Three Surprising Facts About People With High Willpower

[Reading Time: About 9 minutes, or less time than it takes the average woman to apply her makeup] 1. It’s Not The Size of Your Willpower, It’s How You Use it Self-control is, like, 50% funny and 50% sad. We sit in front of a plate of cookies and we just cannot stop ourselves. Cannot do it. The smell of … Read More

The Habit Loophole Part 1: Why Habits Fail

[READING TIME: 16 Minutes, or approximately 3x the average sexual episode] Habits are in vogue right now. The are being offered as the cure-all to everything– lack of motivation, conflicting goals, laziness. Simply turn your behaviors into habits, the argument goes, and you’ll no longer need effort, goals, or motivation. They are the key to persistent action. The problem is, … Read More

The Best Books from my 35th Year

As far as I can tell, there are two types of readers: Singles and Severals. Singles focus on one book at a time. Some, out of a sense of overwhelm (“I could never handle more than one book at a time!”). Some, out of a sense of order (“Everything in its place, damn it”). Others, out a sense of ceremony. … Read More

My Intermittent Fasting Experiment (Or, how to lose 3% body fat while gaining muscle with one, simple change).

Around September 2013, I stopped eating breakfast. It was a sad time. Since forever, I’d been one of those I’m-starving-as-soon-as-I-wake up-so-don’t-talk-to-me-until-I-have-my-eggs, kind of breakfast eaters. I also was a staunch believer in the axiom that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”. All that to say–throwing out breakfast was a change I did not take lightly. What could possibly … Read More

Something More Important Than Voting

Look, I know this year’s been rough. And I know the last thing you need to hear is another person telling you that they “know this year’s been rough.” They always follow it with an unconvincing— “but we’ll make it through!” Will we, though? In fact, depending on what happens Tuesday, between the fires, this virus, and the election, the … Read More

Summer Reading: 5 Great Books For The Beach

Ok, maybe it isn’t quite the August Beach Reading season you were hoping for. Usually, around this time of year, you’d head out to some mountain-front lake and shamelessly break out that teen fiction. Or perhaps you work up the courage to crack open that 700-page Chernow biography. But instead of sitting in some sandy oasis, you’re sitting on a … Read More

Fasting: Healthy or Harmful? A TrueNorth Experience

Fasting has become popular in recent years and many claims have been made about its benefits. However, there are two issues. First, “fasting” comes in many forms— intermittent fasting, water-only fasting, time-restricted eating. We need to be specific about what kind of fasting we mean. Second, many claims have been made about each form, but which of these claims are scientific and which are merely story? And even of the scientific— which are based on substantial evidence in humans, and which are hopeful speculation? In short, what do we actually know about fasting?

Great audiobooks, read by the authors

Reading Time: What do you care? Your’e quarantined! There are two mistakes people make when listening to audiobooks. The first mistake is that they listen to the book while doing something other than listening to the book. Presumably, these productive hopefuls are still clinging to the myth of multitasking.   While most of us can chew gum and walk at … Read More

How To Stay Healthy, Connected, Helpful, Creative, Informed, Productive, and Light-Hearted During a Quarantine

My lovely, quarantined, in-terrible-need-of-a-haircut, readers– This COVID pandemic has certainly been a little rough. And the “rough” is everywhere you look. The news constantly updates us on the death total. Social feeds are filled with finger-pointing, anger, and contempt. Thoughts like “why didn’t we act sooner?” or “how will the economy ever recover?” are effortless. And all of these seem … Read More