Peace of Mind Analogy Cover

Use This Analogy to Cultivate Peace of Mind

Nik

China’s first north-to-south express highway is the G4. It is over 2,200 km long and you can use it to drive from Beijing all the way to Hong Kong or Macau. On a busy day, it looks like this:

Source

Your mind has more than a mere 50 lanes, but on a busy day, the level of traffic is just the same. Each car in each lane represents a different version of you. A version that would make an alternative choice, behave differently, or think another way. But there’s a catch:

Only one lane is called ‘the present’ and only one version of you can drive on it at any given time.

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The Hidden Chance in the Death of the 9-to-5 Workday Cover

The Hidden Chance in the Death of the 9-to-5 Workday

Nik

The 9-to-5 workday is dying. That’s a fact. 43% of Americans spend at least some time working remotely, and of those who do, 31% do it four to five days a week.

What started as a socialist movement in the 1800s and has led to the abolition of child labor, minimum wage, and the 40-hour workweek is now fading away. As it does, it blurs the line between work and life, which, for many, is a fine balance they’re constantly trying to get just right.

Whether you like this change or not, it is one you will have to live with. That might mean learning how to join a video conference, answering emails on a Sunday, or using clunky remote access software. But it might also mean more time with your family, less pressure to finish on time, and getting a haircut on a Tuesday.

It’s not a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. It’s an opportunity. Especially because there was never a line to begin with.

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Digital Nomad Cover

Digital Settler: The Healthy Alternative to Being a Digital Nomad

Nik

“If you need to take a vacation, never come back.”

— Joel Salatin

It feels almost weird to acknowledge it: I make a full-time income using nothing but a laptop and an internet connection. I wasn’t born to be an entrepreneur, so growth’s been slow, but for the past four years, I’ve made a very livable amount of money for a single dude in his 20s.

I first learned about this new-rich, digital lifestyle in 2012. Back then, I painted the same picture in my daydreams that must decorate millions of desktop backgrounds around the globe: a chair on the beach, an ice-cold drink, and a laptop on my lap. But then, something interesting happened: I got the travel without the work.

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How Do You Know You’ve Discovered Your Passion? Cover

How Do You Know You’ve Discovered Your Passion?

Nik

“If you’re not a genius, don’t bother.”

Jim Bennett is easily the most depressing English literature professor the world has ever seen. After a long rant about the unequal distribution of talent and how “desiring a thing cannot make you have it,” however, something interesting happens in his classroom.

He calls out Dexter, who’s disinterested in the conversation, sitting way back.

“Dexter! An ordinary-looking young man with a what? Size 40 jacket, regular features, and decent dentition, is the second-ranked collegiate tennis player in the United States of America. How did that come about, Dexter? You come from a tennis family?”

“I mean, uhh, I started playing five years ago in high school ’cause the tennis guys have the best weed.”

Great. A pothead who’s a tennis prodigy. As if Bennett’s point wasn’t easy enough to make. But, when he continues to dig…

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This Question Will Make You Immune To Failure Cover

This Question Will Make You Immune To Failure

Nik

On Monday, a guy cut in line at the hairdresser. Not the grocery store, the hairdresser. Where you already wait for some 30 minutes and each person’s treatment takes forever. But just as I was about to get angry, I finally got sick of my own bullshit.

I was angry a lot over the past three months. At people, at events, at myself. Often for valid reasons. But having a good reason to be angry does not make being angry a good reaction. It almost never is. I remembered a Buddhist quote:

“Anger is a hot coal you’re holding, waiting to throw it at someone else.”

Since I had a little more time to pass, I started digging: Why was I holding so many coals?

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The Highest Form of Self-Control Cover

The Highest Form of Self-Control

Nik

In 2014, a few other interns and me had the honor of helping out at The M Festival. It’s an annual event BMW M holds at the 24 Hours Nürburgring race for VIP customers.

We chauffeured around the big bosses in M cars, attended new car presentations, and even got to watch the race. To remember what a privilege it was, how much fun I had, and because I’d like to own an M car one day, I decided to keep wearing the bracelet all participants got.

That was four years ago.

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The Best Way to Improve Your Thinking Cover

The Best Way to Improve Your Thinking

Nik

Every day, up to a million people pass over the intersection outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo. With a capacity of 3,000 people in one exchange, it’s the biggest pedestrian crossing in the world.

Whenever the light turns green, a little race starts. Who gets across the quickest? Who takes the straightest line? Who’ll wiggle through without bumping into someone? It may not be as big in your town, but every day, that very same race happens billions of times at intersections around the globe.

I’m always fascinated by all the different players’ attitudes. Some just stare into space, others are completely absorbed by their phones. Some are lost in conversation or thought, while others can’t wait to continue their morning run.

But almost without fail, the person who makes it to the other side first is someone who paid attention. I try to be that person. I don’t always ‘win,’ but when I do, I’m halfway across by the time my fellow players look up.

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Say No To Free Stuff Cover

Why It’s Important to Say No to Free Stuff

Nik

Last week I got hoodwinked. Walking out of the school canteen, a friend and I passed a guy standing next to his car’s open trunk, handing out free drinks and note pads. Except they weren’t free. As soon as he’d offered us his ‘gifts,’ he made us sign trial subscriptions to a newspaper. To his credit, we didn’t need any payment info and he was a nice guy.

But he still blindsided us. Most of the time, however, I do it to myself.

Free Lunch All Over the Place

Whoever says there’s no free lunch has never been to a German college. We don’t pay insane tuition, yet there are still more freebies than anyone could handle. Drinks, food, events; young people will build the future and these are the things they covet. But that doesn’t mean we want our lives to be a 24/7 pitch fest in which we’re the prize.

So when yet another poor devil hands out flyers, the result is often the same: trash cans full of paper, littered floors, and shreds of parchment flying through the streets. 19 out of 20 times, 19 out of 20 people aren’t interested. And yet, we end up with an ad in our hands anyway. Why is that?

Sometimes, we get blindsided. We’re too startled to say no and boom, we agreed. Sometimes, we don’t want to be rude. And sometimes, it’s straight pity. It speaks volumes about your product if the best buyer motivation you can hope for is people wanting to eliminate some of the inherent discomfort in your sales process. A friend says she often takes flyers to make the other person feel better and help them get on with their unrewarding job.

That’s a noble goal, but I think there’s a hidden price we pay for it. Because now, the joke’s on us.

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