Archives for August 2019

4 Reasons You Need to Keep Doing Hard Things to Be Happy, Healthy and Successful

08.26.2019 by Marc Chernoff // 22 Comments

4 Reasons You Need to Keep Doing Hard Things to Be Happy, Healthy and Successful

You need to do hard things to be happy, healthy and successful. Because the hard things ultimately build you up and change your life.

If you already feel like you’re at the end your rope today with little slack left to hold on to, realize your mind is lying to you. It has imprisoned you by reciting self-defeating stories in your head—stories about your mistakes and what you should have done differently. And you’ve begun to believe that you’re really stuck.

But you’re NOT.

You are alive in an immense world with infinite destinations. Take a moment to remind yourself of this fact. Go outside. Look up at the sky and the clouds or the stars. THIS is the world in which you really live. Breathe it in. Then look at your current situation again.

Remember that adversity—doing and dealing with the hard things in life—is the first path to truth. Your defeats often serve as well as your victories to shake your spirit and light your way. You just have to hold on tight, embrace the daily pain, and burn it as fuel for your journey.

Easier said than done, of course. Which is why you need to continually remind yourself… [Read more…]

How to Make Life Simple Again

08.19.2019 by Angel Chernoff // 30 Comments

How to Make Life Simple Again

Life gets a lot simpler when you clear the clutter that makes it complicated. Bring your attention back to what’s important, and move forward with your life.

Your days fill up so fast, and they are so rushed and packed with distractions—sometimes they literally seem to be bursting at the seams.

I know exactly how you feel. This used to be my life too.

Before I started simplifying my life, I was being pulled in dozens of different directions every day and never had enough time to get everything done. Naturally, I wanted to do a great job with each obligation I had, and somehow I had convinced myself that I could do it all. But the reality was I was stretched way too thin, and thus I was doing a lousy job at everything and completely stressing myself out in the process.

This feeling of being mind-numbingly busy and overbooked is a huge source of stress for most people, and stress is perhaps the single most important determining factor of whether we’re healthy and happy, or sick and tired, in the long run.

Unless you want your health to decline and your stress to continue to skyrocket, you must start simplifying.

So how can you simplify your life? It’s not as hard as you might imagine… [Read more…]

40 Things We Need to Teach Our Kids Before They’re too Cool to Hear Our Wisdom

08.12.2019 by Marc Chernoff // 22 Comments

40 Things We Need to Teach Our Kids (Before They're too Cool for School)

Kids must be taught how to think, not what to think.

Today our son, Mac, started Kindergarten. The experience of dropping him off for his very first day of school struck so many emotions in me. As every parent of a school-age child can attest, the very first day of school is a learning experience in and of itself. It’s one of those little milestones you anticipate and always remember.

Anyway, I awoke this morning thinking about the whole experience—of childhood, parenthood, and everything in between—and two thoughts immediately came to mind:

How in the world did Angel and I suddenly become parents to a kindergartner? Whoa! Time flies!
There are so many things I want to tell Mac as soon as possible, before he’s in high school with his friends and too cool to hear my little nuggets of wisdom. And before Angel and I go from “mommy and daddy who both know best” to “mom and dad who couldn’t possibly understand.”

So in no particular order, here are 40 things I intend to tell him and his little friends, repeatedly, over the next several years: [Read more…]

18 Important Reminders About Living Up to People’s Expectations

08.05.2019 by Angel Chernoff // 20 Comments

18 Important Reminders About Living Up to People's Expectations

Your needs matter. Don’t ignore them. Sometimes you have to do what’s best for you and your life, not what’s best for everyone else.

A life spent ceaselessly trying to please people who are perhaps incapable of ever being pleased, or trying too hard to always be seen as doing “what’s expected of you,” is a sure road to a regretful existence. Marc and I were on this road once, but I’m happy to say we’re paving our own path now based on our own needs, morals and values. And today I hope to inspire you to do the same…

Do more than just exist. We all exist. The question is: Do you live?

Marc and I eventually realized existing without ever truly living was not what we wanted for ourselves. So we made changes – we gradually embraced [Read more…]