When I was in college, I played an obscene amount of poker. I often joked that I majored in Economics and minored in poker. I devoured countless books, articles, forum posts, and instructional videos to improve my skills.

At times, the obsession and fascination with poker may have resembled more of an addiction. I used to play from early evening until early morning when the sun came up. That was usually my cue to catch a few hours of sleep before I needed to get up for class.

However obsessive I might have been, I must confess that there are depths to addiction I will never be able to understand. …

More than 10 years ago, I created several blogs on Google’s Blogger platform. I was fortunate that one of my blogs managed to get some organic search engine traffic. I learned a little SEO but it was just dumb luck.

I always knew people could make money online. I never doubted it. The main issue I had, was that I never knew if I could. Perhaps you’ve had similar feelings.

I signed up for the Adsense program and monetized my free blogs with banner ads. Eventually, I made my first dollar online. It took months for me to make enough to hit the payment threshold. …

Last year, the pandemic changed employment globally. Countless people lost their jobs. Many people that are willing to work are struggling to find any opportunities, and they are applying for government assistance in record numbers. In an effort to maintain livelihoods and protect jobs, the UK has furloughed 9.9 million jobs as of 13th December 2020.

If you find yourself excluded from the furlough system and you are worried about the growing gap in your resumé, and how that will affect your professional opportunities in the future, I have only one thing to say:

Don’t worry about it. …

Wait! What? Are you saying writers usually have a process? You mean they don’t sit down at the computer for hours every day and pound relentlessly at their keyboards like me until they have something to submit?

I’ve been writing for a little more than six months now and it’s time for me to intentionally shake up my writing “process”. I intend to take my writing more seriously this year. I want to write prolifically and publish more meaningful pieces with impact.

To do that, I’ll need to refine the current process. …

A new year always seems to bring along a time of reflection and new resolutions. Last year was more than strange. And despite the change in dates, times are still unusual.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time cooped up at home. It definitely wasn’t something I planned. And most likely, neither did you.

This time last year, I drew up new goals and ambitions like I do most years. The motivation to change isn’t limited to the start of a new year, it’s just something I have grown accustomed to. …

A new year is upon us. It’s yet another opportunity to take stock of our lives and identify where we can do better (or worse). Intentionally or not, we are always changing. We adapt to our circumstances.

It doesn’t always have to be difficult to improve your life. Often, it can be easier than you think. In no particular order, here are 10 simple principles that can help improve the quality of your life. If you can get these down, I would consider you pretty remarkable as I still struggle with some of these.

Aggressively Apply The 80/20 Principle

Call it Minimalism, Essentialism, Pareto’s principle, or whatever you want. …

Do you listen to audiobooks and podcasts at double speed or higher?

It’s a great way to get through nonfiction at pace. It helps us get more out of our time. But it comes with a few drawbacks. Some people would argue you don’t enjoy the books as much, especially when everyone sounds like a chipmunk. Others argue that you don’t give yourself enough time to digest and reflect on ideas at the moment.

Those are genuinely valid points. But neither of those is the side effect I’m talking about. The unwanted side effect of listening so fast is that you get used to it. …

Despite all you have read about self-improvement, do you still struggle to develop a long-term perspective or mindset?

I know I do.

My view of the long term isn’t anywhere near as sexy as others make it out to be. But it can still be helpful.

Is there anything more subjective and vague than how we define the long and short term? These are relative measures of time specific to each individual. The only thing we could agree on is that the medium-term is somewhere in between.

Currently, I see the short term as a matter of months up to a couple of years. The long term is around 7 years+ for me. …