“Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work” by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal — Book Summary
Stealing Fire is a book about nonordinary states of consciousness (NOSC), written by the founders of the Flow Genome Project, Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal. You may recognize Kotler as the author of the highly popular The Rise of Superman, his previous book about flow, which is also a nonordinary state of consciousness. The premise of the […]
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“The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance” by Steven Kotler – Book Summary
The Rise of Superman is a book about flow written by Steven Kotler, a multiple NY Times bestselling author and co-founder of the Flow Research Collective. The story of the book is simple: Over the past three decades, action and adventure sports athletes have “pushed human performance farther and faster than at any other point in […]
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“Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Book Summary
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is a 1990 book on happiness and how to obtain it. According to Csikszentmihalyi, happiness is achieved not through external means (e.g., money, fame, influence, or material riches) but by controlling consciousness – by controlling our inner, moment-to-moment experience of life. It’s not about what happens “out there” in […]
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How to Stop Procrastinating on Mundane Tasks: 5 Ways to Get the Boring, Unchallenging, and Repetitive Tasks Done
Formatting documents, filling in spreadsheets, answering emails – we all face mundane tasks that bore us but need to be done. While delaying them for a bit is perhaps inevitable, we need to get them out of the way sooner or later, so we can focus our energy fully on purposeful and fun activities. But how do […]
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Irrational Optimism, Wishful Thinking, and The Hard Truth About Overcoming Severe Procrastination
Here’s what overcoming severe procrastination is not about: Time management, better to-do lists, seeing a therapist, getting organized, setting goals, creating deadlines, ridding yourself of distractions, using rewards, or finding an accountability buddy. While useful, none of them will make a big difference unless you understand the one underlying principle every consistent improvement in any behavior […]
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Getting Things Done “the Dysfunctional Way” – Lessons from Tim Ferriss, William James, Ayn Rand, and Other High Achievers
We all use tools to get things done – we eat frogs, set Pomodoro timers, take naps, drink coffee, plan our days, block distracting websites, put our phones in airplane mode, listen to music, wear noise-canceling headphones, swallow caffeine pills. More and better tools mean greater productivity. “Getting things done the dysfunctional way” is another such […]
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Steve Jobs‘ Focus Routine and 10 More Tips to Eliminate Distractions and Find Your Flow
Distractions kill productivity like nothing else. For starters, they are time wastes. Let’s say you check email 50x per day, scroll through your Instagram feed 10x, have a glance at your phone 80x, and watch YouTube videos 3x per day. Even if you give only ten seconds, on average, to every distraction, the time adds up […]
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How to Protect Your Schedule: Say “NO” With Strength Instead of Guilt
How do I stick to my schedule when sudden and spontaneous requests catch me off guard, and I agree to them even though I don’t really want to? This is one of the most common questions I receive in regards to procrastination and productivity. You may be on your way home from grocery shopping and run […]
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13 Time-Saving Tips to Free Up Two Hours Every Day
If you’ve been following us for a while, you know we’re big on reading here at NJlifehacks. And big on journaling. And big on meditation. But who’s got time for that? How do we find the time to read 50+ books a year, meditate regularly, keep fit and healthy, and write in our morning and evening journals […]
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How to Give the Perfect Holiday Gift – 5 Tips Backed by Science
Holiday season is upon us and it’s time to consider what gifts to give to your loved-ones. While you may dread the process and want to get it over with quickly, keep in mind that the point of gifts is to strengthen relationships. Picking the right gift can increase feelings of appreciation and connection between people. It […]
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