if you’re stuck in a place or situation you hate, see what you can do there for others. I learned this through experience: When I hated working at a law firm, I’d think of ways to brighten my co-workers’ days.
I know how to handle a day when you feel extremely lazy. Decide that, given that you’re a lazy person, you will work diligently for only 30 entirely focused minutes on the most important thing, and then take the rest of the day off. You will do your best work on these days.
Start small: Practice saying no without explaining why. Just "that doesn't work for me" and sitting in the silence. Every over-explanation is you managing their emotional reaction. Learn to let them have their feelings without rescuing them from disappointment.
I know what makes people grow more reliably than anything else. It is: taking on a difficult project with some amount of public accountability. This can be large or small: a lecture series, a business, a blog, a house, a child, etc.
You're treating "what do I want" as an information-gathering problem when it's actually a permission problem. You know what you want—you just don't believe you're allowed to want it if it conflicts with what others want from you.
Test this: Think of a decision where you "don't know what you want." Now ask: "If no one would ever find out about this... See more
I know all about writer’s block. If you get stuck while writing, pretend you’re writing to a specific friend or family member (my newsletter is written specifically for my mom every time :)