What I Learned: Recent Episodes

Steve Acho

Life-changing, bite-sized chunks of wisdom in less than one minute.

"Communication is key" in all relationships. Here are a few bits of wisdom that come from my own personal failure to communicate well.

Why it's unproductive to label ourselves and others

Wanting to be right, versus wanting to know IF you're right.

The simplest way to commit to, or resolve to improve your life

Imagining changing the ratio of helping others to asking for things from others.

The best teachers create an environment where learning reveals itself

A few simple tweaks to improve your communication

Dutiful descendants vs. remarkable ancestors

Don't use arbitrary metrics like "years of experience" to determine if someone is capable of doing a job.

You will never look good for making others look bad.

And will never look bad for making others look good.

Why it's okay to "quit" doing what's not serving you.

Despite 0ur good intentions, it's possible to do more harm than good in how we communicate our empathy.

Optimism is unnatural. But we should overcome our programming regardless.

A simple inner dialogue hack that reduces stress

Take steps to preserve and maintain rather than waiting on an emergency.

More challenging today, better tomorrow.

Why good intentions alone aren't enough for those who care

How a study at Google helped me lose body fat

Do you know how many times you used your hammer in the last month? (Short answer: who cares?)

Reevaluating the goal/outcome

What to do when you feel overwhelmed and out of control

The most reliable method for internalizing new information

When some of our beliefs are challenged our bodies respond as if our very lives were being threatened.

The brain's Reticular Activating System (R.A.S.) and why it matters.

What happens when we normalize being kind to others without regard for what we may get in return?

Critical thinking - the difference between understanding how to think, and what to think

Why perfectionism can hold you back

A different version of the genius / inventor

How to separate urgent from important, and make the time for the important.

Seeking to understand first

A hack for creating new, healthy habits

How well or efficiently we do something vs. whether it should be done at all.

Filtering out the 99% that's not important

Living with deliberate intention

Hoping that one day it's respected to say "I don't know enough about that to have an informed opinion"

It's never too late to start

Today is tomorrow's "good old days"

Learning to respectfully disagree

Ways to actually walk the talk

A few highly targeted, high-quality questions to help you get unstuck

A very brief definition, and some points that were most helpful to me.

Quick tips for implementing new learnings

We give ourselves too much credit/blame for controling outcomes

The importance of listening skills

Thinking bigger

Your attention and its uses are like apps running

Being true to yourself

Internal and external locus of control

How to frame putting yourself first without feeling guilty

Doing what you say you'll do

Don't trade a possible future for the "now"

We tend to remember the worst.

Where you are is not what you are

Don't confuse motion with action

Tip for selling or helping others

The importance of structure

Taking ownership of things that are not your fault

The importance of self-compassion

Don't let the unattainable "best" be the enemy of multiple "betters"

Great questions may be the most powerful tool we have for honest introspection. The most transformative questions are usually simple while being the most difficult to answer. All of us know of people or scenarios that continue to cause us emotional pain.

Blaming others (even when it's warranted) is not helpful. It doesn't mitigate future issues, and worse, it allows you to side-step any of the blame.

Here is the most profound question I've learned to force honest introspection when history repeats itself in a negative way: How am I complicit in creating the conditions that I say I don't want?

Rethinking "best"

Practicing non-judgment

An unconventional way to invoke the feeling of gratitude

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Don't confuse free time with availability.

Trite but true wizdom

How to make use of what you learn

Letting go of anger

The distinction between cause and correlation

There are some things about the future you can predict.

The Eisenhower Matrix

The best question to ask to get useful feedback.

What to focus on

“Don’t confuse motion with action.”

How to improve your luck

It's easy to think that others' problems are trivial

No one cares what you "have"

You're probably not "starving"

What does it mean to be fulfilled?

Yet another reason to de-stress...

Intentionally, consciously choosing the most consequential things in our lives.

You Only Live Once? That's one perspective.

A short rant on habits