Why I write terrible headlines about how to live your purpose

There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence and A/B testing that shows what words work in headlines.

Words like ‘new’, ‘discover(y)’, ‘scientific’, ‘latest’…

Because people want the cutting edge. They want to beat everyone else to the next big thing.

I know I do.

But I tend to avoid using those words in my headlines. Not always, of course… just less than what others in this industry might do.

It’s not deliberate. I just find myself using other words, like ‘ancient’ and ‘proven’. Because I think we’ve all bled on the cutting edge at some stage.

There’s a lot of exciting research going on. At the same time, there’s a lot of exciting wisdom buried in the past. There’s an idea which I think I stole from Taleb which goes, the older a problem, the older the solution.

So if you want to know how to be a good parent, citizen or spouse, read the oldest texts and see what they say.

And if you want to lead a fulfilling life of purpose, then you can imagine what the oldest books say on that:

Be true to yourself.

Be of genuine service to others.

It’s good advice, not matter what century it is.

And if you want some truly ancient, timeless solutions, then I’d point you towards meditation. It survived the millennia, sprouted at every corner of the world and took the West by storm for darn good reasons.

What if you’ve struggled with meditation before?

Or find the way it’s taught frustrating?

I get it.

Which is why I wrote my own guide for people like us:

https://amzn.to/2Pe0jVN