The other day, my home ventilation unit stopped working. I recently moved into an apartment in Amsterdam that was built only two years ago, so it’s got all the fancy tech for energy-efficient living and for ultimate comfort. But sometimes that tech breaks. So this big unit in my storage room suddenly just borked. Here, I’ll show you a picture of the thing: While it’s huge and I could use more storage space, I love this unit because it constantly refreshes the air in the apartment. It uses the...

What’s always just beyond your grasp? What would you definitely get to—if only you had an extra two hours in your day? What’s been on your goal list for a looooong time without any progress? How can you finally, finally get around to this thing? The answer isn’t trying harder. That doesn’t work. You’ve tried trying harder, haven’t you? I sure have. And I got two years of burnout as a reward. There’s only one way that works. But first: be nice to yourself, for Pete’s sake. Stop telling...

Have you heard this saying before? Apparently it comes from the Navy SEALs: “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” It’s easy to imagine SEALs working this way. They don’t rush their preparation. They don’t cut corners when cleaning their rifle. And they don’t jump out of their helicopter a second before they’re supposed to. It’s harder to remember this for ourselves. We don’t need to imagine we’re special operatives as we go about our days. (Yikes, way too stressful.) But, as much as we might...