Focus on what you can control. Get very clear about what’s up to you and what isn’t. Global events, other people’s choices, the economy, the weather—these are outside your control. Your attitude, your emotions, your desires, your attention, and your response are not. Who you are is up to you. Focus there.

Read old books, not the news. If you want to understand what’s happening now, read about what happened before. Choose ideas with a long half-life like history, psychology, biography, and philosophy. Today’s chaos isn’t new, and it won’t be unique. Books remain one of the most reliable tools for navigating uncertainty.

Remember what your job is. Things won’t always go the way you want. There will be uncertainty, upheaval, and unfairness. You may worry about what comes next, but none of that changes what’s required of you. No matter who is in charge or how chaotic things become, your job remains the same: to be good, to be wise, to stand for what’s right, and to resist what’s wrong. The stakes may change. The duty does not.

Anchor your life around what doesn’t change. Ignore fads, trends, and short-term panic. Anchor your life around constants: character, discipline, patience, effort, family, health. These matter no matter who’s in power or what’s dominating the headlines.

Treat people well. You can’t control cruelty in the world, but you can control whether you add to it. Be kind. Be fair. Be patient—with your family, your team, and strangers alike.

Prioritize stillness. The world will be loud and chaotic. You don’t have to be. Build time for quiet activities without chatter, notifications, or constant input, so you can think clearly instead of reacting emotionally.

Contribute to your community. Choose to build and support real, local, human things. Success that extracts and optimizes without giving back is empty. Invest in places and people that matter.

Don’t have an opinion about everything. You don’t need to judge every preference, habit, or headline. Fewer opinions mean less misery and more energy for what counts.

Help what’s right in front of you. Big problems don’t excuse small inaction. Ease the burden you can reach. Help the person you can help. Small acts still matter.

Refuse to let cruelty turn you cruel. Refuse to let cruelty harden you, stupidity embitter you, or outrage reshape your character. The best revenge is not becoming like them.

Do difficult things on purpose. Train your body and mind to handle discomfort. When you’re stronger and more disciplined, you’re calmer, kinder, and harder to shake.

Choose to be philosophical. Take the long view. There have always been bad leaders, chaotic periods, and moments when it felt like the world was coming apart. That’s what living through history looks like. Chaos isn’t an exception—it’s the pattern. You don’t get to choose whether you live in turbulent times, but you do get to choose how you meet them. Focus on what you can control, do your work, and refuse to be broken by forces beyond your power.

Make rest a non-negotiable priority. Treat rest as something you actively protect, not what’s left over after everything else. Review your calendar and deliberately block time for high-quality rest. If no space exists, decide what you can reduce, delegate, or redesign. That could mean coordinating childcare, renegotiating responsibilities with a partner, or letting go of lower-value commitments.

Create firm boundaries between work and rest. Decide when work ends and rest begins, and honor that line. Take weekends, evenings, and vacations seriously, even if your time off is unstructured. Reduce work email and phone checks outside work hours, avoid multitasking work and leisure, and plan regular restful activities with others to reinforce these boundaries.

Practice rest like a skill you’re learning. Give your mind time to adapt to rest and don’t expect instant results. Commit to a rest routine for several weeks before judging its impact. If something isn’t working, adjust your approach gradually and without over-optimizing or expecting rest to deliver constant breakthroughs.

Design your day by alternating focused work and recovery. Structure your schedule around 90–120 minutes of deep, uninterrupted work followed by 20–30 minutes of rest. Align your most important tasks with your natural energy peaks and reserve lower-focus work for lower-energy periods. Use rest breaks to allow creative insights to surface naturally.

Engage in deep, absorbing play. Choose a serious hobby that fully captures your attention and challenges you in a different way than your work. Prioritize activities that are mentally or physically engaging, such as sports, art, music, or outdoor pursuits, and that provide a sense of mastery, flow, and renewal away from work demands.

Protect sleep and use naps strategically. Set a consistent bedtime and create a calming pre-sleep routine to improve sleep quality. When possible, use short naps (around 20 minutes) to restore energy and enhance learning. Treat sleep as foundational to long-term performance, health, and emotional stability—not as an optional extra.

Try a 21-Day No-Complaint Experiment: Go 21 consecutive days without complaining, criticizing, or gossiping. If you slip up, reset the count and start again.

Complete the 75 Hard Challenge: For 75 days, follow a strict diet, drink lots of water daily, read 10 pages of non-fiction, take a daily progress photo, and complete two 45-minute workouts each day (one outdoors).

Play the 30-Day Minimalism Game: Remove one item from your life on day one, two items on day two, and continue adding one item per day for 30 days to systematically declutter your space.

Practice Tech-Free Saturdays: Choose one day each week to avoid digital devices (especially your phone, computer, and social media) to unplug from constant input and reconnect with the physical world.

Do the 3-Day Phone Charger Challenge: Move your phone charger out of your bedroom for three days to reduce snoozing, get out of bed faster, and reclaim time in the morning.

Write Morning Pages Daily: Each morning, write three pages of stream-of-consciousness thoughts to clear your mind, process emotions, and spark creativity.