Category: Motivation

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Survivorship Bias

Another author’s talk. Another conference panel. Another interview. Again and again, we’re treated to stories of success. We hear about the query letter that landed an author an agent. About the chance encounter that led to a guest post that went viral and launched a career. About the debut novel that sold at auction. For a high six-figure advance, of course. And, of course, every success story needs its share of adversity overcome. The bigger the success, the bigger usually the adversity. The message is clear: Everybody can succeed if only they apply themselves. If you’re not succeeding, you’re not Read More …

LK Lohan

It’s the Little Things

It’s the little things that often make the biggest difference. It’s a truism for many aspects of life, but especially for success in habit formation. While there have been times when I’ve made big, lasting changes on the strength of one powerful insight, there have been many more times when the changes have been incremental. Sometimes these incremental changes were what paved the way to a big transformation. More often, though, the changes weren’t sustainable. I’d keep up the new habit for a week or two; a few months even. And then a minor disruption would kick me off the Read More …

LK Lohan

Resistance

A few years ago, a little book fell into my hands. Steven Pressfield’s “Do the Work!“. A quick, easy read with gimmicky formatting (at least the version I have), and yet the contents hit me like an axe between the shoulderblades. It boils down to this: Resistance is the universal enemy, an unthinking force of nature that pushes us to act against our self-interest, our values, and our better judgement. It’s an ever-present threat that’s hard to recognize because internally it shows up in so many ways: Discomfort. Confusion. Laziness. Inertia. Preoccupation. Rationalization. The outward reactions it triggers are just Read More …