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Labels are powerful. Tell yourself you’re bad with names, and you’ll unconsciously allow yourself to forget a name as soon as you hear it. Tell yourself you’re unorganized, and your...
You have people who always find something to be upset about, no matter how much life has given them to be grateful for. In conversations they’ll complain about the external parties that make...
‘Just be patient, it’ll come.’My dad, to this day, whenever I get frustrated with slow progress. From a young age we are being taught that good things will come to us, as long as...
You were on the right track, but something has happened and now you’ve been derailed from the path you set out for yourself. We’ve all been there, probably more than once. Don’t be...
All decisions are big. The seemingly small decisions you make on a daily basis, will often lead you down a path that influences the next small decision, which influences the next one, etc. Whenever...
Discipline is much like being your own parent. It’s about limiting the freedom to do as you please at any given moment, with the intent to secure better outcomes for the future self. And...
Hip hip hooray! We’re 100 blog posts in. Let’s celebrate by looking back. I reread every blog post I wrote, and selected the Wisdom For Goldfish articles I am most proud of: The SINGLE...
Everybody has fears, one person is just better in hiding them than the other. Hiding your fear for everyone else is one thing, but fear starts to become really problematic when you start hiding it...
My phone broke down a couple of weeks ago. Instead of immediately switching my SIM card to another phone, I decided to grab the opportunity and create a little experiment for myself. I wondered what...
Having absolutely nothing to do may seem like heaven. Sipping Piña Coladas on a beach in The Bahamas all day, every day, may seem like paradise – but wait until you’ve done that for three...
You’re working hard and you’re doing what your boss tells you to do, even when you don’t feel like it. If anyone deserves that promotion you’ve been longing for, it’s...
Finding your passion is much like going down the rabbit-hole from the children’s book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. After the initial leap, you’ll soon find...
“Arguing with a conspiracy theorist is like playing chess with a pigeon. It’ll just knock over all the pieces, shit on the board, and strut about like it’s won anyway.” Did...
Don’t make fun of the foreigner trying to speak your language. Don’t laugh at the bony guy at the gym. Don’t mock the overly nervous girl trying to deliver a speech. Witnessing...
The two questions that should be central in any romantic relationship are… How can I contribute to make this person happy?How can I contribute to make this relationship more meaningful? Buying...
To make a judgement about any society, you’ll only have to look at its idols. Attention is scarce, and those who have it, are powerful. This makes it incredibly important to be thoughtful who...
People tend to overestimate the value of their ideas. They hold on to it like it’s a glorious feather waiting to be taken high up in the sky by a warm summer breeze, never to be seen again...
“Do not to fly too high, because the heat of the sun would melt the wax, nor too low, because the sea foam would soak the feathers and make them heavy.” This was Daedalus’ warning...
One of the great benefits of setting and chasing personal goals is that it makes you focus and spend energy on the challenges that matter to you. You’ll start to ignore the small battles other...
You can’t bring pride along for the journey of self-growth. You’ll have to be able to laugh at yourself for being absolutely terrible at something. When you’re planning to make a...
Up until a couple of years ago, I always thought the point of setting personal goals was to achieve those personal goals. If it wasn’t for the achievement of those goals, what else could be the...
We all remember those scenes from the Disney movies where the prince lays his eyes on the beauty of the princess (or vice versa) and he instantly falls in love. ‘Magical! That’s how love...
In some Germanic languages, the word for ‘happiness’ is derived from the word that is used to describe someone who is lucky. In Dutch for instance, being lucky is ‘geluk...
When you get hit by one snowflake, it’s not likely to have much of an impact on you. An avalanche, however, is capable of wiping an entire village off the face of the Earth. In the same way the...
When conflict arises, it’s often best to face it as soon you get the opportunity. Conflict tends to multiply if you walk away from it. Look the beast in the eye, or let it breed and get bitten...
Most people make a living, consume, reproduce and die. That’s not living a life to its full potential, that’s basic survival. An animal can do all of these things. You are a human. And...
Normally dreams don’t just fall apart. They erode. One small bit at the time. Most people fail because they give up what they want most, for what they want now. You want to have an amazing...
I picked up on this quote the other day: ‘Find someone who puts wind in your sails.’ This small bit of wisdom is not only THE key for successful long term relationships of all kinds, it...
You are a community. Within this community, you’ll find a foolish version of yourself from 10 years ago, and a slightly wiser version of yourself from 5 years ago. You know these selves well...
To be patient is to be willing to wait along the sideline until the situation changes. To be persistent is to be willing to keep giving it all you’ve got in order to change the situation...
No matter how much you love someone, the happiness of someone other than yourself is NOT your responsibility. Someone else’s happiness is beyond the realm of your control and any energy spend...
You wouldn’t let anyone else talk bad about you, so why would you allow yourself to talk bad about you? Yes, you made mistakes. So what? Everyone makes mistakes. It’s part of being human...
If you love someone for who they could be, you’re heading for trouble. Having someone live up to their potential is not your responsibility and beyond the realm of your control. Love someone...
It is said the true test of character is to give someone a challenge to overcome. Although this might test a person’s perseverance, facing a challenge often also means actions come with great...
Believing leads to seeing, just as much as seeing leads to believing. Without exception, people see the world through the goggles of their core values and beliefs. That what you wholeheartedly...
UI (User Interface) designers exploit our psychological pitfalls to keep us hooked and engaged on the latest apps. Marketers use our strongest emotions (desire and fear) against us to sell their...
Hoarding possessions will weigh you down when moving to another place. Hoarding financial commitments will weigh down your net income. Hoarding unfortunate events from the past and doom scenarios of...
We’re all aware how diet has an impact on the fitness of the body. You eat fat, you get fat. You eat healthy, you get healthy. Input equals output. The same accounts for your mind. Instead of...
Seneca once said something along the lines of ‘slavery resides under marble and gold’. Being rich and famous is like living in a silk prison. The audience is always watching and whoever...
Frustration comes to me often: in traffic, in the office, dealing with institutions that are not designed to help you in an efficient manner… sometimes I even get frustrated by my own actions...
The secret to winning an argument that can potentially damage a long-term relationship, is letting go of the need to win the argument. Don’t argue to win, argue to make progress. No long-term...
Just be yourself… It’s probably one of the worst well-intended pieces of advice out there. For me personally, it seemed easy enough to be myself when I was a kid, but things changed...
Don’t try to avoid that what is controlled by others. You’ll be spending your life running away from something you simply cannot run away from. A good surfer observes the turmoil of the...
Making a change for the better is a wonderful thing, but if you expect everyone to cheer you on along the way, you might set yourself up for disappointment. When caterpillars wish to remain...
Don’t let the shadows of the past wrap your present in darkness. You might not have chosen the events that haunt you until this day, but you sure choose to remain in the shadows casted by these...
When confidence in your own ability is making you deaf to feedback from your peers, blind to your own weakness and inconsiderate towards others, its strength turns into a weakness. Confidence gives...
Don’t strive to be fearless.
Strive to be brave enough to face your fears until there’s little left of them.
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‘That’s just who I am’. The famous last words of the guy who just stepped away from the responsibility to make things better for himself. I know, because I’ve been there many...
When looking for true love, most people look outwards. Instead, try to look for love inwards, first. How can you expect to find your soul mate, when your soul is in conflict with who you are as a...
Choosing inaction is a choice nonetheless. If you’re unhappy about something, and it is in your power to change that situation (and it often is!), you owe it to yourself to do whatever it takes...
You can’t live life fearing the unknown, as all that is left of life is the unknown. Therefore, fearing the unknown is fearing life itself. If you want to embrace life, you’ll have to...
The law of attraction is the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life. According to this law, everything in your life is there...
I wrote this before and I will write it again: most dream goals are not within sprinting distance, you’ll have to be willing to run the Marathon. When the novelty of chasing your dreams wears...
The fear of failure used to stop me from taking action all the time. I had no shortage of ideas, that’s for sure. But ideas are worthless if you don’t act, and the fear of failure...
One year ago my workweek suddenly got reduced from 40 to 16 hours. Like many others during this pandemic, I started a side project with the plan to eventually create a second income stream. Writing...
Most people go through life never developing their gift. They do what’s necessary to pay the bills and seek for entertainment in the hours that are left over. To me, that’s not living...
Many people are familiar with the fear of failure and would admit they suffer(ed) from it to a certain extent. Not many people are familiar with the fear of success, but it’s just as real. The...
A near-death experience almost always has a lasting impact on a person’s outlook on life. It’s like being given a second chance to make the most out of life, and many of us would grab...
It’s one of the things I wish I would have learned earlier in life: be careful who you take advice from. Don’t take financial advice from your parents, if they are not financially...
It’s a common pitfall among experienced business leaders to believe punishing disappointing performance goes a longer way than rewarding good performance. Statistics seem to be on their side:...
“Don’t blame a clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.” My parents and school teachers taught me it was important to watch the news every day...
Remember being a kid and wondering why most grown-ups were so grumpy all the time? You’d swear you’d never become like that when growing up! How’s that going now? Did the world...
Life seems endless when you’re young. There are no worries about time slipping away, as it seems like there’s an abundance. Make no mistake, however. Even the people who were lucky enough...
Most people live a passive life. People living a passive life, spend a majority of their productive hours creating the dream of their employer, confined by the ideals of their employer. Most of...
Not in any shape or form as impressive as the Pyramids of Giza, I present to you: The Pyramid of Personal Growth. With the help of this schematic, I’ll do an attempt to explaining why building wealth...
Habits are the key to spectacular long-term change. The problem is, habits are per definition boring. They are formed by endless repetition, there’s almost no thinking required. Most people are...
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When I was leading a team of 12 in South Africa, I’d often do something called ‘caring by wandering around’. I’d walk the floor and sit with someone in the team, always asking them the same...
It’s often mentioned as the number 1 regret of people on their deathbed: having lived a large part of life up to the expectations of others (source). What is left of life, if all you want is to...
When it comes to money, there are few among us who don’t find it desirable to get more of it. However, many people strive to be rich, only a few strive to be wealthy. Being rich is measured by...
Investing in yourself. When done well, it’s perhaps the investment with the biggest returns, especially when done in the early stages of your life. It’s also one of the safest investments...
In the age of social media, many people have a shot at their 15 minutes of fame. Their shot at drawing the attention and admiration of others. More than ever, people compare themselves to others and...
The Journey to Success is often described as climbing a ladder. It might look like a ladder early on in your journey, when UP is the only way you seem to go and UP is the only way you see other...
Reading ‘Atomic Habits’ (an extraordinary book on replacing bad habits with good ones, written by James Clear), I came across a simple yet effective method to clean up after myself. This is something...
Being willing to improve the lives of other people is noble. However, if you sacrifice yourself in the process, it’ll eventually wear you out. As a result you’ll have less to give. Therefore, it is...
A professor stands in front of the class and places an empty glass jar on his desk. ‘This here,’ he says, ‘is the jar of life.’ He opens a drawer and gets out a couple of rocks. He fills the glass...
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Comfort is poison to the ambitious. The comfort zone is a dead-zone. It’s where curiosity dies, it’s where growth dies… slowly. It sneaks up on you as you get older. If you ever find yourself...
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Discipline got a bad name. Most people look at the immediate outcome of discipline, the punishment that fell on their part. When you look at the motivation behind discipline, however, you’ll often...
True story. Cape Town, South Africa. 2018. ‘There are two kinds of people…’ Frank said. ‘On the one side there’s the Jellyfish, a beautiful creature, floating wherever the current of the ocean...
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Language is an interesting and tricky thing. As far as we know, it is one of the most advanced tools out there to express ourselves. Language is one of the main reasons the human race has progressed...
Stop being angry at the situation. The situation doesn’t give a damn about your feelings. Realise being angry at the situation is wasted energy, a self-destructive force. Anger is bound to weigh you...
I’ve been a night owl since I was a kid. I tried to avoid morning people like the plague (how dare you be upbeat and energetic so early in the morning, while I am still trying to wake up?). As a...
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When I started my first company selling sunglasses with two of my friends, I expected most of our friends and family to place an order right off the bat to support us. Only a handful did. I didn't...
“Don’t look back – you’re not going that way.” It made sense to me when I first read this famous quote, but current events made me change my mind. (S)he who doesn’t look at the past, is...
Life shows surprising similarities with the game of poker. All too often, the winners will tell you success is all about skill and the losers will blame their failures on the bad luck they had to...
It's hard enough to listen to constructive feedback with an open mind, let alone when the feedback is delivered in a poor manner. What if the feedback you get is not constructive, but instead...
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Feedback is essential on the road to success. Whatever you define as success, often the path that leads to this point is not clear-cut. It’s almost like you are walking towards a mountain top you can...
As a leader your most important responsibility is to get everyone in the team aligned and empowered to achieve a common goal, while creating a strong sense of community within the team. Strong teams...
The internet is flooded with misleading advertisement promising you abs in just 21 days. Believe me, if it was that easy, everyone would be walking around with six-packs. Let’s have a look at the...
For many students, high school is a tough time. It’s the first time you face seemingly serious responsibilities. A certain action (or lack of action) can have consequences that will haunt you for the...
Time. Once it’s used, it’s gone. Nothing but a memory. In a literal sense, it can’t be traded, it can’t be borrowed, it can’t be bought. Everybody has the same 24 hours a day. Even when given equal...
Goals give meaning to life. Goals are a reason to get out of bed every morning: getting that one step closer to where you eventually want to be. Some goals are ambitious (eg. setting up your own...
The present is nothing but a fine line between what happened before (the past) and what’s going to happen next (the future). It’s hard to grasp, because by the time you realize something is in the...
Make every day a masterpiece. Create something you are proud of. Craft something that makes the world take notice. Strive for the extraordinary and give it extra, even especially when nobody is...
When it comes to time, there is a past, a present and a future. The ultimate happiness is looking at yourself in the present, being completely content with everything you see. This includes...
Let’s talk about Chess, baby. Chess is a fascinating game of power dynamics. If you have a basic understanding of how the game works, but struggle to get it to the next level – keep these...
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