Lifestyle Archives | Page 3 of 41

The What the Hell Effect: How Guilt Leads to Mistakes

What is the what-the-hell effect? Why does your brain tend to take one bad decision and amplify it? The what-the-hell effect is when you make one bad decision—such as eating a slice of pizza while on a diet—and makes it even worse—eating three more pieces because you already ate one. Rather than doing damage control and stopping at one, your brain says “what the hell” and keeps making it worse. Here is the psychological background to the what-the-hell effect and some tips for avoiding it.

The Millionaire Next Door: The Most Popular Car Is…

What’s the Millionaire Next Door Most Popular Car?

Why is The Millionaire Next Door‘s most popular car not a flashy, high-status vehicle? What car do millionaires drive the most? In The Millionaire Next Door, the most popular car is not a high-status vehicle because millionaires understand that flashy cars are overpriced, they prefer to buy quality, used cars. Millionaires prefer full-sized American-made vehicles like Ford, Cadillac, Lincoln, and Jeep. Read on to discover why The Millionaire Next Door‘s most popular car is a regular, affordable vehicle.

Stop Putting Things Off: Your Future Self Is Still You

Why do we assume we’ll be more inclined to do something tomorrow that we didn’t want to do today? Why do we see our future selves as different people? Research shows that you see your future self as a completely different person. This makes you procrastinate on your goals because you assume that future-you will pick up the slack. Here are some tips on how to stop seeing your future self as another person.

How Body Responses Sabotage Your Willpower

How do your natural body responses affect willpower? How can you turn your fight-or-flight response into a pause-and-plan response? Body responses such as the fight-or-flight response were great in the Stone Age, but not so great for our self-control. These impulses that were designed to save your life tend to kick in at the worst times—like when you’re on a diet and your body says that you need that fresh-baked cookie. Luckily, there are ways to fight these natural body responses and take the control back.

The Frugal Millionaire: More Common Than You Think

What are the habits of the frugal millionaire? Why are there so many frugal rich people? The frugal millionaire next door shuns an extravagant lifestyle and instead practices frugal habits such as living below your means, budgeting, and saving money. There are many frugal rich people because they didn’t get rich through wasteful spending, they got rich by smartly investing their money. Read more to discover the habits and quirks of the frugal millionaire.

Why You Should Keep Your Goals to Yourself

Do you feel excited when you set big goals for yourself? Do you share your goals with others to keep yourself accountable? Research shows that when you share your goals with others, your brain feels the pleasure of this accomplishment even as you speak the words—you don’t even have to put in the effort of following through. Counterintuitively, since you already felt the pleasure of going, it makes you lose motivation to actually go. This is why you should keep your goals to yourself until you accomplish them.

The 5 Simple Practices to Live a Happy Life

Would you say you are happy in your life? What are some things you can do to cultivate a happier, more joyful outlook? Like anything worthwhile, it takes effort to cultivate a mindset of ongoing happiness. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s definitely under your control to a great extent. Without further ado, here are five simple practices to help you live a happy life, no matter the circumstances.

Tim Ferriss’s 17 Questions to Ask Yourself Every Day

Do you have a question that you ask yourself every day? How can having a set of questions to ask yourself help spur your life in the desired direction? If you want to build a better life, become more successful, and upgrade your lifestyle, you must constantly challenge your mind, thinking of ways to level up and spot opportunities. To this end, entrepreneur and lifestyle guru Tim Ferriss has a set of 17 questions he regularly asks himself. Without further ado, here are Tim Ferriss’s questions to ask yourself.

Stoicism: A Good Life Philosophy

What does a good life look like to you? How did Stoics believe that one should live their life? In Stoicism, a good life is not necessarily a life of fulfilled dreams and accomplished ambitions. According to Marcus Aurelius, a life lived well is one lived in accordance with two simple principles: willingly giving help and ridding yourself of anxiety. Here is what it means to live a good life, according to Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

The Best Way to Read Practical Books

What kinds of books are considered “practical books”? What’s the best way to read practical books? In How to Read a Book, Mortimer Adler explains that a practical book is any book that concerns how to do something better. These books require the reader to take action if they agree with the author’s premises. Here’s how to read a practical book from How to Read a Book.