As children we instinctively pursue what interests and fascinates us. At a young age pursuing knowledge, skills and goals is central to each day. Although we don’t use the word motivation to describe the passionate pursuit of our interests, we are all the most motivated we will ever be.

We read whole books in one go, often under the covers by torch light. Maintaining friendships and organizing projects is second nature. The urge to be doing, building and progressing is second nature. …

Need help from someone? Look in the mirror.

There are many things in life that create the illusion of helplessness in all of us:

The companies that sell us products.

The pervasive idea that we all need to escape from our lives.

The constant stream of bills, letters, emails and calls that sometimes make it hard to breathe at night.

The pervasive, surround sound rhetoric that says we should all be more, do more, have more and back all that up with elusively perfect relationships.

All of these messages and pressures combined take away from one of the most powerful truths in life. …

Taking a stand against domineering behaviour.

A bully can dominate an entire family and they can do a lot of damage while they’re at it.

Maybe you have a bully in your family. Maybe you dread seeing this person.

Maybe they make you angry or miserable and their cutting remarks sting long after you’re out of their presence.

There’s good news and bad news.

The bad news is that when it comes to a bully, who they are is not going to change. Them thinking they are right is not going to change. What they think is acceptable is not going to change.

The good news is that the bully may change their behaviour, even if deep down they don’t think they should have to. …

Alerts don’t make you more productive, they just help procrastinators distract you.

That copy writing client has sent a message — ping!

That book editing client asked a question— ding!

You’ve made a sale — pop!

The washing machine finishes a cycle — bing bing!

Is that someone at the door? — ring ring!

Thankfully I don’t get new e-mail alerts because I shut that crap down years ago, see also my phone. Some things like the doorbell might be unavoidable…unless I rip the effing thing out of the wall, which is tempting sometimes.

Every appliance, app, website, and marketplace wants to alert you to something. Sure, it sounds useful. I can have soaring productivity by plugging myself into the mainframe and becoming super aware of every disparate event, question and occurrence across my working day. However, all these pings and dings have made me very aware that focus is finite. …

Sometimes the hurtful truth is that you hurt others.

Most of us don’t want to be an abusive or toxic person. We don’t want to hear someone we care about say that we hurt them. We don’t want to end up estranged from those we care about.

No one wants to read an email, letter or blog post detailing how just being themselves has hurt and driven away someone they love.

Being an abusive person will mean you hurt the people that are closest to you. Imagine destroying the love someone has for you by being an abusive nightmare. Who wants to face up to that?

Being the toxic person in a relationship or family is like playing pass the parcel with a hot brick. No one wants to be left holding it. Still, abusive people exist, so it’s got to be someone. You hopefully already know that physical abuse is bad but people frequently hurt others without getting physical. …

Sometimes the love of your life just isn’t good for you.

Now and then you hear people debating the best time to give children their first drink of alcohol. One person will say they think an early introduction to alcohol prevented them from developing an alcohol problem later in life, and they want the same for their child.

Then other people start chiming in.

Someone had a beer at 8 and they’ve never had a problem. Someone else tried wine at their sibling’s wedding when they were 11 and they never had a problem. Then someone else says their aunt’s brother grew up in a home where alcohol was banned and he still turned into a raging alcoholic. …

By Stef Hill on The Capital

Ok, let’s not mess about. You need money, you need it fast, you have an internet connection.

I left university at 23 and realized that my degree wasn’t specific enough to go into the relevant industry. It also made me overqualified for everything else I could have gone for. I couldn’t even not mention the degree since that would leave a gap in my CV.

Oh no.

I needed money, I needed it fast and I had an internet connection. I managed to generate between £1000 and £2000 a month. …

You are in charge of your own life, and you are more than capable of doing everything you need to do.

Self doubt is a terrible thing. It taps us on the shoulder and asks-

Are you sure?

What if something goes wrong? What if you make a mistake?

What are you going to do?

Self doubt makes you think that problems mean inevitable destruction rather than challenges. Even someone with a bare minimum of life experience knows that problems happen. Sooner or later BIG problems happen. …