My Answers To Mark Manson’s Life Purpose Questions
http://markmanson.net/life-purpose 1: What is your favorite flavor of shit sandwich and does it come with an olive? (What pain
Contemplating the Universe
One of the most amazing things that the human mind is able to do is to contemplate theĀ Universe. Now, few of us are really ab
The Impossible List
Inspired by JoelĀ and Steve. Whatās on this list? Stuff you want to do with your life. Stuff you want to do, but have told y
7 Important Things I’ve Learnt
During my 2 years of National Service, I began what I called the 90 Week Project. I had heard many horror stories from men wis
Productivity: I vomited words with a pen faster than I transcribed them online
Doing beats talking I’ve always paid lip-service to productivity- it’s mostly an attempt to convince myself to be
Waking Early + It’s okay to be incompetent
Day before yesterday, I took a long walk with my girlfriend and went to bed (relatively) early, at about 11pm. I was aware of
My MBTI Journey
MBTI: I remember when I first encountered MBTI. It was introduced to me over beer, by a friend of a friend. He was a self-prof
starting plans
Yesterday I met my mentor-figure who helped to get me all fired up. I got home, tried to do some work, ended up getting distra
do what you hate
(switchy-switchy here is that you only have strong feelings about thigns that matter to you) I used to play in a band called A
Habits Through Connections
I have been paying lip service to this for the longest time but it’s finally about time- better late then never- that I
Running is a break from the neurological rat race
TLDR: Don’t think so much, just run. The reward is a break from the neurological rat race. So today was a normal day. I
SS01: Defining ‘Education’
The meaning of schools and education has changed over time. We tend to think of education in a limited sense- go to an academi
Didn’t make it to leadership school? Build your own!
I had a class reunion the other day and I got to talk to one of my classmates who completed his national service as a commissi
What is your specialization?
If only managing our own lives was as visually appealing! I have a good friend who shares a lot of my ideas about things, but
Are you too smart for your own good?
My dad used to say something like that to me- that the problem with me was that I thought I was too smart to have to deal with
Why you should never “confess your love” to anyone
My humble advice to anybody who starts to fall for your friends-Ā Never, EVER “confess your love” to them.It’
Week 72? Building Routines.
Or is it 73? I admit, I lost track! I lost my notebook, and then I got a bit depressed and kind of lost track of things. Anywa
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Gluttony
(image courtesy ofĀ blackeri) Gluttony is the untempered driveĀ to consume.Ā Gluttony is to consumption as lust is to conques
Best Decision Ever.
What’s your best decision ever? Some things we don’t really decide for ourselves- reading extensively as a child w
Action and Reflection
I’ve always considered myself a fairly unsystematic person, random and chaotic. After a while though, I began to realize
20 Weeks Left: What I’m going to do when it’s over!
There was a disruption in my 90 Week Project, and I haven’t been updating the blog aspect of it since about week 53. BMT
Idiot Tax: How much do you pay?
Idiot Tax! That’s what they call the lottery- the tax you pay for being an idiot, because the odds are so heavily agains
Hacking Delayed Gratification: The Tomorrow-Self
I was never one to deny myself pleasure. I’d eat McDonald’s whenever I could. I was a binger. I’d finish ent
Hacking Serendipitous Conversations (and Facebook), Like An (Elitist) Boss
Originally title ‘Meditations On Staying Awake.’ (Amusingly, I’m translating this from ink to pixels at 3:28
3 Phases: Accumulation, Reflection, Creation
I feel like I could reasonably split my life into three phases (so far). The first phase is the phase of accumulation. We̵
How important is consistency and sustainability?
I was unfollowing people on Tumblr yesterday- specifically, people who haven’t posted in 8 months or more, and people wh
how good are you at making maps?
I like to think of communication as drawing a map, or giving directions. I’m not suggesting that you need to spell out e
Applying fitness wisdom to writing: Why Good is better than Perfect
I’ve experimented quite a bit over the years with my fitness habits. Well, it might not be fair to say “over a few
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Wrath
(image courtesy of blackeri) What is Wrath? Dante described vengeance as “love of justice perverted to revenge and spite
dealing with siren songs
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with
Left 4 Dead: Enlightened Self-Interest In A Zombie Apocalypse
Left 4 Dead (or L4D) is a first-person shooter with a simple premise- four people are stranded somewhere overrun with hordes o
enlightened hedonism
Life should be pleasurable. It really should. It’s an incredibly brief period of time, so we really ought to make the mo
The First Thirty Weeks.
The following is a summary of the first 30 weeks of my 90 Week Project. Week 1: Philosophical introspection during gym workout
How I started tracking my life, Part 2
Continuing where we left off from How I started tracking my life, Part 1: You can see that I started with a monthly perspectiv
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Sloth
(image courtesy of blackeri) Sloth is…Ā laziness, inactivity, idleness, restlessness, ennui, boredom, indifference. Ever
How I started tracking my life, Part 1
I made several random attempts to start tracking my life over the years. I used to have a blog on the now-defunct Diary-X.com
The 90 Week Project
The 90 Week Project is my personal experiment to challenge myself to grow and learn as much as possible within a fixed timefra
Knowing But Not Knowing.
I had an art teacher in secondary school who never taught me anything about art, but he did leave me with a cryptic saying he
7 Lessons Smokers Can Teach Us About Getting Shit Done
Smokers do something that’s quite remarkable that nobody really talks about: they smoke a lot of cigarettes. A heavy smo
the art of disagreement
People disagree. Most genuine disagreement stems, I believe, from different people valuing different things, or valuing the sa
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Vanity
(image courtesy of blackeri) Vanity is a naive obsession with a non-existent Self. Vanity is the excessive belief in one’
Hacking The 7 Deadly Sins: Lust
(image courtesy of blackeri) Lust is an untempered drive toĀ conquest. Nobody lusts after what they already have. Not just abo
Hacking and Leveraging the 7 Deadly Sins To Your Benefit
I don’t like the idea of Sin as something inherently, absolutely wrong- something so intrinsically vile that even thinki
mass effect 2 loyalty missions
In the multi-award winning game and beautiful narrative that is Mass Effect, you play as Commander Shepard- an all-around bada
“Visa, we need to talk.” 2010
The following is something that I wrote to myself in my notebook while I was at work sometime last year, I think around July o
On Self-Help books.
I have a lot of self-help books. It used to be a bit of an obsession. I’m pretty sure I have at least 10-20 of them lyin
Johari / Nohari Windows
These are my negative traits, as my friends perceive me: Arena (known to self and others) aloof, irresponsible, lethargic, ins
7 things that help me clear my head
After being plagued by lethargy and a general sense of powerlessness for a couple of weeks, I fell asleep on the bus today on
Paradigm shift: Inwards to outwards
The edge-of-seat, I’m on fire and I got to do something right now feelings is one of the best feelings in the world. Wel
Demolish boredom.
I used to be very bored as a teenager. I was bored almost all the time. I was not bored very much as a child. I found everythi
I smoked a cigarette today.
I smoked a cigarette today. Here’s what I’m not going to do: I’m not going to deceive anybody, especially my
Managing complex change: 5 things that stop you from accomplishing greatness
If you want to get anything serious done that involves complex change, whether it’s starting a blog, quitting smoking, m
Personal Development and Symbolism of the Hero
āSince finding out what something is, is largely a matter of discovering what it is like, the most impressive contribution t
Routine Analysis: Week 30: The Next Stage.
Successful people have productive routines. It’s painfully obvious that if you want to be successful, you’re going
Week 24.
Wow, 6 more weeks and I’ll be done with a third of this movement! I want to keep this clear and succinct, and focus on w
There are no bad experiences.
There are no bad experiences. Getting your leg blown off would suck. Getting raped is a terrible, traumatic thing. There are f
How to deal with an existential crisis.
Imagine that you’re having a walk that’s generally unremarkable, in an unremarkable locale, surrounded by unremark
Marginal differences make a difference
Updated 2014. It’s interestingĀ how weĀ categorizeĀ people into smokers and non-smokers. You’re in or you’re
I have some questions for you.
Are you physically fit? Healthy? Are your eyes, teeth, heart, back, knees, ears in good shape? How would it feel if you lost t
illness as opportunity
I am sick as I write this- literally physically ill, with a throat infection. I often seem to fall sick more than the average
On Efficiency
Efficiency gives me pleasure, and inefficiency bothers me, often making me irritable and frustrated. This might sound like a s
On fearlessness, andĀ enemies
If victory is the notion of no enemy, then the whole world is a friend. The true warrior is not like a person carrying a sword
Perfectionism as an excuse.
I understand that the previous post may not completely make sense. It is also not as efficient, effective and straightforward
Why I am becoming an increasingly irritable person, and how I’m dealing with it.
Recently, I get really frustrated whenever I perceive people behaving in ways that I deem unbecoming. Why is this? One possibl
Why I stopped reading.
This is going to sound a little unusual coming from me, but lately I’ve felt that my vocabulary is rather limited. I cam
The Mundanity of Excellence, by Daniel Chambliss
(Visa: Full text available here. I edited this one a little for readability. Left out the footnotes.) “Olympic sports an