Last week I took a book out of my local library on a whim that was called Do Good Lives Have To Cost The Earth? and, so far at least, I’ve found it to contain some very intriguing ideas. In a nutshell, the book is a collection of writings from a diverse mix of people about climate change. What really got my attention though was about how this was tied into the whole idea of living a good life, dismissing common notions on what that actually means and, in particular, providing an often vicious indictment of how the pursuit of our current ad-driven consumer/hedonistic notion of what a good life is, is damaging not only to the planet but ourselves.

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One of my favorite shows ever has to be House. Such is my love for the man that is Gregory House M.D. that when the fifth series finally started here in the UK last week, I went all fanboy-ish. Last year I wrote four life lesson you could learn from him. Unlike certain new shows that shall remain nameless, he doesn’t come across as (almost) flawless. On top of liking his painkillers, being anti-social and arrogant, he also gets it wrong more often than not. It’s easy to forget this fact, but in the process of curing his patients every week, he probably mis-diagnoses a good 90% of the time. But he’s not afraid to do it.

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Productivity has long since moved on from being about to-do lists and GTD to being almost a way of living. Basically, it’s about being organized, systematic and efficient in what you do and how you live, whether that be with coping when you feel down or – in the case of this post – learning from and resolving mistakes. I’ve often found that I learn more from getting something wrong than from anything a textbook or a bunch of lectures can give me. So why not apply a productive mindset to the experience and make the most of it? Below I’ve detailed my five steps to dealing with mistakes the productive way. Love to read your thoughts on this one!

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Priorities in life don’t just come out of thin air. They are influenced by an whole bunch of elements, circumstances and lifestyle choices, such as your financial situation and your age. For instance, an eighteen year old student with a weekend job is going to have an whole different set of priorities than a thirty year old married person with kids who is area manager in a large company. When it comes to identifying the priorities in life a good place to start is with these six elements discussed below. Where do you fit with each one? How have these circumstances effected the way you think about things? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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We all have ups and downs in life, that’s part of being human and something we can’t change (and arguably wouldn’t even want to if we could). It can frankly suck when we feel down and unhappy, but without these dips we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the highs in life, or indeed have the motivation to reach for these highs in the first place. While we can’t level out our emotional rollercoasters, I’ve found there are plenty of things you can do to make sure those dips and drops aren’t quite so severe. All it takes is a proactive and productive approach to the problem. Below are the six main habits I’ve adopted to achieve just that.

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