5 Most Life-Changing Ideas I’ve Discovered after 400+ Posts

1. Slow & Simple Living

Of course, we must start here! The discovery of the concepts of slow living, simple living, voluntary simplicity, and downshifting completely rocked my worldview. Prior to this discovery, I had no idea there were people out there intentionally choosing slower and simpler lives. These ideas I discovered in late 2015 and early 2016 planted the seed for all things Sloww.

2. “Web of Goals” Lifestyle Design

I’ve realized that much of intentional living comes down to lifestyle design. And, when it comes to lifestyle design, nothing has been more impactful for me than Jacob Lund Fisker’s work on Early Retirement Extreme. He’s applied systems thinking to lifestyle design, and it brilliantly covers all aspects of life. The most impactful idea I’ve taken from him is to design a “web of goals.” This concept helps you set up your life in a way where you have mutually-reinforcing positive goals and byproducts (maximizing synergy) while also reducing/eliminating negative byproducts (minimizing waste). The “web” focuses on the connections between your lifestyle choices and includes everything from health to wealth to wisdom. An example would be a web where you live within walking/biking distance of work and the grocery store—your commute doubles as your daily exercise (maximizing synergy) while eliminating the need for a car and saving money (minimizing waste). The “web of goals” idea is presented in much more detail in the

3. The Lottery of Birth

This idea is literally something that I now think about daily and has positively altered my worldview and how I interact with others in the world. If I could put anything on a billboard, this may be it. And, the best part is that the lottery of birth requires no science or spirituality to understand. What is the lottery of birth? It’s a reminder that you did not choose: to exist, your nature, your nurture, the location you were born into, the time you were born into, and so much more. No one did! And all of those shape you and your life path—just like they shape every other human. It may be the most simple, yet most profound, realization any human can have to lead to compassion for all. Pair it with the

4. Ikigai Life Purpose

Ikigai was a concept I discovered either during my existential crisis in 2015 or in 2016 when I was discovering my purpose. But, my discovery of the viral 4-circle diagram led me down a path to uncover that it’s not really ikigai. Eventually, I put 5+ years of research on the subject into an eBook: Ikigai 2.0: A Step-by-Step Guidebook to Finding Life Purpose & Making Money Meaningfully (+ Bonus Workbook). This is the process I used to find my own purpose, and it’s still the approach I recommend to everyone who asks me the best way to find purpose. In my mind, you will not find anything more comprehensive (yet concise) than Ikigai 2.0.

5. Brain Hemispheres & Polarity Thinking

Iain McGilchrist’s work is often described as “life-changing” for anyone who has read it. Both of his books, The Mastery and His Emissary and The Matter With Things, are on my full reading list. Needless to say, it will bust a bunch of brain myths you’ve probably believed for years. The brain hemisphere work pairs nicely with the concept of “polarity thinking.” Polarities are also known as: paradoxes, dilemmas, chronic tensions, positive opposites, interdependent pairs, wicked problems, dual strategies, yin and yang, etc. It turns out many things in life aren’t actually problems to solve; they are polarities to be leveraged.