“Consciousness is the biggest mystery. It might be the largest outstanding obstacle in our quest for a scientific understanding of the universe.”

David Chalmers

Consciousness is one of the most familiar and at the same time one of the most mysterious phenomena in the universe. We are all familiarized with consciousness. Every day, when we wake up, the first thing we notice is that some sort of awareness awakens within us. And, when we go to sleep, another sort of consciousness appears. We could call it ‘dream consciousness’. Some Eastern philosophical traditions state that we can be conscious also during dreamless sleep, although our memory is unable to remember it.

So, whenever we are awake or sleeping, some sort of consciousness is always present with us. But what exactly is this ‘thing’ that we call consciousness?

1. Consciousness is not a ‘thing’

Certainly, consciousness is present in the state of affairs of the universe. A conscious universe is very different from an unconscious one. But consciousness is not a ‘thing’. It is not something that we can point out at with our finger, it is not an object like the rest of the objects contained in the universe. Consciousness is that capacity by which we are aware of things and objects, but in itself, is not an object nor a thing.

The most intuitive definition of consciousness would be ‘the subjective condition by which experience is made possible’. Philosophers call it the phenomenon of ‘what-is-likeness’, as every experience comes along with a particular subjective feeling that captures ‘what-is-like’ to have such an experience. Without consciousness, we would not be able to have any experience, the world would be empty of subjective qualities (such as colours, sounds or feelings). All the ways and forms we are perceiving the world right now would certainly disappear. The world as we know it right now would not exist.

       2. The limits of materialism

The phenomenon of consciousness then challenges one of the most common assumptions that is currently leading, to a great extent, the scientific and academic research: materialism. If the universe were material, and therefore, extended in a spatio-temporal reality, where would consciousness be located on? Also, if conscious phenomena can only be described in subjective terms, how could it ever be captured in objective or physical terms?

Neuroscience is trying to find and explain conscious states within the neural network of the human brain. However, after decades of research, it has not yet been able to explain what consciousness is and how it appears. What we know from this field of research is just correlational data. By trying to investigate neural correlates of conscious states, whatever is found in experiments will always be inferences of simultaneous occurrences between neural activations and conscious experiences, but this will probably never lead to any exhaustive explanation of what consciousness is and how subjectivity appears out of an objective world.

The problem with the materialistic framework of studying consciousness is that it always tries to confine this phenomenon within objective parameters, as if it were a ‘thing’ confined in time and space. But the nature of awareness challenges this way of conceiving reality.

       3. Consciousness is beyond time and space

Consciousness is not confined within time. The fact that we experience a ‘unity of consciousness’, i.e. a single, undivided stream of consciousness in our individual life; which is present now, in the next moment, and when we were a child, shows that it cannot be confined within any temporary framework. As a matter of experience, time is within our conscious states, and not consciousness within time. We are the ones who determine the events that happen in the past and in the future according to our temporary framework of conceiving things and events. But from the sole perspective of consciousness itself, there is only one single stream of awareness occurring constantly in the present moment.

Nor are conscious states confined in space. Where is your consciousness right now? Can you see or notice your consciousness in any part of space? Consider it without making any reference to the spatial location of objects appearing in your mind, as these objects are, actually, appearing in your consciousness right now. Therefore, all you can sense and perceive is, first and foremost, located in your own conscious field. Also, space is not something you can perceive, but a mental category you are attributing to these objects.

So, where is your consciousness right now?

If this is difficult to imagine, I propose to you to do an exercise. Walk with your eyes closed in a place where you feel comfortable doing so. And ask yourself: is your consciousness moving? In my case, the answer clearly is ‘no’. I can feel my legs moving, my feet touching the floor, my arms swinging… but I can’t feel my consciousness moving through space. Consciousness is always at the same place, experiencing different bodily feelings, but it is never changing the place. It is always ‘here’.

      4. The world appears within consciousness

As we get used to see the world always in the same way, and when the mental categories learned in our infancy become our automatic way of perceiving things, we forget that we are builders of the reality we see and that ‘consciousness’ exists beyond any concept and form.

Sri Nisargadatta says, “the world is painted by you on the screen of consciousness”.

This statement, actually, describes accurately the reality as we immediately perceive it. Every day, when we wake up, consciousness does not wake up with us. It is the world that we have got used to seeing and interacting with that appears again into our consciousness. Awareness was already there, it is the world that is brought back again into its manifestation in consciousness.

As we tend to see the same objects every day, and relate with them in the same way, we infer that the world is always out there waiting for us, sustained within a stable and permanent layer of reality. Also, we infer that others will perceive the world in the same way as us, act also like us, have the same goals as us and interpret things like us. So we create the ‘illusion’ of waking up every day in the same world, which is also unchangeable and permanent.

However, each one of us could interpret things differently, could have different pictures about the things out there. In fact, what is perhaps the most justified inference about the world is that there is an interconnected network of various individual consciousnesses. Without them, the world as we know it would never be possible. These bundle of individual consciousnesses might agree to name and define objects in a certain way. But that is not to be confused with the Real. So what we call the ‘world’ could just be a convention that we have assumed to be ‘necessary’.

When things don’t go as we expect them to be, or how we would like them to be, we think that there must be something ‘wrong’ with the world. We don’t question whether our consciousness could be interpreting things wrongly, or inaccurately. We even blame others for not acting as we expect them to act, or see things as we expect them to see. When the world becomes ‘The World’, we even forget that this is merely a passing appearance within our consciousness.

      5. I am conscious. So what?

Without consciousness, there would be no world, no person, no sense of ‘I am’. Things would have no meaning for us. What we think we are, all that we value in life, all that we enjoy and even our sense of existence is due to conscious states.

Consciousness, therefore, is the condition in which the world can appear to us, in which it can be manifested, experienced, realised. Through consciousness, we can experience life, we can see the world, we can love, and ultimately, we can be who we are. Consciousness is our ever-present gift and our primary source of knowledge. It is something to be grateful for.

Finally, consciousness allows us to manifest the reality we want. There is not only one way to experience things, but there are as many ways as there are individual consciousnesses. The way you look at the world is your own way to look at it, but not the only one. If the world is manifested through our consciousness, then by changing the way we look at it we are also changing the world.

Imagine if everybody looked at the world as an opportunity to love, discover new things and help each other to develop our true potential. Would it make a difference?

As the year winds down, life seems to speed up so quickly! Between work deadlines, school events, holiday travel, and endless to-do lists, it’s easy to feel like the season is happening to you instead of for you.

The truth is, a little preparation now can make a world of difference later. That’s why we love using fall as a little reset season — a time to pause, tidy up, and get grounded before the full-blown holiday whirlwind begins.

These five simple decluttering and organizing steps will help you reclaim your home (and your sanity) before the year’s busiest months arrive.

1. Clear Out the Summer Chaos

Before the first pumpkin spice candle gets lit, take a beat to say goodbye to summer. (Bye Summer!!!)

• Pack away swimsuits, pool toys, and beach towels in clearly labeled bins.
  
• Use vacuum-seal bags for bulky linens or clothes,  they’ll save so much space.
  
• Donate or toss what didn’t get used this year. (If you didn’t reach for it once, chances are you won’t next summer either.)

By clearing out the old, you make room for cozy layers, holiday décor, and a calmer headspace. As we share in Tidying Up, letting go of seasonal clutter isn’t just about organization, it’s about releasing mental weight, too. Every bin you pack away now is one less thing demanding your attention later.

2. Create Cozy, Intentional Corners

The end of the year often comes with more time indoors, AND more chaos from everyone being home. That’s why we swear by creating little “zones” around your home.

Think: a warm reading nook with your favorite throw blanket, a simple coffee bar for morning rituals, or even a candle-lit spot to breathe for 10 quiet minutes after work.

You don’t need to redecorate an entire room, just layer in comfort:

• Soft throws and pillows in warm tones
  
• A small lamp or twinkle lights for gentle lighting
  
• Baskets to hold blankets or current reads

When your environment feels cozy and intentional, it has a grounding effect. These spaces remind you that home is your calm, not your chaos, something we revisit often in our book as a guiding principle for every room.

3. Refresh the Entryway & Drop Zone

This is the season when everything piles up: coats, boots, backpacks, mail, gifts; and somehow, it all lands by the front door!

A few small systems can make that area feel manageable again:

• Add bins or baskets for gloves, hats, and scarves.
  
• Keep a boot tray or small rug for wet shoes.
  
• Use wall hooks for coats and bags so they don’t end up on the floor.
  
• Create a small catchall for keys, mail, or sunglasses.
  

This zone of order sets the tone for your entire home. When you walk in, you don’t want to feel immediate overwhelm, you want to feel like you can come in, relax and get ready for the rest of the day.

4. Reset Your Closets & Pantry

Between sweater weather and holiday baking season, these two areas do a lot of heavy lifting at the end of the year. A quick reset now will save hours of frustration later.

• Rotate seasonal clothing: Move heavier layers forward and lighter pieces to the back.
  
• Declutter shoes and accessories: Donate what’s worn out or unloved.
  
• Restock pantry basics: Think soups, broths, baking supplies, and your favorite comfort staples.
  
• Label containers: It sounds small, but labeled bins make it easier for everyone in the house to find (and return) things where they belong.

The best part? A well-organized pantry or closet gives you instant peace! That quiet satisfaction of knowing exactly what you have and where it goes. It’s a small act that creates a big sense of control during an unpredictable season.

5. Add Functional Fall Decor

Decorating for fall doesn’t have to mean filling every surface. Instead, look for beautiful items that also serve a purpose:

• A decorative basket that hides remote controls
  
• A woven tray that corrals mugs or candles
  
• Neutral pumpkins or wreaths that bring warmth without clutter
  

As we write in Tidying Up, *a styled space should still serve you*. The goal is to add joy, not more to clean up later. Choose pieces that make you smile and simplify your space at the same time.

Why This Matters: Your Space Reflects Your State

When life feels busy and overwhelming, home should be your anchor, not another stressor in your life. Taking a little time to prepare your environment now sets you up for a calmer, more joyful holiday season.

Each of these steps is simple, but together they help create what we call functional peace: a home that looks beautiful, feels organized, and supports your real life.

And if you’re ready to go deeper, our book Tidying Up: 100 Ways to Infuse Order and Joy in Every Area of Your Home dives into this idea room by room. We show you how small, consistent actions create lasting calm. Whether you’re reworking your pantry, simplifying your laundry room, or just trying to make mornings smoother, the goal is always the same: a home that feels good to live in.

Wrapping It All Up

Each of these decluttering tips is essential for maintaining order.

Before the holidays hit full force, take one weekend to tackle these five easy resets. Light a candle, play your favorite playlist, and treat the process like an act of self-care. Because IT IS!

Your future self (and your December schedule) will thank you. With just a little effort now, you’ll move into the most hectic months of the year feeling ready, refreshed, and genuinely at peace in your home.

And that’s what Tidying Up is all about, creating space for joy, calm, and the moments that matter most!

So right now, you may be thinking of a guy with long hair and flip flops sitting cross legged underneath a tree. Or at least that’s what I thought when I first heard the word ‘meditation’. To me, I didn’t need it, there was just so much else going on. I mean who has the time to just sit in the same position for 10 minutes?

That was my conclusion, so at that time it suited me to ignore the thought of meditation. But it seemed to keep coming up in almost everything I was doing. In the books I was reading, the YouTube videos I was watching, the adverts I was seeing.

When I began to hear gurus and even celebrities talk about the power of meditation, how they use it to focus, to relax, to manifest or even to ‘trip out’, I couldn’t quite get my head around it. How could it be possible? All of this abundance, all of this joy and benefit just simply from… breathing? Well, yes. Read on and see three ways in which meditation will transform your life!

1. Managing anxiety and stress

When we’re stressed or anxious, it can sometimes seem like we are trapped in a whirlwind of thoughts about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future, right? Think about it. Most of the time when we’re feeling anxious, it’s the direct cause of dwelling on the past or the future.

Meditation helps with anxiety because it grounds you in the present moment through breathing and focus. Moreover, with practice through meditation, we can learn to return to the breath (and in turn, return to the present) in times of anxiety or stress, wherever you are.

2. Manifestation through Meditation

Neuroscience has shown that over 95% of our brain activity is subconscious. Meaning our day-to-day routines, actions, emotions and decisions come from a place we are not fully aware of. Think of the sub-conscious as the part of the mind’s iceberg that’s below the surface, so to speak.

When meditating, you are in a state of complete awareness. You’re noticing (but not judging) the persistent mind chatter that we usually deal with in everyday life. When we’re in this state, we can tap into that subconscious with ease. Thoughts become clearer; levels of focus increase dramatically.

Through this intense focus we can see our deepest desires, our needs and how we really operate in ‘HD’ (high definition). By regaining this kind of focus and awareness, the possibility of manifestation becomes significantly more likely. Many people have described manifestation as a ‘cousin’ to meditation in regards to how the two work on similar frequencies.

3. Because it feels GREAT!

Yes, who knew it? Just sitting down and breathing can quite literally produce feelings of euphoria and elation.

Studies have also shown that meditation can go as far as improving self-image, self-esteem and confidence. These results specifically come from a form of meditation known as ‘self-inquiry’ meditation.
This kind of meditation explicitly aims to help you understand not only yourself, but also allows to relate more effectively to those around you.

Although it doesn’t stop there. Meditation has been shown to improve sleep, fight addictions and even enhance attention span. So there really is a meditation for everybody!

Summary

But hey, don’t listen to all the statistics and ‘hype’ around meditation, try it for yourself. After all, you can’t reap the rewards of something you don’t try. However, don’t expect to be a superhero after one session. Practice frequently. Meditation is a skill, a skill of the mind, and every skill needs practice so… Happy meditating. Namaste.

The way you engage with the world affects how the world treats you. Developing a strong sense of self and feeling good about who you are gives you the wherewithal to withstand outside influences and face life on your terms. What are the factors that affect self-confidence, and how can you develop them? 

While some aspects will always lie outside your control, taking charge of what lies within your ability to manage can transform your life. Here are the factors that impact self-confidence and how you can rebuild it regardless of your circumstances. 

What Are the Factors That Affect Self-Confidence? 

Multiple external factors affect your self-confidence. While it may seem like some circumstances lie outside of your control, falling prey to a victim mentality prevents you from making improvements. Blaming others and not taking responsibility for your actions can hold you back.

Your challenge is to find ways that you can better how you feel about yourself by honoring and validating your lived experiences and championing your strength. Although much of this process is internal, it often results in noticeable, material changes in your circumstances. 

1. Your Upbringing

According to psychologist Tim Fletcher, all humans have 12 basic needs, including love and security. When these needs go unmet in childhood, complex trauma can result, which affects your worldview and self-confidence. 

For example, those who were rarely offered empathy, encouragement or forgiveness as children may react with suspicion when others display these qualities. The problem compounds if they also weren’t taught emotional regulation or permitted to create healthy boundaries. They may unfairly accuse others of trying to take advantage of them and behave in ways that drive away other people who could help them improve their lives. 

Taking an honest look at your upbringing isn’t easy. However, recognizing that your childhood wasn’t perfect doesn’t need to mean blaming your parents or cutting off contact. It’s your responsibility as an adult to examine the spoken and unspoken lessons you learned in youth and let go of those beliefs that don’t serve you. Examining and solidifying your belief system empowers you to create a healthier ongoing relationship with your folks and others in your life. 

2. Your Financial Circumstances

Unfortunately, finances are a factor that can impact self-confidence in societies where many people measure your worth by your earning capacity. It’s easy to say that loving what you do matters more than the paycheck until you survive the embarrassment of sleeping in your car because you can’t afford rent. 

Sadly, those who lack self-confidence are more likely to fall prey to scams. They’re also more likely to listen to folks who might not be malintentioned but motivated by their own need for a paycheck when giving advice. For example, going back to school could give you a headstart on a new career — or leave you buried under a mountain of student debt for relatively little payoff, salary-wise. Research the enrollment counselor’s claims before signing those loan papers.

Conversely, self-confidence can look like walking into a business and speaking to the owner about job opportunities or discussing your need for advancement with your boss. If the position you desire requires a degree, ask for tuition assistance or reimbursement in exchange for doing the work. The worst they can say is no — now you know where you stand. Mustering the courage to pose the question builds confidence and lets you move forward with less uncertainty. 

3. Your Physical Abilities and Health 

Your physical wellness may impact your ability to work, and lacking a paycheck can harm your confidence. However, feeling insecure about your health also subtly affects self-confidence in less obvious ways. For example, failing to correct your nearsightedness with glasses can leave you uncertain about how others perceive you. Was that person across the room smiling and waving at you or someone else? 

Unfortunately, obtaining medical care isn’t necessarily easy, depending on what country you live in. Fortunately, information about how to take better care of yourself and improve your overall wellness, including easing many chronic symptoms, is readily available, often for free. For example, learning how to improve your daily diet and addressing suspected food allergies is enough to transform how some people feel, and you can find guidance online and in libraries. 

Exercise isn’t only for controlling your weight. It’s also about learning to celebrate your body instead of being ashamed of it. It’s a time to gently challenge your limits and relieve daily stress. 

Engaging in other stress-relieving activities, such as deep breathing and getting adequate sleep, also improves your overall health. 

4. Your Trauma History 

Therapist and author Gabor Mate explains that trauma is less what happens to you but what happens inside you. It isn’t only the car accident, assault or narcissistic abuse that creates unwanted symptoms and shakes your confidence, but how you process the event, and the support you receive afterward — or never get. 

Unfortunately, just as facing your upbringing is your responsibility as an adult, so is dealing with your trauma. Failing to do so can mean passing it on to others, especially your kids. It’s hard, and it’s unfair if you’re left alone to deal with trauma’s wake, but you can heal yourself using this method and applying the same TLC (tender loving care) to yourself as a professional therapist would: 

• Validate your experience: It happened. It sucked. However, you got through it. Acknowledge how hard it was to overcome what you did — don’t downplay or minimize the struggle. Applaud yourself for doing the best you could with the knowledge you had at the time. 
• Educate yourself: Read stories about others who have overcome similar traumatic events. Go online and research various therapeutic modalities like CBT and DBT. There’s no law stopping you from using these techniques on yourself independent of a therapist, and you’re often the best judge of which practices work best for you, anyway. 
• Learn bottom-up and top-down interventions: Bottom-up interventions include things like practicing yoga or working in the garden to diffuse intense emotions until you can process them more intellectually. They involve using your body to calm your physical reactions to emotional stress so you can think. Top-down strategies include journaling, CBT and DBT, which use your mind to work through problematic situations. 
• Treat yourself like you were a patient: How would you want your therapist to treat you? Show yourself at least that much loving-kindness to gradually rebuild your self-confidence and appreciation. 

Recovering from trauma isn’t easy, but it is perhaps the best thing you can do to rebuild shattered self-confidence after an event that shakes it. Also, remember, there’s no trauma Olympics — if the circumstances were sufficient to change how you feel about yourself, they’re deserving of TLC. Forget the notion that you’re undeserving of self-care simply because others have it worse. 

5. Your Ability to Connect With Others 

Are you a trusting person, or do you jump to automatically suspecting the worst about other people’s motives and behaviors? Ideally, you’re somewhere in the middle — but your ability to connect with others can affect your self-confidence. 

Those who find it hard to trust others often become hyper-independent, which can backfire in two ways. One, it nurtures a “my way or the highway” mentality that drives people away, and your confidence drops when folks avoid you. Two, you can make easy tasks unnecessarily difficult, leading you to throw up your hands in despair. Such behavior shatters your confidence in your abilities when asking for help may have revealed a simple solution. 

Fortunately, you can improve your attachment style, even if your childhood left you less trusting. Self-reflection and journaling are powerful techniques, as is attending therapy, especially with a counselor well-versed in attachment theory.  

Build Your Confidence 

On the surface, it appears that the factors that impact confidence the most lie outside of your control. However, there’s always something you can do to build your self-confidence, and it all begins with validating your experiences and exercising self-compassion instead of beating yourself up. 

Understanding the factors that impact your self-confidence provides a pathway to a brighter tomorrow. Recognize your unique challenges and address them to feel more secure in how you face the world each day.

For decades, success was measured by how fast you could climb a ladder that someone else built. Titles were trophies, and promotions were proof of progress.

But what if the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall? What if the very structure we’ve been climbing no longer fits the world we’re in?

The modern career is not a straight ascent; it’s a series of pivots, pauses, and purposeful redirections. Reinvention is no longer a backup plan, it’s the strategy of resilient leaders. The old rules rewarded loyalty and linearity. The new world rewards agility, curiosity, and courage.

We’re living through a time when industries are rewriting themselves faster than people can update their résumés. AI reshapes job descriptions overnight. Entire teams go remote and redefine what connection means. The only constant is change, and the most successful leaders are the ones who treat reinvention as a continuous leadership practice, not a one-time fix.

I learned this early in my own journey. When I moved from the U.S. to Germany with two suitcases and no grasp of the language, my career reset overnight. I went from managing projects to working as an assistant in a laboratory, ten steps “backward” on paper, but ten forward in perspective. I had to rebuild not just my professional identity, but my sense of self-worth. There were days when I questioned whether I had failed, and then I realized: reinvention isn’t failure; it’s growth in motion.

That experience taught me what resilience truly looks like. It’s curiosity when you don’t have the answers, humility when you start again, and courage when you choose to try anyway. The lab job became my classroom. It’s where I learned how to listen differently, ask better questions, and build trust across language and cultural barriers. Those same lessons became the foundation of my leadership style today.

Today’s leaders face constant change — restructuring, automation, hybrid work, shifting values. The ones who thrive aren’t the ones clinging to titles but those who see every shift as a chance to realign and invest in their career. Reinvention is what keeps us learning, growing, and aligned. 

Why Reinvention Is the New Leadership Skill

• It fuels innovation. Every pivot forces us to see differently. It pushes leaders to question assumptions and find new pathways forward. Reinvention keeps curiosity alive — and curiosity is innovation’s oxygen. When I mentor executives who feel “stuck,” I often ask, When was the last time you learned something for the first time? It’s less about finding the answer and more about awakening that spark of curiosity we’ve forgotten.
• It models courage. When leaders show that feedback isn’t failure, they unlock growth in others. A manager I worked with started a practice called “Monday Misses,” where everyone — including her — shared one thing that didn’t go as planned and what they learned. It turned defensiveness into curiosity and built a culture of honest improvement.
• It connects purpose and performance.  Reinvention has a way of stripping things back to what actually matters. When you’re doing work that feels meaningful, you don’t have to push as hard; energy comes back on its own.

The Pivot Framework

• Reflect: Ask not “What’s next?” but “What’s true for me now?” Step back and name what’s no longer serving you, even if it once did.
• Reframe:  Sometimes what looks like a setback is really a signal, a quiet nudge to turn in a direction you hadn’t considered. Every pivot teaches you something about what you’re capable of.
• Rebuild: Design the next version of your career around clarity and impact. Start with what energizes you most, not what looks best on paper.

I use this framework often when working with leaders who feel they’ve lost their spark. One woman told me she wasn’t burnt out, just empty. Once she gave herself permission to pause, she realized the role hadn’t failed her; it had simply finished teaching her. From there, everything started to shift.

Every reinvention adds depth to our leadership canvas. Like Matisse adapting to illness with paper cut-outs, or Georgia O’Keeffe finding new inspiration in the New Mexico desert, we grow when we’re willing to evolve. Reinvention doesn’t erase our past successes; it builds on them.

It’s the same clarity framework I share in my book Beyond the Ladder: A Women’s Career Guide to Clarity, Impact, and Legacy, where I encourage professionals to design careers as living masterpieces rather than rigid checklists. Because success isn’t about how high you climb; it’s about how aligned you feel when you get there.

Reinvention doesn’t just change individuals: it transforms organizations. When leaders make space for personal evolution, they model a new kind of corporate culture: one rooted in learning, empathy, and adaptability. The ripple effect can shift entire teams from survival mode to creative confidence.

The pivot is the new promotion, not because it’s easier, but because it’s braver. It’s proof that resilience isn’t endurance; it’s evolution.

Reflection Prompt: This week, choose one small pivot — a new project, a bold conversation, or a boundary you’ve been avoiding — and watch the ripple it creates

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Tim Kreider got stabbed in the throat.

The knife went in two millimeters from his carotid artery. He describes those two millimeters as the difference between being “flown home in the cargo hold instead of in coach.”

Luckily, he made a full recovery. How does he describe the event?

“It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”

He was so grateful to be alive that for the next year, it was impossible for him to be unhappy.

Via We Learn Nothing: Essays:

Except for the ten or fifteen minutes during which it looked like I was about to die, which I would prefer not to relive, getting stabbed wasn’t even among the worst experiences of my life. In fact it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. After my unsuccessful murder I wasn’t unhappy for an entire year.

This is the power of gratitude.

No, I’m not encouraging you to get stabbed in the neck but we’ve all felt how happy being grateful can make us.

In fact, happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky says gratitude is one of the things the happiest people on Earth all share.

Gratitude is arguably the king of happiness. What’s the research say? Can’t be more clear than this:

…the more a person is inclined to gratitude, the less likely he or she is to be depressed, anxious, lonely, envious, or neurotic.

Gratitude is one of the most scientifically validated ways to increase happiness.

Via Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity:

Gratitude has one of the strongest links to mental health and satisfaction with life of any personality trait—more so than even optimism, hope, or compassion. Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism, and gratitude as a discipline protects us from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness. People who experience gratitude can cope more effectively with everyday stress, show increased resilience in the face of trauma-induced stress, recover more quickly from illness, and enjoy more robust physical health.

But there’s one problem with gratitude — it wears off. Inevitably, we all end up taking things for granted.

And Tim Kreider wasn’t any different. What happened after that year of lucky-to-be-alive bliss?

He went back to normal.

Via We Learn Nothing: Essays:

You can’t feel crazily grateful to be alive your whole life any more than you can stay passionately in love forever— or grieve forever, for that matter. Time makes us all betray ourselves and get back to the busywork of living. Before a year had gone by, the same everyday anxieties and frustrations began creeping back. I was disgusted to catch myself yelling in traffic, pounding on my computer, lying awake at night worrying about what was to become of me. I can’t recapture that feeling of euphoric gratitude any more than I can really remember the mortal terror I felt when I was pretty sure I had about four minutes to live.

We all have moments of gratitude. The question is how can we stay grateful and happy all the time?

You need to build gratitude into your routine instead of making it a lucky accident.

Below are four rituals, backed by scientific research, that can help you stay grateful and happy. You don’t have to do them all and you don’t have to do them every day.

But working one of them into your schedule on a regular basis can go a long way toward keeping you smiling.

1) Count Your Blessings

This technique has been proven again and again and again. Here it is, explained by its originator, University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman.

Via Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being:

Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well…Writing about why the positive events in your life happened may seem awkward at first, but please stick with it for one week. It will get easier. The odds are that you will be less depressed, happier, and addicted to this exercise six months from now.

That’s it. Just put a pen and paper by the bed, write down three good things that happened to you that day and why they happened. Then go to bed.

Does it really work? Yeah.

Via Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity:

People are 25 percent happier if they keep gratitude journals, sleep one-half hour more per evening, and exercise 33 percent more each week compared to persons who are not keeping these journals.

Do you need to do it every day? Nope. People saw optimal results when they did it once a week.

(For the secret to never being frustrated again, click here.)

So you thought about the good things that happened to you. Know what else can help? Thinking about if good things didn’t happen to you…

2) Absence Of A Blessing

It must feel great to win a gold medal in the Olympics. But surprisingly, research shows it feels better to win a bronze than a silver. Why?

People who win the silver think about how they didn’t win the gold. Those who get the bronze feel grateful to have received a medal at all.

Research shows that when you imagine that an important positive event in your life (like meeting your spouse) never happened, it makes you appreciate it more, makes you grateful — and happier.

Via Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity:

Thinking about the absence of something positive in your life produces more gratitude and happiness than imagining its presence. What would your life be like if you had not met your spouse? If you did not live in your current neighborhood? If you had not had that chance encounter with the stranger on the plane who later became a business associate?… By taking something away in our minds, we become more aware of benefits that we still have but previously took for granted. Mentally subtracting something good from your life can make you more grateful for it. Think of an aspect of your life for which you feel grateful and then write about the ways in which this might never have happened (e.g., “what would have happened if I had never met my wife?” as opposed to “I am so grateful to have met my wife”).

For bonus points you can actually subtract something positive from your life. Not forever, mind you.

In my interview with Harvard professor Mike Norton, author of Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, he explained that taking a break from something you love and “making it a treat” can boost appreciation and happiness:

…if you love having coffee every day, don’t have it for a few days and and then when you have it again, it’s going to be way more amazing than all of the ones that you would have had in the meantime.

Yes, this scientifically validates that Netflix binges make you less happy than watching shows weekly. Sorry.

(For more on the shortcut to bonding with a romantic partner on a deeper level, click here.)

What’s the third ritual? This one will surprise you.

3) Thinking About The Bad Can Be Very Good

The ancient Stoics knew this. So did the Samurai.

Think about something awful that happened. How did you grow from it? How did it make you appreciate what you have?

Via Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity:

Sometimes even when bad things happen they can ultimately have positive consequences, things we can now be grateful for. Choose an experience from your life that was initially unpleasant and unwanted. Try now to focus on the positive aspects or consequences of this difficult experience. As the result of this event, what kinds of things do you now feel thankful or grateful for? Has this event benefited you as a person? How have you grown? …How has the event helped you appreciate the truly important people and things in your life? In sum, how can you be thankful for the beneficial consequences that have resulted from this event?

Every year, Tim Kreider celebrates his “stabbiversary.” He remembers the day he got stabbed in the throat — and how lucky he is to still be alive.

Via We Learn Nothing: Essays:

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Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here.

Living a good life means managing your time. Problem is, we don’t understand time at all. Go ahead, explain time to me; I’ll wait.

(Eric hums to himself and drums fingers on the tabletop.)

Don’t blame yourself. To be fair, the nature of time has been a matter of some debate for, oh, a few thousand years now. Aristotle said time wasn’t real. (I know some people who live like this but they tend to get fired a lot.) Aristotle thought time was just a measurement of change. If nothing changes, there is no time. That simple.

Then Newton showed up on the scene and said the exact opposite: time is not only real, but it’s also objective, independent and universal. Be at work by 9AM — and your 9AM better be the same as work’s 9AM.

It took Einstein to break up the fight. He said they were both kinda right. Newton was correct that time is real. But Aristotle was on to something when he said it’s not universal. Einstein realized time is warped by gravity and speed. A universal “now” doesn’t exist. Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli says that asking what “now” is for someone light years away is like asking which football team won the basketball championship. The question doesn’t even make sense.

And when we get down to the level of quantum mechanics, hoo-boy, time is weirder than the love child of Salvador Dali and David Lynch. At the quantum level there is no difference between past, present and future. No cause and effect, only probabilities. Only one thing matters in the quantum realm: how things relate to one another.

I know, I know, with the exception of that Newtonian clock time, this sounds like it has nothing to do with real life. But it does. I swear. Because there’s another kind of time, one that doesn’t fall under physics, and one that is even more important than clock time: internal time. Time in your head.

And that can be weirder than anything physics has come up with. But, in the end, it’s the only time that matters.

Follow me down this rabbit hole, won’t you, Alice?

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Before we commence with the festivities, I wanted to thank everyone for helping my first book become a Wall Street Journal bestseller. To check it out, click here.

Some days the to-do list seems bottomless. Just looking at it is exhausting.

We all want to know how to stop being lazy and get more done. I certainly want the answer.

So I decided to call a friend who manages to do this — and more.

Cal Newport impresses the heck out of me. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked. He’s insanely productive:

1. He has a full-time job as a professor at Georgetown University, teaching classes and meeting with students.
2. He writes 6 (or more) peer-reviewed academic journal papers per year.
3. He’s the author of 4 books including the wonderful “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” And he’s at work on a fifth.
4. He’s married with a young child and handles all the responsibilities that come with being a husband and dad.
5. He blogs regularly about productivity and expert performance.

And yet he finishes work at 5:30PM every day and rarely works weekends. 

No, he does not have superpowers or a staff of 15. Okay, let’s you and I both stop being jealous of his productivity for a second and learn something.

Below you’ll get Cal’s secrets on how you can better manage your time, stop being lazy, get more done — and be finished by 5:30. Let’s get to work.

1) To-Do Lists Are Evil. Schedule Everything.

To-do lists by themselves are useless. They’re just the first step. You have to assign them time on your schedule. Why?

It makes you be realistic about what you can get done. It allows you to do tasks when it’s efficient, not just because it’s #4.

Until it’s on your calendar and assigned an hour, it’s just a list of wishful thinking.

Here’s Cal:

Scheduling forces you to confront the reality of how much time you actually have and how long things will take. Now that you look at the whole picture you’re able to get something productive out of every free hour you have in your workday. You not only squeeze more work in but you’re able to put work into places where you can do it best.

Experts agree that if you don’t consider how long things take, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

I can hear what some of you are thinking: But I get interrupted. Things get thrown at me last minute.

Great — build that into your schedule. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Things will change. But you need to have a plan, otherwise you’ll waste time.

Want to stop procrastinating? Schedule. Here’s Cal:

Assigning work to times reduces the urge to procrastinate. You are no longer deciding whether or not to work during a given period; the decision is already made.

Does this sound too mechanical? Overly structured and not much fun? Wrong.

Research shows that it’s even a good idea to schedule what you do with your free time. It increases quality of life:

This study was designed to identify the relationship between free time management and quality of life, exploring whether the amount of free time or the way people using their free time relates to their quality of life… The result has found a positive relationship between free time management and quality of life.

(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.)

Okay, the to-do list is in the trash and things are going on the calendar. How do you prioritize so you’re not at work forever?

2) Assume You’re Going Home at 5:30, Then Plan Your Day Backwards

Work will fill the space it’s given. Give it 24/7 and guess what happens?

You need boundaries if you want work/life balance. But this also helps you work better because it forces you to be efficient.

By setting a deadline of 5:30 and then scheduling tasks you can get control over that hurricane of duties.

Cal calls it “fixed schedule productivity”:

Fix your ideal schedule, then work backwards to make everything fit — ruthlessly culling obligations, turning people down, becoming hard to reach, and shedding marginally useful tasks along the way. My experience in trying to make that fixed schedule a reality forces any number of really smart and useful in-the-moment productivity decisions.

What does research say prevents you from getting burned out at work? Feeling in control of your schedule.

Anything that increases your perception of control over a situation — whether it actually increases your control or not — can decrease your stress level.

Via Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long:

Over and over, scientists see that the perception of control over a stressor alters the stressor’s impact.

(For more on how to achieve work/life balance, click here.)

You’ve drawn a line in the sand and worked backward, giving all your tasks hours in your day. But how do you handle longer term projects?

3) Make A Plan For The Entire Week

I think you’ll agree that the last thing this world needs is more short term thinking.

You’ll never get ahead of the game by only looking at today and never thinking about tomorrow.

How do you write books, teach classes, meet with students, do research papers and be a good parent consistently? Plan the week.

Here’s Cal:

People don’t look at the larger picture with their time and schedule. I know each day what I’m doing with each hour of the day. I know each week what I’m doing with each day of the week and I know each month what I’m doing with each week of the month.

Are you rolling your eyes? Does this sound overbearing? It’s simpler than you think. What’s really necessary?

Just one hour every Monday morning. Here’s Cal:

Every Monday I lay out a plan for the week. I go through my inbox, I go through my task list, I go through my calendar and try to come away with the best thing to do with each day this week. I write it in an email and I send it to myself and leave it in my inbox because that’s a place I know I will see it every day and I’ll be reminded of it multiple times throughout the day.

And he’s right. Research shows you spend your time more wisely when you follow a plan.

Via What the Most Successful People Do at Work: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Career:

Preliminary analysis from CEOs in India found that a firm’s sales increased as the CEO worked more hours. But more intriguingly, the correlation between CEO time use and output was driven entirely by hours spent in planned activities. Planning doesn’t have to mean that the hours are spent in meetings, though meetings with employees were correlated with higher sales; it’s just that CEO time is a limited and valuable resource, and planning how it should be allocated increases the chances that it’s spent in productive ways.

Maybe you think it’s enough to run down the week’s duties in your head. Nope.

Studies show writing things down makes you more likely to follow through.

(For more on how the most productive people get things done, click here.)

So you’ve got a fixed schedule and a weekly plan — but the math doesn’t add up. There’s just too much stuff. Cal has an answer for that too.

4) Do Very Few Things, But Be Awesome At Them

Maybe you’re thinking: I just have too many things to do. I could never get it all done in that amount of time.

And Cal concedes that you might be right. But the answer isn’t throwing up your arms and working until 10PM.

You need to do fewer things. Everything is not essential. You say “yes” to more than you need to.

Ask “What’s creating real value in my life?” And then eliminate as much of the rest as you can.

Here’s Cal:

You’re judged on what you do best so if you want to have as much success as possible you’re always better off doing fewer things but doing those things better. People say yes to too much. I say no to most things. I’m ruthless about avoiding or purging tasks if I realize they’re just not providing much value.

You feel like you have no time but John Robinson, the leading researcher on time use, disagrees. We may have more free time than ever.

Via Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time:

He insists that although most Americans feel they’re working harder than ever, they aren’t. The time diaries he studies show that average hours on the job, not only in the United States but also around the globe, have actually been holding steady or going down in the last forty years. Everybody, he says, has more time for leisure.

So what gives? It feels like you have no time because it’s so fragmented with little annoying tasks that drain the life out of you.

So do less. And be amazing at those things.

(For more on what the most successful people do, click here.)

Your plans are in order and by doing less, it all fits on the schedule. But one question remains: what exactly should you be doing with your time?

5) Less Shallow Work, Focus On The Deep Stuff

All work is not created equal. Cal says knowledge workers deal with two fundamentally different types of work, Shallow and Deep:

Shallow work is little stuff like email, meetings, moving information around. Things that are not really using your talents. Deep work pushes your current abilities to their limits. It produces high value results and improves your skills.

And what’s the problem? Most of us are “drowning in the shallows”:

People who are the most busy often are getting a lot less done of significance than the people who are able to stop by 5PM every day. That’s because the whole reason they need to work at night and on the weekends is because their work life has become full of just shallows. They’re responding to messages, moving information around and being a human network router. These things are very time consuming and very low value.

Nobody in the history of the universe ever became CEO because they responded to more email or went to more meetings. No way, Bubba.

Cal has it right: Shallow work stops you from getting fired — but deep work is what gets you promoted.

Give yourself big blocks of uninterrupted time to make things of value. What’s the best first step?

Stop checking email first thing in the morning. Tim Ferriss, author of the international bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek, explains:

…whenever possible, do not check email for the first hour or two of the day. It’s difficult for some people to imagine. “How can I do that? I need to check email to get the information I need to work on my most important one or two to-dos?”

You would be surprised how often that is not the case. You might need to get into your email to finish 100% of your most important to-dos. But can you get 80 or 90% done before you go into Gmail and have your rat brain explode with freak-out, dopamine excitement and cortisol panic? Yes.

(For more on how to motivate yourself, click here.)

So how do we tie all this together?

Sum Up

Cal’s five big tips:

1. To-Do Lists Are Evil. Schedule Everything.
2. Assume You’re Going Home at 5:30, Then Plan Your Day Backwards
3. Make A Plan For The Entire Week
4. Do Very Few Things, But Be Awesome At Them
5. Less Shallow Work, Focus On The Deep Stuff

Schedules and plans sound cold and clinical but the end result couldn’t be farther from that.

You’ll be less stressed, create more time for friends and family, and make things you can be proud of.

Gardening is enjoyed the world over by many people for a variety of benefits. More and more of us are discovering the benefits of gardening as a hobby. Simply put, I’ve always found it rewarding in numerous ways, helping to both explore myself as a person and highlight the many great things I can achieve. There’s something about gardening that’s easy to understand and appreciate, as you’re making a great difference. Here are just a few of the things you can discover when you embrace a love for growing!

Everyone can do it, even without a garden!

Despite the name, you don’t need a garden to get involved. Even in a flat, you can find plant pots and other beds to practise your craft. The best part about this is that it brings greenery and the outdoors into your home, too

There are many creative ways to embrace gardening, even without a garden. Depending on where you live, you can:

• Add plant pots to balconies or windows to brighten up your living space
• Rent an allotment to get some outdoor air and exercise
• Find a shared space with friends to help grow plants together

It’s physically rewarding

Few things are as rewarding as gaining physical results from your work. This is where gardening often comes into its own, as anything you grow shows visible signs of success. It’s hard not to marvel as your first seeds or saplings shoot their way out of the top soil.

It’s very easy to feel good about yourself after you’ve grown seeds into a flowerbed, or turned a small vegetable into part of dinner. It doesn’t just showcase your fledgling gardening talents, it shows what you personally can do with a little time and effort.

Aesthetically and aromatically pleasing

Who doesn’t appreciate the beauty of a gentle flower? This beauty is all the more loved when you grow the flowers yourself. I often find myself planning what to grow around this very choice, picking the right colours or tones for the home.

Similarly, there’s something about plants that can help put your mind at ease. Many people grow Lavender for its soft fragrance, while other flowers all have their unique scents, too. Why not experiment and find the right flora to compliment your home?

It builds confidence

There’s no deep end when it comes to gardening, as everyone can start off small and move on to larger projects as they feel confident. It’s already been mentioned that growing living plants is a reward in its own right, but this new belief in yourself often pushes you to the next goal.

Whether you’re growing a plant in your home or have a large flower bed outside, this extensive curve lets everyone find their comfort zone. This is ideal for finding a sense of peace, as you’re not forced to panic or take on anything you’re not yet comfortable with.

I also find a sense of confidence comes from knowing everything is my choice. Growing what I want gives me a more invested interest and a greater sense of accomplishment at the end.

Embracing nature

Many people simply don’t have time for nature, or appreciate the simple pleasure in watching some grow to fruition. Gardening brings nature to your home and gives you a chance to understand its importance. In addition, it makes a welcome distraction from modern troubles, allowing you to simply get your hands dirty and discover the sheer joy of the natural world.

It can even earn you money

Additionally, if you really find a sense of happiness in gardening, you may able to turn a small profit. Selling your produce is a great way to reward your long efforts and is an easy way to mark your successes.

This can also help drive your choice of plants, too. Understanding what people want gives you a goal to achieve and completing this provides a sense of fulfillment through helping others.

There’s a whole community out there

Similarly, you’re never alone when you’re a gardener. As a hobby shared by many, you will always find others who share your passion. This improves can fulfill any gaps in your social life and make new connections!

Here are just a few of the places you can visit for ideas, new friends or helpful advice:

• Garden centers and nurseries
• Botanical gardens
• Horticultural events and societies

As you can see, there are a multitude of joys gardening can bring to your life. For such a simple pursuit, the differences it can make seem to go on forever. It is very much a hobby that rewards you for how much you put in, so where do you start? If you’re a beginner, it’s best to head down to your nearest garden center and speak to the local experts about the right choices for you. This will be as informative as it is inspiring!

Just over 10 weeks ago I wrote an article challenging you to work towards a goal for 10 weeks. It was titled the “10 Week Health and Fitness Challenge” because my personal 10 week challenge was to run under 58 minutes for the world’s largest fun run – the City to Surf.

Now, that 10 weeks is up!

Firstly, I want to ask you how did YOU go? Did you participate in the challenge? If so, how did you go? What successes did you have? What challenges did you face? How has it improved your life?

If you didn’t take part in the challenge, I want you to answer honestly to yourself “why not?”

What held you back from taking part in the 10 week challenge? Was it that you lacked clarity on what you wanted to achieve? Is it that you had a goal but you thought it was too big of a challenge to complete in 10 weeks? Did you have some self-limiting beliefs? Was it that there would be no-one to hold you accountable other than yourself so you didn’t take part?

Really think deeply about this. I want you to raise your standards. When you are offered to take part in a challenge like this, I highly encourage you to take part. There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I’d love to hear your comments below this article.

But let me share with you how I went against my own challenge and what I’ve learned.

My Successes and FAILURES in my 10 Week Health and Fitness Challenge

I challenged myself to run under 58 minutes for the world’s largest fun run – the City to Surf. This is a 14km run that takes you from the heart of the city in Sydney to one of the most iconic beaches in the world – Bondi Beach.

My training was average.

I set myself a clear strategy which I detailed extensively in my initial post however I did find it hard to stick to.

Firstly, I found that with different schedules it was hard to organize times to train with my brother, Mike and my mate, Andy. This meant my training was mostly by myself.

Secondly, my plan for eating purely healthy foods with the exception of occasional dark chocolate completely did not happen  On the whole I’ve been pretty good, but there have definitely been times when I’ve spoiled myself over the past couple of months. Every piece of nutrition adds up and can dramatically affect your overall energy levels and performance in life and this is why this is an area of continuous improvement for me (and should be for you too)… it does take tremendous discipline to say no to certain foods 

Thirdly, about 5 weeks into my 10 week challenge I knew that there was a possibility I would not be able to actually take part in the City to Surf. There was a good chance that I was going to be flying to Washington DC for business the day prior to the race. This halted my training (as well as my motivation) for a couple of weeks.

Immediately, I recognized in me how important it is to have goals… once I had the likelihood of my original goal not being achieved it dramatically lowered my motivation. It was a very interesting experience. I’m sure this has happened thousands of times throughout my life but because I went public with this challenge I was focused on it more I was a lot more aware of my own feelings.

With 3 weeks to go it was confirmed that I wouldn’t be able to race in the City to Surf. This completely gutted me! I LOVE this run! It’s such an amazing feeling having 80,000 people around you all working towards the same goal… and it was going to be the first time that my wife, Sylvia would join me.

Needless to say, without the goal of the City to Surf to work towards my training tanked. I also became more focused on other priorities in life such as my career and business.

But then I decided to do something crazy…

Setting a Bigger, Meaner and Harder Goal

When it comes to running festivals in Sydney there are two major events. Firstly, there is the City to Surf which I unfortunately was not able to attend. Secondly, there’s an event that has been known to break people down, injure thousands and actually cause death… it’s 42km of pain, endurance and determination. Yes, it’s the marathon.

I was having lunch with Mike (my brother) and he suggested that because I can no longer run the City to Surf that instead I run the marathon!

Immediately, I thought to myself “he’s gone mad!”

The furthest I’ve ever run is the City to Surf and that’s 14km. This alone breaks me down and causes me to walk away with extremely sore legs. I considered doing a half-marathon (21km) but thought to myself that it’s just way too far for me to run and that the training and preparation alone would kill me.

Days later, I’m having lunch with Mike again and he tries to convince me once more to do a marathon. I actually thought about what I do here with The Start of Happiness and thought that this would be a great case-study to share with you guys.

What if I could run a marathon with little training? How much of it is mindset? What barriers, challenges and beliefs am I going to have to break through to run this distance and successfully complete the marathon?

So, putting myself on the line and in the name of experimentation, I decided to say “You’re on!” and paid the $140 registration fee.

Over in the USA I unfortunately didn’t manage to do any training… and my diet was pretty poor. So I was off to a very poor start for training and considering the race was only 5 weeks away I was starting to get a little nervous. I realize I need to develop my own self-discipline.

Now, I have just under 3 weeks to prepare for my first (and probably only) marathon. In saying that, I have been back in Sydney for a week and I did train 4 times last week and they were all fantastic sessions.

Since signing up and returning home to be focused on the marathon, I’ve felt a new determination, focus and energy as I have a new goal to work towards.

In terms of my own mindset, I find it quite amazing. Previously, I was focused on running 14km as fast as I could. Now that my goal is to run 42km which is MUCH more challenging, I immediately feel that 14km is an easy distance to run. It’s weird… it’s just a mindset shift. But again, it proves to me that the goals you focus on are SO important in your life. If you set small goals, you will achieve small things. If you set BIG goals, you will achieve big things (and I hope to prove this by completing my first marathon with just 4 weeks of training).

My New Strategy

Now that I’ve created a goal that is significantly more challenging, I need a strategy that will significantly increase my probability of completing the marathon.

Firstly, let’s get specific. I could just say I want to complete the marathon… but this just doesn’t really motivate me. It doesn’t motivate me to run at all or to really push myself as hard as I could.

Instead, I’ve decided that the time I want to run the marathon in is under 4 hours and 30 minutes. I’ve based this off the fact that at my best it takes me 1 hour to run 14km (the City to Surf). If I maintain this pace I could complete the marathon in 3 hours. This is incredibly fast! I’d love to be able to maintain this pace for 14km, but the fact that I’m normally a walking jellyfish after the City to Surf lets me know that it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to maintain that pace I figured a more conservative pace, allowing for toilet breaks and some walking, 4 hours and 30 minutes is a reasonable target.

Nutrition and Hydration

I’m following my Ultimate Guide to Healthy Eating and continue to do so. The main thing that changes is that I need to eat enough food to replenish and repair my body after each workout or training run. My key nutrition after training will be coconut water, bananas, sandwiches and cereal.

The tricky thing for me is that because my goal is now 42km and the fact that this is going to take me about 4.5 hours to complete, I’m going to need to rehydrate and give myself nutrition DURING the run. I’ve never done this before! So I need to learn how to do this and what’s the right food/drink to take.

Cross-training

Cross-training is as important as ever for me. Previously, I’ve had knee injuries from running too much on concrete. I’m going to cross-train with swims and cycles as much as possible to reduce the risk of knee (or other) injuries. Already since establishing my new 42km goal, I’ve smashed my best ever distance in the pool (by 50%) and distance on the bicycle (by 100%!). Again, this has immediately proved to me the power of goals.

Focus on time (not distance)

Previously, training for the City to Surf I would focus on running for 6km, 8km or 10km at a time and try beat my previous times. Now, my strategy is to build my endurance. Instead of going for the time, my plan is to run, cycle and swim for longer durations (albeit at a slower pace). For example, I’ll focus on running for an hour, instead of trying to run 10km in under 45 minutes.

Learning!

As this is all completely new to me, I plan to read as much as I can about training for marathons and learn about strategies for beginners in running a marathon.

3 Weeks to Go!

So, there’s just 20 more days to prepare and train for this marathon. I’m super-keen to do it and if I complete it in under 4 hours and 30 minutes I’d be extremely happy. Firstly, I need to just ensure I finish!

If you have run a marathon before and have any tips or suggestions for me, I’d love to hear from you! Please let me know in the comments below.

Also, if you took part in the 10-Week Challenge, I’d love to hear about your successes or challenges and what you have learned.

Stay inspired!