Besides the intelligent art of getting the “right things” done, there is the often-forgotten art of leaving the “wrong things” undone.

This past month at our first annual Think Better, Live Better conference, dozens of people asked me how Angel and I “get it all done.”

In one woman’s words that were captured on a video testimonial recorded at the conclusion of the conference:

“Marc and Angel, how do you do it?  How are you so enormously productive?  How do you host incredible conferences, write hundreds of blog posts every year, coach hundreds of Getting Back to Happy students like myself, personally respond to student and customer emails so promptly, and still have time left to spend with family and each other?  I haven’t a clue how you make it all happen, but I’m so grateful you do…”

From the outside looking in, I can see how certain people might perceive us as being “enormously productive” – perhaps possessing some kind of magical potion that allows us to accomplish more than what seems humanly possible.

The truth, however, is that there is no potion, just a set of consistent, intentional choices to abolish the negative habits, beliefs and behaviors that would otherwise fill our lives with needless stress and our calendars with lots of waste.

And we didn’t invent the wheel here either – all of our closest mentors and peers walk a similar journey of maximizing productive output by minimizing mental and physical time-wasters.  I encourage you to join us…

1.  Refuse to wait around.

Stephen King once said, “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”

An obvious bias toward [Read more…]

“Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow.”
—Catherynne M. Valente

This short article was inspired by an email we received this morning from a new course student:

Dear Marc and Angel,

I have a big problem.  I’m intelligent, highly educated in my field of study, and have achieved numerous professional accolades while working for large corporations over the years, but now that I’ve branched out on my own as an entrepreneur I’m stuck in a rut.  I have dozens of good ideas that I can easily execute on, but every time I rev up and start taking massive action, I get overwhelmed and scared.  I start second-guessing my choices and myself.  Or I start worrying about and obsessing over all the possibilities for both success and failure, until everything comes to a halt and I’m utterly exhausted.  There’s so much I want to achieve, and I know I’m capable if I could just get beyond this.  What do you recommend?

Sincerely,
An Overwhelmed Student

Our reply (an open reply to all who feel overwhelmed):

Dear Overwhelmed Student,

It’s time for a quick story about life…

Once upon a time there was a woman who had been lost in the [Read more…]

by Sarah Peterson

The worst enemy to happiness is self-doubt.

Has self-doubt ever stopped you from doing something you longed to do?

That little voice in your head kept whispering…

“Who are you to even try to accomplish that?”

Whether you wanted to run a marathon, start a business, or go for a promotion, that little voice kept nagging at you that you’re not good enough.

In early 2014, this was the soundtrack that played on repeat in my head.

See, I really, really wanted to start a new business.

But even before giving myself the chance, the soundtrack began to loop, and self-doubt kicked in.

“There’s no way you could be successful.  Who are you to even try to do this?”

After my self-doubt monster talked me out of starting my business, I smothered my passion for the topic.  I went back to my life, until I came across [Read more…]

Those who do not get up and move, do not notice their chains.

About a decade ago Angel and I started the blog that would ultimately become Marc and Angel Hack Life.  We didn’t know how to design a website.  We didn’t know what a blog was.  We didn’t even really know how to write very well.  All we knew were five things:

• We recently lost two loved ones, unexpectedly, to illness.
• We were struggling in our personal and professional lives.
• We needed an outlet.
• We were passionate about writing, and improving our writing.
• We had not been writing enough.

So we created a website and turned it into a blog.  Since we didn’t know exactly what it would be about yet, we just registered the domain name www.marcandangel.com.  The idea was that even if our concept for the blog changed over time, our names would remain the same.  They were a safe bet.

Start Anyway

To be honest, we didn’t feel ready to write publicly on a blog.  But the important thing was that we started anyway.

It was a week after a mutual best friend passed away unexpectedly.  We were spending a lot of [Read more…]