1: Psychologist John Gottman can predict who will eventually get divorced a stunning 94 percent of the time.

In a pioneering 1992 study, John and his team interviewed fifty-two married couples.

They asked each couple “a variety of questions about how they met, why they decided to get married, and what changes their relationships had been through and observed them as they took part in a fifteen-minute discussion about a … continue reading

1: For several years, Sahil Bloom struggled to connect with his wife during difficult times, he writes in The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.

Then, he heard about a book by a Baptist pastor, Gary Chapman, called The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate.

Gary suggests that there are five distinct love languages that describe … continue reading

1: We’re all likely familiar with the “marshmallow experiments.”

“Social psychologist Walter Mischel and his colleagues presented children with a single marshmallow and offered them a choice: They could eat it, or wait alone in the room with it for ten minutes, in which case they’d get one more,”  Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts… continue reading

This week and next we are exploring Sahil Bloom’s concept of “Social Wealth” as outlined in his book The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.

Today we turn to a list of “Social Wealth Hacks I Wish I Knew at Twenty-Two” which Sahil put together with Arthur C. Brooks, social scientist, Harvard Business School professor, and number one New York Times bestselling … continue reading

1: Is this person supportive? Ambivalent? Or demeaning?

How often do I interact with them—frequently or infrequently?

These are the two questions Sahil Bloom suggests we ask, as outlined in his book, The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.

We begin by making a list of the key relationships in our lives.

“These can include family, friends, partner, or coworker relationships,” Sahil writes. “For … continue reading

1: “Greg Sloan was on the fast track,” Sahil Bloom writes in his book The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.
“Just into his early thirties,” he notes, “he had risen to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs, one of the most prestigious financial institutions in the world, and he served as a trusted financial adviser to a long list of well-known corporate … continue reading

1: Apple founder Steve Jobs once stated: “Almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

“Remembering that we are going to die,” Steve said, “is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking we have something to lose. We are already naked.”

So, let’s imagine our funeral.

“Close … continue reading

1: “Suppose it’s 4.10 pm, on a day when it’s not my turn for school pickup,” Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.

“I’m focusing hard in my office at home,” Oliver notes, “when my son bursts in, to tell me excitedly of his preparations for the school play.”

Here is one of those moments of wonderful … continue reading

1: “Think of a pleasant wine-tasting memory,” John Mark Comer writes in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World.

What is it that is underneath every thriving vine?

A trellis.  “A structure to hold up the vine so it can grown and bear fruit,” John Mark notes.

A trellis is to a vine as structure is to … continue reading

1: Hurry.  Hurry. Hurry. 

That’s the reality of the life we know. 

“If there’s anything we pick up from reading the four Gospels,” however, John Mark Comer writes in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, “it’s that Jesus was rarely in a hurry.”

“Can you imagine a stressed-out Jesus?” he asks.  “Snapping at Mary Magdalene after a long day, ‘I can’t believe you dropped the hummus.’  Sighing, and saying to … continue reading