“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.
The idea of having concrete, achievable goals seem to be deeply ingrained in our culture. I know I lived with goals for many years, and in fact a big part of my writings here on Zen Habits are about how to set and achieve goals.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mary Jaksch of Goodlife ZEN.
Do you want to be more productive? Maybe you do, but I’m sure you don’t want to feel stressed, overwhelmed, or unhappy – which happens to many super-productive people. But there is good news:
You can be insanely productive – and still smell the freesias, savor a Pinot Noir, or enjoy a languid hug.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jeffrey Tang of The Art of Great Things.
When we think about simplifying, we usually think about subtraction. Getting rid of excess stuff. Clearing away obligations. Deleting old emails.
We simplify by paring away the layers of something until we find the core. Too many books on the shelf? Give them away, one by one, until you’re left with a manageable number of the volumes you really enjoy.
But decluttering this way is hard. For example:

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.
So we’re off on our great adventure. My wife Eva and I sold and gave away all our stuff over the last couple of months, packed our bags and took our kids and left Guam.
We’re now in San Francisco and looking for a home.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised
a glass of water and asked, “how heavy is this glass of water? ”
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens.
Our culture celebrates workaholism. We hear stories of people who “burn the mid-night oil” at the office, or about individuals who never take vacations. Working a lot doesn’t mean you deserve a gold star or a raise.

There’s nothing worse than anticipating a much-needed getaway, traveling all day to get there, and discovering it’s a dump—for $300 a night. It’s why the whole vacation-planning process makes me nervous: With so many sites and so many choices, how do I know I’m getting the best deal? (I happily turned the job over to [...]

I was one of the lucky participants to receive an advanced copy of the Delivering Happiness book by Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay).  I read it cover to cover in just a few days as it was hard to put down.   I know a lot of readers say that of books, but the timing of my reading [...]

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
~Robert Frost
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Matthew Frazier of No Meat Athlete.
Why does the popularity of trail running in the United States surge every time there’s a national crisis or period of epidemic uncertainty?
Simple answer: Running like a wild man or woman through the woods nurtures the soul.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Corey Allan of Simple Marriage.
The world is seemingly moving at a faster pace. Everywhere you turn, the pace is quick. Deadlines are moved up, workload is increased, kid’s schedules are packed, to-do lists are long, housework never ends – it’s chaos.
At least it feels this way.
Has the world really sped up? Are there more things happening today than 50 years ago? No, and no.