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Looking for some interesting articles to read?
You’re in the right place!
Here’s what you’ll find on this page…
How To Explore These Interesting Articles
I focus on six types of free content here at The Art of Living (TAoL):
- Book Recommendations – Free lists of the best books ever written;
- Book Summaries – Free summaries of nonfiction books;
- Inspirational Quotes – Wise and inspirational quotes;
- Interesting Articles (you’re here) – Long and short articles on how to live well;
- Interviews – Conversations with experts and interesting people; and
- Free Tools – Cheatsheets and templates to help you hit your goals faster.
On this page, you’ll find my best long and short articles on everything from emotional wellness to accelerated learning and productivity.
Not sure where to start? If this is your first time reading my work, you may want to head to the blog page, where you’ll be able to explore my best articles by topic, by search and/or even by letting me show you around.
If you’re familiar with the blog, then you’ll find all the best articles published on TAoL in alphabetical order below so you can jump straight to the interesting article you’re looking for.
Note: For some tips on how to read faster and more effectively in general, you might also enjoy this summary of Adler and van Doren’s excellent How To Read a Book.
That’s all for now! Over to you…
Interesting Articles by Topic
Click below to read interesting articles on each of TAoL‘s 8 areas of life…
- Health & Vitality – Master physical wellness;
- Thoughts & Emotions – Master mental wellness;
- Family & Friends – Build better relationships;
- Love & Partnership – Love and be loved;
- Growth & Learning – Get smart, faster;
- Productivity & Performance – Do more, better;
- Business & Career – Become an effective executive; and
- Wealth & Lifestyle – Free yourself.
Been reading TAoL for a while? You can also browse all my…
Interesting Articles by A-Z
Note: This section contains only the articles from The Art of Living blog. Click here for book recommendations and book summaries or to explore by topic.
How Long Does It Take to Read 100 Pages of a Book?
3 MINUTE READ | Question: How long does it take to read 100 pages of a book? Answer: It takes about 1 hour 50 minutes to read 100 pages of a book (assuming 275 words per page and an average reading speed of between 238 and 260 words per minute). Why those assumptions? Here’s the detail…
Topics: Reading
How Long Does It Take to Read 200 Pages of a Book?
3 MINUTE READ | Question: How long does it take to read 200 pages of a book? Answer: It takes about 3 hours 41 minutes to read 200 pages of a book (assuming 275 words per page and an average reading speed of between 238 and 260 words per minute). Why those assumptions? Here’s the detail…
Topics: Reading
How Long Does It Take to Read 300 Pages of a Book?
3 MINUTE READ | Question: How long does it take to read 300 pages of a book? Answer: It takes about 5 hours 31 minutes to read 300 pages of a book (assuming 275 words per page and an average reading speed of between 238 and 260 words per minute). Why those assumptions? Here’s the detail…
Topics: Reading
How Long Does It Take to Read 400 Pages of a Book?
3 MINUTE READ | Question: How long does it take to read 400 pages of a book? Answer: It takes about 7 hours 22 minutes to read 400 pages of a book (assuming 275 words per page and an average reading speed of between 238 and 260 words per minute). Why those assumptions? Here’s the detail…
Topics: Reading
How to Make Friends as an Adult (Ultimate Guide)
26 MINUTE READ | Making friends as an adult can be hard. Making the RIGHT friends as an adult, the kind that support you and inspire you and make life a better place, is even harder. Fortunately, this ultimate 8-part guide will show you exactly how to do it.
Topics: Family & Friends
The Feynman Technique: 7 Steps to Learn Anything Faster by Teaching
We've all been there. "I hate this topic! I don't understand it and I'm never going to! And even if I did, how am I supposed to remember this anyway, huh?" Learning is hard work at the best of times and crushingly frustrating at the worst. It's easy to feel stupid or embarrassed when tackling new topics or skills. Before long you've convinced yourself you're "just bad at this kind of stuff". Or worse, you grow to fear or hate learning entirely. But what if I told you there was a simpler and faster way to learn anything? A technique…
Topics: Growth & Learning
The Simplervention: 5 Steps And 30-Days To Simplify Your Life
Here we go again. Another day, another frantic bolt from start to finish. Another baseline of anxiety, punctuated by stress, numbed by sporadic distraction. Your treadmill is running too fast - so fast that rest, exercise, hobbies and time with your loved ones all feel like childhood fantasies. You're busy, you're always too busy. "Why am I always behind? Why does each day feel too short?" you wonder helplessly, "Why can't life just be simple?" And yet life can be simple. Your life can be simple. And you already have everything needed to get there. "But how?" I hear you…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
The Top 5 Productivity Habits We All Struggle With
So, for some reason I totally forgot that the best thing about The Art of Living’s new productivity quiz was the mind-blowing data it'd generate. And if there’s one thing I love more than marmite (🇬🇧), it’s data. I literally love it. 😍 Like, this much: Anyhow, I’ll be sharing lots more insights over the coming months but I want to share two quick things with you now. First - I’m going to let you in on the preliminary results from the quiz. I’ll share the top 5 productivity habits that most of us seem to be struggling with. And……
Topics: Productivity & Performance
The Trouble with Time Blocking (Who Else Has a Calendar like This?)
Thursday, 5:36 AM December 2, 2019 Hey friend, Sorry for the radio silence last week. I didn’t want to add to the chaos of your Black Friday inbox... Anyhow, now sanity is restored - back to business! Do you remember how last time we talked about the biggest productivity problem people face? The fact that they often don’t realise they have a productivity problem in the first place? If you don't remember, go re-read that email, print it out and staple it to the forehead of your chattiest co-worker. Done that? Ok, awesome. Now hold that thought, because we’ll come…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
The Ultimate Habit Tracker Guide: Template + List of Good Habits
[cp_popup display="inline" style_id="14044" step_id = "1"][/cp_popup] If I could wish for one superpower, the ability to turn good, compounding behaviours into habits wouldn't be my first choice (hello #timetravel ⏳). But it would be close. Because it's a fact: hacking your habits is hands-down one of the most valuable life skills you can master. If you learn only ONE thing this decade, make this it. And yet most of us are shockingly bad at it. Partly because we don’t know-how. But mostly because consciously cultivating new habits is difficult. Enter the humble habit tracker - your new accountability buddy and…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
Tiered Goal Setting: The Secret To Perpetual Motion
So, I’m super behind this week upgrading the weekly free-training and I was considering skipping out on this email. (One of the most powerful ways to get big things done is to get comfortable with intentionally letting other things occasionally fall off your plate.) Then I realised it’s a great chance to talk about one of my other favourite productivity tricks: Tiering - a powerful way to keep up momentum on any goal or a habit, even when you face unexpected setbacks or find yourself swamped. Here’s how it works: Take an outcome or habit you’re working on; Convert it into 2…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
What To Do When You Hit Your Goals (Escaping The Momentum Trap)
I’m having one of those weeks where a whole load of things come together. I published the first version of my book. I finished a 365-day meditation journey. I FINALLY cleared out my backlog of flashcards. But instead of feeling happy with what I’ve accomplished, I feel a bit empty and lost. I don’t know if you’ve ever stepped off a treadmill after a long run. There’s this weird feeling like your body wants to keep moving forwards, even though there’s nowhere to go. It’s not totally dissimilar to that. And you know what? That’s OK. Sure, it’s uncomfortable. It…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
What’s The Meaning Of Life? 4 Ways Out Of Your Next Existential Crisis
The primary driving force in us all is a search for meaning. With meaning, we flourish; without it, we struggle at every step. Why? Because motivation requires motive. And the absence of motivation is a direct route to boredom, darkness and depression. For thousands of years, thinkers have agonised over an ultimate 'why': Why do we exist? Why are we here? What does it all mean? Though seductive, it's a path of mental gymnastics with two inexorable outcomes: that (a) 'life is ultimately meaningless' or that (b) 'the meaning of life lies beyond our (human) comprehension'. The good news for…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
Why Good Days Lead to Bad Days (And What to Do About It)
Tuesday, 5:46 AM November 12, 2019 Dear friend, Guess what? Things got back on track last week and it all came down to making sure I got 8 hours of sleep every night. Go figure. Isn’t it funny how the hardest thing to do in life is to follow your own good advice? It reminds me of “The Platinum Rule” - the idea that you should treat yourself with the same love and compassion that you’d treat others (i.e., way more than usual). Simple idea. Super hard to consistently put into practice. Anyway, things are going so well right now…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
Why Productivity Is Failing You… (+ The Three Phases of Productivity)
Tuesday, 6:46 AM December 17, 2019 Hey friend, So a few weeks ago we established that the biggest problem most people have is they don’t realise they have a great big productivity problem. They spend much of their lives stumbling into battle, blindfolded, naked, armed with a soft rubber chicken and wondering why getting what they want feels so difficult. Then last week we established that the second biggest problem people have is trying to "solve" productivity before structuring it. They try to eat an elephant in one piece. 🐘 They collect random tools, tips and tricks; they gather mismatched…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
Why You Procrastinate (And What To Do About It)
Thursday, 6:31 AM October 28, 2019 Dear friend, One of my favourite things about this co-working space (in Pererenan, Bali) is the family of cows that lives directly outside it. I’m feeling increasingly guilty about last night’s burger as I watch momma cow lovingly groom her two calves. It’s making me realise that the big reason I eat meat, burn oil and use plastic is how disconnected I am from the results of my actions. Anyway, that’s not what I want to talk about today (although there’s a good productivity lesson in there for another time). What I want to…
Topics: Procrastination, Productivity & Performance
Why Your Life Is a Mess… (And I’m Furious About It.)
I talk a lot about productivity, don’t I? It might seem repetitive but self-mastery is so important - so earth-shatteringly, so fundamentally life-changing - that it’s worth going on about. But do you know the biggest productivity problem I see people struggle with? The main thing that gets in their way day, after day, after day? The thing that trips them up year, after year, after year? The thing that really makes my blood boil? 🤬 I bet you can’t guess… Alright, I’ll tell you. The biggest problem I see most people facing when it comes to achieving their goals and living their…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
You are enough, just as you are.
"Real love is accepting other people the way they are without trying to change them. If we try to change them it means we don't really like them." - Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements This wonderful quote says something I think we all know deep down. And yet it has an implication that is profound. One that I’ve struggled with most of my life and that I’d like to reflect on with you today. The most important person this quote applies to is you – it’s yourself. We live in a world where we constantly feel we don’t live up to expectations.…
Topics: Productivity & Performance, Thoughts & Emotions
Your SMART Goals Are Anti-Productive… Do This Instead.
So it’s week two in Bali and we’re deep in the hunt for a villa. We wanted to settle down fast so we booked 10 nights at a wonderful homestay and we decided to find our new nest before we ran out of time on our booking. But by the end of last weekend we were halfway to hitting our deadline and the perfect place still hadn’t popped up on our radar. We were sunburned, dehydrated and disappointed. We’d spent hours driving from from viewing to viewing to viewing, feeling increasingly anxious, frustrated and stressed. Which is crazy! I mean,…
Topics: Productivity & Performance
Wish There Was a Faster/Easier Way?
Whenever you’re ready, here are four ways I can help you be more productive, find more balance and live life more on purpose…
- Curious? Discover how productive you really are… Take this free, 2-minute assessment to unlock your PQ and discover the top 25 habits you need to get big things done. Take the 2-minute quiz →
- Overwhelmed? Get a free chapter of my book… Let me show you how to beat procrastination, permanently, with this free sneak peek inside TAoL’s ultimate productivity primer. Download your free chapter →
- Stuck? Grab a 90-Day TRACKTION Planner… Get the tool thousands trust to help them take control of their time, master their habits and hit goals in every part of their lives. Order your 90-day planner →
- Burned out? Join the TRACKTION Community… Take the 6-week masterclass, get weekly group coaching, find accountability partners and connect with like-minded self-starters. Get started FREE →