http://www.fox13memphis.com/news/physician-to-parents-youre-doing-it-wrong/27429538

Physician tells parents, 'You're doing it wrong'

Jan 3, 2017 - 9:56 AM

by: Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman Updated: 

EXTON, Pa. - Family physician, psychologist and author Leondard Sax wants parents to know that they are “raising kids wrong.” The author of “Boys Adrift” and “Girls on the Edge” has written a new book, “The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt our Kids when We Treat them Like Grown-Ups.” 

“Most American parents are completely confused and going utterly in the wrong direction,” Sax said. “There’s a collapse of understanding what parenting involves.” 

In his book, Sax offers a scenario in which parents and a 6-year-old child, who had a sore throat, came into his office. When he said, “Next I’m going to take a look at your throat,” the mother asked for the child's permission, saying, “Do you mind if the doctor looks in your throat for just a second, honey? Afterward we can go and get some ice cream.”

That led to the child refusing to have the doctor look in her throat to do the strep test and the child having to be restrained to get the test accomplished. 

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“It’s not a question,” Sax said. “It’s a sentence: ‘Open up and say, 'Ahh.'' Parents are incapable of speaking to their children in a sentence that ends in a period,” he said. “Every sentence ends in a question mark.”

Some parenting experts told adults that they should offer their children choices instead of telling them what to do and parents believed them, he said.

The hierarchy of parent over child no longer exists, he said. Instead of parents exercising their authority because they know what’s best, they are focusing on making children happy and boosting their self-esteem.

“They now see their job as facilitating whatever a kid wants to do,” he said.

Instead, Sax said, a parent's job is to teach children right from wrong, teach them the meaning of life and keep their children safe.

“In doing that job, you’re going to do a lot of things a child won’t approve of and not understand,” he said. Sometimes, you have to be the bad guy.

According to Sax, parents should focus on helping children develop skills such as self-control, humility and conscientiousness, meaning they think of people other than themselves.

Those things are the biggest predictors of future success in adulthood, he said, not education or affluence.

Sax said this is a generation of parents who are spending more time with children than any previous generation. But instead of spending time at family meals, this generation is spending time shuttling children from one extracurricular activity to the next or spending time doing their work for them.

“It doesn’t help to spend more time with kids if they are spending it in the wrong ways,” Sax said.

In his book, Sax cites numerous research studies that found that a lack of parental authority is why obesity is on the rise, why more kids are on anti-anxiety and attention deficit disorder medication, why children are have a culture of disrespect, seem fragile, and why American children no longer lead the world in education.

He offered some solutions:

Have family meals at home and make that a top priority. “You have to communicate that our time together as a parent and child is more important than anything else,” he said. One study found that for each additional meal a family had together, the children were less likely to internalize problems such as anxiety or externalize problems such as skipping school. It also helped children develop good nutrition habits, lessening the obesity problem.

Take screens out of the bedroom. This includes cell phones, computers, TVs and video games. Kids are chronically sleep deprived, which leads to poor behavior and can even be the reason why kids are getting mental health diagnosis.

Put screens in public places and limit how they are used. This generation lives life in a virtual world. Online friends can quickly become more important than the friends children see in person. They don’t know how to communicate with someone face to face or have outside interests and hobbies. Video games also rewire the way their brains work. And what they post online never goes away. Install software like My Mobile Watchdog, which will share every photo that they take or post with you.

Teach humility. Give lessons that show children that they are not the most important people in the world. They need to be able to see the world through another lens and be able to handle rejection or failure. It really cannot be “everybody gets a trophy.”

Have an alliance between the school and you. If your child did something, don’t approach  teachers or administrators with suspicion and distrust. “Parents swoop in like attorneys demanding evidence,” Sax said. Instead lessons of honesty and integrity should be enforced. That means that a brilliant kid who cheated takes the 0.

Parent what they do. No, your 14-year-old cannot go to a party with college students or to the beach for spring break. No, they will not be at parties where alcohol is served, and you will not be the one serving it. You have to think of worst-case scenarios like drinking and driving, alcohol poisoning and sexual assault, and know that these are not decisions that they are ready to make because they are not adults. They need an adult, and that’s you. And even if their peers’ parents are fine with something, you don’t have to be. “Other parents don’t have a clue at what they are doing,” Sax said. “That’s why what they are doing doesn’t have good outcomes.”

Some of those things, especially if they are new for your family, can be difficult and might be hard to enforce. Sax recommends persistence and commitment.

"Your kids will thank you, not today or maybe not tomorrow, but some day, perhaps."

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10 Habits That Can Damage Your Kidneys

CureJoy Editorial

An estimated 20 million Americans are believed to have kidney disease, with thousands more potentially at risk for developing kidney problems.¹ Kidney damage doesn’t usually happen overnight. It is a steady process that occurs over several years as a result of some poor lifestyle choices and improper management of other conditions like diabetes.

As one study observed, the more bad habits you have, the worse it gets. Researchers found that test subjects with 3 to 4 bad habits dubbed “unhealthy lifestyle behaviors,” grew their risk of developing chronic kidney disease by 337 percent compared to people who had no bad habits.²

1. Smoking

Smoking adversely impacts your blood pressure. You also increase cardiovascular risk since smoking increases your heart rate, narrows the blood vessels in your kidneys, damages arterial branches, and causes arteriosclerosis in the renal arteries. These, in turn, stack the odds against you for kidney damage.³

Smoking is deadly for those with diabetes because it increases the chances of kidney problems. Smokers run the risk of losing kidney function faster than non-smokers. But quitting smoking will significantly decrease any future risks.

2. Constantly Holding It In

Not urinating often enough can be bad for your kidneys. Nature’s call is meant to be answered in a regular, timely manner and if you don’t, your body and kidneys in particular retain all the toxins meant to be expelled. Over time, this can actually lead to incontinence as well as kidney stones and other forms of kidney damage.

3. Indulging Your Sweet Tooth Too Often

Having excess sweet foods like desserts, candy, and packaged snacks and sodas can be bad for your kidneys. A study confirmed that consuming too much fructose could bring a rise in uric acid levels and ultimately lead to cardiorenal disease.⁴

Those with diabetes are already at high risk of developing renal problems; too much sugar in your diet can worsen this situation. Be sure to read food labels and pick foods that are low in sugar and high in fiber.

4. Not Monitoring Your Blood Pressure

It is important to keep track of your blood pressure since hypertension is a leading cause of kidney damage. Keep to the recommended levels set by your doctor and take measures to control any high blood pressure. The level is usually set at under 140/90 mm Hg.⁵

5. Winging It With Medication

Sticking to the prescribed medicines is important. Certain medication can cause kidney damage if taken incorrectly or not closely monitored. If your doctor has suggested a specific dosage for a fixed duration, take it only for that long and no more.

OTC pain medications like aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen are all bad for your kidneys if taken regularly or on a daily basis. Certain antibiotics (aminoglycosides, amphotericin B, cephalosporins, bacitracin, and vancomycin) can also be harmful if you have delicate kidneys.⁶

6. Skipping Exercise

Exercise is good for the body’s circulation and can help you manage conditions like blood pressure and diabetes. Overweight or obese people can cut the load on their body by exercising.

As one study showed, weight loss can positively impact renal function in severely obese individuals. For everyone else, exercise helps keep the body and cardiovascular system in good working order.⁷

7. Not Eating Right

Eating healthy may not always mean you’re eating right when you have kidney trouble. If your kidneys are already strained, things change a little. Your doctor may suggest a diet that has less potassium and phosphorus. This means traditionally “bad” foods like white rice, white bread, and pasta suddenly become good for you.

What shouldn’t you eat?

• Whole-grain versions that are high on phosphorus
• Phosphorus-rich oatmeal, nuts, lentils, bran cereals, fish, meat, and poultry
• Colas
• Vegetables and fruits like tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, and oranges

What can you eat?

• Plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits (especially apples, peaches, green beans, and carrots)
• Rice milk instead of dairy
• Corn and rice-based cereals⁸
• Protein in moderate quantities

Also, plant protein sources and certain animal protein sources like chicken and fish are easier on your kidneys. Heart-healthy foods are a good idea in general because they also help manage your weight, diabetes, and blood pressure. Certain nutrients like magnesium and vitamin B6 are good for preventing kidney stones.

8. Binge Drinking Or Heavy Alcohol Consumption

Kidneys help your body filter out harmful substances, including alcohol. So when you drink heavily, your kidneys are under tremendous pressure. Doing this on a regular basis can cause damage to the renal system.

Alcohol is extremely dehydrating, and an excess level in your body can cause your organs to be inadequately hydrated and hamper their performance. Alcohol is also a cause of liver disease, which in turn interferes with the regulation of blood flow to the kidneys.⁹

9. Going Heavy On The Salt

High levels of sodium in your diet, whether in the form of salt in your cooking or more commonly through hidden sources, are potentially problematic, especially if you have a tendency for hypertension.

Many snacks, junk, canned, and packaged foods contain high amounts of sodium, so cut down on these. Opt for fresh cut fruit, vegetables, nuts, or homemade snacks instead. Limit sodium intake to under 2,300 mg a day.¹⁰

10. Not Drinking Enough Water

Kidneys depend on adequate flow of fluids to work properly. Staying hydrated is important to help the kidneys properly flush out the toxins from your body. The National Kidney Foundation recommends staying hydrated as one of the “9 Things That Everyone Should Do” for good kidney health. The National Health Service in the UK also mentions dehydration as a cause for kidney damage and kidney stones.¹¹

View Article References (+)

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1.	↑	Kidney Disease Basics, National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
2.	↑	Chang, Alex, Linda Van Horn, David R. Jacobs, Kiang Liu, Paul Muntner, Britt Newsome, David A. Shoham et al. “Lifestyle-related factors, obesity, and incident microalbuminuria: the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study.” American Journal of Kidney Diseases 62, no. 2 (2013): 267-275.
3.	↑	Orth, Stephan R., and Stein I. Hallan. “Smoking: a risk factor for progression of chronic kidney disease and for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in renal patients—absence of evidence or evidence of absence?.” Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 3, no. 1 (2008): 226-236.
4.	↑	Johnson, Richard J., Mark S. Segal, Yuri Sautin, Takahiko Nakagawa, Daniel I. Feig, Duk-Hee Kang, Michael S. Gersch, Steven Benner, and Laura G. Sánchez-Lozada. “Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 86, no. 4 (2007): 899-906.
5, 8, 10.	↑	Diet and Lifestyle Changes, National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
6.	↑	Which Drugs Are Harmful To Your Kidneys? National Kidney Foundation.
7.	↑	Chagnac, Avry, Tali Weinstein, Michal Herman, Judith Hirsh, Uzi Gafter, and Yaacov Ori. “The effects of weight loss on renal function in patients with severe obesity.” Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 14, no. 6 (2003): 1480-1486.
9.	↑	Alcohol And Your Kidneys, National Kidney Foundation.
11.	↑	Symptoms of Dehydration, NHS UK.

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Stop buying garlic. Here’s how to grow an endless supply of garlic right at home

Garlic is arguably one of the world’s most versatile and healthiest foods.

While you can use garlic to add some serious flavor to any dish, garlic also has quite the long list of health benefits as well. That’s why we’re here to break down how you can benefit from these major remedies and how you can grow your own supply of this amazing super-food in your very own backyard!

Source: davidwolfe.com

Up Your Nutritional Game

Like we mentioned, garlic has some potent medicinal properties, such as being packed with vitamins while also being very low in calories. Garlic is rich in manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and substantial amount of selenium, calcium, potassium, just to name a few – all while only having 42 calories per serving!

Strengthen Your Immune System 

Garlic is also known to boost the immune system and can help combat sickness like the common cold. Research has also shown that incorporating garlic into your daily diet can reduce your risk of getting sick by up to 63%! This can be especially useful if you’re someone prone to getting colds.

Keeping Your Heart Healthy

Add cardiovascular health to this list while you’re at it. If ingested regularly, garlic can also help reduce your risk for heart disease and help your body process cholesterol more efficiently.

Also, garlic can be really beneficial if you’re someone who struggles with high blood pressure!

Source: harvesttotable.com

In additional to being a super-food, garlic is also super easy to grow.

All you need to do is follow these simply 5 steps:

1. Break up the garlic bulb into cloves and bury them a couple inches deep in loose, damp soil.
2. Make sure you keep the pointed side of the clove facing upwards.
3. When your garlic sprouts, make sure to give them water when the topsoil feels dry but be sure to not overwater – garlic tends to not need too much water.
4. Cut off any flowers that bloom to preserve the flavor of your garlic.
5. Once your garlic plant has 5 or 6 leaves, it’s ready to be pulled up!

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Source: kcet.org

Let us know in the comments how your garlic garden is growing!

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Want to Be Super Successful? Science Says Do Any 1 of These 10 Things

Or, if you like, try them all. They work. Science says so.

We all have the same amount of time. That's why people who are more productive -- and successful -- use their time more effectively.

And that's why my Inc. colleague Chris Winfield is such a great resource for entrepreneurs.

Chris is an entrepreneur and writer, and if you like this post (and the next two in the series), he's created a special bonus area with a worksheet and 40 powerful morning habits you can adopt.

Here's Chris:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle is credited with saying these 15 famous words, though they're actually an interpretation of a passage from Aristotle's writings by historian Will Durant. And for most of my life, I didn't believe them.

I fought against cultivating good habits and routines because I didn't want to feel like I had to live my life by other people's rules. I wanted to be my own person and do my own thing. Besides, keeping a routine was hard work.

Know what I discovered?

Having no routine or structure is so much more draining mentally, physically, and emotionally than any routine could ever be!

By not doing the things I knew would make me better -- habits like exercising, meditating, and creating gratitude lists -- I deprived my body and mind of the energy that these types of positive activities create. I felt tired, inside and out. And to make matters worse, my dreams and goals were slipping away.

A few years ago, I decided to take a different path: to listen to this advice and actually work on creating excellence in my life by establishing a positive daily routine.

Now that I've created and stuck to my own daily practice (I call it my "Best Day Ever"), not only do I get more accomplished than I've ever thought possible but I also feel 100 times better while doing it!

Why You Need a Routine

First, you may need to be convinced about the benefits of creating a routine.

Establishing a positive daily routine is both a self-investment and a way to do your best for the rest of the world. It also provides additional benefits like giving you structure, building forward-moving habits, and creating momentum that will carry you on the days when you feel like you don't have the strength to carry yourself.

Following a daily routine can help you establish priorities, limit procrastination, keep track of goals, and even make you healthier. It lowers your reliance on willpower and motivation because, as Tynan, the author of Superhuman by Habit, says, habits are "action[s] that you take on a repeated basis with little or no required effort or thought."

Today, I have more drive, motivation, and passion, which makes reaching my goals easier and more fulfilling. I have more physical and mental energy to make it through my days -- even the really tough ones (which still show up). I feel happier and more satisfied with the quality and depth of my life.

I admit it, though; it isn't always easy to create good habits. As Brian Tracy says, "Good habits are hard to form but easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to form but hard to live with."

Here's something really important to remember: What works for someone else might not work for you.

That's why it's important to pick the activities that resonate most with you, the ones that push you to become the best you that you are capable of being, and to keep doing those things.

Don't be afraid to try new habits and see how they work for you. If they leave you feeling energized and inspired, keep doing them, and if they don't, keep trying new ones until you find ones that do.

The key is to create regular and consistent daily patterns that will take you where you want to go in life, helping you maximize yourself on every level possible.

Now, let's get into some of the things you can do in your daily routine to reach higher mental levels -- like more brain power and clarity!

Optimize Your Mind

A successful daily routine helps you achieve laser-like focus from the moment you wake up in the morning to the time you close your eyes and drift off to dreamland at night. Here are some ways to get it.

1. Get positive: Start the day with a mantra.

According to the Mayo Clinic, positive thinking helps manage stress and even improves your health.

"Today is going to be the best day ever!"

I start every single day saying that simple sentence (out loud) as soon as I get out of bed. And yes, I even tell myself this on mornings that have followed nights that were too short or mornings when I wake up feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders.

Why?

These nine words put me in the right mindset for the day ahead.

What makes a day good or bad isn't the events that occur but rather your response to them. As Jim Rohn once said, "Either you run the day or the day runs you."

I want to put my mind in a good state right away, because left unchecked it will try to tell me the things that are wrong. Through positive thinking, I can overcome that.

Ben Franklin used to ask himself this question every morning: "What good shall I do today?"

Pick a phrase or question that resonates with you. It could be as simple as smiling and saying "thank you" out loud, acknowledging that you have been gifted with another day.

2. Be proactive: Don't check your email first!

When you wake up in the morning, do you immediately check your email or social-media accounts? If so, you're starting your day off in a reactive instead of a proactive mode.

As Jocelyn K. Glei writes in Manage Your Day-to-Day, "The trouble with this approach is it means spending the best part of the day on other people's priorities."

For instance, if you receive an email asking for work-related documents, you might be compelled to provide them immediately, even though you may have had plans to work on marketing your own business. Or if you open up Facebook and see one of your friends in a crisis, that becomes your focus and potentially keeps you from concentrating on your own issues or concerns.

Start your days focused on you and you will be in a much better state of mind to help others and get more accomplished all day.

3. Mentally prepare: Visualize your success.

Some of the world's greatest athletes use visualization to help prepare themselves mentally to excel in their sport. Aaron Rodgers, considered by many to be the best quarterback in the NFL, talked about the power of visualization in an interview with USA Today:

"In the sixth grade, a coach taught us about the importance of visualization. When I'm in a meeting, watching a film, or laying in bed before I go to sleep, I always visualize making those plays. A lot of those plays I had made in the game, I had thought about them. As I had laid on the couch, I had visualized them."

Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, suggests that you practice visualization 10 minutes a day to "harness the power of your subconscious mind."

Simply close your eyes and imagine yourself excelling and being the best you. Put yourself in situations where you shine, visualizing the best possible outcome. Include as much detail in your visualizations as possible, using all of your senses and making your "training" even more powerful.

For people who have trouble closing their eyes and "seeing anything," use a pen and paper and write out how you want your day to unfold. Be as specific as possible, and be sure to keep it positive.

The purpose of all of this is to pass command from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind wants to believe what you tell it (good or bad), and it will do whatever it takes to turn those commands into reality.

4. Read a book, even if just one page at a time.

Reading books offers many science-based benefits. Reading can boost your intelligence, increase your brainpower (for up to five days, according to research conducted by Emory University), and even strengthen your ability to empathize with other people. Reading has also been found to reduce your risk of Alzheimer's by more than double -- all this while helping you feel more relaxed at the same time!

Joshua Becker, bestselling author of Simplify, has made it a goal to read a book a week, because reading makes him a better leader, increases his worldview and knowledge base, and reinforces his self-discipline.

I don't know about you, but I find it hard to find the time to read an entire book. I mean, who has hours and hours a day or week to just sit and read?

That's why I commit to reading just one chapter each day of a book of my choice. I'm in the process of reading a couple different books right now, so I just pick up the one that speaks to me the most that day and I sit and read a chapter of it. If I want to read more, I do.

By breaking the big process (reading a whole book!) into something manageable (one chapter) I am able to read about 50 books each year.

5. Make yourself accountable: Find a partner or mentor.

I have a mentor and I call him every day. Even if all I do is leave him a message, this one simple task holds me accountable. It also forces me to keep myself (and my mind) moving in a positive direction.

If you don't currently have a mentor, then think about how you could go about getting one. Or at least find someone you trust who can be your accountability partner, someone to hold you to your word. Eric "the Hip-Hop Preacher" Thomas believes that accountability partners are crucial for success, and that his accountability partners changed his life:

"The day you find someone just as passionate about your goal to hold you accountable will be the day you make your first permanent step towards success," he says.

"Making a commitment to your accountability partner about your goal will make the milestone realistically attainable."

Thomas recommends making a list of three people whom you trust and respect. Have a conversation with each of them and discuss exactly what it is that you want to accomplish. After the conversation, decide which of these individuals will serve best as an accountability partner for the specific milestone you are trying to reach.

One quick suggestion: Make sure it's a win-win situation for them as well. In the words of author Ryan Holiday:

"Bring something to the table. Anything. Quid pro quo. Even if it's just energy. Even if it's just thanks. You cannot ask and ask and not expect to give anything in return. The bigger the payoff you can offer, the longer they'll take you under their wing. Figure out what you can offer and actually give it. Here's a freebie: Find articles and books that relate to their field and pass on a recommendation and then they won't have to waste their time searching."

6. Write: Prime yourself for creativity.

Spending time writing every day helps you become a better communicator, improves your ability to recall important information, and enhances your creativity. Write in a diary format and you also have the added benefit of greater self-understanding.

One of the first things I do every morning is write Morning Pages, a practice devised by Julia Cameron that clears my mind and helps to clarify what I want out of life. To do your own Morning Pages, simply sit down and write three pages. They can be about anything you want them to be. Just write each and every day.

I also write down 10 ideas, a concept I learned from James Altucher, author of Choose Yourself. The point of this exercise is to work your brain and get your creative juices flowing. They can be big ideas (how to cure cancer) or small ones (ways get your cat to quit scratching the furniture).

They say that everyone has at least one million-dollar idea in his or her lifetime. You may just find yours on this list!

7. Make a daily to-do list.

One great way to be fully prepared for the day ahead is to make a to-do list, just like Barbara Corcoran from Shark Tank; Jim Koch, founder of Sam Adams; and Jim McCann, founder and CEO of 1-800-FLOWERS.

I plan up to six tasks that I want to complete during the day on mine, and the reason this works is twofold.

First, it helps me plan my day in a way that allows me to get the most out of it, versus just performing random tasks and hoping that they move you forward. Second, creating a to-do list keeps me on task. I know exactly what I want to get done and when, which makes it more likely that I'll do it.

Keep your daily to-do list small, so that it's manageable and not overwhelming. A great "hack" to make sure you keep your lists simple is using a Post-It Note. The dimensions of a Post-It Note are perfect (typically 3 x 3) because the size constraint will force you to only write down the most important things that you have to do each day.

You can't fit more than six items on a Post-It Note (unless you cheat and write really small -- but you won't do this, right?) and these should be your MITs (most important tasks).

Plus, when you're able to cross items off this list, it inspires you to keep going and accomplish even more.

8. Take regular breaks throughout the day.

While all of these tips are meant to help you forge ahead, sometimes you just need to step back and give your mind a break.

Taking regular breaks keeps you from getting bored and losing focus, increasing your brain's function at the same time. It also forces you to reevaluate what you're working on, ensuring that you're going in the right direction.

I've found the Pomodoro Technique to be invaluable at helping me keep my energy levels high and "forcing" me to take regular breaks. This revolutionary time management system is deceptively simple to learn, but life-changing when applied correctly. Here's a quick breakdown of how it works:

1. Choose a task (just one task at a time)
2. Set a timer for 25 minutes
3. Work on your task until the timer rings, then put a checkmark on a tracker
4. Take a five-minute break -- you just completed your first Pomodoro!
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 three more times, followed by a 15-minute break.

By utilizing this technique, I am now able to get 40 hours of work done in just 16.7 hours, all the while keeping my energy levels more stable and eliminating burnout (for the most part).

Speaking of breaks, while you're decompressing and giving your mind a chance to switch gears, why not close your eyes and catch some Z's?

According to the National Sleep Foundation a short nap of 20 to 30 minutes can help to improve your mood, alertness, and even performance. Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, and Salvador Dali were all regular nappers.

9. Break your day into chunks.

Breaking your day into chunks helps you be the best you, as too much time spent doing one thing can cause you to lose focus, and interest. And if you're working on something you don't really want to do, it makes it easier because you only have to do it for a short while.

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, is a master of this, as he sets his daily schedule in a way that doesn't keep him on the same task for very long. Here's what a "typical" day looked like for Tim a few years back:

• 10 a.m.: Breakfast
• 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Radio interviews and idea generation
• 12: Work out
• 12:30: Lunch
• 1:00 to 5: Writing (but not for the entire time)
• 5:30: Dinner
• 6:30 to 8.30: Jiu-jitsu training
• 9: Dinner
• 10: Ice bath and shower
• 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.: Relax

Some important takeaways from Tim:

• No two days are ever really the same.
• Spend as much time as possible doing what you want by maximizing output in minimal time -- this is the goal each day.
• How you use time and trade it for experience is what really matters.

Now, look at your own day, figure out how you can break it into chunks, and determine what you need to do to spend your time doing what you want to do (as much as possible).

10. Theme your workdays (and week).

Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and Square, managed both companies at the same time without getting overwhelmed. He did this by setting aside different tasks for different days of the week. Here's what it looked like:

Monday: Management

Tuesday: Products

Wednesday: Marketing and growth

Thursday: Developers and partnerships

Friday: Company culture and recruiting

Saturday: Day off

Sunday: Reflection and strategy

Even if you can't set aside full days to deal with certain issues, you can probably block off certain hours of the day to handle them (going back to breaking your day into chunks).

This can give you the time you need to make headway in those particular areas...without putting your brain on overload.

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12 Things You Should Give Up If You Want To Be Successful

The sooner you can ditch these, the better.

When it comes to "achieving success," the hardest thing for people to wrap their heads around tends to be this idea of small wins adding up to big victories. It's a whole lot easier to imagine the end goal, the big celebration, than it is each tiny step along the way it will actually take in order to get there.

But once you've walked that path, once you've seen and experienced first hand how its the small things you do, day after day after day, that lead to the end result, your thinking is forever changed. You couldn't go back if you tried. And your focus suddenly is no longer on the daydream at the end, but the little habits you can set in stone today that will lay the necessary groundwork for that destination to manifest on its own.

If you want to create positive daily habits in your life, then you're going to need to remove some negative ones to make room. The sooner you can ditch these 12 destructive habits, the faster you will find yourself on the path to success:

1. Sugar. Nothing gives you a quicker burst of energy and a quicker crash than sugar. If you are one of those people who eats a big helping of fruit for breakfast, no wonder you're chugging coffee two hours later to stay awake. Keep sugars in your diet to a minimum, and retrain your body to find energy in longer-lasting carbohydrates (like oatmeal for breakfast).

2. Short-term thinking. If you are always making decisions based on what you want right now, you will never reach whatever it is you want down the road. You have to find a balance: what you have to do in the short term, and what you ultimately want to build in the long term.

3. The belief in overnight success. This past year I accumulated over 20M views on all my writing online-and honestly that's a low estimate. A bunch of people I haven't talked to in years reached out to me and said, "Wow man! You blew up overnight!" No, it didn't happen overnight. This is almost ten years in the making. There is no such thing as overnight success. Stop daydreaming about it and start putting in the work today that will yield the result you want somewhere down the road.

4. The snooze alarm. Each night, when you set your alarm for the next morning, you are making a promise to yourself. You are saying, "I promise to wake up at this time and start my day with energy and excitement." And then your alarm goes off, you rub your eyes, look at the clock, and decide to hit snooze. You are breaking your first promise of the day before you've even gotten out of bed. Don't do that. IT's bad for morale.

5. Let go of perfectionism. At some point, no amount of editing, re-thinking, or going back to the drawing board is going to make whatever it is you're working on any better. It's far more advantageous of you to create and pump out volume. This will allow you to learn faster, and build yourself in the public domain in the process. Focus on doing the best you can, right now, and then let it go and move on to the next thing.

6. Saying "Yes" to things you don't actually want to do. Your gut is telling you No, so why aren't you listening?

7. Multi-tasking. There is no such thing as multi-tasking--this is something I write about a lot. You can truly only do one thing at a time, and by splitting your focus and trying to do two different things simultaneously, you end up doing yourself a disservice. As the old adage goes, "Chase two rabbits, lose both."

8. Coping mechanisms. With this, you have to be your own judge. Do you avoid work by sitting on your couch and scrolling endlessly through Instagram? Do you avoid thinking about things that bother you by watching Netflix? Whatever it is you "cope" with, keep a close eye on it--and if it ends up getting too in the way of your goals, ditch it.

9. Negative people. It's a simple question of whether the relationships in your life are "working" or "not working." If people are bringing unnecessary negativity into your life, then you need to re-asses your time spent with them. And if they end up doing you a disservice, then let them go.

10. Blame. Blaming other people does you no good. It is nothing more than a distraction, postponing your asking the right questions in order to effectively move forward. Instead, point the finger at yourself and look for ways you could have handled things better and how you can improve for next time.

11. Staying stuck in the "go" mentality. Too many people view time off and self reflection as a waste of time. They feel like they always need to be going or working on something. Now, I am all for goal setting and pushing yourself to become the best at whatever it is you do, but do remember the clarity that comes with self reflection. Sometimes, one step back is what you need to do in order to move five steps forward.

12. Spending unnecessary money. I'm sorry, but if you are buying tables at clubs (especially if you are still knee-deep in your building years) or using spending as a foundation for your self worth, then you are on the fast track to unhappiness. Real wealth is built through saving and investing--not blowing it as fast as you acquire it. Be a boss. Stack, invest, stack, invest. 

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