“Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times, easy times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” - G. Michael Hopf

We live in an ease-obsessed world. To build the life you want, to earn the things you want, your resistance is the cost of entry.

Remember: Nothing worth having in life should be easy. The things that matter in life are hard to build.

Question: Are you allowing self-protection to become self-rejection?

Framework: Hedgehogs vs. Foxes

It's easy to allow your weeks to spiral out of control as you try to navigate your personal and professional responsibilities. Fortunately, I developed some tricks that helped me fight back.

4 tiny habits that dramatically improved my weeks: (1) Defining what a "win" looks like, (2) Creating an awareness of my energy, (3) Executing a daily management sprint, and (4) Investing 30 minutes in a vision.

Remember: Extraordinary change is simply the result of ordinary acts done well, over and over and over again. Always take the small things seriously, because small things become big things.

Question: How can you decide to be happy today?

Framework: The Ludic Fallacy

More intensity is not the answer. To achieve the things you want in life, you must pursue them with balance. Unfortunately, in the modern era, to pursue things with balance is almost indistinguishable from laziness.

The single greatest challenge for any ambitious person is reframing slowing down as an essential part of your performance, not a reward for your effort.

When you're constantly moving fast, everything is a blur. When you slow down, you start to see the world more clearly.

5 strategies you can use to slow down more regularly: (1) Take pride in unitasking, (2) Take more breaks, (3) Take a power walk, (4) Embrace the power of no, (5) Find your garden.

Question: What are the beliefs that no longer serve me?

Framework: The Dartmouth Scar Experiment

In my 20s, I nearly drove myself mad adding more and more new things to my life. Today, I'm 33, happier, healthier, and more successful than I've ever been—but in today's piece, I want to share the secret that unlocked all of that: I quit.

The truth is that the fastest way to improve your life is not adding new things to serve you, but quitting what no longer does.

Here are 11 things I quit to transform my life: (1) Focusing on my potential, (2) Complaining, (3) Worrying about the opinions of others, (4) Allowing negative people to drain my energy, (5) Allowing overthinking to hold me back, (6) Hitting the snooze button, (7) Planning for perfection, (8) Treating my house like crap, (9) Seeking novelty, (10) Grazing on low-value tasks, (11) Relying on motivation.

Question: How can you change your outlook by changing your perspective?

Framework: The Theory of Constraints

I've come to believe that there is one common theme that holds people back from living the life they want—and the life they are capable of living: Overthinking.

In today's piece, I want to share what worked for me: Three simple mindset shifts—reminders and reframes you can reliably turn to—that helped me conquer overthinking for good.

Three mindset shifts to conquer overthinking: (1) The decision is less important than the actions that follow it, (2) Trust in your adaptability, not your plan, and (3) Most decisions are far more reversible than you think.

Question: How will you respond when you find yourself in the valley?

Framework: The Two Types of Happiness