13 Things to Avoid When Changing Habits

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain

I’ve learned a lot about changing habits in the last 2 1/2 years, from quitting smoking to taking up running and GTD and vegetarianism and waking early and all that. I could go on, of course, but you get the picture.

I’ve not only learned a lot about what you should do when changing habits, but through my failures, I’ve learned about what not to do.

And trust me, I’ve had lots of failures.

The Beauty and Culture of the Island of Guam

A number of you have asked about my home island, Guam — what it’s like, how a blogger like me emerged from a tiny island, stuff like that. So today I thought I’d share a little about Guam, just to give you some background on me and my home, and share a new resource for learning all about Guam.

My Home
While I was born in Portland, Oregon and have lived in Seattle and more recently in the SF Bay Area (Sunset District of SF and Vallejo), most of my life has been spent here on Guam. It’s a fairly small tropical island in the middle of the Pacific, a U.S. territory since 1898 (except during World War II, when it was occupied by Japanese forces), a very Catholic but very American island.

Zen Habits spammed

Hey guys, just a short note and an apology to any blogs who’ve been spammed with Zen Habits (and other) links at the bottom of their html code. I didn’t do it, I promise. Somehow my WP install was exploited and some spammers got some files onto my server. It’s being fixed.

My apologies if your blog was spammed through Zen Habits. It really makes me wonder if these sites actually make more money from doing dumb things like this, and if they feel good about that. Money isn’t everything.

The Rules of the Unbelievable Lightness of Being Club, and How I’m Gonna Get in Shape

You may never have heard of the Unbelievable Lightness of Being Club, a health and fitness group, but I know you’ve heard of most of its incredibly beautiful members. That’s because there’s only two members: me, and my wife Eva.

Also, I should add that we just started it a couple days ago.

18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein

I’ve written a lot about simplicity and decluttering (I can’t help it — I’m passionate about it!) and I’ve noticed that a lot of readers share my ideal of having an uncluttered home or workplace, but don’t know where to start.

When your home is filled with clutter, trying to tackle a mountain of stuff can be quite overwhelming.