• hamster wheel
    Deliberate Living,  Overwhelm

    How I Got Off The Hamster Wheel Tonight

    Tonight I was completely spun up, running around on a hamster wheel. A busy week that seems to have no end, task lists that keep growing, having to fight a few battles that were necessary but still took a lot out of me, little sleep, and dealing with a bunch of vendor dumpster fires. I thought I was going to implode. So how did I get it to stop in a matter of hours?

  • podcast
    Deliberate Living,  Podcast

    Podcast Episode 64: Boundaries

    “Good fences make good neighbors,” Robert Frost said. Boundaries are important, both in a physical sense, but also in an emotional and intellectual sense. I find, though, that most people don’t know how to set a good boundary, and this can severely hamper them as they work toward a more fulfilling life. This is Episode 64, which I am calling “Boundaries”.

  • Commitments
    Deliberate Living

    Getting Rid of Commitments

    A reader asked about how to analyze and get rid of commitments that are taking up your time. It's a hard proposition: we are pulled in so many directions, and many of us really want to actively contribute to many of our commitments. However, we are still over-scheduled and over-committed and we need to cut back. Here is my take on how to get rid of commitments:

  • Mental Clutter
    Deliberate Living

    Clearing Out Mental Clutter

    If we apply my standard definition of clutter to be "something that you don't love and don't use", we can define mental clutter as the "baggage" we carry around in our heads. But what is mental clutter, and what can we do about it?

  • examining goals
    Deliberate Living

    20 Questions for Examining Goals

    There comes a time in every deliberate life where you have to stop and say "What am I trying to do?" This question may be resolved by a quick examination of current goals and a re-orientation in that direction, or it may be something much deeper, requiring further questions. Either way, it never hurts to do a session of examining goals.