Everyday Systems Podcast

Hate your S-days because they make you feel out of control? Here's a mod to help you enjoy them again.

Change your biker-alignment to Lawful Good. Be flamboyantly, comically observant of traffic rules.

Shovelglove without the sledgehammer. Or at least, without making the sledgehammer a requirement.

How to roll your own everyday system from scratch. Introducing the idea of Systematic Moderation.

Still want to tweak an Everyday System? Here's how.

Want to modify an Everyday System? It's possible -- but risky, as this episode emphasizes. Subtitled: "In Praise of Vanilla."

Feel like over the top S-days are undoing all your hard work during the week? Here's how to diagnose and correct this problem.

How well do I practice what I preach? What level of compliance is necessary for big picture success? What's the hardest everyday system? I attempt to answer these questions in my first annual self performance review.

Just as your daily task list should fit on a single 3x5 index card (see Chain of Self Command and Personal Punch Cards), your life strategy should fit on an single 8x11 sheet of paper.

You may think you know the answer to this already -- or at least, the answer I am going to give you. But you're probably wrong. Because it's not a sledgehammer. Or even a sledgehammer with a sweater wrapper around it. It's a timer.

Track your habits with this free, simple, and visually compelling online tool.

I've been asked to talk about the top five health and fitness books I've read. Unfortunately I don't think I've read that many health and fitness books in my entire life, and they certainly weren't all worth recommending. So I'm going to have to narrow it down to four. And I'll be cheatin

90% of our increased calorie consumption since 1977 has come from snacking. So snacking is not only the biggest problem in terms of dietary excess, it is almost the entire problem.

Talk to yourself -- and record it.  Why?  Autotherapy. Catch all those great ideas that would have gotten away otherwise. Nag yourself into doing impossible tasks. Keep an even-keel diary that reflects a broader range of experience. Give serious books the serious attention they require.

No time to read? Hate mindless but necessary chores? Solve both problems at once by listening to audiobooks while you do housework.

Consolidate well-understood routine tasks into compound tasks. Break up poorly understood novel tasks into more atomic components.

How I lost 10 pounds, overnight, without even trying.

Convenience is stronger than you are. Accept this fact. But with a little planning, the convenient thing doesn't have to be too awful. Case in point: "optimize your oatmeal."

Stop using evasive euphemisms. Own up to "failure" or you become it.

Moderation isn't mushy. Learn from extremists by drawing hard lines -- just draw them in different places. Get the clarity of cold turkey abstinence without the sweeping deprivation.