed up, and I decided to try one pull-up. Just like you guessed, I ended up doing several more. Eventually, I had exercised for 30 minutes. My mind was blowndid I just turn a single push-up into a full workout? Yes, yes I did.

The One Push-Up Challenge Is Born

From here, I challenged my blog readers to do at least one push-up per day for a full year. People have had great success with it, and heres what it turned into for me: For the last 3+ months, I have gone to the gym three to six times per week to exercise and Im in great shape because of it. Now I know why it works. I have always held a keen interest in psychology and neuroscience, and I study them for my writing. So when I read about the studies on willpower that show its a limited resource, everything started making sense. I couldnt do my 30-minute workout because my willpower wasnt strong enough or was depleted. But I could do one push-up and segue into a 30-minute workout because it only required a tiny amount of willpower to start, after which my body and mind stopped resisting the idea. Of course, this concept does not only apply to fitness, but to any area of your life you wish to change. And I believe Ive found the perfect way to leverage this technique habits.

Whats More Important Than Your Habits?

Nothing. Habits form about 45% of your total behavior, according to a Duke University study. Not only that, but they are behaviors that you repeat frequently, which compounds their significance in your life. Habits are your foundation, and if this foundation is weak, you wont be happy with the way you live. The reason people fail to change their lives, and fail to instill new habits, is because they try to do too much at once. In simplest terms, if your new habit requires more willpower than you can muster, you will fail. If your new habit requires less willpower than you can muster, you will succeed. The calculation cant just be for one instance, however, but also for when youre tired and your willpower is zapped. Can you continue it then? One thing Ive been wanting to do more is write. Its therapeutic for me and I write for a living, so its fairly important t hat I practice. When I found that I wasnt writing as much as I should, I found out how to combine the power of The One Push-Up Challenge with a habit plan.

How To Change Your Life With Mini Habits

Mini habits are exactly as they sound. First, you choose a desired habit or change youd like to makeit could be thinking more positively, writing 1000 words a day, or reading two books per week. Ive had success doing three at once. Next, you shrink these habits down until they are stupid small, a term I made up because when you say the requirement out l oud, it is so small that it sounds stupid. Here are mine: 1. Write 50 words per day (article, story, etc.) 2. Write 50 words per day (for the habits book Im writing) 3. Read two pages in a book per day Easy, right? I could complete this list in ten minutes total. So far, Ive met these daily requirements 100% of the time, and then much more.

Ive actually written one to two thousand words and read 10-30 pages per day, for these 12 days in a row and counting. Prior to this, I wasnt reading at all and writing very little. It works because your brain falls for the bait. Oh, only 50 words? I can write that. And then you start. And youll find, like I have, that one you start, good things happen.

Ten Daily Mini Habit Ideas

1. Compliment one person 2. Think two positive thoughts 3. Meditate for one minute 4. Name three things youre thankful for 5. Do one push-up 6. Write 50 words 7. Read two pages 8. Do ten jumping jacks 9. Go outside and take 100 steps 10. Drink one glass of water You can change nearly any area of your life; and at one mini habit at a time, its easier than you think. When you remove the pressure and expectations, you allow yourself to start. What mini habit(s) will you start today?

by Diana Burrell We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle I make no secret of the fact that I do not like to write, which seems crazy because Ive been a freelance writer and author for almost 20 years and writers, well, write. But if youre a professional writer, you know that a lot of the job isnt writing. Youve got to do stuff like generate story ideas, market your work, chase down research, interview experts, edit, and manage the businessthe fun stuff! Its the writing part I could do away with, specifically first drafts. Once a first draft is written, I can edit. Bad mood be gone. Over the years Ive become good at tricking myself into finishing first drafts. I tell myself, You only have to write 50 words, then you can take a break and watch YouTube. Even I can write fifty words, and once I get going, its hard to stop, which is how I get so much writing done despite my dislike of wordsmithing. Needless to say Im always looking for the path of least resistance to getting more done, so when I read about Stephen Guises Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results, I downloaded the ebook to my Kindle.

Not only did his book confirm for me that the best way to create a positive change is through small acts repeated daily, but the book was exceptionally well written and researched impressive in that the author is not a professional writer and so applicable to the many writers I meet who struggle with getting query letters out the door or writing big projects like books and novels. Because I suspected Stephen was a bit of renegade changing your life in big ways through tiny habits? Sounds renegade to me! I contacted Stephen and he agreed to a 20-minute interview, which turned into a 90-minute Skype call. This is not a verbatim transcript of our conversation, but a carefully edited-down version containing the most valuable points for our readers.

DB: How are mini habits different from most life change philosophies?
SG: Most life change philosophies implore you to get highly motivated to make a big change in your life. Mini Habits are exactly the opposite of that, suggesting you force yourself to do something embarrassingly small, but positive every day. There are two kinds of motivation. The first type is having a reason for doing something. My motivation for exercise is to look and feel healthy. My motivation for doing this interview is that you asked me to do it and I want to spread the word about mini habits. Unlike the next definition of motivation, your reason for doing things is generally very stable and changes very little over time. Theres also emotional motivation, which is rooted in enthusiasm and determines your willingness to take action in the moment (This year Im going to get in shape so Im off to the gym!). Most goal systems rely on this type of motivation; theyll tell you that you need to find this motivation to succeed. The problem is that emotional motivation isnt reliable or habit friendly. When we try to do something like write more every day or lose 50 pounds or get in top physical condition, were usually very excited for a couple weeks. Were highly motivated to write more, eat less, and go to the gym. Yet almost anyone who has attempted to change knows that sometime in those first weeks, motivation starts to wane. For me, it was like clockwork Id get motivated to exercise and quit when motivation left me at the two- or three-week mark. The reason we lose motivation isnt a mystery. Its biological. And its actually a positive sign! It means the behavior of writing more, eating less, or working out regularly is transitioning to being controlled by the subconscious brain. In other words, a weak habit is forming. But right around this time is when most of us give up. Were not feeling that burst of enthusiasm anymore, so when its gone, well stop doing the behavior thats just about to become a habit. Its too bad because the best way to find motivation is to take action! Im not anti-motivational; its just that I dont believe it works as a starting strategy. Theres a quote from Sun Tzus Art of War which sums up the Mini Habit system:Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. By taking one small action a dayjust one small behavior changewe start with a win. After that point, youre free to do more. In my book, I talk about doing just one push-up every day. A single push-up! Its almost too easy, right? But you do it, and because youre already face-down on the ground, you will probably do more. And thats how such a small, seemingly insignificant action can grow to make b ig changes in your life. Two other factors arent accounted for in most other goal achievement systems. First is autonomy. Most systems remove your sense of autonomy; youre following a plan so that on Monday you do this, on Tuesday you do that, and so on. But with Mini Habits, you do your o ne small thing like a push-up and after that you can ask yourself, Am I ready to stop or can I do more? This autonomy leverages our desire and gives us a feeling that were in control, which studies show is a critical factor in goal achievement. The second is willpower, the ability to force yourself to do something whether you feel like it or not. Most goal achievement systems dont account for the fact that willpower is a limited resource as studies show. Mini Habits is based on the fact that we dont have unlimited willpower. Because a mini habit is so small, you can easily complete it even when your willpower is low.

DB: We all know that developing good habits is important, whether personal (flossing every day) or work (writing a certain number of words per day). What might our readers find surprising about developing good habits?
SG: When youre trying to establish a good habit, size doesnt matter as much as consistency. For example, say you want to get in shape and decide youre going to do 100 push-ups a day. Thats a lot of push-ups each day, so the chances youll stick with that plan are slim. Just one push-up a day, though, youll stick with it and end up doing more push-ups consistently. Its better to do one push-up a day for six months than 100 push-ups for 15 days spread out over six months because that single daily push-up can become a foundational habit, the kind of habit that can change your life.

DB: How did you come up with the idea of writing a book about mini habits and their power to make positive changes?
SG: I started writing on Facebook using the notes feature, writing about my life and stuff like that. My friends liked it and a few told me I should write a book. When I stopped laughing, I started a blog; some of my blog posts were really long, like 4,000 words. Eventually, I decided that yes, I did want to write a book, but I wasnt sold on any one topic. That changed when I started having a lot of success with Mini Habit s. In the past, Id have this goal of developing a full-sized gym habit, but Id exercise for two weeks then stop. Then I aimed for one push-up and got into the best shape of my life. Based on my experience with Mini Habits, I knew I had to share this with the world. That, and I was frustrated by the other systems that give you the same old advice of get motivated to live your dreams. That hasnt been my experience, and t he experience of many others as well.

DB: How did you use mini habits to write your book?
SG: I wouldnt have written the book if not for my writing mini habit. I actually had two writing mini habits: One was to write 50 words a day for my blog, and the other was to write 50 words a day of my book. Most days I would exceed those numbers. Even though goal achievement is a topic Im passionate about, for some reason I still wanted to avoid writing about it. [DB: Now you can see why I like this guy!] Id have all these excuses like, I need to write perfectly or Im not thinking clearly today. Having to write 50 words a day kept me on track. It took me three to six months to write Mini Habits, including all the research. At times I made up some conditional mini habits, like Read one study today. You dont realize how small actions can add up until you do them everyday. Its really powerful stuff.

DB: What has been the response to Mini Habits?

SG: Before I released the book, I told myself Id be disappointed if I sold less than 200 copies in two months. Mini Habits ended up selling 10,000 copies in three months. Most sales have come through word of mouth, some guest posting on blogs, and being seen in Amazon.coms sales system, which is huge. Once you get good reviews (Mini Habits has a 4.8 average rating on Amazon), readers take interest and it can sustain sales momentum. Ive also gotten quite a few letters from readers with their own success stories by using mini habits. Its great to see how it has changed the lives of others.

DB: You had a mini habit of writing 50 words of your manuscript every day. What other types of mini habits could our readers adopt to develop or improve their careers?
SG: Obviously making a mini habit of writing 50 words a day is a good place to start, but you can also develop a networking mini-habit, like contacting one personan editor, potential source, or peerevery day. At the end of the year, youll have 365 new contacts. You could have a marketing goal of looking for one new magazine, publication, or client. If you need more ideas for magazine articles or books, you could write down one new idea every day. You could also make one follow-up call or e-mail on a project or question where if you had an answer, you could move forward.

DB: Any last words about the power of mini habits?

SG: Mini habits are awesome. The bar to entry is set low, and theres no ceiling. For example, if your goal is to write 2,000 words a day, its not only a high bar, but its also a ceiling because chances are youll rarely write more than 2,000 words a day (due to being satisfied with your work). But if you set your bar at 50 words, youre not only going to make your goal, youll most likely exceed it. Fifty words isnt much and once you get going, youll have more thoughts and words to get down. Its Newtons Laws of Motion at work: A body in motion stays in motion. The other part of the law is, A body at rest stays at rest. When youve got a mini habit (50 words) versus a big habit (2,000 words), its a lot easier to get in motion and let momentum carry you further. (My next Become an Idea Machine workshop starts tomorrow, and its the last workshop Ill lead for several months. Sign up here or send me an email to be notified of the next workshop.)

I've been really happy lately. My days are productive and enjoyable, and it requires less effort than it used to. Mini habits have changed my brain! I was recently interviewed by Diana from The Renegade Writer (about mini habits). You can check it out hereif you're interested. The Mini Habits audiobook is now available on all major platforms: Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Note: if you buy from Amazon, you'll actually still buy it through Audible, which is owned by Amazon. It's a strange setup that I didn't fully understand until recently. If you download it from Audible, make sure you select "enhanced" audio for the best quality. Buying on Amazon still gives you a slight discount versus buying from Audible or iTunes. Three mini habits per day has served me very well, but I just added a fourth one: meditation. This post explains why:

I Tried Meditating: It's Worth It

Cats "meditate" all day long. For a while, I've been hesitant to meditate. Reasons have ranged from "I'm not Buddhist" to "it's weird." But meditation doesn't have to be religious and I'M weird, so I tried out non-religious meditation. I sat in my chair, closed my eyes, and without moving or fidgeting, I focused my mind on my breathing. Simple. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. In seconds, rogue thoughts dove in to take my mind away from thinking about breathing. I had to keep refocusing on the breathing as I caught myself repeatedly straying. Sometimes it would take me several seconds to realize I had been thinking about something else. It's was as if my mind decided that focusing on my breathing was too simple, a waste of thought, and that it needed to GO GO GO, THINK OF SOMETHING, WHAT'S NEXT?!? I get it now. Meditation is important. I am going to add a one minute meditation mini habit to my day. It strengthens some of the most important things, discussed below.

Focusing
Unfocused, we are useless. Focused, we command great power over our day. That's why I say repeatedly that focusing is the crux of personal growth. Meditation is perhaps the single best way to "practice" focusing. Yeah, but what about just practicing focusing in real life? The first reason meditation is a little bit better is because it starts you out with fewer inputs. If you close your eyes as I did, you receive no visual information. If you do it in silence as I did, you hear nothing to respond to. It's just you and your mind. The second reason meditation is better is that it enhances your awareness of distractions. When I aim to focus on writing an article, I may stop and put on some background music. I may notice my cat walking around. There are a number of little things that are likely to distract

me without me noticing. Or perhaps I'll be researching something for an article and go on a bit of a tangent. The simplicity of meditation's "focus on your breathing" makes every little deviant thought a clear distraction that you can address. The third reason meditation is a bit better for practicing is the frequency at which you'll practice. During my day, it's a drawn-out battle of focusing and distraction, but it's all pretty muddled. I don't feel as if I'm improving my long term focus skill, and I'm not. That's because when I try to focus in my day, it's not structured in a way to train my brain to improve (much). Meditation is a rapid-fire experience of recognizing mental distraction and calmly going back to your chosen focus (breathing). It's training.

Willpower
I'm reading "The Willpower Instinct" right now. It's good so far. In the book, she mentions meditation as a willpower strengthening tool. This is what led me to try it out. She's absolutely correct! Willpower is a measure of strength, but it's also a measure of awareness. You can't stop yourself from doing something if you're not aware that you're doing it. Given that nearly half of our behavior is below our consciousness (Duke Journal Study), it's hard to be fully aware of everything we do. To stop any bad habit activity requires two things: 1. You must be aware of the behavior as it is about to happen. You must know your triggers. 2. You must have the willpower strength to resist it (don't do it directly, but that's another long topic of discussion). Meditation, I've found, helps you to practice both. As my five minutes went on, I got quicker at recognizing distracting thoughts as they popped up. Many of these thoughts were of interest as well, meaning I had to exercise a small amount of willpower to shut them down. So like focusing, meditation is one of the best ways to exercise your willpower (Mini Habits being another, which is why having a meditation mini habit is a GREAT idea).

Relaxation And Stress Reduction

I have a very low stress lifestyle, and yet, I still get stressed out. I can only imagine what others have to deal with. Most of the time for me, it's my own thoughts and habitual stressful thinking that is the cause, not my circumstances. Much of stress appears to be up to us anyway. You can have two people experience something identical, and one will come out relaxed while the other stressed. Stress is determined by how we perceive the world, and I think it's very easy to develop a stress habit, where your subconscious mind stresses you out for no reason, and your muscles are tense when there is every reason to relax instead. Meditating for five minutes relaxed me considerably. It wasn't a physically relaxing activity, but a mental one. It forced me to think simply, which I could tell operated on a few of my "stress habits" that were telling me to be tense. Focusing on something as simple as my breaths forced me to understand how simple life can be, or that part of being alive is very simple. I breathe to live. Since I just ate breakfast, I don't need to do anything else but breathe for the next few hours and I'll be fine. That's a weird, but oddly comforting thought. All I have to do is breathe; in, out. We have burdens from others and burdens that we place on ourselves. By focusing on something neutral-positive like the way your body brings in and exhales air, these burdens are forced out of your consciousness. Even if it's a temporary respite, it's important to establish that this level of simplicity and relaxation is possible so that you don't forget completely how to relax! Some of us don't give ourselves permission to relax. Not even for five minutes! I believe meditation can help undo that harmful mindset.

It Centers You
I don't subscribe to "new age" thought and spirituality. All I mean by this is that after meditating, you have a clearer sense of what you'd like to do with your day, and your life. It's like pressing pause on the constant stream of thoughts that race into your mind. When you press pause and give your mind a rest, I think it allows the important things to rise above the rest. It's almost like you're setting a standard. Before meditation, any thought is acceptable. They all come and go as they please, and in any number. This is so overwhelming! By dedicating to focus on the simplest thing for five minutes, or even one minute, you establish your authority over your own mind and thoughts. It's this that brings clarity, as you won't feel as if you have to honor every thought (which is likely one of those invisible bad habits many of us have). You can say no to any thought. This is helpful in all of life, and personally, it jives well with what I believe. "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirableif anything is excellent or praiseworthythink about such things." ~ Phillippians 4:8

I don't believe it needs to take up a lot of your time. Some people meditate for hours every day. For me, just 5 minutes in each of the last two days has been perfect.

Harvard Study Finds Meditation Reduces Stress By Affecting Genes

If there's one thing that's been proven pretty well, it's that meditation reduces stress and relaxes you. An interesting Harvard study found that it works by activating and deactivating the genes involved in the body's stress and immune functions. That's more interesting than useful; it's fascinating that something like meditation could affect our genes! Another study suggests that meditation might be really, really, really valuable as a health practice. To quote Bloomberg: "In a study published last year, scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles and Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn found that 12 minutes of daily yoga meditation for eight weeks increased telomerase activity by 43 percent, suggesting an improvement in stress-induced aging." I talked about telomerase in my Stress Management book. It's an enzyme that rebuilds our telomeres, which are REALLY important for health and longevity. Here's an excerpt from my book that explains what telomeres do for us (as a subscriber, you can read the whole book here): Shoelaces and Telomeres Shoelaces are a type of twine. Ok, that wasnt very relevant to stress, but Im going somewhere with this. Shoelaces are twine held together at both ends by plastic pieces called aglets. Their purpose is to keep shoelaces from fraying at the ends and looking weird/being unusable. There is something else of great importance that has very similar characteristics to this shoelace/aglet relationship. Can you guess from the following photo?

You guessed (in)correctly! This is a picture of human chromosomes which are chains of DNA and yeah, theyre very important as you may know. And what of those little white dots you see at the end of the chromosomes? Those are called telomeres. Telomeres are to chromosomes as aglets are to shoelaces they both prevent fraying. Telomeres act as a buffer to protect the ends of the chromosomes. So, telomerase is an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres, which protect our chromosomes! If meditation improves telomerase activity, it is a HUGE deal. In my book, I talked about how stress is a killer, and I wasn't even being dramatic. There is solid evidence that the more stress eats away at your telomeres, the more at risk you are for all kinds of diseases and bodily malfunction. This makes stress reduction a very important and worthwhile pursuit. Meditation seems worthwhile on that information alone.

My Experience Meditating
When I finish my 5 minute meditation, it is SO much easier to focus on work. It's weird. Even though I'm theoretically using willpower by forcing myself to focus on my breathing, I come out relaxed and focused. I think this is the stress-reducing effect in play. Focusing is easier when you're relaxed. I feel a big difference from just 5 minutes, and that is astonishing to me.

A Good Idea: Morning And Bedtime Meditation

I like the idea of meditating to begin and end your day. Morning meditation to sets you up for a productive, relaxed, and otherwise good day. Bedtime meditation squashes a lot of the worrisome thoughts and accumulated stress that you picked up during the day. I'm sure it'd help you sleep better. I plan to try it tonight, though I fall asleep like a rock at 8 PM these days (more on this later; I also get up at 5 AM now and it's amazing). Of course, you can do as I am and create a meditation mini habit (1 minute per day). It's easy, and based on my experience, even one minute can make a difference. Don't worry if you're "not good at it." That's a sign that you need it! I'm not great at it, but I'm getting better already and I still feel the benefits from trying my best. Cheers, Stephen

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Deep Existence Resources

How To Focus Your Mind Instantly

by Stephen Guise Category: Focusing
When you try to do everything, you do nothing. (tweet this) To avoid doing nothing, we must focus in the moment, which requires choice, clarity, and commitment. Saying Im going to focus is not enough. Weve already covered how to get focused daily with a five step system and an impromptu five minute solution for late starts. Those solutions suggested making a list of objectives for the day. Lists are a great idea, but this post is about the mechanics of focusing, and focusing in the moment. You dont need pen and paper. You dont need anything except to keep three steps in mind. Mentally running through these steps at any time will have you focused in seconds. So, how do you focus your mind instantly? Its simple choose, clarify, and commit!

1. Choose ONE Objective

Dont say: Im going to focus. Do ask: Im going to focus on what single thing? This question will bring you to consider objectives. When you select one objective from a quick calculation of your situation and your most important tasks, THEN you can say, I am going to focus on cleaning my dresser! Take the pressure off yourself for choosing the very best task (perfectionism). What you choose matters less than you think. Its better to be focused on one good task than to be distracted with several potentially great tasks. (tweet this) And choosing one single objective is the non-optional, required, ironclad, sealed, official, FDA-approved, permanent, necessary first step for getting focused in the moment. Dont try any other way!

2. Clarify Your First Tiny Step

I like to treat myself as if Im a little child. If I decide to write an article, Ill say to myself in a baby voice, can yo u write five words? Why dont you do that right now and Ill give you an animal cracker? Very good! Its so degrading, but I wont turn myself in for mental illness or get too upset, because it works too darn well. It must be the animal crackersor perhaps its the small steps. Small steps are not just complimentary to focusing, theyre a necessary component of it. Who can focus on building a house? According to the broader meaning of focus, anyone can. But in the real world, you can only focus on mixing cement in a wheelbarrow or cutting a piece of rebar in order to accomplish the objective of building a house. Many people aim to focus on a big multi-step objective, but its impossible. You can only focus on small individual steps. We do ourselves a great disservice when we assume that we can put the pieces together for completing our objective. We are just like computers in that we follow specific instructions. You may be used to following instructions without thinking much about it, but you still do it.

Going to the gym 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Open drawer and get athletic shorts Put on shorts Do steps 1 & 2 for a shirt and socks too Put on shoes & tie the laces Grab water bottle, keys, wallet, and phone Drive to the gym

This list is obvious, and more effective than the one-step go to the gym. It is especially helpful when youre resistant to doing work. When you dont want to do something and know you should, youll think, I should really go to the gym. That statement is weak and ineffective compared to the simple step of putting on gym shorts, because the latter starts the process. When youre ready to go to the gym, youll think, Im going to put on gym shorts. Dont make it easy to opt out of important tasks. Be specific about your first tiny steps (and make them so tiny that you cant say no).

3. Commit To Refocusing
You will lose focus. Count on it and prepare for it. I once heard that the average person loses focus every 10 seconds, and I believe it. They say that great writing is rewriting. In the same way, great focusing is refocusing. (tweet this) Anyone can focus for seven seconds. Its staying focused that holds value and makes you a focus master and ber productive. It isnt hard to stay focused, it just requires training like any other skill. A common pitfall for me and many others is failing to update our current focal point. Well set the first small task, complete it, and then space out. To focus, you must know your current task in each moment. When you no longer have a specific task to carry out, you will lose focus. Every time. You cant focus on nothing, as this quote points out: For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he knows precisely what tasks he must accomplish, moment by moment. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Recap And Final Words

Anytime youre struggling to focus in the moment, run through these rules.

1. 2. 3.

Do I have a single objective? Name it. Do I have a related small task to focus on right now? Define the first step. Am I committed to it? Refocus on small steps until your objective is complete.

You can do anything is an inspiring phrase, but its not usually the issue. Are we really stretching the bound aries of our human abilities so much to be looking at seemingly impossible tasks and saying that we can do anything? Is that relevant to the average person? We know what we can do and were wallowing well below it. Its whether or not we can get ourselves to do what were capable of, which is why I prefer the phrase you can get yourself to do anything! This is the problem most of us struggle with, and when you become a focus master, youll be able to get yourself to do anything, and your focus will enable you to do it well.

How To Stay Focused: The Four Basic Requirements

by Stephen Guise Category: Focusing
Focusing is a lost skill, a casualty of the 21st century. People bury their noses in iDistracted and Distractdroid devices, practically salivating at the notifications which confirm their importance. Instead of commanding their day, they are controlled by their uncontrolled lust to be distracted. And what purpose has distraction traditionally served? What result does it accomplish? Escapism. Lets escape from the reality of life, escape from the self -responsibility to pursue dreams, and escape from anything challenging. Distraction is the drug of choice of the 21st century, and supply is endless. You may not be an alcoholic, but how much of your dissatisfaction is drowned with the web, Facebook, TV, text messaging, or video games? These things are not supposed to be core life activities, but enjoyable side trips. And they are much more fun as side trips.

Distraction Is The Plague, And Focus The Cure

Focus is power. Its the ability to say Im doing THIS and nothing else, and nobody is going to stop me. A focused mind is difficult to stop from doing exactly what it plans. In a free country like America, nobody wants to stop you anyways.

Who wants you to keep on the weight? Who wants your business to fail? Who wants you to be miserable? Who wants your dreams to go to waste? If there were positive answers for those, those people are your mortal enemies and Im sure you avoid them anyways. Typical people wont care, because we are all self -centered by nature. I care about getting my six-pack of beer. There are certain subconscious thoughts and ideas you have that can make focusing extremely difficult, so what we need to do is pull those subconscious thoughts into the spotlight and address them.

There are four basic requirements for staying focused.

1. Accept that you may not succeed with the task at hand
Think about it. When you focus on something, youre pouring all of your energy into it. Your brain will automatically label it as important. Focus is typically split up between several different tasks, ideas, and thoughts. So when you focus on a single cohesive idea, thought, or task, the brain says, Whoa now, this task is getting special treatment. It must be important. Its healthy to face failure and learn from it, rather than to bury it in other distractions, but it places more pressure on you to perform when you focus. Juggle six tasks at once, fail at one, and what happens? You keep going with your other five. Focus on one task and fail, and you have to face that failure. Theres nothing else to look at. Sometimes, I hesitate to write. Before writing a story, Ill consider how it might not turn out well or that Im not as skilled as some of my favorite authors. The discomfort in potential failure pushes me back to burning time on Facebook, because theres no pressure there. Its easy, and fun, and a waste of my time.

To focus, give yourself a free pass on failing at the task. Make it ok to write a boring story, exercise with low energy, screw up your business launch, and embarrass yourself. If you only attempt things youre 100% sure will end in success, you wont do anything of significance.

2. Accept that you will not make progress in ALL other areas of your life (for the chosen time)
You have 50 areas of your life you know could be better, dont you? And you want them done now! ALL OF THEM! Or you know that your reward if you succeed would be delayed significantly from the work (like writing a book).

The decision to focus is almost always slightly uncomfortable. Focus is commitment to a single task, and it can be very unsettling to commit to read your C++ book for your career when you know you need to get in shape too. This is where Facebook rears its ugly blue and white head. Hey, you dont need to read your book or go to the gym, you have a new notification. Lets just think about that in the background while we check this exciting, immediately rewarding message. I like to combat this tempting thought with another thought whatever I do today is a projection for the rest of my life. If I spend 2 hours on Facebook today, Im setting that standard for the rest of my days. But if I wri te 2,000 words today, Ill have written more than 700,000 words per year at that pace. Did you know that the average novel length is 64,000 words? That means I could write TEN full books in a year! Even if I cut my pace in half to 1,000 words per day, its FIVE full books. It really hits home for me when I think about how much time itd take me to write 1 -2 thousand words about two hours. So my choice is between trifling conversation on facebook and writing five books? Hmm

This decision is what you need to make, and the next requirement is how you can make it.

3. Believe that your current task is worthy of #1 and #2

When a task is appealing enough that youre willing to risk failure, and youre willing to forego everything else for a time, its worthy of your full, unbroken attention.

Take a long-term view of your life to understand what is worth this honor. I would be so excited to have written one full-length book (five is fine, too), and that could easily happen with focused writing. What down-the-road reward makes you smile when you think about it? Is it your fit body in the mirror or on the beach? Is it having written a book? Is it having a clean house or going minimalist? There are a number of different paths you can choose, and as I alluded to in this post, it is not about picking the BEST one. You could spend a lifetime trying to figure out whether to spend your time reading excellent books, working out, writing, volunteering, or anything else. Move forward and make progress in areas that matter to you. When you look at your six-pack, youre not going to think, I should have been learning Italian. Youre going to think, Wow, I have a six-pack Maybe Ill learn Italian now.

4. Battle against distractions using weapons of time, location, and mindset

Once you have picked your task to focus on, get strategic with it. What time is best to read/write/exercise/learn karate? Where should you do it that will allow you to fully concentrate? What distractions could arise in this time and how will you react to them? Will you turn off your iDistractYou device or put it on silent? Focus is inherently simple, but difficult too. Its simplicity can trick people into thinking its easy, but it takes strategy, dedication, and a commitment to see one thing through to the end at the cost of all other possibilities. The benefits, though, are among the most rewarding I have ever experienced. The more rigid you are with your rules of focusing, the more skilled you will become at it. Sometimes people act like the worlds distractions are their boss. But remember, the world distracts you because it is not tuned in to you. Telemarketers dont know youre eating dinner (RIGHT?!). When your friend calls, she doesnt know that youre in the middle of something very important in your life. Call her back when youre not in the zone.

Instant notifications are drugs that train you for a life of distraction.

Let people know that your focused time is important to you and your well-being, and any reasonable person will understand. Starting out, you can set aside just one hour per day to focus on a key area of your choice. If you say you dont have time, I will punch your nose four times. You have time for the things that matter to you.

How To Get Focused Anywhere In 5 Minutes

by Stephen Guise Category: Focusing
Three things stop people from doing something they want to do. Its too hard. It takes too much time. It costs too much money.

1. 2. 3.

If you want to focus, this solution is easy, takes 5 minutes, and is free. Its an excuse killer.

Cheetahs are lightning bolts, and theyre excellent at focusing on catching their prey. Its a lethal combination. Learn to focus with the intensity and speed of a cheetah, and youll be lethal to mediocre daysor something.

Previously, I wrote about how to get focused in 5 steps. That article was meant as a longer term life system to organize your days around. But what if its already 1:30 PM and youre off to a bad start? In that case, you need a quick and easy mid-day solution to help you get focused and salvage the day. If its already mid-day, you dont want to invest a lot of time setting a system up, you just want to get going. The list is meant to take 5 minutes to execute, but the explanations are not proportionally short. This isnt a cheap list. Ill explain how and why it works.

1. Drop worry and guilt, pick up courage

It might be surprising to see dropping worry and guilt as the number one step to getting focused, but youll find this intuitive when you consider your experience. Guilt and worry freeze us because they take over the mind. They must leave because focus requires our full mental arsenal.

About Worry Think about a time when you were worried about something. Got it? Ok, now imagine if you tried to focus on something unrelated to the worry; even paying attention to television (a relatively easy task) is nearly impossible. When youre worried, theres no room for other thoughts.

You may have thought about a short term worry in that exercise, like someone not being home when they were supposed to, but worry can be long term as well. Here are the most common long term worries:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Finances Health Relationships Work

Any excessive worry in these 4 categories can devastate your ability to focus, and they can do it over the long term. You might be thinking, Wait, so Im supposed to dismantle my greatest worries in step one? We havent even come to guilt yet! I thought this would take 5 minutes! The secret is that youre not going to be dealing with your worries (or guilts) here, youre going to suspend them. Focus is well suited for blocks of time its not a 24/7 superpower. As such, we are going to hold off these emotional beasts for a block of time (even a full day) so that we can focus. If we need to do it again the next day, well do it again!

For suspending worry, the best strategy is to accept what you can and cannot control, and to decide to worry later. If you have poor health, finances, or relationships, there are aspects you can control and aspects you cant. Worry tends to blanket the whole issue, which doesnt accomplish much besides making you feel bad. When you want to get focused, promise yourself that youll worry about the issue extra hard later (or now). Pick a time block to worry about it. Seriously. If you do this, youll probably get how worrying doesnt a ccomplish anything. Worrying is doing nothing in a way that makes you feel like youre doing something (tweet this). Dont worry. Postpone it for a few hours or a day. Lie to yourself if you have to. About Guilt Guilt is deadly to focus, but in a different way than worry. If worry is a mental resource hog that fills up your brain, guilt is an aggressive boar that gores your brain. Think about something you feel really guilty about, either now or in the past. For me, a massive source of guilt was from sleeping in. I would feel guilty every time I slept in late (and boy did I do that like a pro).

Do you know how guilt gores our brains and kills our focus?

Guilt is an emotional injury that draws our attention toward it like a sprained ankle we wish it would go away, but it damages our self-image in a way that cant easily be ignored.

Most of you have probably seen a guilty dog with its tail between its legs, right? Now, imagine you have to bet on this dog or another dog to complete an obstacle course the fastest. Their times are very similar, with the guilty dog having a slight edge time-wise on the other dog. The non-guilty dog has just been given a treat. Which do you bet on? Im all-in the non-guilty dog. He is motivated, focused, and ready to go, while the other dog is preoccupied with his owner being upset at him.

Whatever the crime, this dog definitely did it. (photo credit: flowercat) To suspend guilt requires forgiveness, understanding, and hope. Youre human. Take comfort in that there are people who have made worse mistakes than what you feel guilty about AND recovered from them. Maybe you feel guilty because you havent been productive all day forgive yourself, understand that nobody gets through life with perfect days, and have hope that you can do something with your day that will make you smile as you lie in bed tonight. But guilts ultimate weak point is a forward-looking mind. Since guilt is 100% past-based, if youre focused on present and future opportunities, youll find it easy to drop guilt. You wont feel guilty about not working out earlier when youre breaking a sweat at the gym.

About Courage In step one, were replacing guilt and worry with courage courage that you can redirect your path from your usual missteps, and courage that you can do something great today. It takes courage to believe you will have an impressive day because it will hurt you if you fall short. Thats why half -hearted courage is a poison pill it gives you hope for a good day, but then fails you when you need that war cry boost. Dont just consider having a focused, great rest of the day. Decide.

Step 1 Summary Guilt, worry, and courage are all decisions. Decide not to worry about what you cant control, decide to focus on the present instead of your guilt-inducing past (whether recent or long term), and decide to believe in yourself. The combination of these three things puts people in the zone.

The goal of focusing is to obsess with the current focal point and block out everything else (think of the cheetah chasing his prey). If youre eating cereal right now, nothing else matters unless its an emergency. If youre writing,

then thats it, youre not concerned with your mild food poisoning problem or your new text message. Those will both be there when youre done. Youve set aside 20 minutes to do your current task, and made the decision to focus.

While step one has turned into a blog post by itself, in real world thinking, you can complete this step in seconds. Your brain is fast, but it needs the right instructions in order to make that speed useful.

The right instructions are to eliminate the fogginess in your mind caused by concerns of worry and guilt and believe that you can do exactly what you want to do with your time, instead of drifting through another day like a drone.

Focus is a performance-based skill, like completing an obstacle course, juggling, playing sports, and dancing. When someone says, I wish I could juggle, they correctly understand it wont happen without practice. It bothers me to hear people say, I wish I could focus, and proceed to hope that it happens. Skills are developed through practice, not hope. (tweet this)

2. Grab pen/paper
I dont like to copy common wisdom and advice unless it works well. This is one of those things you hear everywhere, but the difference it makes blows my mind. Of the studies Ive poured over, they all show that writing your thoughts or intentions down causes your brain to give them more attention and importance (I remember one study on goals found people had 33% more success with their goals when they wrote down their intentions and shared them with a friend).

According to UCLA, the average person has 70,000 thoughts per day. Think about that. You just had several thoughts fire off in rapid succession. But when you have so many thoughts, and some of them are things like, I hope Im not gassy tonight at the party, then its a logical conclusion that we should find a way to give the important thoughts VIP treatment. Writing them down accomplishes this very well. It separates study for my MCAT from Why do people still eat at McDonalds? Im hungry. Do we have potatoes? How many types of potatoes are still farmed?

3. Start writing down important tasks in mind, one by one, until they dont come easily
I know. This is looking like the How To Get Focused Today In 5 Steps article. But this is a different view, and a slightly different method. While that article was a long term strategy for focusing daily, this is a short-term strategy for when you want to focus in a foreign place or dont have many materials, or dont have the time or energy to do anything fancy. You might be scribbling on a napkin with a crayon at a restaurant. You might not have anything and have to do it in your head. If you dont have access to pen and paper and want to get focused. You can try to skip this step and just select some important tasks that youd like to complete. Another idea is to assign tasks to small objects around you. The fork represents writing 1000 words today, etc. It sounds stupid, but bringing the tasks outside of your head in any way helps you compare them. Alternatively, if youre with people, have a quick discussion with them about what you should do today. Give them a small list of things you could do and why. Other people can help you analyze the importance of tasks by asking

questions and giving their opinions. No paper required! And dont assume they wont be interested because they deal with the same question every day, they will likely enjoy the process of helping someone else decide. This is the mind dump phase, and it will relieve your brain of storage duties. You can write until ideas dont come easily or until you see tasks that you know are more important than everything else. Maybe youre working on a huge project that is top priority that youd like to work on today in that case, write down several things you can do for that project.

As this is a temporary focus solution, getting a complete life goals list down is not necessary.

4. Look over your list and select 3 (or fewer) to do today

Fewer items is better. Its because the less you give yourself to do, the higher chance there is for a rewarding feeling of completion at the end of the day, which is needed to reinforce this healthy behavior.

The reason one task may not be enough is because research shows that prioritization is a mentally-taxing, energydraining process. If you pick one, do it, and then pick the next one, youre switching from action to prioritization frequently, and it drains your battery like a cell phone looking for a signal.

The balance is found in choosing a small number of important tasks (it can be one if it is a lengthy task) that you can do today. These tasks will not even need to be the most important tasks you have. But you must be fine with doing them instead of everything else. Focus happens when your current task makes you feel like youre not wasting your time. If youre working on the wrong task, your mind is going to drift towards the other work you have to do. If you find yourself doing this, recognize and block out the feeling if its unjustified (or a bad habit) or reorder your list to reflect your true priorities .

5. Complete the tasks with a time block strategy

Take a walk in a place like this for a nice break.

One pitfall of task lists is the feeling that you have to go through them consecutively without a break. This is wrong and harmful to your ability to focus. It works out to making you half-focused for a long amount of time. As I mentioned earlier, focusing needs boundaries. If you focused deeply for a couple of weeks straight, your brain would try to run away. Breaks are necessary and enjoyable components of getting focused, and they help the brain understand what it means to focus.

The time block strategy is relaxed, until you decide to focus. Say your first task is to clean out your car. You know this, but you eat breakfast and watch a TV show while you eat. Then you read an email or two and respond. Uhwhat about the car? Its ready when you are. Maybe after your email, you decide its time to get serious, so you set aside the next 1.5 hours to focus on cleaning the car. After you finish that, the next item on your list is up reading 3 chapters in your book. You dont have to jump right into the book, but when you decide to do it, do it. Dont read 4 pages, watch TV for 30 minutes, read 3 pages, eat lunch, and then read the rest. Wait until you can set aside the full amount of time to complete the task distraction-free. This technique builds a great habit of focus. If you do this over the long term, your ability to focus in chosen moments will be strengthened and separated from regular living. Youll develop the ability to say, its business time and snap into level of focus most people will never experience in their life. Like everything else, its from practice and repetition. A focused lifestyle is the right one to practice and repeat.

Breakdown How These Steps Take 5 Minutes

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Suspend worry, forgive yourself from guilt, and decide to attack the day with courage. (30 seconds) Grab pen/paper (30 seconds) Write down important tasks to consider today (3 minutes) Select about 3 tasks to do today (1 minute) Youre focused at this point; now execute with the time block strategy

Total time 5 minutes Total impact huge Total cost free

Right now, why not take 5 minutes and try this out?

How To Get Focused Today In 5 Steps

by Stephen Guise Category: Focusing
There are two problems that prevent people from focusing on a daily basis:

1. 2.

Having too many options to choose from. This is overwhelming, and focus requires manageability. Not understanding which options are most important. This is confusing, and focus requires clarity.

Lets fix these problems and get focused!

Step One: Remove The Tasks From Your Brain

Write them down. Gather all of the possible actions and projects floating around in your mind. This isnt just tasks for today, it means big someday projects, desired habits, and small daily chores. You should write down everything that comes to mind, but dont worry if you cant remember everything. I like to use a dry-erase board for this because it provides easy editing, convenience, and high visibility.

Examples: exercising 20 minutes a day, making $100k a year, memorizing an important speech, getting an oil change, deciding on a web host, becoming a better friend/spouse, moving to Fiji with nothing but a suitcase and a smile, and reading a book. You might be surprised when you write down 20+ things and keep going. Stop reading and do this now (but come back when youre done). Were not choosing actions to focus on yet, just listing them. Done. It feels great, doesnt it? You may see that your brain was overwhelmed with options. Now your mind should be empty; not inactive, but free from storing information that is stored easily elsewhere. This takes a HUGE burden off of your prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that handles short term thinking, and now it can do what its best at (managing information) instead of straining to do what its not very good at (storing and managing information at the same time).

When you write things down to get them out of your head, you are literally freeing up resources in your brain to let other thoughts come into the spotlight. Youll probably notice that previously dormant tasks and dreams come to mind as the others leave it. As your tasks exit the mind and attach themselves to your paper, computer, or dry-erase board, your brain becomes more useful!

Recommended: for any multi-step dreams or projects you have, write in parenthesis the best next action(s) you could take to progress them forward.

Step Two: Consider Your Setting And Calculate Urgency

Setting plays a small role when choosing your tasks for the day and a big role in the order you complete them during the day. Setting includes date, time, location, your energy level, and concrete agenda items. It is the rigid framework of life you must work around. When we have 20+ things we could be doing, its a unique form of torture to decide which one to do first, but setting helps us decide. For example, I like to read at night close to bedtime when my energy is waning. I like to exercise 12 hours after eating, before 7 PM, and when I have moderate to high energy. Urgency is a modifier that can override setting. It doesnt matter if youre tired when you have an interview in 20 minutes. Every human understands urgency well when we need to use the restroom, all other activities become secondary. There is a big risk in oversimplifying urgency, and that is ignoring the importance of non-urgent tasks.

The Perils Of Urgency Dont make the biggest mistake of your life redefining urgent as important. Its a problem when urgent becomes important and non-urgent becomes not important. Why?

Your dreams are non-urgent projects of the highest importance! (tweet this quote)

What is the impetus to sign up and start training for the triathlon youve always wanted to do? *crickets chirping* Where is the pressure to begin writing the novel youve dreamed about writing? *frogs ribbiting* Why havent I seen you start the vegetable garden you always talk about starting? *snakes hissing* You hate your job, but which day were you planning on applying for other jobs? Is there a deadline on that? *cows mooing*

Only animals responded because Im weird, and also because these projects could be started any time, any day. Heck, youve got 50 years to start a garden and so it never gets started. This is where (thinking) labor is required. You must manually assign these projects urgency based on what they mean to you. If youre overflowing with passion for something, make your pursuit of it an urgent part of daily life. If you kind of want to do something if the stars align one day, thats not so urgent in daily life. Dont let urgency determine importance, let importance determine urgency. (click to tweet) ~ Stephen Guise (Quoting yourself is considered lame?)

Our dreams are so difficult to accomplish because they are non-urgent someday plans that can be pursued at any time. They must be converted into terms we understand in order to happen. Of course, that doesnt often happen. When it does, it looks like this: Today, it is important for me to find a triathlon event in my area, mark the date on my calendar, and plan a training schedule around it.

To easily weigh our options, we have to use the same scale. Convert everything into a daily action. Dreaming of a garden becomes buying The Gardeners Bible (affiliate link for all the gardeners out there). Wanting to be rich becomes brainstorming 10 business ideas per day. Desiring to be in shape becomes researching gym prices and features online. Write these daily next actions in parenthesis beside the project. At last, youre not comparing the tiny urgent task of laundry to the huge non-urgent project of starting a garden. Theyre on different levels and impossible to compare in different forms. But you can compare the urgency and importance of two small tasks doing laundry vs. buying The Gardeners Bible (based on the urgency you assigned to its parent project of starting a garden).

Step Three: Trust Your List

The fear of doing the wrong thing is false. Ive learned this by allowing this fear to push me (too many times) into watching TV, wandering around aimlessly, and mindlessly browsing Facebook to delay making the decision that could be the wrong one. When you fear doing the wrong thing, youre more likely to do nothing. (click to tweet) Drop this fear and trust your list. Youve written out everything you can think of wanting to do. This list is your lifes ongoing treasure map. Youll complete tasks, find treasures, and think of new treasures to pursue. A good way to look at it is this: If you were able to complete everything on your list, but didnt get anything else done in your life for however long it took you to complete the list, would you be satisfied? I would be thrilled! Also keep in mind this is a flexible list that you can modify at any time. I make my list current every morning.

Step Four: Select Todays Focus List

The important tasks from your list will jump out at you, but make sure youre calculating the true importance and self assigned urgency of your dreams! Your list should be a balanced combination of urgent tasks and important tasks. I dont have a day job, so your list might include doing things at work, or what you want to focus on when you get home from work.

I have three sections of focus Daily habits: One at a time until habit, not including the daily refresh of my lists. I currently have a special daily task of learning Italian because Im going to Rome in about a week (!). But this isnt for habit, I put it there because I erase everything in the next two sections every day, but this one is daily. 2. 3. Todays list: This is your standard to-do list, but it includes projects Queue: If I get the first two done, I can do whatever I want relax or pick an item from this queue if Im in productive beast mode. I write these roughly in order of importance, but it doesnt have to be perfect. Sometimes Ill decide to do #3 before #2 after taking my setting into account. The plan is to get everything done anyways. Selecting your tasks should be somewhat easy after converting everything into a daily action and quickly assessing urgency and setting. The human brain is capable of doing this calculation with impressive speed.

1.

Its so sloppy, but it works so well! Youll notice in the next picture that I changed project queue to queuethis is because I wanted to be able to include daily habits into the queue (not to try to establish as habit, but as a one-time thing that day). Also notice the right corner I have the estimated time to complete these tasks (not including queue) above the amount of time I have in the day, which in this case was about 40%. So I only needed to be 40% efficient to complete these tasks. On this day I ended up taking a rare THREE hour nap but STILL accomplished everything easily. Ok, I decided not to read the brain book, but that was a conscious decision. If youre thinking, he only has about 20 things to do in life? No, the items you see on the lef t are more than enough to keep me busy for a long time, and Ill refill the list as needed or as important things come up. You dont have to get everything down, just the stuff competing for your attention in the coming days combined with your long term important goals. Writing a pressing responsibility down on the left calms it down and prevents it from saying, Hey! Hey! What about me! Or if it still says that, you can move it into your focus zone and deal with it.

Focus is about choosing. When you have adequate information and the brain power to analyze it, you can choose best with confidence. Moving items out of your head into a simple system like this accomplishes both showing you the information and freeing up your prefrontal cortex to analyze it.

Step Five: Execute

Do your list one item at a time. Prioritize your daily tasks above todays tasks, because habits are the framework of your life and theyll help you eventually do all of your today tasks better. My habit of getting up at 7:25 AM has been incredible for everything else. When youre ready to tackle a task, set aside a block of time (or set a timer) to focus on it. You dont need to run through your whole list back-to-back. The purpose of having a list isnt to make you focus, its to give you a clear guide and focal point when you are ready to focus (tweet this quote). You can eat breakfast or shower first, but when you decide to tackle a task, get serious about it and time yourself. When you measure the time it takes you to get something done, you gain three amazing benefits. 1. Youll gain a sense of how long different tasks take you its valuable in business and in life to know this. How long does it take you to write 1000 polished words? How long does it take you to clean up your kitchen? It makes planning your day easier. 2. When you know how long activity X takes you, youll know when youre not focusing well because it will take you longer than usual. Youll naturally notice certain tactics increase your efficiency too. Its just a result of measurement. When you measure something, it can be improved. Otherwise, who knows whats going on?

3. A time block is like the rim around a magnifying glass that frames the focused area. The specificity and clear boundaries it provides make focus possible. Its easier to focus on vacuuming from 2:30 -3:00 than to focus for who knows how long doing who knows what.

Do It Tomorrow Too
The next day, look over your life list and add/correct/change anything that is not current. Choose your hit list for the day. Execute. This whole process take maybe 20-30 minutes and it supercharges your ability to focus, which supercharges your productivity. Heres the next day for me. Ill be checking off the DE post item as soon as I hit publish!

These items may look fragmented or nonsensical to you, but I know what they mean, which is what counts. Something interesting to note is that I separated reading and exercise as habits from AM reading and AM exercise. The latter two include specific timing and are a part of my desired morning routine, but my first step might be to do them every day at various times.

This system works because habits, projects, and tasks account for everything you could ever want to be or do in life. The center section is what youre focused on progressing today the only block of time that humans work with. Tomorrow becomes today when it gets here.

If you make it a habit to apply these 5 steps at the start of every day (notice my first daily task is to refresh the lists), your life will improve more profoundly than with any other personal development technique or tip you read about. Focusing is the single best habit and skill you can learn, and I mean that si ncerely. Its easy too. It took me 30 minutes to set up my lists yesterday and about 10 minutes to refresh them today. In later articles, well cover more in-depth strategies for focusing in the moment. But if youre here because you want to focus, you may want to bookmark this one as a long term resource/reminder. The shortfall of the standard to-do list is how youre blinded to other important tasks, which gnaw at you and say, what about me!? Youll always have more ambition than you can satisfy in one day. They also dont account for daily habits or bigger projects. But when its all written down in a system you trust, you can relax and focus on living one great day at a time.

Deep Thinking Can Change Your Life

by Stephen Guise Category: Others
Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself. Plato We all think, but not all of us think deeply, which is thinking beyond what your mind defaults to. This is a problem. Can you guess why?

Deep thinking is how we increase our number of valuable and useful thoughts. Your quantity of valuablethoughts has a direct effect on your quantity of valuable actions. And great lives are made by taking valuable action. But the number one reason that people dont think hard is because it is hard.

Deep Thinking is Work

Its not just because the infinite number of possible thoughts and ideas can overload your processor (i.e. brain). I have heard it said that the typical human will lose focus every 10 seconds. If you decide to think about a single topic, you will need to refocuscontinually to do it successfully. This is what makes thinking difficult you must consciously decide at each 10 second interval whether or not to continue thinking about the topic. If you dont make a decision, the default decision is to lose your focus. Yes, I literally just had to refocus. If youre not alert, you will move on to something else. A great thinking exercise to try: find a peaceful area with no distractions and choose an important topic that youd like to think about. Bring a time-keeping device and think about that topic for 10 minutes, uninterrupted.

Success will depend on each person, as attention spans are greatly varied. So start out with 10 minutes, see if you can do it, and take it from there. If you fall into the average statistic of losing focus every 10 seconds, you will have successfully refocused 60 times!

You might be surprised at the ideas you come up with and just how difficult it is to focus constantly.

Written in 2009
I can hear the smooth purr of the air conditioner in the silence of my room. I like silence because it is conducive to thinking, and Im in love with thinking. My thoughts take me to new possibilities. Goals, dreams, and amazing ideas can be formed in a single moment just by deep, focused thinking. Thinking is also how we make these dreams reality. In August 2008, I left the USA for the first time. I went to Ireland by myself and stayed for 4 days. It was a defining experience for me and the beginning of a dream to travel the world. It was so special because until that point I could only muse passively on the glories of international travel. I was able to visit Ireland because I thought about what I wanted to do and how to do it (research, work, save, etc. all the way up to purchasing a plane ticket and reserving a hostel in Dublin). The dream continued the next year when I spent a month in Germany with two of my closest cousins. It would have been EASY not to think about how it could be done and just assume that Id go these places someday. Someday is how dreams stay dreams.

This is a toast to Dublin, Ireland on the top (7th) floor of the Guinness Brewery. For an entry fee, guests are able to tour the Brewery and see how the famous beer is made. Once they reach the top, they are served a complimentary Guinness from the tap with a 360 degree view of the city.

A New Way of Life

What if we thought about who we wanted to be and how to get there? What if we thought of possibilities before were hit with the consequences? What if we calculated the outcomes of different lifestyles and compared them to our desired outcomes? What if we did it all with great persistence? This as a life philosophy really isnt that hardit merely requires focused, disciplined thinking. It applies to all of life: relationships, dreams, values, careers, health, and major decisions. Too often we drift towards a pre-determined mold laid out for us by society. Society says if youre in this situation, do this. Deep thinking allows us to choose what situation were in in the first place, and then helps us to decide what is truly best for us once were there.

As a child, I was put into a school system that did not teach me how to think freely and deeply, but rather to memorize these dates and follow these steps. We are so much more capable than that! Im not advocating detailed plans that map out an entire lifetime, for these plans will be shattered once life happens. General values, direction, specific goals, well-thought-out lifestyles and diets, and other important things are what Im speaking of. The more you think about your life, the fewer unpleasant surprises youll experience.

Deep thought compels us to be accountable to our values (by uprooting inconsistencies) and propels us towards our dreams. Do not do what the world expects you to do. Do the things that thinking, planning, research, and your own judgment tell you to do. Cut out the distractions for a little while and think about (deep) thinking to see if it is something worth investing your time into. You already know what I think.

How To Achieve Your Goals 10 Mental Strategies

by Stephen Guise Category: Others

This is me in Kauai, Hawaii. One of my goals is to travel frequently! 1) Start. Even if you think the first effort is going to go poorly. You will improve in time through experience, but you wont get any experience if you dont start. The worst thing you can do is try to perfect yourself before attempting. Getting everything right is not as important as making progress. 2) Move forward frequently, at all costs. When you pause, youll think about why youve paused. You might question your desire to complete the goal, because when youre doing something important, pausing without a strong reason is madness. But if you dedicate yourself to daily progress, youll maintain or build your momentum until youve finished the goal. 3) Be hungry to see your goal accomplished. Apathy is a ruthless goal killer. Prevent apathy by frequently reminding yourself why youre pursuing this goal. Focus on the benefits, but remind yourself that youll never see those benefits without effort. 4) Do not over or underthink your goals. Overthinking goals is when you think about the different ways you could take action instead of taking action. Underthinking is when you do meaningless work or make progress in a direction that doesnt matter. Aim for a balanced approach of preparation and acti on. Choose a basic plan you think might work and execute. Uncertainty is only a problem for people who lack confidence.

I dont know what this guys goal is, but he is clearly succeeding. 5) Dont overemphasize the high or low moments of your goal pursuit. When youre feeling euphoric, you might be better off calm, while steadily chipping away at your target. When you feel there is no hope left, there most certainly is. A balanced emotional state always leads to better progress. Though if you must choose between the two, Id go with euphoria. 6) Pick the right goal. If youve chosen the wrong goal, youll have great difficulty completing it. Its hard enough to accomplish goals you are passionate (or care) about, so a half-dedicated stance wont work. Take the time to think through your life plans and desired direction to figure out what the best goal is for you right now. 7) Be mentally prepared for setbacks and adversity. They will happen and theyre good for you. Pursuing a goal is one of the best ways to learn persistence, an invaluable life trait. Overcoming adversity is one of the most satisfying feelings youll ever experience. The only thing you need to do to be prepared for adversity is to expect it. If you anticipate problems, they wont surprise you into regression. 8) Anticipate the consequences of success. If you build a successful company, it could mean youll have to work long hours and hire and manage employees to scale your business with demand. Every positive change includes downsides. Winning the lottery means your family and friends might start seeing you as their shot at financial freedom. New friends might want your wealth more than your friendship. Yikes. Plan ahead for the new challenges that may come with success and youll be better equipped to handle them. 9) Temper your expectations. People tend to glorify the idea of success if I could only get $1 million if I could just become famous Reality cant compare to a romanticized image. I just got back from 12 days in Italy Venice and Rome. It was an amazing experience, but my vision didnt include mild food poisoning and getting my phone stolen. Since I had the right mindset, these setbacks were pretty minor in my eyes. On my trip to San Francisco earlier this year, I got sick with a fever for three of the ten days. I still had a wonderful time. In both cases, I was living my goal of traveling the world, but no romanticized image could capture the unexpected highs and lows of each trip. While I believe in setting high expectations for yourself, its best to set expectations low for the things you cant control the rest of the world! Life wont be exactly what youd expect if you accomplish your goals and your wildest dreams, but it can certainly get better than the present! Look at success with honest, realistic eyes, not romantic ones. Start with number 8 (knowing the consequences of success), and finish with an understanding that happiness is contentment. 10) Dont Live Someone Elses Dream. We are constantly being yapped at, by advice, stories, media, opinions, society, and expectations. It can be difficult to hear your own voice in the midst of the chaos. Learn to identify and trust in what YOU want by imagining your life without doubt, expectations, and intimidating barriers. The things youd do in a world without barriers are the things you should pursue despite the barriers. Introspection is rarely done in our world of infinite distractions. Be one of the ones who does it. 11) Dont obsess with finding tricks and secrets. Getting yourself going in the right direction involves a lot of trial and error. It does involve some technique though, and mindset matters, which is what Deep Existence is for. But even after reading the ultimate secret to getting beach abs, guess what? Your abs still wont look great unless you take action, which is why the number one tip for goals it to start. After you start, you can figure out what works and what doesnt.

And if you fail, start over with a new strategy. Theres no limit on failure that I know of. Go ahead and fail a thousand times to succeed once. It still counts.

9 Reasons People Fail In Life (And How To Succeed Instead)

by Stephen Guise Category: Others
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. ~ Abraham Lincoln Simply put, what does every person want? Success in their pursuits. Unfortunately, that doesnt always happen, and here are the top 9 reasons why people fail.

9. They dont plan

Improvised living will give you unexpected results. You will always have a better chance to succeed in any venture if you have a plan. By forming a simple plan, former non-planners will increase their rate of success. When you make your plan, be sure its specific. Dont say, Im going to exercise tomorrow. Say, Im taking the red van to the YMCA at 3 PM tomorrow to complete a 35 minute leg workout, starting with squats. Having a complete vision of your intentions prepares you to execute them and youll be more likely to flatten obstacles in your way. Im not just saying that. Its been proven to be more effective. Specific intentions work better because vague intentions are open to interpretation. W hat does exercise mean? Is walking around the house one time good enough? What happens when its 11:30 PM and you havent done anything yet? Do you exercise then? When King Kong envisioned himself together with a specific human female, which is weird, the helicopters trying to stop him had a very difficult time doing so. King Kong knew exactly what (i.e. who) he wanted. Youll be like King Kong if your plan is clear and desirable. Case study: Mike Tyson didnt plan for retirement. He made about $300 milli on in his career, but filed for bankruptcy in 2003. This is only possible without a solid financial plan.

8. They try to climb a mountain before they even leave the house
For 2013, my goal is to do one push-up per day. One push-up a day is easy, but it doesnt get you very far. The value comes from starting. In other words, I rarely stop at one push-up and I often get a solid 30 minute workout from it. I am never intimidated by the challenge, even when Im sick or tired. This one tiny step helps me bridge the gap between couch and exercise. When you aim high, intimidation is common, and that puts your goal at risk. If my goal was 50 push-ups a day, I would have failed at times and gotten discouraged. Sometimes I do 50 push-ups a day with my too easy challenge, and I dont ever feel discouraged. This is more relevant for daily tasks and goals than long term dreams. Dont dream to be a mediocre person. Dream big, but break that dream down into small, daily actions that inch you closer to it every day.

Lesson: One tiny step forward beats one giant leap sideways.

7. A single battle distracts them from the war

It is disappointing to lose any battle. Sometimes its devastating. If your business fails, if your book or script is rejected, if you dont make the basketball team, its tough to be positive. But the war is not over, is it? If your business fails, wont you know several key things NOT to do next tim e? Objectively, its a highly useful learning experience. Make sure youre not one of the many people who attach their identity to a submarine. If you mentally attach your identity and your chance to succeed to your business, and your business fails ouch. Your really cool submarine is destroyed, and youre stuck 1000 feet under water. Instead, why not see your business as a ship that could possibly take you where youd like to go. That way, if it sinks, you can jump overboard and still join a pirate crew.

Dont view your business or current life pursuit as a submarine. If it fails, youll drown in disappointment. View it as a ship, preferably with lifeboats. Whats that? Yes, I know submarines are cooler. Oh, youd like your submarine painted to look like a shark? Fine. You may view your business as a submarine shark. Sigh. The optimal strategy in life is to focus on winning the battle youre in. I think most of us get this step right, but miss the next crucial one. In real war, conditions and scenarios are altered after a battle. Both sides have gained intel about the other sides firepower and tactics, and both sides have lost men. This calls for a modified strategy, which means zooming out for a broader view of the war. Immediately after you receive that rejection letter, re-strategize for your war. Are you going to edit your book and submit it to a new publisher? Are you going to self-publish it as is? Are you going to use the same strategy until you strike gold? The most successful leaders in the history of warfare were the ones who could modify their strategy quickly, decidedly, and strategically. Do you do the same in your life? Even if you win a battle, you can lose ground in the war by not anticipating and preparing for the next battle. Life is full of battles, and the key is not letting any single battle distract you from your main objective in your war living how you want to live. Lesson: If youre not currently in battle or have just finished (an event), zoom out your focus to determine the current best strategy, then zoom back in and prepare for your next battle.

6. Theyre pessimists

If you go in expecting to fail, youve got a great chance to do it. If I expected Deep Existence to wear me out, be unpopular, and waste my time, why would I write this? Pessimism leads to failure because it decreases the amount of effort a person will put forth. Success requires effort, which is fueled by the perspective that your efforts are not in vain. Lesson: You instinctively hesitate to invest in a sinking ship, even if youre the one sinking it.

5. Theyre scared
Fear must be cold, because it freezes people. Deer are famous for freezing right before a car hits them. Like that situation, freezing in place isnt a smart strategy in life. Progress paves the the way to success. If it takes 10,000 hours to master something (as Malcolm Gladwell suggests) and fear makes us do nothing, then fear needs to go. Face your fears head on and youll find success right behind them. Overcoming fear is success in itself, and it opens the door for more. Lesson: Fear is failures not-so-secret weapon. Bonus tip: Fear itself is afraid of the spotlight. Get into the habit of confronting it, and soon enough, it will be afraid of YOU.

4. Excuses they blame anyone and everything but themselves

If she didnt If I wasnt living here If the economy If that hadnt happened Blaming others, while a lousy thing to do, isnt even the problem its the poisoned perspective it reveals! Do you know what it really means? Excuses and throwing blame are the same way of saying, Im not in control. Now thats scary. Everyone had a perfect excuse when the economy went into a recession in these past few years, but after telling everyone their perfect excuse, they were still in the same mess. Meanwhile, other people did well because they adapted. Excuses feel good temporarily, but dont be fooled, the y can only hurt you. Accept full responsibility for where you are, and youll have a chance to change it for the better. Lesson: You are the only variable you can control in this world.

3. Theyre in the wrong place

Sometimes failure is simply a matter of location the wrong country, the wrong state, the wrong job, the wrong hobby. This is the tricky aspect of failure knowing when to move on to something else. Not all people are capable of success in all things. Im very fast and athletic, but I weigh 140 pounds and have a difficult time gaining weight due to my cheetah style metabolism. I would literally get crushed in the NFL. There was a point in my life when I had to accept the reality that I wasnt built for professional football, my favorite sport. Anyone need a tissue? Oh come on! Its so sad!

Right now, there is someone doing a mediocre job at work, who could be world class in another field. Is it you? This is a good reason to experiment and try different things you might latch on to something and love it enough to succeed with it. Lesson: If a fish and a human switch places, they will both die of suffocation. Location matters.

2. They dont care

Obviously, if you dont care about doing it well, you wont. Apathy can infect any area of our lives, and when it strikes, it produces bucketfuls of failure. The scariest part of apathy is how contagious it is. Youll have it in one area of life, feel the resulting failure, and let it spread to another area. Or your apathetic friends will rub off on you. This is one more reason to experiment and try different things to ward off apathy. The more excited about your life and the possibilities to explore, the better! Apathy can often lead to the worst-case scenario of human life. That worst-case scenario is next on the list as the number one reason for failure, and its the saddest thing youll ever see in a human being. Lesson: The more you care, the more youll succeed.

1. They give up
It crushes me to see it - a human being full of potentialgiving up. Suicide is the ultimate expression of giving up, and in my opinion it is lifes most tragic event. We all have a place in this world, and suicide is giving up before you find it. Giving up isnt always so obvious. It can be the guy in the cubicle making 90k a year, who has been slowly drained of his vigor for life, accepting misery because its bundled with a nice paycheck. It might be the popular girl in class, who secretly hates herself for being fake and not having any real friends, feeling hopelessly trapped by the facade shes created. Anybody you see could be giving up in some area of their life. If youve ever seen someone you love give up on their dream or struggle, even temporarily, you know of the sinking feeling you get. Giving up is the number one reason people fail because it is the only permanent failure. As long as you are actively trying, you have not failed yet. But once you give up, success will not arrive unexpectedly. You can have the worst strategy and focus on all of the wrong things, but as long as you keep trying, you will learn and have hope. That is an important truth. Failure happens; none of us escape unblemished. But for every single person who has ever lived, the secret of life is an unflinching, inspiring little phrase that has shaped nations, bought freedom, saved lives, and fulfilled so many dreams Never. Give. Up.

How Deep Thinking Can Be Harmful

by Stephen Guise Category: Others
Thinking is arguably the most important function we have. It determines everything we do. It dictates our mood. With this blog, I aim to promote depth and quality of thought in order to improve lives. But everyone should be aware that there is a dark side to deep, analytical thinking. It involves thinking obsessively about negative things events, situations, experiences, etc. There is research that shows the danger of this mental fixation on the negative.

We Are What We Think

Why engage in deep thinking in the first place? Do so to increase your awareness of yourself, your situation, your world, and your habits. With increased awareness, you are better informed to make critical daily decisions about how you life your life. You will learn more from mistakes and possess greater understanding about what has succeeded in the past and why. The important caveat to the practice of deep thinking and being mentally aware is focusing on negative things. The mind is very capable, but it can be tricked easily. When we focus on negative events obsessively, a negative feedback loop can form in our mind. In the research I referenced earlier, it says that each time a person struggles with depression, the chance of recurrence increases by 16%. This is because the mind is developing a habitual depressive response to certain negative stimuli and habits are difficult to break. In the worst month of my life, I suffered through a negative feedback loop of anxiety. My anxiety propagated more anxiety, which made me anxious Once I realized that I was suffering from anxiety, I was able to right the ship by training myself to respond differently to negative stimuli and to any signs of anxiety. I chose not to empower my anxiety by essentially ignoring it. Anxiety isnt a problem that I need to tend to its a problem that arises from pure fear (and even fear of fear!). Remove fear and anxiety subsides.

Think Happy Thoughts

I dont believe that it can possibly be overstated that humans benefit tremendously from positive thinking. Im sure youve heard this advice before, but do you understand how effective it is?

Though I am not equipped to back this up with indisputable science, I believe that the ratio of positive-tonegative thoughts dramatically affects our mental health and perception of the world. If you consider our minds tendencies to form habitual responses to stimuli, it makes perfect sense. If the mind is always focusing on negative events and problems then it will always expect negative events and problems to exist. The world is brimming full of negative and positive things. Homicides occur every day. Babies are born every day. Getting fired is scary, but it means new opportunities and a little vacation! Maybe your shoulder hurts, but youre writing a brilliant book. Focus on the book and let the shoulder heal. You have a choice. You can be positive and full of life or you can be the opposite. If you find yourself dwelling on the negative twist it, spin it, and bop it until you see the positive side of it. If there is no positive side, then choose to think about something else that is positive. Negative events, however, should never be ignored. They serve as the most vital learning tools by teaching us what doesnt work. But only think about these negative things as much as absolutely necessary! Anything more than the bare minimum is fruitless and possibly harmful. So you broke your arm. Yeah, that sucksbut thinking about how terrible it is will not make i t heal any faster. You just need to learn that you cant close-line a buffalo. The arm will heal on its own with time, so why not get excited about reading those books you have been too busy to read? Why not take this bed-ridden opportunity to watch LOST? Why not get excited about football season? If you need to care for the arm, then by all means put it into the schedule. If you can accelerate healing with therapy, thats great! Those things are positive actions that provide better results. Of course, Im absolutely preaching to myself right now. I am sloooooowly recovering from a shoulder injury, but Im still blogging! Shield your mind from unnecessary negativity and nourish it with positive vibes!

Deep Thinking Illuminates The Secrets Of Your Mind

by Stephen Guise Category: Others
It is interesting how much advice we seek out on a daily basis. We want to know how to be successful. We want to discover the keys to being happy. We want to accomplish our dreams. The truth is that we already know most of the answers. The catch? Theyre buried in the recesses of our mind and we cant get them unless were looking for them. Many people will rely on others to point them out. Some of this is good, because others can be very insightful and quickly point out something we wouldnt have noticed for years. But too many humans have come to be completely dependent on the ideas of others, as their own cognitive competency dwindles from lack of use.

A little while ago I wrote about how multi-tasking kills productivity, and in that article I referenced a study that clearly displayed the limits of the human mind. Because we have two frontal lobes (right, left), effective focus is maximized at two things at once (each lobe handles a different task). When a third task is added, the mind drops one of the first two. I still strongly prefer one activity, as in that case both lobes work together in order to accomplish the task and it allows for greater depth. This isnt exactly the same as life knowledge, but it does carry over. We all have a sort of framework that we understand the world through. This framework of understanding is extremely complicated because of the thousands of variables (i.e. experience and knowledge) that go into forming it. Since our mind can only focus on one or two things at a time, we must intuitively draw missing data from our framework of understanding as we need it. This being the case, there are always going to be some ideas/concepts on our minds backburners blurry and out of focus. This is different from ignorance, because if we think of them, we can focus on them.

Thats Brilliant! Even Though I Knew It Already

Can you recall an insightful book or article? The profound parts were they completely new untouchable information or something that you already knew deep down or could have figured out yourself? Most of the brilliant people of today are masters of finding those backburner ideas and illuminating them or combining them with other known ideas. 99% of brilliant ideas that amaze you are not outside of your own cognitive ability.

Do you practice putting ideas together? Two ideas merged together successfully can change the world. Communication and technology combined to give us the internet. You could come up with the idea for Facebook if you were already thinking along those lines of connecting people through the internet, right? Its a simple idea that gradually developed more depth as it was developed. The irony of this is that those who understand this principle and do something about it in daily life are the ones who come up with amazing ideas and live fulfilling lives. Call it what you want, but I call it deep thinking. Deep thinking contains two primary forms critical and creative thinking. Critical asks, What can I do better? Creative asks, What is possible here? The first article I wrote for this site was about deep thinking. It is the basis for everything I write about. I aim to think deeply enough to uncover those valuable ideas that are dormant on our backburners waiting to be activated. In doing so, I want to create a movement of deep thinkers in a shallow world. Here is a quote that connects my last post on the supernatural with this post about the problem of the unthinking masses.

At this point a suspicion may occur that Supernaturalism first arose from reading into the universe the structure of monarchical societies. But then of course it may with equal reason be suspected that Naturalism has arisen from reading into it the structure of modern democracies. The two suspicions thus cancel out and give us no help in deciding which theory is more likely to be true. They do indeed remind us that Supernaturalism is the characteristic philosophy of a monarchical age and Naturalism of a democratic, in the sense that Supernaturalism, even if false, would have been believed by the great mass of unthinking people four hundred years ago, just as Naturalism, even it false, will be believed by the great mass of unthinking people today. ~ CS Lewis The problem with shallow thinking is that you only focus on your immediate environment and current desires. There is so much more waiting to be discovered, and it is accessible to you at any time by thinking (at home, on the go, everywhere!). Ill give you an example of what I mean. A few days ago, I purchased five dry erase boards with the intention of organizing my entire life in a specific way on them. This is not the type of activity that you just do on a Tuesday when youre bored. It took significant deep thinking and planning, and that was after I spent a while thinking about what I wanted to do with my life and how to do it. As you may have picked up by now, deep thinking only happens intentionally. Even if you love deep thinking, youre wired to think on the surface as a default. It makes sense for an animal that has no higher desires, but were not satisfied with only having food, water, and shelter. We demand more out of life because we can and it is fulfilling on another level. At the core of deep thinking is asking questions. What do I want? How can I get it? Why is this this way? What possible solutions are to this problem? Am I going about this the right way? Why is everyone so stressed out? If youre wondering where to start, youve already begun.