The other day, I put this tweet out there, As you age, you either get cynical or wise. I’ve been thinking about wisdom and aging and I noticed that some people grow closer to the most important people in their lives as they grow older, while others...

We are all born with a fundamental drive to grow.  We all want to thrive. We all want to kick ass at life. This is innate. This is human nature. Some of us stay tuned in to this drive from the time we are young. These are the people who always knew who...

Everybody is so busy in this country it is killing us.  We wear this busyness like a badge of honor and we don’t even realize it. Busy busy busy. You have to be busy because everybody else is so busy. It’s kinetic. It’s mimetic. Or maybe it’s just the...

People make things too complicated and the costs can be very high in terms of time, energy, headaches, unforced errors etc. This all begins with a false truth – the world is complicated – which leads to a false conclusion – solutions must...

Today marks five years since I’ve used alcohol or drugs. I am forever grateful to my wife and two boys. Here are five things I’ve learned so far. 1. I will never be a drinker or drug user again.  It’s over. I’m good with it. I bring this up because...

I was just chatting with a former client, Bobby, and I asked him how he was doing and he said, Phil, I am bending the world to me. I loved hearing this and I even got a little verklempt.  The first time Bobby and I ever talked he said, I don’t want to...

I’ve been doing this thing for a while now where I lay off the phone and especially social media and the news during the weekends. I call this Digital Intermittent Fasting and I’m really just riffing off the concept of intermittent fasting where you only...

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of weight gain season for adults in the US. Here’s an image from NEJM that I shared last year in a post called The Seasonality of Weight Gain that tells the tale. It even has the vertical line delineating US Thanksgiving....

I tweak this post annually and I think it’s a strong resource for readers. This year, I’m publishing it a little earlier than usual and I think that’s an improvement too, because it gives readers more time to prepare practically and to get their mindset...

Good morning everybody! I am excited to share that I have launched a new podcast called Pearl Institute Presents. I named it that, because it shares the mission of my business (and this newsletter), which is to inspire people to make profound improvements...