Worry gives small things a big shadow. Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness. Don’t be one of them. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The secret to happiness and peace on the average day is letting each moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it — less worry and more presence every step of the way. So go ahead and sing out loud in the car with the windows down, and dance in your (more ..read more

If it keeps you busy but will hold you back someday, it’s a distraction. There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. Life is too short not to focus more on what matters most. And life is definitely too short for habits and routines that keep you stuck in a cycle of feeling like you’re a day late and a dollar short. So today, let’s discuss three incredibly common patterns of behavior that keep the majority of us (myself included for several years) stuck in that cycle, day after day. 1. We keep trying to overcome the odds in an unsupportive environment. No matter ..read more

Oftentimes we don’t even realize we’re blocking our own present blessings by holding on so tightly. Letting go is not giving up. Letting go is surrendering any needless attachments to particular outcomes and situations. Surrender means showing up in your life with the intention to be your best, and to do the best you know how, without expecting life to be ideal. Have goals, have dreams, take purposeful action, and build solid relationships, but detach from what life must look like every step of the way. The energy of someone aspiring to create something wonderful this year, teamed with a he ..read more

It’s not what you say to everyone else that determines your life; it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the greatest power. The best lessons we learn in life are the lessons we learn over and over again. The human mind needs lots of reminders — lots of practice — to operate effectively. For example, deep down we know it’s OK to… Say “no” Speak up Tell the truth Believe differently Change our mind Prioritize our needs Learn from our mistakes Embrace our imperfections Forgive and seek forgiveness Begin again, with grace and gratitude Yet, we often (more ..read more

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” As you age you will learn to value your time, genuine relationships, meaningful work, and peace of mind, much more. Little else will matter. Deep down you know that already, right? Yet on most days, just like the majority of us, you are distracted by so many others things. You give your time to lots of meaningless time-wasters. You take your important relationships for granted. You get to work skeptically with inner resistance. And you let everyday stress get the best of you… Why? Because you’re human, an ..read more

“If only…” These two words paired together create one of the saddest phrases in the English language. In the end, more than anything else, we regret the small chances we didn’t take, the priceless opportunities we were too busy to nurture, and the good decisions we waited too long to make. Angel and I have learned this over the past 15 years from the countless hours we’ve spent coaching hundreds of clients, students, and live event attendees from around the world. The exact same regrets pop up in the personal stories people share with us, time after time. Here are ten incredibly common and ..read more

You have come a long way, and you’re still learning and growing. Be thankful for the lessons. Take them and make the best of things today. For my 18th birthday, many moons ago, my grandfather on my mom’s side gave me four lightly-used flannel shirts that he no longer needed. The shirts were barely worn and in great shape; my grandfather told me he thought they would look great on me. Unfortunately, I thought they were odd gifts at the time and I wasn’t thankful. I looked at him skeptically, gave him a crooked half-smile, and moved on to the other gifts sitting in front of me. My grandfather ..read more

It happens to all of us gradually as we live and grow. We discover more about who we are and the way life is, and then we realize there are some changes we need to make. The lifestyle we’ve been living no longer fits. The environments and relationships we once found comfort in no longer exist, or no longer serve our best interests. So we cherish all the great memories, but find ourselves at a crossroads in life, moving forward. And it’s not easy. It’s painful to give up what’s comfortable and familiar, especially when there’s no other choice. Marc and I have struggled through this process man ..read more

The truth does not disappear when it is forgotten or ignored. You know how you can hear something a hundred times in a hundred different ways before it finally gets through to you? The ten truths about life discussed here fall firmly into that category — timeless lessons most of us likely learned years ago, and have been reminded of since, but for whatever reason we haven’t fully grasped them yet. This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all… 1. The average human life is relatively short. We know deep down that life is sh ..read more

Oftentimes you don’t even realize you’re blocking your own present blessings by holding on to everything so tightly. Closing the door, completing the chapter, turning the page, etc. It doesn’t matter what you title it; what matters is that you find the strength to leave behind those former parts of your life that are over, and those lavish ideals in your mind that simply aren’t meant to be. Throughout the past decade, as Angel and I have gradually worked with hundreds of our course students, coaching clients, and live event attendees, we’ve come to understand that the root cause of most hum ..read more