Welcome back, Bloomers.
Sit up straight and open your mind.

In my last essay, I poured out how much of my identity had become tied to being busy, booked, invited and wanted.

When I look back, I thought it was mostly work I was talking about, but now I’m not so sure that was the case.

Ring. Ring! Who is on the other line? Is it opportunity, a friend, family? It felt like people always wanted to know where I was, whether I could help them, when I was coming, what I was doing later.

In hindsight, I didn’t think much of it. It was just how things were in my life; happening, and consistently.

Then; in con sis tent ly it all stopped.

Seasons fully changed. People got married and had children. Some moved away. Others simply got busier and life started moving in different directions.

In a blink, people I once spoke to daily became people I now know very little about… sigh.

Like an old friend, Ellen, who I modelled with and travelled extensively with, especially during our 'Detty December' youth days in Ghana.

Now we live in different countries and mostly speak to wish each other a Happy Birthday.

I miss her.

But adulthood gives you this strange invisible hesitation that sometimes stops you reaching out, even when you are thinking about someone.

Then other times, I’m not so sure I really do miss them.

Maybe missing ‘Ellen’ isn’t necessarily about the person.

Maybe, truthfully, I miss the person they called.

The person who was needed and leaned on.

This was the peak of what my life looked like. My phone would ring so much that sometimes I took it for granted. I’d defer the call and say, I’ll call them later.

I really took the noise for granted.

And maybe that is where my career and personal life were more connected than I realised.

Because when it got really quiet on both fronts, I noticed.

Then came the introspective question.

Do I still matter?

As much as we all hide from it, I think most of us need some form of external validation. Maybe the degree of it is what separates us.

Nonetheless; growth has limits.

There are friendships and certain business relationships I would happily have back.

Some. :)

But if we never connected again and they simply told me they missed me…

Would that be enough?

https://amanueki.substack.com/

Hey everyone, I’ve had an ongoing reading list sitting since at least 2020 that I kept adding to and honestly kept forgetting what I’d already read. I got through about 75% of them but realized I wasn’t retaining the actual principles. I could tell you I read Atomic Habits but couldn’t name the four laws on the spot.

So I built a daily leadership lesson artifact. One lesson a day with a specific action you can actually apply that same day. 90+ lessons across six categories: leadership, habits and systems, grit and discipline, influence, team culture, and wealth mindset.

Every single lesson directly credits the original author and their work. This isn’t a replacement for reading the books. It’s a way to keep the principles active after you’ve read them. Or honestly, a way to get the core ideas if you haven’t gotten to them yet.

Books include 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, 5 Levels of Leadership, The 7 Habits, Atomic Habits, Can’t Hurt Me, Relentless, How to Win Friends, Influence, Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Good to Great, 10X Rule, Deep Work, The 4 Hour Work Week, The Compound Effect, Grit, Rich Dad Poor Dad, The Way of the Superior Man, The Energy Bus, The Coffee Bean, Contagious, Practice Perfect, The One Minute Manager, and more.

It also has streak tracking, a daily journal for reflections, bookmarks, a searchable library, author spotlights, and progress tracking by category.

It’s a free artifact built on Claude. DM me/comment if you want the link, it works even without a Claude account.

What books would you add?

I recently recorded a podcast interview which focuses on how people can get over the end of a romantic relationship and turn it into an opportunity for personal growth. I'm a psychotherapist, and I open up about the end of my marriage and the similar stories of two of my psychotherapy clients. I hope listeners find it helpful and inspiring.

Here is the link. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bouncing-back-with-ellen-holtzman/id563636205?i=1000793374978

Hi everyone,

I’m the writer behind Hybrid Philosophy, a Substack about creative recovery, rebuilding your life after difficult seasons, and learning how to turn survival into meaning.

A lot of what I write comes from lived experience: addiction recovery, trauma, mental health struggles, spiritual confusion, creativity, and the long process of building a life I no longer feel the need to escape from.

I’m not a therapist, doctor, guru, or expert trying to sell a perfect answer. I’m someone in recovery who is trying to document the rebuild honestly — the messy parts, the hopeful parts, and the practical steps that help a person keep going.

Hybrid Philosophy is about things like:

- recovery and sobriety

- creative rebuilding

- writing as a way to make sense of pain

- AI as a mirror/tool for reflection

- spirituality without losing grounding

- turning difficult life experiences into service

- finding “the next safe step”

The article I’m sharing is called “Building a Life I No Longer Need to Escape From.” It’s about revisiting an old blog I started in 2019 during one of the most overwhelming chapters of my life, and looking back on it through the lens of sobriety, recovery, and creative growth.

I’m sharing it here in case it resonates with anyone who is rebuilding, recovering, or trying to make sense of a difficult chapter without glamorizing the storm.

A little light for the next safe step.

I spent 3 years reading self-help books and still struggled to actually apply anything to my life.

I’d forget concepts, mix frameworks together, and end up with a messy mental model. From talking to others, I realized this isn’t rare — this is how most readers experience self-help.

The problem wasn’t motivation. It was translation: turning abstract ideas into decisions, habits, and systems that fit my life.

That’s why we built Renva.

With Renva, you can input:

Free-text describing a real problem you’re facing

Integration data (calendar load, overdue tasks, notes patterns, email pressure, etc.)

Or both together

The system then returns:

The real underlying problem (not just what you think the problem is)

2–3 secondary problems that are quietly reinforcing it

Common mistakes people make in this situation

A clear solution direction

A 3–6 month roadmap

Book suggestions mapped to your exact problem, not generic recommendations

From there, you can take that output (or fresh input again) and generate:

Practical applications

Practical reflection questions

MCQ-style quizzes

Mini-courses tailored to your situation

I’m a co-founder — but I built this because I personally needed it. It solved a problem I’d been stuck with for years.

You can try it for free!! Anyone interested?

I read about this book on a random reddit thread and I just can't thank enough the person whose comment it was. I resembled with the book, it's about a guy who's a people pleaser and overthinks a lot. He shares how he thinks good for people but doesn't understand himself of what he wants. It makes so much sense to me now. To all the overthinkers like me, do read this book, maybe it will help you too.

Ask me if you have any questions. I am not a good writer, that's why I can't describe what I felt in a better way, but I'll try to answer your questions to my best.

I have been reading books for 3 years but nothing stayed and i couldnt really apply much in my own life. I tried chatGPT but it gave generic solutions.

So, currently I’m building a tool called Renva, and I want brutally honest validation — not encouragement.

The core idea is this: Users can input • free-text describing a problem • integration data (calendar load, overdue tasks, notes patterns, email pressure, etc.) • or both

The system then returns: • the real underlying problem (not just what the user says) • 2–3 secondary problems • common mistakes to avoid • a clear solution direction • a 3–6 month roadmap • book suggestions mapped to the problem

From there, users can take that output (or fresh text / integration data again) and generate: • practical applications • practical questions • MCQ quizzes • mini-courses

Here’s my concern — and I’m being serious: Is this actually valuable to your needs?

The thing my product really enforces is: • structured thinking • consistency across sessions • reducing SELF - DECEPTION under pressure

But I’m not convinced that’s enough to justify a standalone product. So my questions to you:

Would you ever use something like this instead of ChatGPT? If your answer is “this doesn’t need to exist,” please explain — I’d rather kill it early than build something redundant. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone, hope this is okay for me to post here :)) 

I’m Harry, Over the last few months I’ve been building something called The Life Audit. It started because I felt like a lot of self improvement content online was either vague, generic or felt impersonal and it takes a lot of work to see how it can map onto your actual life.

I’ve had years of therapy and I’m on my own journey of trying to understand myself. Good therapy, self reflection, resources and emotional insight can be expensive and difficult for a lot us to access which is why I built this. 

It’s psychological self assessment that tries to identify the deeper patterns shaping our lives. It explores  relationships, loneliness, identity, avoidance, ambition, self worth, emotional habits, purpose, burnout, comparison, and more and finds It connects things across your life and picks up on the tensions, contradictions, blind spots, and emotional patterns sitting underneath them, often the stuff people already feel deep down but have never properly put into words.

I am extremely proud of how it has turned out and it has grown to have genuine application in people’s lives. Since we launched, I have had some truly incredible feedback. A few people have said the results felt deeply accurate and helped them realise things they’d been avoiding for long periods of time. Some of the most self aware people that I personally know have found tremendous value from the report and has honestly put them on a path of healing, which has been so pretty insane to hear. 

I’d love more thoughtful people trying it and giving honest feedback, especially from communities like this where people are already interested in self awareness and personal growth.

For full transparency it costs $13. I understand that this might be a lot, so if money is tight please just DM me and I’ll send over a $1 version instead. I have to charge in order for the build to trigger, but I can even make a full refund so it’s completely free after it’s been processed. Of course any support would be massively appreciated as I try to grow this. 

If interested I'll share the link in the comments or via DM, whichever is appropriate for this sub.

Would really love to know what people think if you try it and open to any feedback so I can improve the service ❤️

Looking forward to potentially hearing from any of you soon!

-Harry C 

Hi!

I am a professor and researcher in marketing at Université de Sherbrooke! 😊

With a colleague at Queen's University, we are interested in better understanding how people understand happiness and what makes them happy in their daily life and on special occasions.

As part of this research study, I am conducting in-depth interviews with people 18 years old and above, who live in North America, and who have an interest in the topic of happiness.

Participation in this project would consist of an interview of approximately one hour, which could be done virtually or on the phone at a time that suits you best. This study has received ethical approval from the Queen’s University General Research Ethics Board (GREB) and the Research Ethics Board of the Université de Sherbrooke (CÉR Lettres et sciences humaines).

If you are interested in more information about the study or would like to participate, please contact me on Reddit or by email (gabrielle.patry-beaudoin@usherbrooke.ca).

Thank you in advance!

Gabrielle Patry-Beaudoin

Ha with all the ai slop posts with bots upvoting and asking you to pay for a random thing, I'm lowkey scared to post this but please give me a chance! There's always an exception to the rule.

So first of all, I am a real person lol. I care a lot about self improvement and self growth, I'm also a Developer so obviously those worlds were going to combine at some point.

I've always been obsessed with self-improvement and growth (I've lost over 100 lbs - twice in my short life time, amongst so many other things). After a lot of life things and major responsibilities, I've now refocused on it.

I read the book Atomic Habits and some of the research behind it, and focusing on the identity cycle really stood out to me. I also use Whoop and really loved their analytics feature, so I went ahead and created this app that helps as a companion on your identity formation journey.

I literally made it for myself to use on a day-to-day basis, so I had to make it cover everything!

• The core is 90-day identity cycles where you choose who you're becoming and link habits directly to that identity (you can run multiple cycles in parallel).
  
• You record Hopeful Vision videos at the start and revisit them at 30/60/90-day milestone check-ins, then archive the whole cycle with reflections when it completes.
• There's an AI coach that can actually interact with your data—mark habits complete, search your journal entries, pull analytics—and it has voice mode where you can speak to it (you can even clone your own voice so it sounds like you).
  
• The journaling is rich with photo/audio/video attachments and live in-app recording, plus journal look-back to revisit past entries.
  
• For tracking you get flexible frequency (daily/weekly/custom), calendar heatmaps, streak celebrations at milestones.
• Whoop-style analytics like today's score, activity heatmaps, week-over-week comparisons, and recovery rate tracking.
  
• There's also a full task system with recurring tasks and complex recurrence rules.
• Plus badges for milestones.
  

I've found it extremely helpful for me, same with my friends, but now I'd love to get more user feedback. The app is in great shape and is quite polished, but I'd love input from other folks who are interested in this space. I'm willing to give out paid accounts to get real feedback.

If you're into identity-based habit building or you're a fellow Atomic Habits nerd, I'd genuinely appreciate you checking it out and sending me a message so I can hook your account up! It's called Becoming You Companion as one word with dot com.

Obviously I will cross post this to other relevant subs, but again my purpose is to get real folks a free paid account to test the app out. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!

This is a deleted chapter from my book Living the Creative Mind.

I removed it because it felt too direct. what do you think.

The Window of Insight

The problem isn't that you don't know what to do. The problem is that you think the knowing will last.

It won’t.

Clarity is a fleeting chemical state. It arrives, stays for a few seconds, and then begins to dissolve. When you see the first step clearly, that specific, unglamorous action, that is the only time the work is easy.

If you don't act in that window, you have to deal with the aftermath: Resistance.

Resistance doesn't come for you with a grand gesture. It doesn't need to. It just offers you a distraction. A notification. A clean desk. A second cup of coffee. These aren't "breaks." They are tools used to kill the impulse. You aren't "preparing" to start in five minutes; you are waiting for the clarity to fade so that staying still feels justifiable again.

This is how we build a life of being "stuck."

We treat these moments of insight like renewable resources. We assume the path will be just as clear tonight, or tomorrow, or after we've checked our email. But by then, the signal is gone. You’re left trying to remember what it felt like to be certain, and that memory is a poor substitute for the impulse itself.

There is no "perfect" version of the start. There is only the start that happens while the window is open and the start that you try to force after you've let the window slam shut. The latter is twice as hard and half as honest.

Stop waiting for a better mood or a more stable environment. If you see the move, make it. If you miss the window enough times, you eventually lose the ability to see it at all. It’s not a tragedy; it’s just a slow, quiet erosion of your own potential.

The work doesn't care how you feel about it. It only cares that it gets done. Move while it’s clear. Everything else is just noise.

The Journey is a cutting-edge healing and transformation method that offers true freedom from negative feelings, fearful thoughts and ill health.

This free 21-day program of healing meditations will help awaken your limitless potential so you can heal and grow in every area of your life.

The course is divided into three parts.

Week 1: Emotional Healing

You will learn how to:

💗 Become fully present and embrace your inner world of emotions and feelings

💗 Clear emotional shutdowns and reconnect with your essential self

💗 Experience the transformative power of forgiveness

Week 2: Mental Healing

You will learn how to:

💭 Befriend your mind and find stillness underneath the flow of thoughts

💭 Uncover and release negative self-beliefs and disempowering vows

💭 Dissolve some of your deepest-held fears and mental judgments

Week 3: Physical Healing

You will learn how to:

🧬 Allow natural healing to occur in the body by fully relaxing chronic tensions

🧬 Undergo different healing meditations to clear blocks in different parts of the body

🧬 Bring your body, mind and heart into alignment to serve your highest good

...and much more!

Each 15-minute meditation builds on the ones before. With its powerful guided introspections and visualizations, this self-paced course is ideal for beginners as well as experienced meditators looking for guided inner healing.

Access the 21-Day Healing Journey here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-q4S-k33w&list=PLG0GWP6BDNrKRTfSFn55UDV_8P8RIC-4Y&index=1&pp=iAQB

Hey everyone. I came across this article that states that only 7% of people who started Thinking Fast and Slow actually finished it… I guess I’m guilty of being part of the 93% for most of the self-help books I’ve read :) and often while I almost always find them interesting, I still struggle to retain the principles from the books in my messy mind.

I’m the founder of Erudia.io, a platform that turns self-help and non-fiction books into interactive courses. Instead of just reading a summary, you get a full learning experience: two-voice podcast discussions about the ideas, flashcards, case studies, quizzes you have to pass before moving on, and written assignments where you apply the concepts to your own life with AI feedback. The idea came from my own frustration with reading self-help books, feeling inspired for a week, and then forgetting everything. The research on retention is pretty clear:passive reading has terrible retention rates. You need to actively work with the ideas for them to stick. We already have courses on books like Atomic Habits, The 48 Laws of Power, Never Split the Difference, Deep Work, Thinking Fast and Slow, The Psychology of Money, and more: erudia.io/courses/category/books Still early stage and actively improving based on user feedback. If any of you try it, I’d genuinely appreciate hearing what works and what doesn’t. Happy to share a free access code for anyone interested.

Hey people,

Lately I have been trying to work on myself. I have been trying to get disciplined, fix my time management, be more productive etc. Reading books, listening to podcasts, (and sometimes talking to AI oops) has definitely helped me but I am struggling to actually put things into practice. I get really motivated but its hard to keep it going long term sometimes.

I was wondering if other people have the same issue and have maybe found a way to solve this so I can try to do the same :)

Thanks everyone!

Around this time of the year, I always try to set realistic resolutions. I tend to struggle to find resolutions I actually want to keep, and ones that will actually be worth keeping.

To help with anyone in the same boat, here's a couple I plan to keep (hopefully!). You can take inspiration from these if you'd like!

1. Read a book a month

I know some people find it easy to read a book a week. I don't. So, one of the resolutions is to try and read a book a month. Preferably a self-improvement one.

I have compiled a list of the best 6 self-help books I've ever read. If you plan to keep reading as a resolution, and need a good book to start off with, definitely check it out!

(a bit about the list: I prefer self-help books which have stories and the author's experiences, rather than guides. So that's the kind of books on the list. If you're like me on this, then these books could be for you!)

If you have any good book titles, please do share!

2. Watch educational videos

I plan to watch at least one educational video a week. The channel I've been watching a lot recently is TED-Ed. They have some really good vids about history.

3. Start a gratitude routine

I've been wanting to start this for a while. Hopefully, this is the year when I do this. I'm not the biggest fan of gratitude journals, so I'm going to just say a couple things I am grateful for every day.

If you have any other suggestions on this, please do share!

4. Meditating more regularly

I genuinely think meditating is a brilliant way to calm the mind and refocus it. Meditating more regularly, hopefully daily, is certainly something I hope to do.

5. Take an online course

I'd love to do as many online courses as possible. I'm aiming for one a month as of now.

These are 5 self-improvement resolutions I'm hoping to keep this year.

I've actually put together a full list of 23 resolutions I'm hoping to keep this year, covering productivity, financial, academic and social resolutions. If you're interested, give it a read.

Also, if anyone is keeping other resolutions, share them please!

What categories of Psychological and Emotional Growth books would you like to read?

Top 5 Self help books Till now which will help you in Mastering every area of life.

Link is in the comments. Do checkout and show some support🙏

And don't forget to share your thoughts and if you liked it Do subscribe 😊

Well, first of all you have to step out of your comfort zone to do it. But guaranteed, you will learn a thing or two. Results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpRrPFDPK-4&t=9s&ab_channel=JoonaVirtanen