Where I get my inspiration and learnings

 

Books

  • Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide by Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP and Dr. Michael B. Frisch - One of my favourite books with research-based ideas on positive psychology and how to be happy and live your values by one of the first graduates of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at UPenn. Lots of practical exercises and resources in the book.

  • Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans - Two engineering professors at Stanford teaching the course of using design principles to help design your life. Again very practical exercises.

  • Tiny Habits: Small Changes that Change Everything by BJ Fogg - Super practical book on habit change using behavioural design principles written by the founder and director of the Stanford Behaviour Design Lab. If you’ve been struggling with habit change, check it out!

  • The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters by Emily Esfahani Smith - Short book on how to create more meaning in our lives with powerful stories.

  • Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Timothy Ferriss - Some people hate on Tim Ferris and I used to be that person, but this is a pretty good book to read as he's distilling wisdom from other successful people and they're very short chapters so you can read a bit and put down and read another. Spoiler alert: 90% of the people do some form of meditation!

  • Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson - Dr. Anders Ericsson is the world authority on expertise and human performance. The book has one key idea of "deliberate practice" and why it's necessary for you to be at the top of your game in any skill you want to develop, and how we shouldn't let our genetics limit us as much as we normally think.

Articles

  • Your Life in Weeks and The Tail End from Blog Wait but Why by Tim Urban - Two articles that are related about how much life and time we really have in visuals that are very concrete for you to reflect on how you're spending your precious time and living your one life.

Podcast Episodes

  • Daniel Goleman: The Truth about Meditation (A Scientific Look) on The Good Life Project Podcast - I literally only knew about Dr. Goleman relating to Emotional Intelligence...little did I know that he was studying meditation WAY before it became mainstream. If you think meditation is "hokey", listen to this as he talks about the scientific evidence.

  • Stan Tatkin: Love, Danger, Deviance, and Conflict on The Good Life Project Podcast - Dr. Stan Tatkin wrote one of my favourite books on adult attachment styles and how it affects your dating and love life.

  • Jack Kornfield: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy in the Present on The Tim Ferris Show Podcast - Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Asia (I'm biased as he started in Thailand!) and was one of the first to bring the practice and teachings to the West. Great listen for anyone interested in Buddhist and mindfulness concepts and practices.