Your most limited personal resource is your attention.
However, most of us do a horrible job using it to focus on what we say we really want in life.
Neil Pasricha wants to teach you how to be more intentional, so you can create the life and work that’s right for you.
He’s the author of several books, a speaker, and the director of The Institute for Global Happiness. Check out his latest book You Are Awesome: How to Live an Intentional Life.
As the pace of change accelerates, figuring out how to live more intentionally is more crucial than ever, so you’re not stuck living in the default state of sheer survival.
Lot of great lessons in our conversation including:
- How he defines living intentionally.
- Where ideas come from.
- How he went from reading 5 books a year to 50 the next year.
- The three tests he recommends to help find your thing.
- His principles for creating intentional work.
Life Skills That Matter In This Episode
- Align your habits
- Manage your energy
- Purge your life
- Practice self-awareness
How Neil Works and Thinks
- Wake up time: 5:00 – 5:30 am
- Core work activities + habits: 1) Publish one article per month. 2) Write one chapter per month. 3) Give four speeches per month.
- Ideal work environment: A stimulating urban tapestry where he can be an urban flaneur.
- Superpower: Curiosity.
- Maintains focus by: An 8-hour walk through nature, taking an untouchable day, and giving his wife his cell phone for set amounts of time to keep his phone hidden away.
- Recommended productivity tool: Pombox
Inspirational Quotes
“You don’t actually want to do nothing, you just want to do something you love.”
“Everything you do is about figuring out your intuition.”
“We fall to the levels of our systems, we do not rise to level of our goals.”
Coaching Advice
If your brain is pinging you with excuses, Neil shared how he deals with excuses:
1) Design systems that let your behavior be super lax and put the less important things in your life on auto-pilot.
2) He wears the same sweats when he’s relaxing and the same suit for speeches so he’s never thinking about what to wear.
Resources + Bonus Materials
8 Ways to Read (a Lot) More Books by Neil Pasricha
Connected by Nicholas Christakis, MD PhD and James Fowler PhD
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
Related Episodes
How To Work With Intention With Anthony Ongaro (170)
Be A More Intentional Entrepreneur And Parent With Charlie King (244)