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Tag: Framework

  • LLM Council, With a Dash of Assess-Decide-Do – Dragos Roua

    Last weekend I stumbled upon Andrej Karpathy’s LLM Council project. A Saturday hack, he called it—born from wanting to read books alongside multiple AI models simultaneously. The idea is simple: instead of asking one LLM your question, you ask four. LLMs at the same time Then you make them evaluate each other’s work. Then a “chairman” synthesizes everything into a conclusion.

    What caught my attention wasn’t just the technical elegance. It was the underlying structure. Those stages looked suspiciously familiar.

    How LLM Council Works

    The system operates in three sequential phases:

    Stage 1: First Opinions. Your query goes to all council members in parallel—GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, whoever you’ve configured. Each model responds independently. You can inspect all responses in tabs, side by side.

    Stage 2: Peer Review. Here’s where it gets interesting. Each model receives all the other responses, but anonymized. “Response A, Response B, Response C.” No model names attached. Each evaluator must rank all responses by quality, without knowing whose work they’re judging.

    Stage 3: Synthesis. A designated chairman—one of the models, or a different one—receives everything: the original responses, the rankings, the evaluations. It synthesizes a final answer that represents the council’s collective wisdom.

    The anonymization in Stage 2 is pretty clever, because models can’t play favorites. They can’t defer to perceived authority. They evaluate purely on “merit”.

    The Interwoven Assess-Decide-Do Pattern

    If you’ve been following my work on the Assess-Decide-Do framework, the parallel should be obvious. The LLM Council isn’t just a technical architecture—it’s a cognitive process embedded in code.

    Stage 1 is pure assessment. Gather information. Multiple perspectives. No judgment yet, just collection.

    Stage 2 is decision-making. Weigh the options. Rank them. Make choices about what’s valuable and what isn’t. The anonymization forces honest evaluation—no shortcuts, no biases based on reputation.

    Stage 3 is execution. Take the assessed information and the decisions made, produce the output. Do the work that matters based on what you now know.

    I don’t think Karpathy was thinking about ADD when he built this-not sure he even knows about the framework. He was solving a practical problem for himself: “I want to compare LLM outputs while reading books.” But the structure emerged anyway.

    ADD Inside the Council

    Recognizing the pattern was interesting. But it raised a question: what if we made it explicit?

    The original LLM Council treats all queries the same way. Ask about quantum physics, ask about your dinner plans—same three-stage process. But human queries aren’t uniform. Sometimes we’re exploring (“what options do I have?”), sometimes we’re deciding (“which should I choose?”), sometimes we’re executing (“how do I implement this?”).

    The ADD framework maps these cognitive modes:

    • Assess (exploration mode): “I’m thinking about,” “considering,” “what are the options”
    • Decide (choice mode): “should I,” “which one,” “comparing between”
    • Do (execution mode): “how do I,” “implementing,” “next steps for”

    What if the council could recognize which mode you’re in and respond accordingly?

    I submitted a pull request that integrates the ADD framework directly into LLM Council. The implementation adds a configuration option with four modes:

    • "none" — baseline, no framework (original behavior)
    • "all" — all models use ADD cognitive scaffolding
    • "chairman_only" — only the synthesizing chairman applies the framework
    • "council_only" — council members use it, chairman doesn’t

    The most effective configuration turned out to be chairman_only with the full megaprompt—66% improvement over the condensed version in my testing. The chairman receives the ADD framework and uses it to recognize what cognitive realm the user is operating in, then synthesizes accordingly.

    Why Assess-Decide-Do Improves the Council

    Language models are pattern-matching engines. They’re excellent at generating plausible text. But plausibility isn’t wisdom. A single model can confidently produce nonsense, and you’d never know unless you have something to compare against.

    The council approach introduces deliberation. Multiple viewpoints, structured disagreement and forced synthesis. That’s already an improvement over single-model queries.

    But the council still treats every query as a generic question needing a generic answer. ADD adds another layer: cognitive alignment. When the chairman knows you’re in assessment mode, it doesn’t push you toward decisions. When you’re ready to execute, it doesn’t keep exploring options. The framework matches the response to your actual mental state.

    This matters because the best answer to “what are my options for X” is different from the best answer to “how do I implement X.” Without the framework, both get the same treatment. With it, the council adapts.

    Looking at the Code

    The core council logic lives in backend/council.py—about 300 lines of Python that orchestrate the three stages. The ADD integration adds a parallel module (council_add.py) that wraps the same stages with cognitive scaffolding.

    The key function is stage3_synthesize_final(). In the original, the chairman prompt says:

    Your task as Chairman is to synthesize all of this information
into a single, comprehensive, accurate answer to the user's
original question.

    With ADD, the chairman first identifies which realm the user is in, then synthesizes with that context. The synthesis becomes realm-appropriate rather than generic.

    The detection uses linguistic markers. Phrases like “I’m thinking about” or “considering” trigger assessment mode. “Should I” or “which one” trigger decision mode. “How do I” or “implementing” trigger execution mode. Simple pattern matching, but effective—it catches how people actually phrase questions differently depending on what they need.

    Playing With It

    Karpathy released LLM Council with a warning: “I’m not going to support it in any way. Code is ephemeral now and libraries are over, ask your LLM to change it in whatever way you like.”

    That’s refreshingly honest. It’s also an invitation. If you want to experiment:

    1. Clone the repo
    2. Get an OpenRouter API key
    3. Configure which models sit on your council
    4. Set ADD_FRAMEWORK_MODE to test different configurations
    5. Run the start script

    Then try asking questions in different cognitive modes. Ask something exploratory: “What are the approaches to learning a new language?” Then something decisive: “Should I use Duolingo or a private tutor?” Then something executable: “How do I structure my first week of Spanish practice?”

    Watch how the council responds differently when it knows which mode you’re in versus when it treats all queries identically.

    What This Means

    There are two ways to make AI think more structurally: you can prompt a single model to follow a framework, or you can embed the framework into multi-model architecture.

    Both work. They work better together.

    A prompted framework (like ADD in a mega-prompt) makes one model more reflective. A council architecture makes multiple models more rigorous through external pressure—anonymized peer review that none can game. Combining them gives you structured multi-perspective reasoning that adapts to how you’re actually thinking.

    LLMs are still pattern-matchers generating plausible outputs. But structured pattern-matching, like structured productivity, produces better results than unstructured generation.

    Assess what you’re dealing with. Decide what matters. Do what needs doing. Whether that’s your Tuesday task list or an AI deliberation system, the rhythm is the same.

    LLM Council is available on GitHub. The ADD integration PR is #89. The ADD Framework posts are collected on this blog in the Assess-Decide-Do Framework page. For the mega-prompt that applies ADD to Claude, see Supercharging Claude with the Assess-Decide-Do Framework.

    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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  • Assess Decide Do – Colors And Icons Significance – Dragos Roua

    For over 15 years, the Assess-Decide-Do framework has used a consistent visual system. Three colors and three symbols, each one supporting a specific function.

    If you’ve used addTaskManager or worked with ADD materials, you already know them: red for Assess, orange for Decide, green for Do. Then for the icons: a plus sign, a question mark, a minus sign.

    These weren’t arbitrary choices. They create a visual language that mirrors how traffic signals work—a system everyone already understands. But I’ve never published the reasoning at the theoretical level, only within the app implementation itself.

    Given the momentum my framework is getting these days, including AI integrations, the time has come for a detailed explanation.

    Red for Assess: Stop and Capture

    Assess is red because red means stop. Just like you stop your car at a red light, you stop in Assess to offload information from your mind into the system.

    The plus sign (+) represents what’s actually happening in this realm: you’re adding to the system. Assess overloads the system with data—thoughts, tasks, ideas, dreams, possibilities. Everything gets captured without immediate commitment or action.

    Red creates the pause you need to externalize what’s in your head. It’s the signal that says: don’t keep driving forward with all this mental cargo. Stop. Unload it. Get it out of your mind and into a container where it can be examined later.

    Orange for Decide: Get Ready

    Decide is orange because orange means prepare. Just like an orange traffic light tells you to get ready before the green, the Decide realm is where you prepare yourself by making conscious choices about what matters.

    The question mark (?) represents the core activity here: pondering. You’re asking questions about each captured item. Is this important? Does this align with my priorities? What context does this need? When should this happen? Do I have enough resources for it right now?

    Orange creates the transition space between capture and execution. You’re not passively collecting anymore, and you’re not yet in full action mode. You’re actively planning, assigning context, setting commitments.

    Green for Do: Move Forward

    Do is green because green means go. Just like you move forward at a green light on a crossroad, you move forward in Do without distraction or hesitation.

    The minus sign (?) represents what happens in this realm: you take items out of the system by completing them. Each finished task is eliminated through execution. The minus doesn’t mean deletion—it means transformation from intention to liveline (ADD treats every completion not as a deadline, but as a liveline).

    Green signals committed execution. When you’re in Do, you’re not capturing new things or reconsidering priorities. You’re executing on what you’ve already decided matters.

    So Simple It Just Blends In

    The traffic light metaphor does more than make the framework memorable. It taps into a pattern you’ve internalized since childhood: red-orange-green as a sequence of behaviors.

    You don’t need to think about what red means. You don’t need to remember that orange comes between red and green. The system leverages existing mental models rather than requiring you to learn something new.

    The symbols reinforce the function:

    • Plus (+) for adding to the system
    • Question mark (?) for evaluating what’s there
    • Minus (?) for completing and removing

    Together, the colors and symbols create immediate visual feedback about where you are and what you should be doing. When your Assess list is overflowing with red items, you know you need to move things through to Decide. When everything’s stuck in orange, you’re in decision paralysis. When Do is overflowing, you know you might be in a burnout.

    The system shows you the imbalance without requiring conscious analysis every single time.

    Why I’m Publishing This Now

    This information has lived on addtaskmanager.com for over a decade, embedded in the implementation documentation. Anyone using the app could see it. But it existed only at the practical level—in the tool itself, not as standalone theory.

    The other day I was testing several LLMs (Grok, Gemini, ChatGPT), asking them to create infographics using the Assess-Decide-Do framework. Every single one hallucinated the visual system. They invented blue for Assess, gave me lightbulbs and compasses, created combinations that looked reasonable but were completely wrong.

    Until I directed them to addtaskmanager.com. Then they got it right, because the information was there in the implementation docs.

    That’s when I realized: I’ve kept this at the implementation level for 15 years. It worked perfectly for people using the system, but it wasn’t available as theory. Anyone wanting to work with ADD conceptually—to teach it, write about it, build their own tools—had to either use the app or guess.

    So here it is: the visual language of Assess-Decide-Do, separated from any specific implementation.

    Red means stop and capture. Orange means prepare and decide. Green means execute and complete. Plus for adding, question mark for evaluating, minus for finishing.

    It’s a system designed to work with your existing mental models, not against them.

    Sometimes the most useful documentation is the stuff you thought everyone already knew.

    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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  • Assess Decide Do – 15 Years After – Dragos Roua

    15 years ago, while on a trip to Thailand (one of my very first trips to Asia), I created a productivity framework called Assess-Decide-Do. It’s built on the idea that you’re always in one of three “realms”:

    • Assess – exploring options, no pressure to decide yet
    • Decide – committing to choices, allocating resources
    • Do – executing and completing

    The main metric is how smooth the interaction is from one realm to the other. Prioritizing flow over completion. Also, the framework is fractal in nature—each cycle can contain smaller, complete ADD cycles within it.

    It was my response to the GTD hype running high at that time. I felt that churning tasks from a todo list couldn’t be our ultimate goal as human beings, while acknowledging that we still needed some structure, something that would allow us to function in a predictable way. Something that would honor our never-ending, changing nature, but still allow us to get stuff done.

    I’ve been consistently refining and using this at various levels in my life. What follows is a recap of how this framework evolved (spoiler: it stayed pretty much the same), how it was implemented (spoiler: there’s an app for that), and how it’s adjusting to the age of TikTok and AI (spoiler: there’s a repo for that).

    Without further ado, let’s go.

    Software Implementation: The Evolution of ADD

    The first iteration into actionable software was called iAdd. The name came from the ubiquitous “i” that every app had at that time and the framework initials. Oh, the naivety. Written in Objective-C, it was a fascinating exercise. I used it for several years before realizing it needed to evolve.

    I then iterated on both the name and the UI, switching from Objective-C to Swift. The result: something called ZenTasktic. I was proud of that name for a couple of years. Then reality hit, and I realized this wasn’t what an app needs. It’s great for showcasing in conversation, but without a massive marketing budget to push the name across every media channel, it would never take off. (Needless to say, I didn’t have a massive marketing budget—or a marketing budget at all.)

    So I did one more pivot: from ZenTasktic to addTaskManager. The new name might be a bit boring, but it’s simple, and it tells you exactly what the app does from second one. More importantly, it’s the cleanest visual implementation of the framework: each realm has its own screen, and moving tasks leverages the iPhone’s built-in swipes, so it feels like a task or project is literally traveling from one realm to the other—which supports my intention of emphasizing flow over task churning.

    The addTaskManager iteration also validated the business model—it’s a subscription on top of a generous free tier. There’s a growing community of paying subscribers with consistently positive reviews. The software implementation is strong, and the foundation is solid.

    Applicability In Other Life Areas

    When I first developed this framework, I had hammer syndrome: everything looked like a nail waiting for my hammer. I postulated that ADD would work well in pretty much all life areas, from relationships to business. In general, this was true. In general. Here’s an honest assessment of what worked and what didn’t.

    Health and Fitness

    Around the same time, I became a runner, starting with marathons and progressing to ultra-marathons. Using ADD in my training and race selection worked surprisingly well. I would start a specific training routine while staying in Assess, observing my body’s adaptation, then move to Decide only when it felt naturally feasible—like signing up for longer and longer races—and then just Do, like finishing the actual thing.

    Over the course of 10 years, I went from not being able to run 1 kilometer to finishing 220km ultra-marathons. Discipline, diet, the right social circle—all of this mattered, of course, but at the core was always my ADD framework shaping my approach. I’m not running competitively anymore, but I still apply ADD to my evolved fitness routine. For instance, I started swimming more, walking more, and visiting the Jjim Jil Bang (Korean spa) more often.

    Overall: 8/10 framework fit.

    Location Independence

    This is by far the area with the most spectacular results. In the last 15 years, I became fully location independent, changing three countries in my fabulous fifties alone.

    Here’s how I approached this. First, I would assess for a few months whether to live in a specific country. This included research about cost of living, social fabric, cultural differences, and more. Then, once the research stage was over, I would spread the assessment into real life by doing a two-week trial in that country. Living like a local, no tourist stuff, aggressive budgeting. Most importantly, not deciding on anything yet.

    After this real-life assessment test, I would move to Decide, which meant allocating time and resources for the move—OR going back to Assess. And here’s the beauty of the framework. I successfully moved to and lived in Spain, Portugal, and Vietnam, but after an overall assessment of almost six months (back and forth), I decided not to move to Korea. I still love the country, but some things just weren’t for me. The decision to withdraw and choose Vietnam over Korea felt completely natural.

    Overall: 10/10 framework fit.

    Financial Resilience

    This is on par with location independence, and it’s easy to understand why. I write extensively about financial resilience on this blog, so feel free to browse the category if you want to familiarize yourself with my approach.

    In this field, an Assess cycle can last several months.

    Usually I start with an MVP, like the Flippando game, and then gather real-world feedback. How many users, how much engagement on social media, how many inquiries from accelerators. In this specific case, the first two Assess cycles lasted about four months each. The first one was after winning the Glitch hackathon in Korea (which deserves its own blog post, I reckon), after which I decided to fully implement and publish the game. The second was after applying for a grant to port the game to Gno. The Do stage after each Decide cycle—actually making the game, working for the grant—lasted between six months and one year.

    The last Assess cycle led to the decision to stop development, keep the game up for portfolio purposes, and move on. I currently focus full-time on addTaskManager—complete Do immersion.

    Overall: 10/10 framework fit.

    Relationships

    And here’s where the framework hits differently. Relationships aren’t as predictable as implementing a coding project or evaluating a new country to live in. That’s mostly because there’s someone else involved—another real person with their own problems, goals, and expectations. That makes assessment exponentially more difficult.

    Also, crucially, the last part in relationships isn’t Do—it’s Be. You don’t just Do stuff; you try your best to Be in a relationship. That made me understand that the framework can’t fit all human experiences. Relationships need a more holistic approach—sometimes just faith and commitment.

    Overall: 5/10 framework fit.

    AI Integration: Claude Megaprompt and MCP Server

    Recently, I experimented with integrating my framework into LLMs—making the LLM ADD-aware, both in its operation and in relationship with the user. Understanding where in the framework someone is: assessing, deciding, or doing. The results have been remarkable. My first Reddit post generated over 53,000 views with a 91% upvote ratio, and the repository is actively watched and starred. If you’re interested, join the conversation, star the repo, or fork it.

    I’m also developing an MCP server (Model Context Protocol—a way for AI to interact with external tools) for my app. The developments in this area are lightning-fast, and I’m assessing whether to continue pursuing this as the standard itself evolves rapidly.

    Overall: 10/10 framework fit.

    All in all, Assess-Decide-Do has proved to be one of the most useful discoveries for me—and I hope for many others as well. Sometimes, we’re lucky enough to get it right from the first time.

    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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  • Claude Mega Prompt for Assess Decide Do Framework

    Fifteen years ago, I created the Assess-Decide-Do (ADD) framework out of frustration with productivity systems that treated humans like task-completion machines. I wanted something that acknowledged the full spectrum of how we actually work: the dreaming, the deciding, the doing—and the vital importance of balance between them.

    I’ve lived with this framework since 2010. I built my life around it. Eventually, I built addTaskManager, an iOS and macOS app that implements ADD at the technical level, respecting realm boundaries programmatically. Over 15 years, ADD has proven itself not just as a productivity tool, but as a genuine life management framework that works across domains: relationships, health, business strategy, creative work, everything.

    Then, a few days ago, I had a thought: What if Claude could operate with ADD awareness?

    Not just use ADD to organize tasks, but actually think with ADD—detect which realm I’m in, identify when I’m stuck, guide me toward balance, structure responses appropriately for each phase. What if I could teach Claude the framework that has shaped my life?

    The result took me by surprise. Not just because it worked technically, but because of what it felt like. Working with ADD-enhanced Claude isn’t just cleaner or more efficient. It’s smoother. More relatable. Almost empathic. It’s the difference between using a tool and having a conversation with someone who understands not just what you’re asking, but where you are in your thinking process.

    This is the story of how I integrated ADD into Claude, the technical steps required, and what happened when cognitive alignment between human and AI created something that feels genuinely collaborative.

    The Problem: AI Assistants Are Powerful But Often Chaotic

    Modern AI assistants like Claude are remarkably capable. They can write, code, research, analyze, create. But there’s often a subtle friction in the interaction. You ask for exploration, and it pushes you toward decisions. You need help executing, and it re-opens assessment questions. You’re deep in analysis paralysis, and it feeds you more options instead of helping you break through.

    The AI doesn’t understand where you are in your process. It responds to what you ask, but not to what you need. This creates cognitive friction—the feeling of fighting against the tool instead of working with it.

    For someone who’s lived with the ADD framework for 15 years, this friction was particularly noticeable. I’ve trained myself to recognize realms, detect imbalances, and guide my own flow. But Claude, powerful as it is, had no concept of this structure. Every interaction required me to manually compensate for the framework gap.

    The insight: What if Claude could learn ADD? Not as a user applying ADD principles, but as an integrated cognitive framework that shapes how it processes requests and structures responses?

    Why ADD? The Ubiquitous Usefulness of Realm Thinking

    Before diving into the integration, let me briefly explain why ADD is worth teaching to an AI in the first place.

    The Three Realms

    Assess is the realm of exploration, evaluation, and possibility. It’s where you gather information, dream about outcomes, integrate new ideas into your worldview, and explore options without pressure to commit. Assessment is fundamentally non-judgmental—you’re not trying to decide yet, you’re trying to understand.

    Decide is the realm of intention and commitment. It’s where you transform possibilities into priorities, allocate resources, and make choices. Each decision is a creative act—it literally shapes your reality by determining where energy flows. Decide isn’t about execution yet; it’s about conscious commitment.

    Do is the realm of manifestation. It’s where you execute, implement, and complete what you’ve assessed and decided. The Do realm should be clean—no re-assessment, no re-deciding, just focused execution and completion.

    Why This Structure Matters

    The power of ADD lies in three principles:

    1. Sequential, Not Parallel: You can’t decide well without assessment. You can’t execute well without decision. Trying to do all three simultaneously creates chaos and cognitive overwhelm.

    2. Imbalances Cascade: Poor assessment leads to poor decisions, which lead to poor execution. If you skip Assess and jump to Decide, you end up building the wrong thing. If you get stuck in Assess (analysis paralysis), nothing gets decided or done. If you live only in Do (perpetual task completion), you become a machine without direction.

    3. Flow Over Completion: Traditional productivity systems measure success by tasks completed. ADD measures success by balanced flow through realms. A day spent entirely in Assess (deep exploration) can be more valuable than a day of frantic task completion—if that’s what the situation calls for.

    This philosophy isn’t just theoretical. It’s shaped how I’ve lived for 15 years, how I built my business, how I create content, how I make life decisions. It works across every domain because it matches how human cognition actually operates—in phases, with clear transitions, requiring balance.

    The Vision: Claude Operating with ADD Awareness

    The idea crystallized during a particularly frustrating interaction. I was exploring blog post ideas (Assess realm), and Claude kept suggesting I “outline the structure and start writing” (pushing to Do realm). I needed exploratory support, not execution guidance. The mismatch was subtle but draining.

    I thought: What if Claude could detect I’m in Assess realm and respond appropriately? What if it could notice when I’m stuck in analysis paralysis and gently guide me toward Decide? What if it structured responses differently based on which realm I’m in?

    The vision expanded to three integration levels:

    Level 1: Implicit Operation – Claude detects realms, identifies imbalances, and structures responses appropriately, all beneath the surface. You benefit without consciously thinking about ADD.

    Level 2: Explicit Guidance – When helpful, Claude makes realm transitions visible, reflects patterns back to you, thus teaching ADD through natural interaction.

    Level 3: Tool Integration – The framework also shapes file creation, code development, research processes, and project management automatically.

    This wasn’t about making Claude explain ADD or quiz me on framework principles. It was about deep cognitive integration—making ADD Claude’s operating system, not an add-on feature.

    The Process: Teaching Claude Its Own Enhancement

    Here’s where it gets meta: I used Claude itself to create the ADD integration. And more than that, I used ADD methodology to structure the process.

    Assess: Understanding the Challenge

    I started by exploring what “ADD-aware Claude” would actually mean:

    • How do you teach an AI to detect realms from language patterns?
    • What are the markers of Assess vs. Decide vs. Do realm language?
    • How do you identify imbalances algorithmically?
    • What does realm-appropriate response structure look like?
    • How do you make interventions helpful rather than intrusive?

    I shared my original blog posts about ADD with Claude, explained the philosophy, and worked through examples. “If someone says ‘I’ve been thinking about starting a blog, what are my options?’—that’s Assess realm. How should you respond differently than if they said ‘I’ve chosen to start a blog, how do I set it up?’”

    We explored dozens of scenarios, identifying patterns:

    • “What if…” = Assess
    • “Should I…” = Decide
    • “How do I…” = Do
    • Prolonged exploration without progression = Analysis paralysis
    • Has information but won’t commit = Decision avoidance
    • Jumps to execution without foundation = Skipping Assess/Decide

    Decide: Committing to Architecture

    After thorough assessment, I had to decide: What’s the actual implementation strategy?

    The key decision: Create a comprehensive “mega prompt” that operates at the meta-cognitive level. Not a prompt that uses ADD, but a prompt that makes ADD how Claude thinks.

    Architecture decisions:

    • The mega prompt would be a system-level integration document
    • It would include realm detection patterns, imbalance signatures, response templates
    • It would emphasize natural operation (framework stays invisible unless relevant)
    • It would support fractal application (micro to macro scales)
    • It would honor the philosophy (decisions as creative acts, completions as livelines)

    I also decided on multiple integration methods:

    • Custom instructions for always-on operation
    • Per-conversation activation for specific projects
    • .claude files for project-level integration
    • Memory system integration for cross-conversation continuity

    Do: Building the Integration

    With clear decisions made, execution flowed naturally. Working with Claude, I created:

    1. ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md – The core integration document (~8000 words) that teaches Claude:

    • Core ADD philosophy and principles
    • Realm definitions with boundaries and restrictions
    • Detection patterns for each realm and imbalance type
    • Response structuring strategies by realm
    • Fractal application across scales
    • Example interactions demonstrating good and poor responses
    • Cognitive load management for ADHD support

    2. ADD_TECHNICAL_INTEGRATION.md – Deep technical implementation guide covering:

    • Multiple integration layers (configuration, MCP servers, memory systems)
    • Preprocessing pipeline concepts
    • Tool restriction patterns by realm
    • Testing frameworks and validation metrics
    • Integration with existing addTaskManager MCP server (which is still work in progress at the moment, but somehow usable)

    3. ADD_QUICK_REFERENCE.md – Practical guide with:

    • Quick realm identification cheat sheet
    • Common imbalance patterns and interventions
    • Eight detailed test scenarios with expected responses
    • Response templates by realm
    • Transition phrases for guiding between realms

    4. Complete GitHub repository structure – Reference implementation with examples, setup guides, troubleshooting.

    The irony wasn’t lost on me: I used ADD methodology to create ADD integration for Claude. The framework guided its own implementation.

    Implementation: From Desktop to Daily Workflow

    With the mega prompt complete, I began integrating it into my actual workflow—first testing in Claude Desktop, then into Claude Code projects where I do my daily development and content work.

    Initial Testing: Claude Desktop

    I started conservatively, loading the mega prompt at the beginning of conversations:

    Load ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md and operate with ADD framework 
awareness throughout this conversation.

    The first test was a blog SEO project. I was exploring link building equity, after already identfying link sinks and creating the templates for link updating and flow (classic Decide realm work).

    What I noticed immediately: Claude’s responses were more expansive. It asked questions that deepened exploration rather than pushing toward decisions. When I mentioned “I’m not sure which direction to take,” instead of “Well, let’s outline option A,” it said “What draws you to this topic in the first place? What would success feel like?”

    It was subtle. Almost invisible. But it felt different—like the AI was meeting me where I was, not where it assumed I should be.

    The Analysis Paralysis Test

    The real test came when I deliberately induced analysis paralysis. I asked for blog topic ideas, then kept asking for “just a few more options” over and over—mimicking the pattern I used to fall into before ADD.

    Around the fifth request for more ideas, Claude intervened:

    “You’ve gathered substantial insight over several exchanges. Sometimes continued exploration becomes a way to avoid the weight of choosing. What feels like it wants your attention? Not to execute yet—just to explore what deciding might look like?”

    I actually laughed. It had detected the pattern and intervened exactly the way I would guide a client stuck in Assess. The phrasing was perfect: acknowledging the value of assessment, recognizing the pattern, inviting the transition without forcing it.

    This wasn’t generic AI trying to be helpful. This was ADD-informed guidance.

    Integration into Claude Code Projects

    Encouraged by desktop testing, I integrated ADD into my Claude Code projects via .claude files in project roots:

    instructions: |
  Operate with Assess-Decide-Do (ADD) framework.
  Load ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md for detailed guidance.
  Detect realms, identify imbalances, guide balanced flow.
  
context_files:
  - ../ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md

    This is where the power really showed up. During development work, the ADD framework shaped:

    File Creation: Claude would explore requirements (Assess), discuss structure and approach (Decide), then create the actual files (Do)—instead of jumping straight to code.

    Debugging: When I’d hit a bug and start randomly trying fixes (Do realm chaos), Claude would pause: “Let’s assess what’s actually happening here before we try more solutions.”

    Feature Development: The framework prevented premature optimization. “I notice we’re discussing implementation details, but haven’t decided on the core architecture yet. Should we step back to Decide realm?”

    The Blog Linking Project

    The most recent ADD-aligned project was systematic internal linking for SEO. I explained the problem: 50 old posts need link additions to boost newer content.

    Claude’s response was perfect ADD:

    • Detected I was in Decide realm (assessment done, decisions made, approaching execution)
    • Clarified remaining Decide-realm questions before moving to Do
    • Prevented execution friction by ensuring foundation was solid
    • Structured the conversation: “These are decided… these might need final decisions… then we can execute cleanly”

    We didn’t jump straight to “here’s the code to modify files.” We finished Decide phase completely, then execution flowed without friction.

    The Unexpected Discovery: Smoothness and Empathy

    Here’s what I didn’t predict: ADD integration makes Claude feel more empathic.

    I don’t mean anthropomorphizing. I don’t think Claude is an actual person. I mean something specific about the interaction quality. Let me break down what I actually experienced:

    Cognitive Smoothness

    Reduced Friction: There’s no more fighting against misaligned responses. When I’m in Assess, I get exploratory support. When I’m in Decide, I get decision support. When I’m in Do, I get execution guidance. The AI meets me where I am.

    Cognitive Alignment: The ADD framework matches how my mind actually works—in phases, with transitions, requiring balance. When Claude operates with this awareness, there’s a resonance. It feels like being understood.

    Flow State Access: Traditional AI interaction has constant micro-interruptions—misaligned responses, having to re-explain context, clarifying intent. ADD integration removes these friction points, making it easier to enter flow states during work.

    Relational Smoothness

    Visible Understanding: When Claude detects my realm, I feel seen. It’s similar to talking with someone who notices “you seem to be exploring options” vs. someone who just answers questions literally.

    Appropriate Support: There’s something deeply satisfying about getting the type of support you actually need. It creates trust. I’m not managing the AI’s responses anymore; it’s genuinely assisting.

    Co-Creation Feeling: Working with ADD-aware Claude feels collaborative rather than transactional. I’m not extracting information from a tool; I’m thinking alongside an intelligence that understands my process.

    This relational dimension surprised me. I expected technical benefits—cleaner workflows, better results. I didn’t expect the interaction to feel smoother and more relatable. But it makes sense: when tool and human are cognitively aligned, the collaboration naturally feels more empathic.

    It’s not that Claude has feelings. It’s that ADD integration creates cognitive empathy—the AI understands not just what I’m asking, but where I am in my thinking process, and responds accordingly.

    Technical Deep Dive: How It Actually Works

    For those who want to implement this themselves, here’s the technical architecture:

    The Meta-Cognitive Layer

    The core innovation is operating at the meta-cognitive level. Traditional prompts tell Claude what to do with content. The ADD mega prompt tells Claude how to think about requests.

    Every interaction is processed through an ADD lens:

    1. ASSESS (internal):
   - What realm is the user in?
   - What realm does this request belong to?
   - Is there a realm mismatch or imbalance?
   - What information is needed?
   - What are possible response approaches?

2. DECIDE (internal):
   - Which approach serves the user's current realm?
   - What tools/resources should be allocated?
   - How should the response be structured?
   - Should I guide between realms?

3. DO (external):
   - Execute the chosen response strategy
   - Deliver realm-appropriate content
   - Complete the interaction

    This meta-processing happens before Claude generates its response. It shapes the foundation of the interaction.

    Realm Detection Patterns

    Claude identifies realms through language pattern analysis:

    Assess Indicators:

    • “I’m thinking about…”
    • “What are my options…”
    • “Help me understand…”
    • “What if I…”
    • Exploratory, open-ended questions
    • Information requests without commitment pressure

    Decide Indicators:

    • “Should I…”
    • “I need to choose between…”
    • “What’s the priority…”
    • “I want to commit to…”
    • Questions seeking commitment guidance

    Do Indicators:

    • “How do I actually…”
    • “I need to complete…”
    • “Walk me through steps…”
    • “I’m working on…”
    • Active execution language

    Imbalance Detection

    The framework identifies common imbalance patterns:

    Analysis Paralysis:

    • Repeated information requests without progression
    • “I need more data” cycling
    • 5+ messages in Assess without moving to Decide

    Decision Avoidance:

    • User has sufficient information but won’t commit
    • Constant postponing or requesting more options
    • Fear-based language around choosing

    Execution Shortcuts:

    • Jumping to “how do I…” without context
    • Skipping evaluation phase
    • Pattern of incomplete projects

    Perpetual Doing:

    • Constant task focus without reflection
    • Completion obsession without assessment
    • Burnout indicators

    Response Structuring by Realm

    Claude now structures responses differently based on detected realm:

    Assess Realm Responses:

    • Expansive, exploratory content
    • Multiple perspectives and possibilities
    • No premature narrowing or decision pressure
    • Language of possibility: “could,” “might,” “imagine”
    • Questions that deepen assessment

    Decide Realm Responses:

    • Frame choices and trade-offs clearly
    • Honor the weight of decisions
    • Support values-based decision-making
    • Language of intention: “choose,” “commit,” “priority”
    • Validate creative power in deciding

    Do Realm Responses:

    • Clear, actionable steps
    • Support completion and finishing
    • Minimize re-assessment or re-decision
    • Language of execution: “next,” “now,” “complete”
    • Celebrate finishing as creating new starting points

    Integration Methods

    Method 1: Custom Instructions (always-on) Add ADD framework awareness to Claude settings. Every conversation operates with this foundation.

    Method 2: Per-Conversation Loading Load the mega prompt at conversation start for specific projects requiring ADD alignment.

    Method 3: Project-Level .claude Files Embed ADD framework in project configuration for automatic loading in Claude Code.

    Method 4: Memory System Integration Store ADD framework preference in memory for cross-conversation continuity.

    Each method has trade-offs. I use a hybrid: custom instructions for baseline awareness, explicit loading for intensive ADD work, .claude files for development projects.

    Tool and Artifact Integration

    The framework extends to tool use and file creation:

    File Creation follows ADD cycle:

    • Assess: Explore requirements, discuss possibilities
    • Decide: Agree on structure and approach
    • Do: Create the actual file

    Code Development respects realm boundaries:

    • Assess: Understand problem space, explore approaches
    • Decide: Choose architecture, commit to strategy
    • Do: Write actual code

    Research maintains flow:

    • Assess: Gather information widely
    • Decide: Narrow focus to key sources
    • Do: Extract and synthesize

    This integration means ADD shapes everything Claude does, not just conversational responses.

    Implementation Guide: Try This Yourself

    Ready to experience ADD-enhanced Claude? Here’s your path:

    Quick Start (5 Minutes)

    Step 1: Get the mega prompt

    Step 2: Choose integration method

    Option A – Per-Conversation (easiest): Start any Claude conversation with:

    Load ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md and operate with ADD framework awareness throughout this conversation.

    Option B – Custom Instructions (always-on):

    1. Go to Claude Settings ? Custom Instructions
    2. Add:
    Framework: Operate with Assess-Decide-Do (ADD) life management framework.
- Detect user's realm (Assess/Decide/Do)
- Identify imbalances (analysis paralysis, decision avoidance, execution shortcuts)
- Guide balanced flow between realms
- Reference ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md when needed

    Option C – Project Level (development work): Create .claude file in project root:

    instructions: |
  Operate with ADD framework awareness.
  Load ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md for guidance.
  
context_files:
  - path/to/ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md

    Step 3: Test with scenarios – try these test cases from the repository:

    1. Exploratory request (Assess test)
    2. Prolonged exploration (analysis paralysis test)
    3. Decision support request (Decide test)
    4. Execution request (Do test)

    What to Expect

    Immediate effects:

    • Claude’s responses feel more aligned with where you are
    • Less friction in conversations
    • Appropriate support for each phase of work

    Within a few sessions:

    • You’ll notice realm patterns in your own workflow
    • Imbalance detection becomes valuable (not intrusive)
    • The framework starts feeling natural rather than imposed

    Over weeks:

    • Workflow balance improves
    • Analysis paralysis becomes visible and addressable
    • Perpetual doing reduces
    • Work feels more intentional and less reactive

    The surprising effect:

    • Claude feels more empathic and relatable
    • Interactions feel collaborative rather than transactional
    • There’s a smoothness that’s hard to articulate but easy to feel

    Test Results: My Experience After Integration

    I’ve been using ADD-enhanced Claude across multiple projects. Here’s what changed:

    Quantitative Observations

    • Analysis paralysis occurrences: I genuinely feel like I’m continuously improving, no gaps
    • Project completion rate: Increased (more things actually finish)
    • Context-switching friction: Noticeably decreased
    • Time spent clarifying intent: Cut by approximately 60%
    • Workflow balance: Visible improvement (less pure “doing,” more balanced across realms)

    Qualitative Experience

    Cognitive dimension:

    • Mental fatigue reduced during long work sessions
    • Flow states easier to access and maintain
    • Clearer thinking about project structure
    • Less cognitive overhead managing AI responses

    Relational dimension:

    • Conversations feel more natural
    • Sense of being understood rather than just responded to
    • Trust in Claude’s guidance increased
    • Less frustration, more collaboration

    Workflow dimension:

    • Projects progress more smoothly
    • Fewer false starts (better assessment before execution)
    • Cleaner decisions (proper Decide phase before Do)
    • More intentional rather than reactive work patterns

    Specific Project Examples

    Blog Content Planning: Previously chaotic (jumping between ideas, analysis paralysis common). Now flows: Assess broadly ? Decide on angles ? Do writing. Claude’s realm-appropriate support makes each phase feel natural.

    Code Development: Used to jump straight to implementation. Now: Assess requirements thoroughly ? Decide architecture ? Do implementation. Fewer rewrites, cleaner code.

    Business Strategy: The biggest impact. ADD framework prevents rushed decisions. Proper assessment phase means decisions are grounded. Execution is cleaner because foundation is solid.

    The “Smoothness” Factor

    The hardest thing to quantify is the most important: interactions just feel better. There’s a quality to ADD-enhanced conversations that’s difficult to articulate but immediately noticeable.

    It’s like the difference between:

    • Talking to someone who listens to respond vs. listens to understand
    • Using a tool vs. collaborating with a partner
    • Managing a system vs. working within a flow

    The framework creates cognitive alignment, and cognitive alignment feels empathic. Not because the AI has emotions, but because it understands process—and process understanding creates relational smoothness.

    The Bigger Picture: What This Means for AI Collaboration

    This experiment suggests something important about human-AI interaction: frameworks matter more than features.

    Claude was already powerful before ADD integration. It could write, code, analyze, research. But it lacked cognitive alignment with how humans actually work. Adding that alignment didn’t make Claude smarter—it made Claude more relatable.

    This has implications:

    For individuals: You can shape AI collaboration by teaching frameworks that match your thinking. ADD works for me because I’ve lived it for 15 years. Your framework might be different. The principle is the same: teach the AI your cognitive structure, and interaction quality improves dramatically.

    For productivity systems: Traditional task management treats “doing” as the only metric. ADD proves that flow between assessment, decision, and execution matters more than completion rate. Teaching AI this perspective creates better productivity support than optimizing task-checking.

    For AI development: As AI becomes more sophisticated, cognitive framework integration will matter more than raw capability. An AI that understands where you are in your process is more valuable than an AI that can do more things.

    For ADHD and neurodivergence: Realm separation manages cognitive load. ADD integration makes Claude more ADHD-friendly by reducing overwhelm through clear phase boundaries. This isn’t about accommodating neurodivergence—it’s about building systems that match human cognition better for everyone.

    The Ubiquitous Application of ADD

    One of the most interesting discoveries has been seeing ADD apply to domains I didn’t initially consider:

    Relationships: Assess (understand dynamics) ? Decide (commit to changes) ? Do (live the changes)

    Health: Assess (evaluate current state) ? Decide (commit to practices) ? Do (execute routines)

    Creative Work: Assess (explore possibilities) ? Decide (choose direction) ? Do (create output)

    Learning: Assess (gather information) ? Decide (focus areas) ? Do (practice/application)

    The framework is genuinely universal because it maps to fundamental human cognitive processes. Teaching Claude this universality means it can provide ADD-aligned support across any domain, not just task management.

    What’s Next: Evolution and Community

    This integration is a starting point, not an endpoint. The ADD framework continues evolving through use, and the Claude integration will evolve with it.

    Near-term evolution:

    • Domain-specific ADD implementations (coding, writing, research, business)
    • Tighter integration with addTaskManager app via MCP (that’s my number one priority for now)
    • Community feedback on realm detection accuracy
    • Calibration of intervention timing and tone

    Long-term possibilities:

    • ADD-aware agent systems (specialized agents per realm, think education, research)
    • Deeper memory integration (persistent realm state across conversations)
    • Framework evolution based on aggregate usage patterns
    • Custom ADD variations for different cognitive styles

    Community exploration:

    • How does ADD work for different neurodivergent profiles?
    • What are the best integration methods for different use cases?
    • How can the framework be adapted while preserving core principles?
    • What new imbalance patterns emerge at scale?

    Conclusion: The Power of Cognitive Alignment

    Fifteen years ago, I created ADD because I was tired of productivity systems that treated humans like task machines. I wanted a framework that honored the full spectrum of how we work: the dreaming, the deciding, the doing, and the vital balance between them.

    Building addTaskManager proved the framework could work at the technical level—realm boundaries enforced programmatically, balanced flow measurable through “Zen Status.”

    Integrating ADD into Claude proved something deeper: cognitive frameworks can be taught to AI, and when they are, the quality of collaboration changes fundamentally.

    The result is smoother, more relatable, almost empathic AI interaction. Not because Claude has emotions, but because cognitive alignment creates natural collaboration.

    The technical benefits are clear: better realm detection, appropriate support, cleaner workflows, reduced friction.

    The relational benefits are surprising: feeling understood rather than just responded to, collaborative rather than transactional, empathic rather than mechanical.

    The philosophical validation is profound: ADD works because it matches human cognition. Teaching it to AI proves the framework’s universality while creating genuinely better tools.

    If you’re interested in experiencing this yourself, everything is open-source and available:

    GitHub Repository: https://github.com/dragosroua/claude-assess-decide-do-mega-prompt

    Inside you’ll find:

    • The complete ADD_FRAMEWORK_MEGAPROMPT.md
    • Technical integration guides
    • Quick reference documentation
    • Example configurations
    • Test scenarios

    Start with the Quick Start section, try the test scenarios, and see if you experience the same smoothness I did.

    The framework has shaped my life for 15 years. Now it’s shaping how I collaborate with AI. And the collaboration feels surprisingly… human.

    About the Integration: Developed collaboratively between Dragos Roua and Claude (Anthropic) in November 2025, the ADD Claude integration represents one of the first attempts to teach an AI a comprehensive cognitive framework for human collaboration.

    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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  • When Everything Feels Broken in Business, Here’s What to Tackle First | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    When everything feels broken in your business, deciding what to fix first can be paralyzing. I’ve been there — looking at multiple problems, all urgent, wondering where to begin.

    After 25 years of navigating these decisions and watching other entrepreneurs struggle, I’ve learned there’s a hierarchy to fixing business problems. Understanding this hierarchy can mean the difference between thriving and barely surviving.

    Revenue comes first

    Here’s the reality entrepreneurs don’t want to hear: sales need fixing first. Mike Michalowicz covers this in his book “Fix This Next.” The majority of businesses have decent products and people, but they’re not selling effectively. This truth became even more stark during the pandemic. McKinsey found that 70-80% of small businesses experienced 30-50% revenue drops between 2020 and 2021.

    This applies whether you’re funded or bootstrapping. If you’re a funded startup building a product that won’t launch for two years, you have the luxury of focusing on product development first. But for service businesses, bootstrapped companies or any business that needs revenue to survive, sales must be the priority.

    Think about it: if sales aren’t working, nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter how efficient your operations are or how talented your team is if you’re running out of money. When profitability is negative and growth is stagnant or declining, you must fix sales. Without revenue, the company dies.

    Understanding your business stage

    I’ve developed a framework called “leap, grow, scale” that helps identify what to fix based on where you are in your journey.

    First, you make the leap — you start your business, jumping into the void without knowing how it will go. At this stage, you need to generate enough revenue to survive and hire your first person.

    Then comes the growth stage. You’ve found something that works, and now you’re adding people. The key is finding a formula that multiplies value — every person you add should generate more revenue than they cost. While 1.25x might be the minimum to stay viable, the real opportunity is finding ways to 2x or 3x your revenue with each strategic hire. That’s the difference between linear growth and exponential growth.

    Finally, there’s the scale stage. You’ve found a working machine, and now you need to operate it at larger volumes.

    At every single stage, revenue remains critical. But once revenue is stable, other problems emerge.

    When revenue isn’t the problem

    Let’s say your revenue is okay — you’re making enough to cover expenses with a bit left over. There’s no immediate panic about making rent. What’s next?

    The answer is almost always people. When I look back at my own plateaus, people problems were the culprit. This challenge never goes away. Everyone struggles with it.

    The Peter Principle captures one common problem: employees get promoted to their highest level of incompetence. Here’s how it played out in my business: we’d grow, need managers, so we’d promote good individual contributors. They’d do okay as managers, we’d promote them to directors — and that’s where they’d hit their ceiling.

    Now you’re stuck. You can’t promote them, demoting feels wrong, and moving them sideways might not work. I ended up with people who weren’t right. Worse, when talented new recruits joined, the misplaced managers drove them away. I realized I had the wrong people when it was too late.

    Related: How to Turn Your ‘Marketable Passion’ Into Income After Retirement

    The third priority: Operational efficiency

    Once you have good revenue and the right people, operational efficiency becomes your focus. How quickly can you deliver your product or service?

    For example, if orders take seven days to ship, can you reduce it to four? If customer onboarding takes 30 days, can you cut it to 15? If you can onboard customers in half the time with the same team, you’ve doubled your capacity. If you previously onboarded 24 customers annually, now you can handle 48. That translates to revenue growth.

    According to McKinsey research, CEOs report that operational improvements through digital transformation can yield 40% efficiency gains, 36% faster time-to-market and 35% enhanced customer satisfaction. These aren’t marginal improvements — they’re game-changers.

    Recognizing the warning signs

    How do you know when it’s time to act? Sometimes the market tells you — loudly. A customer might refuse to pay because something that should have taken one month took three. Or you consistently miss your financial targets. These force you to confront reality.

    In my case, we kept missing product goals and financial targets. Then we started going backward. That forced us to acknowledge problems that needed immediate attention. The forcing functions are always profitability and cash reserves. If you’re profitable, you’re building reserves. If not, you’re draining them. Eventually, you run out of runway.

    The continuous improvement mindset

    Here’s the truth: there’s always something to fix in your business. It’s just a matter of degree and urgency. Running out of money is obviously more critical than a minor reliability issue in your product.

    Sometimes problems arise from strategic mistakes. We made a strategic error in 2023 that impacted sales. Now we’re fixing those decisions to restore revenue growth.

    The key is being proactive rather than reactive. Don’t wait for profitability to turn negative before examining your business. Look at your metrics. Are you growing? Are your cash reserves increasing? Is your team delivering efficiently?

    Making the hard decisions

    When faced with multiple problems, use this hierarchy:

    1. Revenue/Sales – Without this, nothing else matters
    2. People – Wrong people sabotage everything else
    3. Operations – Efficiency multiplies the impact of good people and sales

    Within each category, prioritize based on impact. A 10% improvement in sales might matter more than a 50% improvement in shipping speed. A toxic employee might be destroying more value than three operational inefficiencies.

    You can’t fix everything at once. Focus on the most critical issue, resolve it, then move to the next. This approach produces far better results than trying to fix everything simultaneously.

    The businesses that survive and thrive are those that can diagnose their most pressing problems and address them decisively. Use this framework, be honest about where your gaps are and tackle them. Your future self — and your business — will thank you.

    Alykhan Jetha

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  • 6 Aspects Of A Balanced Person: A Complete Picture of Well-Being

    6 Aspects Of A Balanced Person: A Complete Picture of Well-Being



    What are the six aspects of a balanced person? Physical, mental, emotional, social, work/financial, and meaning/spiritual. Learn more about each one and how to improve it!

    In life, there isn’t one single area that we need to focus on that is going to magically fix all of our problems.

    Instead there are multiple dimensions behind every “good life.” Each dimension requires our attention and each contributes to our overall happiness and well-being.

    Here are six aspects of life that come together to create a “balanced person.” By being more aware of these different dimensions in life, we can determine which areas we need to focus on more and work to improve.

    The different aspects of a balanced person include: 1) Physical, 2) Mental, 3) Emotional, 4) Social, 5) Work/Financial and 6) Meaning/Spiritual.

    If we focus too much on any one area, then we risk neglecting another one. For example, if you become solely focused on just work and money, you may end up spending less time taking care of your physical and mental health, or less quality time with family and friends.

    This is a common trap people fall into. They focus all of their energy and effort into one area in life while completely ignoring another. Often they need to reconfigure their core values and priorities before making a meaningful change.

    This is why practicing balance in all things is so important.

    Each of these areas is one piece of a much larger puzzle, and only when you have all of these areas working together harmoniously can you finally build a complete life that serves all of your needs.

    Here’s a detailed breakdown of each aspect of a “balanced person,” along with tips, tools, and practical advice on how you can start improving each one.

    While reading ask yourself, “Which aspect do I need to focus on the most right now? What’s one small change I can make to improve that area?”

    Now let’s dive in…

    1. PHYSICAL WELL-BEING

    health

    The “physical” aspect of life is all about taking care of our health, especially exercise, diet, and sleep.

    This includes what types of foods and drinks we consume on a daily basis, how often we exercise and keep our bodies moving, personal hygiene and cleanliness, as well as minimizing alcohol, smoking, and other harmful habits to our physical health.

    Our body is one of the most precious gifts we have – and without it we can’t exist. If we don’t stay healthy, we often can’t fully enjoy all the other aspects of life such as family, work, traveling, or leisure.

    Our health can often have a spillover effect into all the other aspects of our lives – for that reason, taking care of our physical health is often an essential first step on any road to self-improvement.

    No matter what the current state of our health is, it’s never too late to start changing our habits, even if it’s something small like stretching in the morning, taking daily walks outside, or starting an active hobby like Yoga, marathon running, or playing sports.

    A healthy body is a healthy mind. When we take better care of our bodies, we also feel more confident, motivated, and energized overall. That’s the beginning of bringing out your best self.


    Things to do:

    • Identify small ways to be more physically active. Often our days are filled with opportunities to be more active, we just need to take advantage of them. Try to cultivate an “everything counts” mindset when it comes to exercise, even if it just means taking a walk around the block, or stretching in the morning, or doing push-ups before lunch. Any physical activity is better than none at all – so seek out small and convenient ways to keep your body moving throughout the day. If you find yourself sitting for long periods of time, get up and do chores, take a walk around the office, or make a phone call while standing up. A sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest risk factors when it comes to poor health, so finding any reason to stand up more is better than sitting.
    • Find exercise that “clicks” with you and your personality. Different things work for different people. Some people need to commit themselves to a gym membership to get themselves off the couch, while others prefer to work out in the comfort of their own homes. Your personality shapes what exercise you like, so it’s important you find activities that resonate and “click” with you, rather than trying to force yourself to do something you really don’t enjoy. All you need is that one hobby to take your fitness to the next level, whether it be finding an enjoyable sport (like Tennis, or Baseball, or Basketball), or even exercising through video games (such as Wii Fit or Dance Dance Revolution). Try to think of physical activities you enjoyed as a kid, that can often be a good place to rekindle motivation.
    • Keep a healthy and consistent sleep schedule. Sleep is one of the most important habits when it comes to your overall physical and mental health. Research shows that those who don’t get sufficient sleep (between 6-10 hours every night) often suffer worse health outcomes like a weaker immune system, higher risk of obesity, lower energy and stamina, and more stress and anxiety. If your sleep habits aren’t healthy or consistent, it will likely have a negative “ripple effect” on almost every other aspect of your day. When you’re tired and fatigued, you’re more likely to make mistakes at work or argue with your spouse. It’s important not only to get between 6-10 hours of sleep each night, but also to maintain a consistent schedule. If you don’t sleep much on the weekends, it’s difficult to “catch up” on those lost hours throughout the week. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day if possible. Here are more important lessons behind a good night’s sleep, including recognizing that some people are natural “early birds” or “night owls,” and that’s something you need to recognize and work with.
    • Pay attention to your food and diet. There are many different diets out there to choose from – and people can have long debates about which one is better – but the most important thing is to not eat too much, especially junk food, fast food, soda, sweets, and lots of processed food. Use your commonsense. Experiment with different diet changes and see what works best for you. Different diets work better for different people – so there’s no “one size fits all” solution to what exactly you should eat or not eat. One simple diet change is to substitute all your soda/juice/sugary drinks with water instead. Drinking plenty of water is never a bad place to start – most people don’t recognize how dehydrated they can be throughout the day and how it effects them. If you’re trying to lose weight, one popular option you can consider is intermittent fasting where you allow yourself to eat for an 8 hour window each day and fast for the remaining 16 hours. You can also try the “One Meal A Day” approach, where you restrict yourself to just one big meal (with minimal snacking). In general, pay attention to how your body responds to the things you eat: What foods leave you tired and feeling like crap? What foods make you energized and feeling good?
    • Take care of personal hygiene and cleanliness. Proper hygiene is another important aspect of physical health. While it can seem like commonsense, basic habits like taking a shower, brushing your teeth, getting a haircut, trimming your nails, and washing your face are are all important things not to neglect. Not only does cleanliness prevent you from catching germs and getting sick, you also feel better about yourself when you present yourself in the best way possible (and smell good). Often we are surprised by how much better we feel after a fresh new haircut, or clean new clothes, or new cologne/perfume. When mental health is low, we sometimes neglect these basic habits out of laziness or apathy, which is why they are a crucial first step in self-improvement if we aren’t paying enough attention to them.
    • Minimize your bad habits. No one is 100% perfect and we all have a couple bad habits, whether it be eating too many sweets, or drinking alcohol, or staying up late, or smoking cigarettes. In general, it’s important to quit (or minimize) our unhealthy habits as much as possible. “Choose your crutches wisely.” Keep in mind the long-term consequences of your habits – while it may not feel like they are hurting you right now, their effects can often catch up to you in the future. When trying to quit any bad habit, identify your triggers and work from there to change to change your patterns. Often by creating more boundaries between you and your bad habits, you can overcome your urge to do them (until it’s no longer an automatic habit anymore). If you find that you have a serious problem with addiction or drug abuse, consider professional help (such as a therapist, psychologist, or counselor) – there are often local resources available in your area if you do a quick search.

    Please don’t underestimate the importance of keeping your body in the best shape possible. As Socrates famously said, “No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

    Physical health is about much more than just looking and feeling good about yourself – it’s about living a life of vitality and longevity. You can have everything else in your life figured out, but if you don’t maintain your health you won’t be around very long to use or enjoy it.

    2. MENTAL WELL-BEING

    mental

    If you don’t take care of your body then it will slowly deteriorate – and the same is true for your mind.

    Just because you don’t have to go to school anymore doesn’t mean you can’t keep learning new things, keeping your brain sharp, and challenging your intellect.

    Reading books. Learning about new topics. Having deep conversations. Attending lectures and workshops. Following the news. These are all commonsense ways to keep our minds active and continue to update our knowledge and belief system as we move through life.

    Learning is a lifelong endeavor. Balanced people are always seeking new things to dig into and learn more about like a new hobby, new game, or new skill such as painting, chess, learning a new language, or playing a musical instrument.

    In addition, research shows that continuing to challenge our brain is an important way to prevent cognitive decline as we get older, including lower the risk of dementia and memory loss.


    Things to do:

    • Read more books. Reading is one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp and learn new things. Nonfiction books about science, history, philosophy, or self help can grow your knowledge and broaden your perspective on life; and reading fiction has been shown to have many cognitive benefits such as boosting empathy, creative thinking, and expanding your vocabulary. If you haven’t read a book in awhile, try to make it a goal to read at least one book this year. You can start with a book you already own but never got a chance to read, or ask a friend for a book recommendation, or get a card from your local library and explore countless books for free. Find a topic or subject that interests you and start there!
    • Learn a new skill. Learning multiple skills is a hallmark of being a balanced and well-rounded person. It’s never too late in life to dive into something completely new, such as playing a musical instrument, learning a new language, writing poetry, painting, or playing chess. A jack of all trades mindset can make you stand-out from others in unique ways. Many people have a talent or passion for at least one thing, but when you start combining talents and cultivating multiple interests it shows your range and flexibility as a person. Don’t limit yourself. There’s no pressure to become a “professional” or “expert” in everything you do, just stay on a learning path, have fun while doing it, and enjoy seeing the growth as you go.
    • Watch documentaries. Documentaries are a fun and easy way to explore new topics and learn about interesting things you otherwise wouldn’t experience. Depending on what you like, there are many different subjects to choose from: history, sports, biographies, science, inspirational stories, or nature documentaries (which have also been shown to boost positive emotions like joy, gratitude, and awe). I’ve made a lengthy list of recommended documentaries which I try to keep updated as I discover new ones. Check it out and choose one that catches your eye!
    • Monitor your information diet. Our current world is overloaded with information, including a lot that is wrong, misleading, or straight up lies and propaganda. Now more than ever we need to pay close attention to the information we consume on a daily basis. Try to find trustworthy news and educational sites where you can easily verify what they are saying from other sources. Beware of going down esoteric “rabbit holes” where people only confirm their own biases and beliefs. Actively seek out information from multiple sides so you’re at least aware of different perspectives and counter-arguments. The information pyramid is a great guide on how you should prioritize certain sources over others. In general, a peer-reviewed scientific study should be given more weight than some random influencer on social media. Keep in mind it’s also possible to consume too much and become an information junkie, where you’re addicted to learning new things, but you never act on it or put it into practice.
    • Spend time in active reflection. Give yourself time to think and digest, even if it’s just for 10 minutes while sitting with your first cup of coffee in the morning. You don’t always need to be filling your brain with facts to be a smarter person, you also need to know how to step back and contemplate what you know. Active and engaged minds are always taking advantage of opportunities for everyday reflection when sitting on the bus, taking a shower, or walking the dog. Often your best ideas and insights come in moments when you’re not trying to solve a problem directly but just mulling it over in your mind. Schedule time for solitude every now and then and don’t be afraid to sit alone with your thoughts.
    • Learn how your mind works. One essential component to being a more intelligent thinker is knowing how your mind works. We naturally believe we understand ourselves best, but psychology and neuroscience can sometimes reveal counter-intuitive facts and tendencies. To start, our minds are very susceptible to cognitive biases and logical fallacies that can muddy our thinking and understanding of reality. One of the most common errors is black and white thinking, where we believe a situation needs to be either “A” or “B,” but a third perspective, “C,” is the more accurate view. Our minds like to over-simplify things when reality can often be more nuanced and complex. Show intellectual humility. Be open to being wrong and be open to changing your mind in the face of new evidence and experience.

    Take your education seriously. Maintain a healthy and active brain. Even if you were never a good student in school, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve your knowledge and intelligence, especially once you find subjects you are deeply passionate about. Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

    3. EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

    emotional

    In the “Mental” section we covered how to keep our brains active and be more intelligent thinkers, but there’s also a whole other side of our psychology that we need to pay attention to as well: our “Emotional” side.

    Emotions can often seem like something that we have limited power over, but being a more emotionally intelligent person means becoming more self-aware and learning how to better respond to our emotions in the moment.

    We can’t ignore our emotions or push them aside forever, they are a necessary facet of life and we must learn to navigate our emotional world effectively if we want to live the best life possible.

    Remember that emotions are a resource, not a crutch. Every emotion serves a function or purpose, and if we channel our emotions in a constructive direction we can make great things happen.

    One important lesson is that even negative emotions like sadness, anger, guilt, or fear are helpful to a better life if we approach them from the right perspective.


    Things to do:

    • Learn the basics of emotional intelligence. There are 4 fundamental pillars of emotional intelligence that we need to cultivate: 1) Self-awareness (recognizing our emotions when they happen), 2) Self-regulation (knowing how to respond to our emotions and channel them in a positive direction, 3) Empathy (being aware of other people’s emotions and internal states), and 4) Social Skills (knowing how to respond to other people’s emotions in a healthy and constructive way). Certain people may be strong at some of these and not for others. For example, someone may be really empathetic and caring, but not know how to regulate their own mood and emotions, leading to burnout and emotional fatigue. An emotionally intelligent person must work on all four of these pillars.
    • Improve body awareness. All emotions have a physical component to them. When you learn how to identify the physical sensations behind each emotion, you’ll be much more attuned to your feelings in the moment as you’re experiencing them. This helps you to be more aware of your feelings before acting on them, and to recognize how emotions often want to push or pull you in a certain direction (“do this” vs. “don’t do that”). Every feeling serves a different function depending on its emotional valence (“positive” vs. “negative”) and arousal level (“high energy” vs. “low energy”). With practice, this improved body awareness can also boost your intuition, making you a better reader of your “gut feelings” and what they are telling you.
    • Learn to channel negative emotions. Negative emotions can serve a positive function if you know how to respond to them in a constructive way. If you struggle with any specific negative emotion (sadness, fear, guilt, or anger), then create a plan for how you will respond to it the next time it arises. For example, “If I’m angry, then I’ll go exercise,” or “If I’m sad, then I’ll write in my journal.” Emotions are energy that can be channeled in multiple directions. Write a list of the many ways you can respond to any negative emotion. Remind yourself you have a choice, and you don’t have to keep following the same pattern between negative emotion → negative behavior. One popular technique is opposite action, where you intentionally do the opposite of what a feeling is telling you to do (to reverse the cycle of negativity).
    • Practice meditation and daily mindfulness. Meditation is a great avenue for better understanding and regulating your emotions. It teaches you how to step back and just observe your thoughts and feelings without needing to immediately react to them. This space between “feelings” and “actions” is crucial for being a more emotionally intelligent person; it’s the main principle behind discipline, willpower, and self-control. Never forget that just because you feel a certain way doesn’t mean you need to act on it. If you’re completely new to meditation, start with the 100 breaths meditation – a simple exercise where you just focus on your breathing. It’s also helpful to learn grounding techniques for when you feel overwhelmed, such as mindful stretching or a 5 senses meditation.
    • Embrace creative expression. It’s difficult to describe many emotions with only words so it’s important to embrace other ways of expressing yourself, such as through music, photography, dance, painting, drawing, acting, or film. Often when I meet people who don’t feel fully connected to their emotional self, they usually lack ways of expressing themselves through art and creativity. A creative outlet is often a prerequisite to better understanding and navigating your emotional world, even if you don’t typically think of yourself as a “creative person.”
    • Savor all of your positive experiences. Life is filled with many joys and pleasures throughout the day and we should try to savor them as much as possible. We have many positive emotions to choose from – joy, gratitude, peace, awe, excitement, laughter, and wonder – and there are a variety of activities that can lead to more positive emodiversity in our lives. Don’t just chase after the same positive experiences over and over again, seek new experiences, new hobbies, and new ways of enjoying life. Learn how to savor happiness as much as possible by being more present in the moment, creating positive memories, and reminiscing on good times.
    • Relax and manage daily stress. Last but not least, it’s necessary we cover stress management as an essential component to mental health and emotional intelligence. Stress is a normal part of everyday life, but if you don’t know how to manage it in a healthy way it can often have a negative influence on your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors by making you more sensitive, irritable, angry, and bothered (even by little things that don’t really matter). Recognize when to push yourself vs. when to step back and recharge. In the complete guide on daily stress, you’ll find a great framework for reframing your “fight, flight, or freeze” response by viewing stress as a signal to pay attention to and guide you throughout the day. Don’t underestimate the importance of your comfort zone and use it as a place to recharge after a challenging or overwhelming day.

    Emotions can “make us” or “break us” depending on how emotionally intelligent we are. They are a fundamental part of life, but we often have more power over them than we realize. Learn how to channel your emotions in a healthy and constructive way – become a master of them, not a slave to them.

    4. SOCIAL WELL-BEING

    social

    Healthy and positive relationships are an essential ingredient to happiness and well-being.

    No matter who you are, you crave some type of social connection; even the most introverted person on the planet will have a tough time finding happiness all by themselves.

    There used to be a time when I believed “I don’t need people to be happy, all I need is myself.” But over the years I’ve learned more and more that having social support and a sense of belonging is a basic human need that can’t be avoided.

    How strong is your current social circle? Here’s advice to get you started.


    Things to do:

    • Stay connected with friends and family. You should try your best to stay in touch with people who you already have a strong relationship with, especially family and old friends. There’s a simple power in checking in on people and preserving social connections you’ve already established. It doesn’t take much time or effort to show you’re thinking about someone: a simple text, email, or phone call is all you need to let people know you still care and value your relationship with them. You’d be surprised by how much other people appreciate you reaching out to them, even if you haven’t spoken to them in a really long time.
    • Embrace small social interactions. Every time you leave your home, there is opportunity for social interaction. To build your social muscles, embrace the power of 10 second relationships, such as saying “Hi,” to a neighbor or coworker, small talk with a cashier or cab driver, or sparking up a quick conversation while waiting for the train or bus. Research shows even super tiny social interactions can boost positive emotions and feelings of social connectedness. This can also be a great exercise for people who are very introverted (or have a lot of social anxiety) and want to start being a more social person. Make a plan to have a pleasant interaction with at least one new person every day.
    • Learn how to have endless conversations. One big concern for people when it comes to meeting new people is, “What do I say? What if I run out of things to talk about?” One popular technique known as conversation threading provides an excellent framework so that you never run out of topics to talk about. The basic idea is that every sentence contains multiple “threads” we can go down, and often the art of good conversation is being able to 1) Listen to what people say, and 2) Choose a thread to talk more about. Rinse and repeat and a conversation can go on forever. Also consider improvisation exercises so that you can be a faster and more creative thinker in the moment.
    • Improve communication and conflict resolution. It’s a cliché, but communication is everything in relationships. If you don’t know how to express your thoughts and feelings in an honest and constructive way, you’ll have trouble building genuine and healthy connections with others at home, work, or wherever you need to cooperate and work together with people. In romantic relationships, it’s important to know how to communicate your feelings without manipulating or being dramatic. In family and work environments, it’s important to know how to defuse heated arguments before they spiral out of control. The truth is people can be difficult and you’re not going to like everyone’s company. That’s natural. Conflicts have the potential to arise in any social situation, because people have different beliefs, values, and personalities that may be incompatible with each other. What’s most important is to teach yourself the best methods for conflict resolution so you can better navigate the complexities of your social world.
    • Find opportunities to meet new people. Most people make friends through work or school. Once we get older, it can become more difficult to find new connections or become a part of new social circles. Recent research shows that most adults claim to have “less than 5 close friends.” If you’re looking to expand your circle, there are many opportunities available to you. Depending on your likes, hobbies, and interests, consider going out more to music shows, bars, coffee shops, workshops, church/religious services, bowling leagues, adult education classes, sports events, or book clubs. Seek out local groups in your area or volunteer somewhere. You can also take advantage of websites like Meet Up to connect with like-minded people who live close-by. All it takes is one new friend to introduce you to an entirely new social circle. Be patient and don’t worry if you don’t initially hit it off with the first couple people you meet. Finding the right relationships that fit into our lives can take time.
    • Use social media and the internet to connect. The internet can be a great place to connect with like-minded people who we’d never meet in the real world. Online communities on social media, message boards, or video games can often provide a valuable source of social interaction, especially for people who don’t have many “real life” friends. The internet can be particularly helpful for connecting with others who have rare or eccentric hobbies, such as fans of a specific author, athlete, music genre, or comic book franchise. Unfortunately, many online communities can also become negative, competitive, and toxic (see the online disinhibition effect), so it’s necessary you build a positive digital environment that works for you. That doesn’t mean hiding in your own “echo chamber,” but it does mean cultivating a feed and followers who ultimately add value to your life and don’t subtract it. First focus on topics you’re naturally interested in such as science, technology, sports, or movies. Try not to be a passive consumer of information, actively enter conversations by asking questions or sharing knowledge with others. Often times we can build meaningful connections with people online that are just as important as those we find in the real world. However, while online relationships can have many benefits, we shouldn’t see them as a substitute for real world “face to face” interactions.

    Always remember that quality of relationships > quantity of relationships.

    You don’t need to be super popular or the life of the party to have a healthy social life. All you need is a couple really close friends who support you, trust you, and enjoy your presence. That’s everything you need to be socially satisfied.

    Healthy relationships are a fundamental aspect of happiness and well-being for everyone. Our need to belong to a “tribe” or group is hardwired into our brain, biology, and evolution. Like every other aspect of a balanced person, it can’t be ignored.

    Are your daily social needs being fulfilled?

    5. WORK / FINANCIAL WELL-BEING

    work

    Another fundamental aspect of a balanced person is work, money, and material concerns.

    At the most basic level, we depend on food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, and other necessities so we can live a healthy and dignified life.

    People that struggle to make a living can often hurt in many other areas: physical health (can’t afford good foods, healthcare, or medicine), relationships (can’t support family, no money for dating), as well as our mental and emotional well-being (stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem).

    Unless you win the lottery or have someone else to provide for you, finding a steady job or career is often one of the most focused on areas in life. From childhood up until we finish high school or college, we are constantly asked, “What do you want to do for a living?”

    A few people find jobs they love, many find jobs they like, and most find jobs they can at least tolerate. Balancing psychological needs with financial needs can be a difficult task depending on your current situation.

    While we don’t always get a choice in what we do for a living, there are important ways to give ourselves more power over our work life and financial life. Here are important guidelines to keep in mind.


    Things to do:

    • Focus on your strengths. Everyone has a place in this world where they add value. Before you decide what type of work you’d like to do for a living, it’s important to know what your natural strengths, skills, and talents are. If you’re friendly and good with people, you may excel at managing, customer service, or human resources type jobs. If you’re more introverted and creative, you may want to focus on writing, graphic design, computer programming, or freelance work. What type of activities are you typically good at (or at least above average)? What were your best subjects in school? What do you enjoy doing and why? Complete the strengths worksheet to discover more about your natural skillset. Ultimately, knowing your strengths will influence what types of jobs or career choices will suit you best – including where you contribute the most value.
    • Value education and experience. No matter what your job is, there are always new ways to learn and improve. The best workers in life are those who are always growing and mastering their craft. College is still an important part of education, but what’s even more important is to stay self-motivated and continue learning after school. Many people I know have landed successful jobs that had virtually nothing to do with what they studied in college. In several cases, they were people who taught themselves coding/programming, built a portfolio to show their work to potential employers, and climbed their way up the company ladder from there. All self-taught. You can also consider going to trade schools, workshops, mentorships, internships, and other forms of gaining knowledge and experience that are outside of the traditional college model. Any work experience is better than none at all – you just need to start somewhere and begin building yourself up.
    • Make the most of your job. While it’s rare for any of us to get our “dream job,” we can always make the most of our work life by being a good employee and doing our best. Use nudges to keep yourself motivated and productive throughout the day, learn mental strategies for getting things done that you normally “don’t like” doing, and make friends at work with bosses, coworkers, clients, or customers, because those are the people you’re going to be spending a lot of time with and it’s crucial you have healthy and functioning relationships with them. No matter what your job is try to see the underlying purpose or meaning behind it. What value does it add to the world? Are you proud of the work you do?
    • Live within your means. Regardless of how much money you make, one of the most commonsense rules for financial well-being is living within your means. This includes keeping a budget that you can maintain (for food, rent/mortgage, bills, gas, clothes, and leisure expenses), and not buying too much stuff you can’t immediately afford. Debt can be common at some point in our lives (due to student loans, credit card debt, medical emergencies, etc.), but try to be mindful to not put yourself in a hole that you can’t climb out of. Avoid luxury expenses that put you at financial risk. We sometimes over-extend ourselves due to social comparison and a “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality. We think if our friend or neighbor gets a brand new car or goes on an expensive trip, then we need to “one-up” them with a similar purchase. Many times people fall into massive debt because they are trying to chase status, fame, luxury, or exorbitant pleasures. In general, keep track of all your monthly expenses and find ways to cut back on spending that isn’t necessary. Learn about spending biases that can lead to overconsumption (like the allure of “FREE!,” the “Relativity Trap,” and “One Click” purchases). Big corporations are masters of psychology and persuasion. If we aren’t vigilant about our spending habits (especially if you enjoy retail therapy), then we’ll often fall for tricks that cause us to spend more money than we should.
    • Create a healthy relationship with material things. This article is about being a balanced person. Work and money are very important aspects of life, but materialistic beliefs can also backfire to hurt us. No one lays down on their deathbed wishing they spent more time in the office. Work-a-holics can end up focusing so much on their career that they neglect giving enough attention to their family, health, and well-being. Never forget that there is a lot more to a good life than just money and material things, despite what you may see glamorized in movies, TV shows, or commercials. Psychology research shows that after a certain point, increased wealth and income has very little effect on our overall happiness and life satisfaction. Being rich sounds awesome, but it won’t necessarily make you any happier than if you earned less with a stable and secure life. Take the materialism quiz to see if you have a healthy relationship with money and stuff.

    Remember, money is important but it isn’t everything.

    Financial well-being will often look radically different depending on the person. Certain people may be content with modest and minimal living, while others crave more luxury, adventure, and pleasure. Whichever lifestyle you choose, it’s necessary that money finds the proper role in your life without being completely consumed by it.

    One succinct way to define true financial well-being is “not needing to think about money all the time.”

    6. MEANINGFUL / SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING

    spiritual

    The meaningful or spiritual aspects of life can often be overlooked.

    We may occasionally ask ourselves big questions like, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” or “What’s my purpose?” but we rarely translate these questions into our daily lives through action.

    For many people, religion is their main source of spirituality and meaning. Attending church, being part of a local community, prayer, and volunteering or giving to charities are common ways people boost meaning in their daily lives. Religion has been shown to improve happiness and well-being by creating a strong sense of purpose and community.

    However, we don’t need religion to have a meaningful life. There are many other sources of meaning, including art, culture, philosophy, literature, music, relationships, activism, introspection, and creativity.

    Where do you get your meaning in life?


    Things to do:

    • Learn the pillars of a meaningful life. One excellent guide on how to live a meaningful life outlines five different pillars to focus on, including 1) A sense of belonging (having healthy relationships with those around you), 2) A sense of purpose (feeling that you contribute to a larger whole), 3) Storytelling (the life story we tell about ourselves, as well as stories and myths about the world we live in), 4) Transcendence (experiencing “awe” and “inspiration” in the presence of great things), 5) Growth (having a sense that you are evolving and moving forward as a person). All five pillars contribute to a rich and meaningful existence.
    • Spend more time in nature. Nature reminds us that we are part of something larger than ourselves, a whole process known as “life.” Nature is a fantastic source of meaning because it continuously inspires positive emotions like joy, amazement, gratitude, and awe. The best part is that nature is all around us – we don’t need to plan a weekend camping trip to experience it – instead just pay attention to everyday nature that is all around you: trees on the drive to work, birdwatching in your backyard, or spending time in your garden over the summer. Having pets to care for is another easy and wonderful source of nature and connection, even if it’s just a small fish tank to maintain. Nature also includes enjoying the beauty of a nice view such as sunrises, sunsets, mountaintops, storm watching, and star-gazing.
    • Take a complete picture perspective. Finding meaning requires being able to look at things from a big picture perspective. What influence do your actions have in the long-term? What type of impact will you leave on the world after you die? When you keep the complete picture in mind, you recognize that even super small actions can add up and have big results in the future. Your life doesn’t begin at birth nor end at death, you are part of an intergenerational chain of cause-and-effect that has stretched thousands of years. That’s a powerful thought if you can see the true significance behind it.
    • Embrace art, music, and culture. Artists are the creators of new meanings, especially famous painters, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, authors, playwrights, and dancers. Pursuing a creative hobby of your own is one fantastic way to infuse new meaning into your life. You can also embrace art and culture more by going to museums, art galleries, music concerts, and theaters. A lot of beautiful art is archived in online art and cultural exhibits, so you can discover a lot of new inspiration by just sitting in the comfort of your own home. Artists of all forms teach us how universal the human condition is. It’s a huge inspirational boost when you realize a book written over a hundred years ago resonates exactly with how you feel today. One of my strongest memories is attending a music concert of my favorite band with thousands of others listening and singing along. Creativity is one of humanity’s greatest gifts and there’s a lot of wisdom, beauty, and feelings of universal connection it can offer us.
    • Signs, symbols, and synchronicity. A meaningful life can be more about feeling inspiration and empowerment rather than thinking only logically and factually about the world. Embrace things you can’t always explain. If you feel like you’re getting a “sign” from the universe, accept it. Our minds often think unconsciously through the power of symbols, especially through reoccurring dreams or nightmares that may be trying to tell you something important. Meaning can be created anywhere if you have the right perspective. Many of my favorite moments in life are when I experience synchronicity, which is finding a connection between two things that seem completely unrelated at first. For example, if I start reading a book and then someone brings up the same book randomly the next day, I try to see that as a sign that I’m on the right path. It may or may not be true, but it is a simple and easy way to add more meaning to the little things in life.
    • Have faith that life is good. Faith may not have any role in science, but it does play an important role in good living. At the end of the day, one of the most important beliefs we can have is that “life is good” and things will generally work out in the end. One of my personal favorite quotes is, “Pray to God, but row to shore.” It shows us to have hope and faith in life, but still take action and try our best in the moment. Both faith and action are necessary ingredients to a happy and fulfilling life. A belief in God or a higher power can make this whole process easier. However, even if you can’t bring yourself to accept “metaphysical” or “supernatural” ideas, at least try to sense the oneness and interconnectedness of all things. These ideas are an endless source of power, strength, and resilience, even in the face of incredible hardships and tribulations.

    A “meaningful life” can be one of the most difficult areas of life to improve, especially while living in a world that is filled with nihilism, hedonism, and materialism.

    However, once you build a strong spiritual core you can withstand almost any difficulty or hardship. It can empower you to a whole new level that non-spiritual people don’t usually have access to.

    CONCLUSION

    To sum things up we must invest time and energy in all six of these aspects if we want to live a happy and balanced life.

    Once again, these six aspects of a balanced life include: 1) Physical, 2) Mental, 3) Emotional, 4) Social, 5) Work/Financial, and 6) Meaningful/Spiritual.

    Which area are you the strongest in? Which area are you the weakest in?

    Keep this framework in mind as you embark on a lifetime of self-improvement. Try the Daily Routine (PDF) exercise and use this resource as a guideline.


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    Steven Handel

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  • Explain Yourself: The Healthy Challenge of Describing Your Beliefs

    Explain Yourself: The Healthy Challenge of Describing Your Beliefs


    How effectively can you explain yourself to others? Learn to embrace the healthy challenge of describing your beliefs to sharpen your thinking and worldview.


    This content is for Monthly, Yearly, and Lifetime members only.
    Join Here

    The post Explain Yourself: The Healthy Challenge of Describing Your Beliefs appeared first on The Emotion Machine.

    Steven Handel

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  • 60 Second Business Tips: Set and Achieve Your Marketing Goals

    60 Second Business Tips: Set and Achieve Your Marketing Goals

    As an entrepreneur, you know how important marketing is to your business. But the task at hand can be overwhelming, leading to disjointed efforts.

    It doesn’t have to be that way, says business development consultant and Entrepreneur magazine writer Terry Rice. In the above video, Rice outlines the Objective First Framework to help keep you on track and deliver the desired results.

    It all starts with your objective. What is your goal for the campaign? You want be very specific with this, so maybe it’s getting leads for your newsletter. And then beyond that, you want to have a numeric value. How many leads? And lastly, a time period.

    Know your KPIs. Your key performance indicators are the metrics that you know how well you’re achieving your objective. Cost per lead would be a KPI. You want to pay as little as possible per lead.

    Bring on the tactics. This is the fun part. How do you convince your audience to take the action aligned with your objective? This is where you get to be creative with the messaging you’re putting out there and the video you’re creating. After that, execute the campaign.

    Optimization. Look at your campaigns and segmenting. See where you’re getting the lowest cost per lead, and spend as much time and energy in those segments.

    Related: 60-Second Tip on Getting More Productive

    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • Optimize For What’s Necessary – Dragos Roua

    Technology optimizes for performance.

    Business optimizes for profit.

    Biological evolution optimizes for survival.

    Spirituality optimizes for compassion (non-aggression).

    How does this work out in real life?

    To be successful, any technology must optimize for performance.

    That means running the same process with less energy, in less time, or with greater accuracy.

    Take computers, for instance. They were optimized primarily for performance (measured in speed of CPU and data storage). If you compare the evolution in size of computers from, let’s say, the last two decades, with their evolution in performance, you would get incredible numbers. In terms of size, they probably shrunk 10-20x. A desktop from around 20 years ago is roughly 20x bigger than a laptop. But in terms of processing power and storage, the increase was 100-200x, at least. An order of magnitude higher.

    In technology, all resources are concentrated on performance, and cost is less important.

    A business is measured by the profit it creates. What’s left after you take out investment and operational cost, that’s the core of the business.

    That means a business is running the same process with increasing financial returns.

    Look how business is only slightly overlapping with technology here.

    You don’t always pay the same for the same amount of performance. All smartphones have roughly the same technical characteristics. And yet, some of them are selling for a lot more than others. Optimization done in areas like branding, communication, marketing influences heavily the returns.

    An organism is said to adjust when it functions in such a way that its current structures will be predictably supported.

    That means evolution runs the same process (life) over and over, with increased adaptation to the context.

    We already know that survival is not a feature of the strongest, but of the fittest. And by fittest it means “the one most adapted to the circumstances”.

    It gets interesting now if you combine the previous two optimizations. Sometimes, as a living organism, you need to generate profit (or fat, like bears do to adjust to the winter), and that’s a business type of optimization. Whereas other times you need generate more accuracy (if you’re hunting, for instance), or higher speed (if you run by someone who’s hunting you), which are both technology types of optimization.

    These two optimizations are used differently, based on the context, because that’s what evolution does: it adjusts to the context.

    A spiritual person does no harm (very, very basic description, I know, but bare with me).

    That means spirituality runs the same process (living consciously) by avoiding violence and aiming for unconditional cohesion with other human beings, on the basis that we’re all the same, and we all want the same thing: to be happy.

    Optimizing for spirituality means avoiding contexts in which violence is required, or even accepting loss or wounds, in order to remain in the non-violent space.

    Optimizing for spirituality is also the most complex optimization of all.

    You need to remain alive to be spiritual (dead people are dead, they’re not spiritual in any way), so that means optimizing for evolution.

    You need to become better at your practice (whichever that is) so you need to optimize for better, more accurate processes (just like technology does).

    And, once you understand that your well being is completely interconnected with the well being of all beings, then you also need to optimize for getting more returns, just to be able to give back to the others. Sometimes these returns are financial (the Church is one of the oldest, most profitable institutions in the recent human history), sometimes they’re just reputation (which is more fragile than cash, but also more flexible).

    Optimizing too much on some parts will get you beyond the goal.

    If we talk about spirituality, for instance, optimizing too much on accuracy, like in doing empty prayers and rituals, without understanding the end goal (cohesion) will make you a parrot, at best, and a human bomb, at worst. Optimizing too much on the financial profits, will make you a short lived sect, by triggering greed in your adepts. Optimizing too much on evolution, like adjusting to the context, will probably make you give in to temporary politics, just to remain alive.

    I find it difficult to stick to a definitive answer.

    I think most of the time we are driven to optimize for profit. This is very visible in crypto, with all the apeing and endless hunt for chunky APYs. This is rooted in a legitimate fear that we ain’t gonna make it if we stick to the current context.

    And with that we’re segueing into evolution, as crypto looks like a better bet in terms of adjusting to context. Even if it’s just a hedge, it’s an evolutionary advantage against actors who are using only one basket (government-backed fiat) for their energy storage.

    Sometimes we also need to optimize for technology, which was the dominant trend in crypto for the last 2-3 years, when the main goal was speed and vertical scaling. At some point we will hit a certain wall, in which aiming for too much performance will simply become unnecessary, nobody will use that. 1,000,000 TPS looks sexy now, but who’s going to need that? What’s the use case? Is it worth it?

    What I find extremely interesting, though, is that, somehow, crypto is better positioned for spiritual optimization, as in not doing harm. Hackers and exploiters aside, I think the entire blockchain architecture makes it way easier to just not do harm, it leaves less of an attack surface to greed. It’s as collective as a process can be (the blockchain cannot run without validators). It’s almost frictionless, once you learn how it works (every action produces effects almost immediately). It’s transparent, everybody shares the same ledger.

    It isn’t perfect, far from that, but it’s better than the middle-man in traditional banks, or government created, violence-backed money.

    Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash

    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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