It’s been a hard year.
Over the past several months, we’ve been faced with challenges that none of us have had to deal with before. All of a sudden, everybody’s lives have changed dramatically.
We can’t celebrate special occasions with loved ones out of safety reasons. Many of us are struggling to cope with a mix of emotions, such as fear, sadness, and loneliness. It feels like everything is just hanging in the air, full of uncertainty.
When will it end? And what do we do in the meantime?
The easiest and most obvious answer is: wait. Wait. That’s a heavy word.
Should You Suffer Now to Enjoy Life Later?
We’re stuck in an age-old dichotomy.
Work hard now, reap the rewards later. Enjoy life now, suffer the consequences later. We’re told you can’t have both, especially not at the same time.
When you’re stuck doing something that makes you unhappy, the feeling worsens when you look around and notice other people enjoying themselves. To console yourself, you tell yourself that same line.
You’re suffering now so that you can have a better future down the road. Meanwhile, others who aren’t suffering are going to have to pay the price later. It all evens out in the end.
The question is: Does it?
Why is suffering seen as a prized state of being? Is there something to be gained from pain?
How to Start Over Again After a Bad Ending
In 1914, a massive fire burned through Thomas Edison’s life’s work.
The flames engulfed five city blocks in New Jersey, including Edison’s lab complex. Fueled by chemicals, flames licked the sky at 100 feet high. The firefighters fought the fire from a nearby building called the Battery Factory, which had been built with his durable Edison cement and produced batteries for experimental vehicles.
Nikola Tesla, a rival inventor, heard the tragic news. He sent his condolences in a telegraph: “As one of the millions of your admirers, I send you my sympathy. It is not only a personal and national loss, but a world loss, for you have been one of its greatest benefactors.”
Newspapers ran articles on the story, clamoring about how the fire was the worst thing to happen to Edison, who was 67 years old at the time. Was this it for him? Was this how he would see all his hard work go down?
5 Ways to Prevent Cabin Fever When Working Remotely
Working from home is the new norm.
What formerly caused eyebrows to rise and stir up feelings of envy has now become not only a benefit, but an expected part of work. People are working from home more than ever. In fact, research shows that remote work has grown by 159 percent from 2005 to 2017.
Companies and employees alike are increasingly recognizing the benefits of working remotely. Remote workers report being more satisfied, less stressed, and feeling healthier than the average worker. When you work within an environment of your own choosing, it’s understandable that you feel happier during the day.
But just as there are benefits, there are drawbacks.
ProWritingAid: Grammar Check Your Writing, Improve Your Style, and Become a Better Writer
Have you ever felt that you were just naturally good at something?
It didn’t matter whether you were a fresh beginner or a seasoned expert. You had practiced a skill, gotten the hang of it, and since then, kept doing things the same way. Maybe you were learning to swim, cook, or perform a task at work.
Then someone comes along and tries to help. They offer a suggestion, advice, or some insight. Being used to your way, you brush the person off.
But after awhile, you hit a roadblock. You start to realize that you don’t know everything. You try implementing the person’s advice. And it works!
You begin looking at things in a different light. Gradually, it dawns on you that there is a whole other level… one you had no idea existed.
This is what writing is like. Easy to learn but hard to master, writing often takes a second pair of eyes to help you figure out what you’re doing right, and what needs fixing.
Today, I’m going to discuss ProWritingAid, a popular online grammar checker and style editor. I’ll cover what it does, how to use it, and whether it’s right for you.
How to Rewire Your Brain to Perform Difficult Tasks
Why do some people accomplish so much, while others do hardly anything at all?
How is one person able to exercise, hold meetings, and finish numerous tasks before lunch, while someone else hasn’t gotten out of bed yet? How does someone work on their craft, day after day for years, while someone else can only daydream about getting started?
We all know what we should be doing. We should be learning. We should be staying healthy. We should be working on things that will pay dividends in the future.
But we don’t. You see, those things aren’t easy. In fact, they can be incredibly hard.
5 Simple Ideas That Will Make Your Life 10x Easier
In today’s time-starved society, sacrifices need to be made.
A million different things are vying for your attention. You only have so much time and energy to pursue a number of them. Anytime you’re presented with an activity, you have three options to choose from: start, stop, or continue.
The question is, which door do you walk through? At first glance, the answer may seem obvious. Start or continue the actions that give the greatest output, and drop everything else.
But in reality, your time ends up getting swallowed by all the little things. They take up precious hours that could have been put to better use. Maybe it means doing something unnecessary, enduring an unexpected hassle, or working on something that at first glance seemed simple.
When you find ways to get rid of those small annoyances, you can change your life in big ways. All of a sudden, it feels like your time has been freed up. It’s as if a burden has been lifted off your shoulders.
8 Ways You’re Making Life Harder Than It Has to Be
Do you crave the challenge?
When you see a problem waiting to be solved, you can feel your energy levels rise. Blood surges through your veins. Your mouth salivates. Like a hound tugging at a leash, you want nothing more than to lunge forward and tackle the issue into the ground.
Except the problem isn’t so easy to solve. After awhile, it stops being fun and starts turning into work. You wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into.
Sometimes, we don’t want to find the easy answer to a problem. We want to toil and struggle to feel like we’ve earned something. Otherwise, we don’t treasure the result.
While this helps us push through difficulties, the problem arises when you use this attitude towards everything. Some challenges are not worth the effort. Others can be achieved more quickly.
Slow Down and Take a Deep Breath
We normally think perfection is the final stage in a process. But it’s not. There’s another step that comes after: speed.
When you first learn a skill or create something, you struggle. You go through trial and error, trying to figure out what went wrong. The going is slow.
Then, you start seeing small glimmers of success. You receive positive feedback. You begin to feel more confident as you get closer to where you want to be.
Finally, you have it. The ideal prototype. Your technique nailed down. A system in place. Now that the structure is in order, the next step is to go faster, and faster… and faster.
10 Things That Will Matter a Lot More in 10 Years
Can you imagine your life in 10 years’ time?
It’s hard, isn’t it? There are so many variables, so many unknowns, it’s nearly impossible to predict what’s in store. Chance events happen, and you end up in situations that no one could foresee.
But then you look at people ahead of you for reference. They’re a decade or two older than you. You notice how their lives have panned out.