“Our research suggests that phones might actually be impeding this very important approach-related behavior that serves to create new social ties.”

Besides indicating happiness, a smile also communicates to others that you’re interested in them and trustworthy.

So, if phones make us smile less when we’re out and about in public, it could thwart our ability to form “weak ties”—connections with neighbors, colleagues, and other non-intimates in our community—that have been shown to have a profound effect on our health and happiness.

Among the unlikely truths he offers, you’ll discover that goals are for losers, passion is bullshit, and mediocre skills can make you valuable

The most important form of selfishness involves spending time on your fitness, eating right, pursuing your career, and still spending quality time with your family and friends.

I read the news to broaden my exposure to new topics and patterns that make my brain more efficient in general and to enjoy myself, because learning interesting things increases my energy and makes me feel optimistic.

In fact, according to a Harvard study, we spend about 47% wandering our mind.[1] Without proper focus and energy, you will never learn to spend time effectively.

Getting everything you need and want to do takes forethought and planning and a steady source of drive and focus.

Many people have experienced flow state without knowing that’s what it was.

One of the key indicators of being in flow state is losing a sense of time.

Ask yourself: When have hours passed by without your realizing it?

At its core, productivity porn is a form of procrastination

When we don’t feel like working, planning and reading act as illusionary substitutes: they give us the illusion of productivity.

Buying the perfect bullet-point journal, researching the best Pomodoro apps, watching videos explaining how “that one productivity trick will change your life…” Instead of making us more productive, these are preventing us from getting work done

When you hear only what you want to hear, you’re not really listening.

Listen to what you don’t want to hear too.  That’s how you grow.

There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion.

When you take responsibility for your actions, you accept that you made a mistake.

It takes a strong-willed person to admit they made a mistake, and it needs to be done in order to clear your conscious.

When you blame yourself, you cast yourself in a negative light.

An all-nighter is when you skip your normal time for sleep, instead of staying up through the night.

In sleep science, this type of extended period with zero sleep is known as total sleep deprivation.

Instead, all-nighters are associated with voluntarily skipping sleep.

Why a balanced life is an unsustainable goal nobody should pursue.

You think you need a more balanced life because you are overwhelmed by things you don’t love.

Happiness is also not in the balance.

While death anxiety is the fear of running out of time, time anxiety is the fear of wasting your time.

We need—we demand—that what we do with our lives actually matters.

Time anxiety does not necessarily mean that you believe in an outside force that has assigned a purpose to your life, and that you are yet to discover.