Reading, yoga, and meditation. I’ll probably add in a sauna or two a week, arguing that it isn’t a practice—I don’t follow the rules.
From burnout to self-mastery
Only when the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change will we change. It is an uncomfortable truth, and for me, it was no different. My world came crumbling down, and every part of my life was suffering. I realized that I had to change. Then I died to my old ways. I think that is the secret to life: to die before you die. I remember thinking, if I can do this, so can anyone.
Yet changing proved harder than I had expected. I was constantly pulled in opposite directions: Sleep more, I read. No, go and socialize, wrote a friend. Build a business, said the world. Learn to meditate, said a teacher. Always do your best, one mentor told me. Only do what you love, advised my neighbor. Everyone had a piece of the puzzle, but every answer seemed to contradict the last.
I felt a desperate need for a map of self-development that shows how the different areas of life relate to one another. That tension drove me to create Seven Life Areas. This is why I share 7LA with you, so you don’t have to go around in circles before you understand what it takes to live a good life. This is a path of self-mastery: Know yourself. Live fully. Serve the world.
