There are moments throughout our lives, and they happen almost every day, where we catch a glimpse of what we are capable of, a flicker of what we are destined to be, or a hint of what we desire to become.It could be a burst of inspiration for that book we always wanted to write. Or the yearning to finally lose the extra weight. Or the feeling of dissatisfaction with our job and an urge to build something of our own.

These are important desires and they call to us all the time. But right before we answer their call, the urgency of life tends to get in the way. Your phone rings. Your car is low on gas. Your boss drops a tight deadline on you. And so we delay our dreams one more day for the sake of putting out another fire.How do we get past this? How do we start living the life that’s important to us instead of just responding to the everyday emergencies?

The Next 10 Years of Your Life

Think about this: you’re going to spend the next 10 years doing something.Too often that something is responding to what is urgent instead of pursuing what is important.

Too often the need to make money (urgent) wins out over the desire to build something we’re proud of (important). Too often the urge to find a way to lose twenty pounds in six weeks (urgent) wins out over becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts (important). Too often the craving to be noticed or appreciated (urgent) wins out over the ability to be present and satisfied (important).

Sure, we all need money. And yes, there are times when the world requires us to put important things on hold so that we can get the rest of our crazy lives under control. Handling responsibilities is part of life. But how long will you delay what’s important to you just so that you can handle the next urgent thing in front of you? How long will you put off what you’re capable of doing just to maintain what you’re currently doing?

Will you wait a year? Five years? Your whole life?Too often we live our lives based on what is urgent for us and not what is important to us. It’s dangerously easy to spend years constantly chasing the next urgent thing and never setting aside time to do what we know we should.

How to Overcome the Urgency of Everyday Life

If you want to start living an important life, then choose a clear direction for yourself. When you have the courage to say, “This is important to me and I’m going after it,” you don’t fall into the trap of living the life that other people expect you to live.

For example…If I know that my unwavering goal is to finish this article, then that goal gives me direction and purpose. Whenever I have a free moment, I write another sentence. Whenever I get a new idea, I automatically think about how it relates to accomplishing my goal of finishing this article. My life is organized around accomplishing this specific, important task.

We all have urgent tasks each day — a phone call we have to take, an email we need to respond to, a sick friend we have to help — but having a clear purpose and a specific goal allows you to get right back to what is important after you respond to the everyday emergencies. A specific goal gives you direction and prevents you from being sucked into a whirlwind of time–consuming, unimportant tasks.

A specific goal is different than a desire, and that’s crucial to understand. Wanting to get in shape is a desire, doing 100 pushups in a row is a specific goal. Wanting to start your own business is a desire, securing three paying clients is a specific goal. Wanting to write a book is a desire, finishing the first chapter is a specific goal.

Live an Important Life

Nothing worth working for will ever seem urgent. That’s the nature of important goals. They don’t demand attention right now. They require a sense of purpose, a clear direction, and consistency over the long haul.I propose that we stop letting the seeds of greatness slip through our fingers. I say that we abandon the frantic rush towards mediocre and start the slow march towards greatness.Pick one thing that’s important to you, set a specific goal for yourself, and get started today.

Never leave your dreams unfulfilled.

Nearly all great ideas follow a similar creative process and this article explains how this process works. Understanding this is important because creative thinking is one of the most useful skills you can possess. Nearly every problem you face in work and in life can benefit from innovative solutions, lateral thinking, and creative ideas.

Anyone can learn to be creative by using these five steps. That’s not to say being creative is easy. Uncovering your creative genius requires courage and tons of practice. However, this five-step approach should help demystify the creative process and illuminate the path to more innovative thinking.

To explain how this process works, let me tell you a short story.

A Problem in Need of a Creative Solution

In the 1870s, newspapers and printers faced a very specific and very costly problem. Photography was a new and exciting medium at the time. Readers wanted to see more pictures, but nobody could figure out how to print images quickly and cheaply.

For example, if a newspaper wanted to print an image in the 1870s, they had to commission an engraver to etch a copy of the photograph onto a steel plate by hand. These plates were used to press the image onto the page, but they often broke after just a few uses. This process of photoengraving, you can imagine, was remarkably time consuming and expensive.

The man who invented a solution to this problem was named Frederic Eugene Ives. He went on to become a trailblazer in the field of photography and held over 70 patents by the end of his career. His story of creativity and innovation, which I will share now, is a useful case study for understanding the 5 key steps of the creative process.

A Flash of Insight

Ives got his start as a printer’s apprentice in Ithaca, New York. After two years of learning the ins and outs of the printing process, he began managing the photographic laboratory at nearby Cornell University. He spent the rest of the decade experimenting with new photography techniques and learning about cameras, printers, and optics.

In 1881, Ives had a flash of insight regarding a better printing technique.

“While operating my photostereotype process in Ithaca, I studied the problem of halftone process,” Ives said. “I went to bed one night in a state of brain fog over the problem, and the instant I woke in the morning saw before me, apparently projected on the ceiling, the completely worked out process and equipment in operation.”

Ives quickly translated his vision into reality and patented his printing approach in 1881. He spent the remainder of the decade improving upon it. By 1885, he had developed a simplified process that delivered even better results. The Ives Process, as it came to be known, reduced the cost of printing images by 15x and remained the standard printing technique for the next 80 years.

The 5 Stages of the Creative Process

In 1940, an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a short guide titled, A Technique for producing Ideas. In this guide, he made a simple, but profound statement about generating creative ideas.

According to Young, innovative ideas happen when you develop new combinations of old elements. In other words, creative thinking is not about generating something new from a blank slate, but rather about taking what is already present and combining those bits in a way that has not been done previously.

Most important, the ability to generate new combinations hinges upon your ability to see the relationship between concepts. If you can form a new link between two old ideas, you have done something creative.

Young believed this process of creative connection always occurred in five steps.

1. Gather new material. At first, you learn. During this stage you focus on 1) learning specific material directly related to your task and 2) learning general material by becoming fascinated with a wide range of concepts.
2. Thoroughly work over the materials in your mind. During this stage, you examine what you have learned by looking at the facts from different angles and experimenting with fitting various ideas together.
3. Step away from the problem. Next, you put the problem completely out of your mind and go do something else that excites you and energizes you.
4. Let your idea return to you. At some point, but only after you have stopped thinking about it, your idea will come back to you with a flash of insight and renewed energy.
5. Shape and develop your idea based on feedback. For any idea to succeed, you must release it out into the world, submit it to criticism, and adapt it as needed.

taking what is already present and combining those bits and pieces in a way that has not been done previously.

There are many benefits to reading more books, but perhaps my favorite is this: A good book can give you a new way to interpret your past experiences.

Whenever you learn a new mental model or idea, it’s like the “software” in your brain gets updated. Suddenly, you can run all of your old data points through a new program. You can learn new lessons from old moments. As Patrick O’Shaughnessy says, “Reading changes the past.”

Of course, this is only true if you internalize and remember insights from the books you read. Knowledge will only compound if it is retained. In other words, what matters is not simply reading more books, but getting more out of each book you read.

Gaining knowledge is not the only reason to read, of course. Reading for pleasure or entertainment can be a wonderful use of time, but this article is about reading to learn. With that in mind, I’d like to share some of the best reading comprehension strategies I’ve found.

1. Quit More Books

It doesn’t take long to figure out if something is worth reading. Skilled writing and high-quality ideas stick out.

As a result, most people should probably start more books than they do. This doesn’t mean you need to read each book page-by-page. You can skim the table of contents, chapter titles, and subheadings. Pick an interesting section and dive in for a few pages. Maybe flip through the book and glance at any bolded points or tables. In ten minutes, you’ll have a reasonable idea of how good it is.

Then comes the crucial step: Quit books quickly and without guilt or shame.

Life is too short to waste it on average books. The opportunity cost is too high. There are so many amazing things to read. I think Patrick Collison, the founder of Stripe, put it nicely when he said, “Life is too short to not read the very best book you know of right now.”

Here’s recommendation:

Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice.

2. Choose Books You Can Use Instantly

One way to improve reading comprehension is to choose books you can immediately apply. Putting the ideas you read into action is one of the best ways to secure them in your mind. Practice is a very effective form of learning.

Choosing a book that you can use also provides a strong incentive to pay attention and remember the material. That’s particularly true when something important hangs in the balance. If you’re starting a business, for example, then you have a lot of motivation to get everything you can out of the sales book you’re reading. Similarly, someone who works in biology might read The Origin of Species more carefully than a random reader because it connects directly to their daily work.

Of course, not every book is a practical, how-to guide that you can apply immediately, and that’s fine. You can find wisdom in many different books. But I do find that I’m more likely to remember books that are relevant to my daily life.

3. Create Searchable Notes

Keep notes on what you read. You can do this however you like. It doesn’t need to be a big production or a complicated system. Just do something to emphasize the important points and passages.

I do this in different ways depending on the format I’m consuming. I highlight passages when reading on Kindle. I type out interesting quotes as I listen to audiobooks. I dog-ear pages and transcribe notes when reading a print book.

But here’s the real key: store your notes in a searchable format.

I. Audiobook: I create a new Evernote file for each book and then type my notes directly into that file as I listen.

II. Ebook: I highlight passages on my Kindle and use a program called Clippings to export all of my Kindle highlights directly into Evernote.

III. Print: Similar to my audiobook strategy, I type my notes as I read. If I come across a longer passage I want to transcribe, I place the book on a as I type. (Typing notes while reading a print book can be annoying because you are always putting the book down and picking it back up, but this is the best solution I’ve found.)

Of course, your notes don’t have to be digital to be “searchable.” For example, you can use Post-It Notes to tag certain pages for future reference.

The core idea is the same: Keeping searchable notes is essential for returning to ideas easily. An idea is only useful if you can find it when you need it.

4. Combine Knowledge Trees

One way to imagine a book is like a knowledge tree with a few fundamental concepts forming the trunk and the details forming the branches. You can learn more and improve reading comprehension by “linking branches” and integrating your current book with other knowledge trees.

Connections like these help you remember what you read by “hooking” new information onto concepts and ideas you already understand. As Charlie Munger says, “If you get into the mental habit of relating what you’re reading to the basic structure of the underlying ideas being demonstrated, you gradually accumulate some wisdom.”

When you read something that reminds you of another topic or immediately sparks a connection or idea, don’t allow that thought to come and go without notice. Write about what you’ve learned and how it connects to other ideas.

5. Write a Short Summary

As soon as I finish a book, I challenge myself to summarize the entire text in just three sentences. This constraint is just a game, of course, but it forces me to consider what was really important about the book.

Some questions I consider when summarizing a book include:

• What are the main ideas?
• If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
• How would I describe the book to a friend?

In many cases, I find that I can usually get just as much useful information from reading my one-paragraph summary and reviewing my notes as I would if I read the entire book again.

If you feel like you can’t squeeze the whole book into three sentences, consider using the Feynman Technique.

The Feynman Technique is a note-taking strategy named after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. It’s pretty simple: Write the name of the book at the top of a blank sheet of paper, then write down how you’d explain the book to someone who had never heard of it.

If you find yourself stuck or if you see that there are holes in your understanding, review your notes or go back to the text and try again. Keep writing it out until you have a good handle on the main ideas and feel confident in your explanation.

I’ve found that almost nothing reveals gaps in my thinking better than writing about an idea as if I am explaining it to a beginner. Ben Carlson, a financial analyst, says something similar, “I find the best way to figure out what I’ve learned from a book is to write something about it.”

6. Surround the Topic

I often think of the quote by Thomas Aquinas, “Beware the man of a single book.”

If you only read one book on a topic and use that as the basis for your beliefs for an entire category of life, well, how sound are those beliefs? How accurate and complete is your knowledge?

Reading a book takes effort, but too often, people use one book or one article as the basis for an entire belief system. This is even more true (and more difficult to overcome) when it comes to using our one, individual experience as the basis for our beliefs. As Morgan Housel noted, “Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works. We’re all biased to our own personal history.”

One way to attack this problem is to read a variety of books on the same topic. Dig in from different angles, look at the same problem through the eyes of various authors, and try to transcend the boundary of your own experience.

7. Read It Twice

I’d like to finish by returning to an idea I mentioned near the beginning of this article: read the great books twice. The philosopher Karl Popper explained the benefits nicely, “Anything worth reading is not only worth reading twice, but worth reading again and again. If a book is worthwhile, then you will always be able to make new discoveries in it and find things in it that you didn’t notice before, even though you have read it many times.”

Additionally, revisiting great books is helpful because the problems you deal with change over time. Sure, when you read a book twice maybe you’ll catch some stuff you missed the first time around, but it’s more likely that new passages and ideas will be relevant to you. It’s only natural for different sentences to leap out at you depending on the point you are at in life.

You read the same book, but you never read it the same way. As Charles Chu noted, “I always return home to the same few authors. And, no matter how many times I return, I always find they have something new to say.”

Of course, even if you didn’t get something new out of each reading, it would still be worthwhile to revisit great books because ideas need to be repeated to be remembered. The writer David Cain says, “When we only learn something once, we don’t really learn it—at least not well enough for it to change us much. It may inspire momentarily, but then becomes quickly overrun by the decades of habits and conditioning that preceded it.” Returning to great ideas cements them in your mind.

Nassim Taleb sums things up with a rule for all readers: “A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Any book not worth rereading isn’t worth reading.”

The ultimate productivity hack is saying no.

Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This statement reminds me of the old computer programming saying, “Remember that there is no code faster than no code.”

The same philosophy applies in other areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all.

This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say yes to many things we don’t actually want to do. There are many meetings held that don’t need to be held. There is a lot of code written that could be deleted.

How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure thing.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said yes to them in the first place.

It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can muster.

But if the benefits of saying no are so obvious, then why do we say yes so often?

Why We Say Yes

We agree to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude, arrogant, or unhelpful. Often, you have to consider saying no to someone you will interact with again in the future—your co-worker, your spouse, your family and friends.

Saying no to these people can be particularly difficult because we like them and want to support them. (Not to mention, we often need their help too.) Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy.

For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no.

But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the tradeoff between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.

Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no.

The Difference Between Yes and No

The words “yes” and “no” get used in comparison to each other so often that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they are not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment.

When you say no, you are only saying no to one option. When you say yes, you are saying no to every other option.

I like how the economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say yes to a request, we are also saying no to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you have committed to something, you have already decided how that future block of time will be spent.

In other words, saying no saves you time in the future. Saying yes costs you time in the future. No is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. Yes is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.

No is a decision. Yes is a responsibility.

The Role of No

Saying no is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it is true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it is also true that saying no is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful among us. It is also a strategy that can help you become successful.

Saying no is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As the investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.”

You need to say no to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals. You need to say no to distractions. As one reader told me, “If you broaden the definition as to how you apply no, it actually is the only productivity hack (as you ultimately say no to any distraction in order to be productive).”

Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

There is an important balance to strike here. Saying no doesn’t mean you’ll never do anything interesting or innovative or spontaneous. It just means that you say yes in a focused way. Once you have knocked out the distractions, it can make sense to say yes to any opportunity that could potentially move you in the right direction. You may have to try many things to discover what works and what you enjoy. This period of exploration can be particularly important at the beginning of a project, job, or career.

Upgrading Your No

Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change.

The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying yes.

You still need to say no to distractions, but you also need to learn to say no to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for great uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.

In other words, you have to upgrade your “no’s” over time.

Upgrading your no doesn’t mean you’ll never say yes. It just means you default to saying no and only say yes when it really makes sense. To quote the investor Brent Beshore, “Saying no is so powerful because it preserves the opportunity to say yes.”

The general trend seems to be something like this: If you can learn to say no to bad distractions, then eventually you’ll earn the right to say no to good opportunities.

How to Say No

Most of us are probably too quick to say yes and too slow to say no. It’s worth asking yourself where you fall on that spectrum.

If you have trouble saying no, you may find the following strategy by the British economist I mentioned earlier, to be helpful. He writes, “One trick is to ask, “If I had to do this today, would I agree to it?” It’s not a bad rule of thumb, since any future commitment, no matter how far away it might be, will eventually become an imminent problem.”

If an opportunity is exciting enough to drop whatever you’re doing right now, then it’s a yes. If it’s not, then perhaps you should think twice.

This is similar to the well-known “Hell Yeah or No” method from Derek Sivers. If someone asks you to do something and your first reaction is “Hell Yeah!”, then do it. If it doesn’t excite you, then say no.

It’s impossible to remember to ask yourself these questions each time you face a decision, but it’s still a useful exercise to revisit from time to time. Saying no can be difficult, but it is often easier than the alternative. As writer Mike Dariano has pointed out, “It’s easier to avoid commitments than get out of commitments. Saying no keeps you toward the easier end of this spectrum.”

What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The Power of No

More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization.

I am reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

MINIMALISM IS OWNING FEWER POSSESSIONS.

Minimalism is intentionally living with only the things one really need—those items that support his/her purpose. One can remove the distraction of excess possessions so he/she can focus more on those things that matter most.

That is a short, elevator-pitch answer.

But oftentimes to answer more in-depth. But to explain simple living further, we can add:

IT IS INTENTIONALITY.

It is marked by clarity, purpose, and intentionality. At its core, being a minimalist means intentionally promoting the things we most value and removing everything that distracts us from it.

It is a life that forces intentionality upon us. As a result, it forces improvements in almost all aspects of your life.

Intentionality looks different for everybody, as no two individuals are the same, but it requires each of us to dive deeper and become more introspective about our values and passions.

IT IS FREEDOM FROM THE PASSION TO POSSESS.

Modern culture has bought into the lie that the good life is found in accumulating things—in possessing as much as possible. They believe that more is better and have inadvertently subscribed to the idea that happiness can be purchased at a department store.

But they are wrong. Embracing minimalism brings freedom from the all-consuming passion to possess. It steps off the treadmill of consumerism and dares to seek happiness elsewhere. It values relationships, experiences, and soul-care. It lets us see all that we already have and reminds us to be grateful.

In doing so, we find a more abundant life.

IT IS FREEDOM FROM MODERN MANIA.

Our world runs at a feverish pace. We are too hurried, too rushed, and too stressed. We work long, passionate hours to pay the bills, but fall deeper into debt every day. We rush from one activity to another—even multitasking along the way—but never seem to get anything done. We remain in constant connection with others through our cell phones, but true life-changing relationships continue to elude us.

Becoming a minimalist slows down life and frees us from this modern hysteria to live faster. It offers freedom to disengage. It seeks to keep only the essentials. It aims to remove the frivolous and keep the significant. It values the intentional endeavors that add value to life.

IT IS FREEDOM FROM DUPLICITY.

Although nobody intentionally chooses it, most people live in duplicity. They live one life around their family, one life around their co-workers, and another life around their neighbors. The lifestyle they have chosen requires them to portray a certain external image dependent upon their circumstances. They are tossed and turned by the most recent advertising campaign or the demands of their employer.

On the other hand, a simple life is united and consistent. It has learned a lifestyle that is completely transferable no matter the situation. It is the same life on Friday evening as it is on Sunday morning… as it is on Monday morning. It is reliable, dependable and unfluctuating. It works in all circumstances. It is honest and transparent.

IT IS COUNTER-CULTURAL.

We live in a world that idolizes celebrities. They are photographed for magazines, interviewed on the radio, and recorded for television. Their lives are held up as the golden standard and are envied by many. People who live simple lives are not championed by the media in the same way. They don‘t fit into the consumerist culture that is promoted by corporations and politicians. Yet, they live a life that is attractive and inviting.

While most people are chasing after success, glamour, and fame, minimalism calls out to us with a smaller, quieter, calmer voice. It invites us to slow down, consume less, but enjoy more. And when we meet someone living a simplified life, we often recognize that we have been chasing after the wrong things all along.

IT IS NOT EXTERNAL, BUT INTERNAL.

The principles have helped hundreds of thousands find freedom by removing much of the physical clutter in their homes and concentrates almost exclusively on the externals of life. And while it helps people find freedom from external clutter, it does not take the next step of helping people find freedom and unity in their heart and soul.

We have learned embracing this lifestyle is always a matter of the heart. After the external clutter has been removed, we create the space to address the deepest heart issues that impact our relationships and life.

IT IS COMPLETELY ACHIEVABLE.

Becoming a minimalist is completely achievable. My family stands as living proof. We were just your typical family of four living in the suburbs accumulating as much stuff as our income and credit cards would allow. Then, we found minimalism. We have embraced minimalist living and will never go back to the way life was before. We stand as living proof that simple living is completely achievable (and unique) to anyone who seeks it.

Whether you’re trying to save money or just trying to get out of the same old rut, it can be fun to find new and interesting ways to enjoy your downtime. The first step to getting out of the same boring routine is exploring all of the options available. The process of trying out some hobbies you might not otherwise have considered can be an enjoyable experience by itself.

Say goodbye to watching TV like a zombie day in and day out, and say hello to having more fun, creativity, and wellness in your life. Consider 13 ideas to help get you started.

Hiking, Walking, or Biking

You don’t need to go to a gym to remain active. Instead, take a walk around your neighborhood or apartment complex. Seek out local trails that are for beginners and reconnect with nature.

Reading

Reading is a super cheap hobby that has a lot of benefits. It forces you to focus on something meaningful, can serve as an escape, and can spark creativity or inspiration. If you’re reading nonfiction, you probably will learn something new.If you’re not the page-flipping type, try audiobooks. They’re like podcasts and you can take them anywhere and listen to them on a walk.

Writing

You write and write and write all throughout school and college, and when you graduate, it’s the last thing you want to do. Unless your job involves writing reports, you probably don’t think of it as a hobby.Keeping a journal can be good for the soul, though. If you find it hard to vent to people, or if it’s difficult for you to work through things out loud, writing down your thoughts can help you make sense of it.

Cooking and Baking

Spending time in the kitchen can make some people miserable, but others thrive when they’re experimenting with different ingredients to make the perfect dish.The best part about cooking or baking is that so many recipes are available online you don’t need a cookbook at all. You can choose to follow recipes or adapt ones to make them your own.

Volunteering

Some might not consider volunteering a hobby, but it’s certainly an activity people can enjoy in their spare time limit. It has a lot of benefits, too. You feel good when you’re able to give back, especially to a cause that matters to you. You also may get involved in a friendly community of volunteers and make new friends.

Get Artsy

Depending on the medium, most artistic hobbies can be done on the cheap—especially when you consider one-time investments pay off in the future.For example, you might need to buy some brushes, pencils, paper, and paint, but the equipment and materials should last for a few months.

Learning

You might not think of learning as a hobby, but the possibilities are endless here. You can choose to learn a new language or a new skill that you can put to use at work. Or maybe there is a topic specific to you that you’ve always wanted to research. None of this has to involve formal study; you can follow your own path at your own pace.

Camping

Camping is a great hobby to pair with hiking, and it’s fairly inexpensive. For complete beginners, a tent, sleeping bag, firewood, and fire-starting materials are the basics to purchase. A small tent can be bought for around $25-$35, and basic sleeping bags are around the same price. To start a fire, all you really need are twigs and branches around the campsite, and a lighter to start the fire.

Finding Inspiration

If none of these hobbies speak to you, look to your friends and family for ideas. Do any of them have interesting hobbies you want to learn more about? Ask them about it, and they might help you bring down the cost by letting you borrow certain things or letting you partake in their hobbies with them.

Fresh and pesticide free farm produce without use of soil.

Have you ever heard of soil-less farming? It’s nothing other than just substituting the soil with nutrient enriched solution/water and this method of technique is known as hydroponics. The two Greek words: hydro, meaning water and ponein, meaning to toil when merged together form word “hydroponics” technically means working water.

Invention of Hydroponics

Dating back to the thousands of years ago, the Hanging Garden of Babylon and the Floating Garden of China are the earliest examples when humans used these methods of gardening. While restoring general theory behind this gardening, new modern techniques are in use to make effective and more productive way of farming.

1920’s- Dr. W.F. Gericke, University of California. Who popularized the idea of growing plants in nutrient enriched water instead of using soil and named this technique hydroponics. He grew 25 foot high tomato vines using water and nutrients only.

Anywhere, anytime

Many considerations have to be taken in case of traditional farming such as type of soil, climate change, local environment, seasonal crops, amount of water, use of pesticides, harvesting time and land space, etc. Hydroponics is panacea to these factors but how? Let’s know about it.

The main reason to adopt this method is climate change. Irrespective of place, time and growing conditions like temperature and season, hydroponics systems can be created anytime and anywhere in the world for growing food to net higher yields with fewer resources.

In order to get fresh and pesticide free food, this will be better option.

Since plants are growing in close environment, they are protected from several pests and insects. Also water consumption is much less than soil farming. In fact we can conserve upto 80% water by recycling it. Harvesting time is reduced to half as plants grow 25% quicker than traditional method. Here land requirement is quite low so you can set up the whole system behind restaurant for getting ultra fresh produce.

Hydroponics system requirements

Five basic requirements for setting up a hydroponics system: Fresh water, oxygen, root support, nutrients and light. All core elements should be in controlled environment.

Since we don’t use soil, typical materials or medium used for supporting the plant’s roots such as vermiculite, rockwool and peat moss, etc. Macro-nutrients like nitrogen, potassium, etc. and micro-nutrients like manganese, zinc, etc. are required to keep farm healthy and productive.

Next level farming

As the world has need to be opting sustainability to counter the today’s environmental threats, there is something required to be more futuristic formula. This high-tech farming leads agriculture and farming industry to the next level. Also more food security will be there.

The idea of living a simple life with less stuff sounds attractive to many.

But often, they begin to feel overwhelmed, anxious, and defeated around the idea of owning less. That’s too bad.

Learning how to declutter your home and (and as a result, decluttering your life) doesn’t need to be as painful as some make it out to be. And the benefits are numerous.

The Benefits of Decluttering Your Life

There are many benefits to owning fewer possessions. Even then, it’s tough to move into action. That is… until the many benefits of getting rid of clutter reveal themselves:

Less to clean. Cleaning is already enough of a chore, but having to clean around things you have zero emotional attachment to (or worse, actively dislike) makes cleaning the house much more stressful.

Less to organize. Finding things suddenly become easier. Things don’t just “disappear” anymore. You can actually move around your home and enjoy the space, instead of moving around things that are in the way.

Less stress. Looking around at the clutter is a nausea-inducing sight once your home becomes cluttered enough. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to look around and see a home you love?

Less debt. Spending less time shopping for material possessions and adding to the clutter means your wallet and bank accounts remain fuller, your credit cards’ statements are lower, and your home doesn’t get filled with costly things you don’t need.

More financial freedom. Most American households live paycheck to paycheck Nearly half of those surveyed carry credit card debt. Decluttering, paired with minimalism, will help you build up savings to keep you protected in case of unexpected emergencies.

More energy for your greatest passions. With less debt, more financial freedom, and a clean home, you can now focus your energy on the things you enjoy instead of worrying about “Keeping up with the Joneses.” This will ultimately make you happier.

Ok, so now you know the benefits of decluttering your life, but you may be getting tripped up by the very next question… where in the world do you begin?

10 Creative Decluttering Tips

If you’re struggling and need guidance on how to declutter, you’ll need to get creative with your plans. Here are several interesting decluttering tips to get you started on decluttering your home:

• Start with 5 minutes at a time. If you’re new to decluttering, you can slowly build momentum with just five minutes a day.
• Give one item away each day. This would remove 365 items every single year from your home. If you increased this to 2 per day, you would have given away 730 items you no longer needed. Increase this number once it gets too easy.
• Fill an entire trash bag. Get a trash bag and fill it as fast as you can with things you can donate at Goodwill.
• Donate clothes you never wear. To identify them, simply hang all your clothes with hangers in the reverse direction. After wearing an item, face the hanger in the correct direction. Discard the clothes you never touched after a few months.
• Create a decluttering checklist. It’s a lot easier to declutter when you have a visual representation of where you need to get started.
• Take the 12-12-12 challenge. Locate 12 items to throw away, 12 to donate, and 12 to be returned to their proper home.
• View your home as a first-time visitor. It’s easy to “forget” what your home looks like to a new visitor. Enter your home as if you’re visiting the home of a friend. Write down your first impression on how clean and organized the home is and make changes.
• Take before and after photos of a small area. Choose one part of your home, like your kitchen counter, and take a photo of a small area. Quickly clean off the items in the photo and take an after photo. Once you see how your home could look, it becomes easier to start decluttering more of your home.
• Get help from a friend. Have a friend or family member go through your home and suggest a handful of big items to throw away or give to someone else. If you defend the item and want to keep it, your friend has to agree with your reason. If they don’t agree, it’s time to get rid of it.
• Use the Four-Box Method. Get four boxes and label them: trash, give away, keep, or re-locate. Enter any room in your home and place each item into one of the following boxes. Don’t skip a single item, no matter how insignificant you may think it is. This may take days, weeks, or months, but it will help you see how many items you really own and you’ll know exactly what to do with each item.

No matter which decluttering tip you choose to get started – whether it be one of these ten or one of countless others – the goal is to take your first step in decluttering your life with excitement behind it.

I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend. During our chat, she told me about an interesting shift in thinking that occurred while she worked at a science museum.

During her time there, she learned how to treat failure like a scientist.

How does a scientist treat failure? And what can we learn from their approach?

Here’s what she taught me…

Treat Failure Like a Scientist

When a scientist runs an experiment, there are all sorts of results that could happen. Some results are positive and some are negative, but all of them are data points. Each result is a piece of data that can ultimately lead to an answer.

And that’s exactly how a scientist treats failure: as another data point.

This is much different than how society often talks about failure. For most of us, failure feels like an indication of who we are as a person.

Failing a test means you’re not smart enough. Failing to get fit means you’re undesirable. Failing in business means you don’t have what it takes. Failing at art means you’re not creative. And so on.

But for the scientist, a negative result is not an indication that they are a bad scientist. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Proving a hypothesis wrong is often just as useful as proving it right because you learned something along the way.

Your failures are simply data points that can help lead you to the right answer.

Failure Is the Cost You Pay to Be Right

None of this is to say that you should seek to make mistakes or that failing is fun. Obviously, you’ll try to do things the right way. And failing on something that is important to you is never fun.

But failure will always be part of your growth for one simple reason…

If you’re focused on building a new habit  or learning a new skill or mastering a craft of any type, then you’re basically experimenting in one way or another. And if you run enough experiments, then sometimes you’re going to get a negative result.

It happens to every scientist and it will happen to you and me as well. To paraphrase Seth Godin: Failure is simply a cost you have to pay on the way to being right.

Treat failure like a scientist. Your failures are not you. Your successes are not you. They are simply data points that help guide the next experiment.

Do you love your job? And are you willing to spend more than 12 hours working? Not many people will be able to such, but there are several reasons that inspire people to work harder and longer.

If the goal of work isn’t to earn more and more money so we can buy bigger and bigger houses and fancier and more expensive cars, then what’s the point? If we’ve chosen to measure life’s success in more important terms than material possessions, why would we choose to work hard?

Consider these seven, just to get started:

1. Work forces personal development.

Work, by its very nature, presents challenges and growth opportunities. It requires us to improve and develop and become better versions of ourselves. The more we grow, the better at work we get… and the greater the challenges become.

2. Our work brings benefit to society.

Our work contributes to the good of society. It serves others, it enriches peoples’ lives, and it moves everyone forward. Whether we are bagging groceries, delivering mail, analyzing stocks, curing cancer, or managing other workers, we can view our work as an act of love to the people we serve.

3. Hard work is an example to our kids.

When we strive to do our best work each day, our kids take notice. And among the greatest character traits I hope to pass on to my children is the importance of working hard on things that matter.

4. Work hard at work to work hard at life.

We learn important life lessons when we give ourselves over to hard work: determination, attentiveness, responsibility, problem-solving, and self-control all come to mind. These lessons, in turn, serve us in other areas (health, relationships, hobbies, etc.).

5. Work hard to make the most of your hours. They will pass anyway.

Each new day brings with it an important choice: either we fill it with our best or we allow it to slip away. There is no other option—the hours are going to pass anyway. Choosing to work hard makes the most of them. Please note: I am not discounting the importance of rest or balance—I have written about both extensively.

6. Work is fulfilling, in and of itself.

In my opinion, there are few joys in life more satisfying than laying down at night with tired legs attached to a tired body. To know I gave my full energy to something important is an amazing feeling and fulfilling in itself.

7. Working hard keeps our lives occupied with important matters.

Living an unoccupied life is a recipe for disaster. Choosing to fill our time and energy with things that bring value to others helps keep us from selfish and foolish decisions with idle time.

There is value in hard work and minimalism does not remove the inherent value of it. In my opinion, it brings its inherent value in sharper focus.

Before ending this post, allow me to briefly speak to those of you disengaged at work—those who no longer find any joy in your specific role and want nothing more than to escape it.

I understand that not every job is enjoyable and feeling motivated to work hard comes easier to someone who looks forward to punching in the clock each morning (or evening). Sometimes, we are required to do work we do not enjoy. If that’s you, please remember, your enjoyment (or unenjoyment) of work does not diminish the inherent value in it.

If you are working a job you hate to provide for your family, you are doing a noble thing and should be commended. And working hard at it, in the place you are today, is your most important step out of it.

There were people in my career who seemed determined to fail. Despite mentoring, instruction, gentle correction, and discipline, they consistently chose the low road.What’s the low road? An appetite for excuses, blame, and underperformance. An aversion to personal responsibility.

In an a well known organisation -most employees will want to improve, and they will be open to useful feedback. Some, unfortunately, will always resist.This is frustrating because it takes time to build rapport with them for a life coach.Life coach would always point out their good qualities and successes at work. In short, they will develop trust with him. Yet they refused to own their mistakes or change behavior.

Striving for mediocrity

Any life coach would have watched a fair number of bright and promising employees repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot, thereby killing their prospects for broader career development and promotion.

It is frustrating to see employees with great potential who succumbed to mediocrity and the path of least resistance. Sometimes they were lazy. Other times, they became invested in a perceived wrong. Whatever the reason, they consistently fell short.There’s no judgment here, just disappointment that he was unable to help these employees.

Here are some of the mistakes you want to avoid at work.

Inconsistency

You’ve probably heard or read the advice, “Underpromise and overdeliver.” Sounds reasonable, but according to research, it’s not very good advice.I don’t see much harm in overdelivering on promises, but what’s most important is CONSISTENCY in meeting your promises.Employees who can be counted on to consistently follow through on assignments are golden.

In a established career, there will always be a handful of employees who became indispensable, go-to people because they consistently followed through on assignments.Other employees sporadically achieved great things, but they were inconsistent. If you want to stand out at work and not shoot yourself in the foot, worry less about being an occasional superstar and focus more on consistently doing good work.

Emotional immaturity

Emotionally immature employees take things personally, often play the martyr, and fail to take responsibility for their actions.Such individuals cannot work around their feelings to achieve positive outcomes. They expend more energy resisting or fighting things they don’t want to do or disagree with, rather than getting their work done.

For instance – one employee who worked very hard at finding loopholes in our minimum standards of performance. He often did the least work possible and blamed others for his low productivity. The effort he put into resisting work was far more than simply doing his job. Needless to say, he was eventually fired.Focus on doing an honest day’s work for a day’s pay. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by letting your emotions get the best of you.

Negativity

There will always be things in life to complain about. No doubt, you know people in your work who grumble endlessly about everything. Ask yourself, how much fun are they to be around?

Successful, well-adjusted people don’t waste energy on negativity. They work around setbacks and obstacles. They don’t quit. They focus on the goal, not the challenges.Don’t be one of those negative souls at work, bringing everyone down. You’ll only shoot yourself in the foot. Optimism can be a force multiplier, whereas negativity can become a cancer at work.

Gossip

People love to talk about other people, especially when it’s negative. They’ll even do it via text messages.Who are we to talk about others behind their backs? Do we think we are superior to them? Is it fair to judge, when we know little about their backgrounds, circumstances, and struggles?

If you want to shoot yourself in the foot at work, gossip about other people. It won’t take long before others and even your supervisor will figure out that you’re a gossip. And then they’ll think less of you.

Impatience

We live in an instant gratification world. As a result, we’ve become more impatient.We can order food and have it immediately delivered to our home. With a few clicks and swipes on our phones, we can purchase goods and have them delivered, or hail a ride to take us anywhere we want.

Technology has made our lives easier and brought many conveniences. As a result, we forget that most things of value in life take time to achieve.If you want an athletic body and six-pack abs, it’s not going to happen overnight. It will take many months of regular training and an improved diet.If you want to make more money, you’ll have to invest time and energy in developing rare and valuable skills. That means furthering your education, practicing, and applying your new abilities in ways that get you noticed. All of which takes time and sacrifice.

Impatient employees shoot themselves in the foot because they’re not willing to put in the time and make the sacrifices necessary to grow. Developing patience within yourself will serve you well, in dealing with other people and learning new skills.

All we have is our character

There are many other mistakes you can make at work, like dishonesty, backstabbing, etc. In the end, all we have is our character. Our reputations hinge on our work ethic and how we treat others.

Don’t shoot yourself in the foot with inconsistency, emotional immaturity, negativity, gossip, and impatience.

Embracing hard work, decency, and virtue will take you far in the workplace, and other areas of your life. Best of all, you’ll become a role model for others, which is how we make the world a better place.