Almost one year ago, my life changed. It wasn’t a big, dramatic event that was the catalyst, nor a realization that my life was on the wrong path. To be honest, I didn’t even know that the path I was on was heading in a direction I didn’t want to go.

No, what changed my life was far more simple. I started a morning routine.

It’s true when they say small, micro efforts daily add up to huge results. I hardly changed anything — I was simply spending the first 40 minutes of my day in a different way. …

The Stoic life centred around habits and routines — practices in which they engaged daily, from their waking moments until going to sleep, that provided the structure necessary for a day lived well. These practices can provide a blueprint for us, to help us to lead good and happy lives. This article outlines these practices, and how you can structure your day like a Stoic thousands of years later.

“Assemble your life… action by action. And be satisfied if each one achieves its goal… No one can keep that from happening…Action by action.” — Marcus Aurelius

Morning

Wake up early

“The day has already…

As I transition into writing full-time, I have found it crucial to have a priming routine before I start my writing sessions.

Without adequate priming, our bodies and minds aren’t ready for what we throw at them. We warm up for sports games, gym workouts, and singing lessons, but how often do we warm up for writing?

Here’s how I prime my body and mind for an effective writing session.

Wake up with a buffer

This has been a very new addition to my routine, but a game-changer.

If my routine starts at 7am, I would set my alarm for 7am. But by the time…

Goals are the key to success in life.

I truly believe that. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll never get there. However, goals can also drive you into the ground and destroy you if you’re not careful about how you approach them.

I’ve spent years experimenting with various goal-setting methods, experienced some horrendous periods of burnout, times when I thought all my efforts were in vain and life was pointless so why bother, but I’ve also slowly been inching towards the life of my dreams.

And there is one key strategy I have adopted that has allowed me…

Coffee is the healthiest drink on earth, according to some scientists.

However, the time of day we consume it exponentially increases or decreases its benefits, and drinking coffee at the ‘wrong’ time can actually be harmful to our health.

So, looking at the current research, when should we be having our favorite drink?

Why does the time of day matter?

We have an internal clock called the circadian rhythm.

This rhythm dictates all the mechanisms in our bodies — from hormone release and turning on and off the metabolism, to when our bodies are primed for sex. The circadian rhythm does it all.

But this rhythm is…

Goal-setting might be the fastest track to success in every area of your life.

But I think too many of us don’t approach the process in the right way. Goals can be incredibly powerful but they can also be a huge hindrance as well. Without the right mindset, you might be worse off than if you didn’t set any goals.

Here’s how you can make goal setting work for you, in a way that will continually push you to be the best version of yourself.

The Approach

Background

Yesterday, I was reflecting on my goals and my current goal-setting process, and I realized…

Want to decrease your risk of death with one simple daily practice?

Implementing daily routines and practices is the fastest track to a healthy life; they help us to implement healthy habits into our life every single day, and the key to health is to be consistent.

Here’s one simple practice you can include in your daily routine that has been shown to reduce your risk of death by almost 50%.

The research

A randomized trial has shown that having a regular meditation practice can decrease your risk of death by almost 50%.

This is an effect that has appeared numerous times…

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

If we want to increase our resilience, both mental and physical, we need to stress our bodies — specifically, with a hormetic stressor. A hormetic stressor is something that, in a small dose makes you stronger, but in a big dose will kill you. Think fasting, cold, heat, and exercise.

Here’s how you can utilize hormetic stressors to increase your resilience.

Hormetic stress

While most of what we read about today is regarding lowering our stress, we do actually need some stress.

As humans, we experience both good stress and bad stress. The key is…