Niklas Göke on Medium

When people ask for advice around habits, most of the answers they get fall into the “do this, not that” category. Based on our own subjective experience, we all come to see some habits as good and others as bad. As a result, everybody always recommends what worked for them. The specific tactics that helped them succeed. Wake up at 5, blend your coffee with butter, use this particular pen.

When Robin Williams died in 2014, the world lost a legend. No scene better encapsulates his brilliance than what must be one of the greatest monologues in entertainment history: the park scene in Good Will Hunting.

Consistency might keep you from leveling up

Out of all the great TED talks that exist, Barry Schwartz’s is easily the best. He talks about what he calls The Paradox of Choice. I’ve gone back to it countless times for countless reasons.

“Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions,” replied the Zen teacher. “If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?”

When Batman meets Superman for the first time in Dawn of Justice, you instantly know who’s in charge and who’s in trouble.

We’re not struggling to survive. We lack the courage to thrive.

Be it Bruce Lee, Ip Man, Mr. Miyagi or Jackie Chan, in day-to-day life, the master is always deliberate. Quiet. Almost lethargic. He walks slowly. He talks slowly. He eats slowly.

For the past six years, I have been obsessed with habits. This obsession grew out of the realization that, as a business student in an obscure university, no teachers or classes would be enough to push me to become a successful entrepreneur.

Aristotle’s three kinds of friendship and which one matters most

If someone dedicates one million dollars, 400 workers, and 14 years of their own life to carving a 60-foot version of your face into the side of a mountain, you must have done something worth remembering.

Remember when you first learned how to draw? Oh, the artworks that you made! You didn’t even need a model or a scene — you made it all up from scratch, using nothing but your imagination. A dragon looked like you thought a dragon should look. A house was a house in your image. What’s more, nothing had to be perfect, because you could always explain your picture to the audience.

A story about everything it takes to accomplish your dreams

What older people know about ambition that young people don’t

And you can save all of them if you accept them today

I never needed anyone to tell me to play video games, explore the internet, or practice soccer tricks. If anything, it was hard to get me to stop. Writing has been the same.

On The Tim Ferriss Show, LeBron James said he sleeps eight or nine hours each night. Sometimes ten. And if he can’t get those, he’ll catch up with a two-hour nap. James is a prominent fan of quality shut-eye, but not the only one.

You’ll have to save yourself.

Imagine there’s an old stove in your house. It’s square and has four burners. You know, the kind where you still have to light the gas with a match and pull your hand away really fast so you don’t get burned. Each of those burners represents an important area of your life: 1. Family, 2. Friends, 3. Health, 4. Work.

When you’re a child, the whole world is a blank canvas. Every situation you walk into is a sandbox, waiting for you to shape it in your imagination. As early as kindergarten or elementary school, that sandbox is turned into a cage. Adults pluck metal bars into the ground from above, like Zeus throwing thunderbolts from Mount Olympus. The bars are rules and every single one takes away a little of that blankness.