Leonard Ng

How I Fall Asleep Quickly (And a Note on Lucid Dreaming)

by // Leave a Comment

sleeping cat
Image by Dan Gold.

Do you have trouble falling asleep every night?

Because I don’t.

I live by the simple Zen maxim “When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep.” In this I differ from most people, who eat when society says they should eat and sleep when society says they should sleep.

Instead of flowing with their natural energy and impulses, they try to force things into an artificially preset schedule. As a result most people end up frustrated, overweight, and bleary-eyed, while I’m fulfilled, well-rested, and in the best shape of my life.

Sometimes, though, it does take me a few minutes longer to fall asleep after I’ve gone to bed. So here’s the technique I’ve devised to deal with that situation.

It works for me, and hopefully it’ll work for you too.

[Read more…]

Five Ways to Find Meaning at Work

by // Leave a Comment

workman
Image by Leeroy.

“Choose a job you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Bullshit.

Work is work, even when it’s work you love.

Effort is required. Dedication is required. Some sort of consistent time commitment is required. You need to be willing to deal with hard things.

Any less and I wouldn’t hire you.

[Read more…]

Don’t Force Things, Flow with Them (Part 3)

by // Leave a Comment

Surfer at Sunrise
Image by Frank McKenna.
A Rhythmic World

Life on our planet is all about rhythm.

Everything oscillates: inbreath and outbreath, high tide and low tide, day and night, waking and sleeping.

Our hearts beat in rhythm. That’s what keeps us alive.

Rhythm is made up of rise and fall, activity and rest. Often we think only in terms of activity, measuring our days by what we’ve done; but rest is what shapes our actions and makes them meaningful, just as the pauses between notes allow us to make sense of music.

The same applies to our own energy.

Four Kinds of Energy

Energy is about much more than physical tiredness. Generally speaking we have four kinds of energy: physical energy, emotional energy, mental energy, and willpower.

[Read more…]

Don’t Force Things, Flow with Them (Part 2)

by // Leave a Comment

Polyphemos
Image by Aaron Wolpert.
Reading Ancient Greek: A Case Study

This year I set myself the task of reading all 24 books of Homer’s massive epic poem The Odyssey in Ancient Greek. This has been on my bucket list for a long time, and I’m glad to finally be doing it.

I’m now 20 books in, with four more to go — well on the way to completing what I set out to do. And I have full confidence that I will finish on time, because I’ve aligned myself with the principles of growth deadlines.

To recap, growth deadlines:

  • Make you better than you were before
  • Involve doing difficult things
  • Are based on sound knowledge and experience
  • Are flexible and resilient enough to withstand chaos

Let’s see how those points apply in this case.

[Read more…]

Don’t Force Things, Flow with Them (Part 1)

by // Leave a Comment

mountain clouds
Image by Sergei Akulich.
A Cautionary Tale

Mencius (a Chinese philosopher) once told the following story:

Once there was a man from Song who, concerned that his seedlings weren’t growing, decided to pull them upward.

Worn out, he returned home and said to his family: “Today I’m exhausted — I’ve been helping the seedlings to grow!”

His son hurried out to have a look, and of course the seedlings had withered.

The Folly of Forced Deadlines

Inexperienced people often set deadlines they can never achieve. They say:

“I’m going to pack on 10kg of muscle this year.”

“I’m going to finish writing a novel in 3 months.”

“I’m going to make half a million dollars by December.”

Is it possible to accomplish all these things? Yes.

Are you likely to complete them, in good order and on schedule, if you’ve never done so before? No.

Why?

Because you can’t set reasonable deadlines until you’ve gained enough experience to know how long, under your own unique circumstances, you will take to achieve your goals.

[Read more…]