All Articles & Guides

With no other obvious culprit, we blame our exhaustion on our modestly packed schedule. Yet, when we check our maths, the numbers don’t quite add up. There’s another factor at play. We have too many open loops.

The unanswered message.
The unfolded clothes.
The unframed art.
The unwanted, still‑uncancelled toothbrush subscription.

This family of unfinished business beeps away in the background, like a ceiling full of smoke alarms with low batteries. Every loop demands a slice of attention, a sliver of guilt, and carries a haunting worry that we’re falling behind.

At a glance Based on the reader question: What does the state of my home actually say about me when I’m barely coping? By separating capacity from character, you’ll see that messy rooms, dishes and mould are signs of overload, not moral failure Learn a simple way to...

At a glance Based on the question: Is there a sane way to decide what to keep, cut, and delegate when I’m burnt out and everything feels like too much? By mapping your life into a simple Energy/Money matrix, you can see which habits and tasks to protect, prioritise,...

Is there a way to get through the more miserable tasks on my to-do list?

The importance of using self-control to reign in our impulses is often overstated. Pop psychology has spread this myth by misinterpreting The Marshmallow Test. We’ll debunk The Marshmallow Test by using new research to show how impulse control is relatively unimportant when predicting positive educational outcomes after socioeconomic factors are taken into account.

How can I stop procrastinating before bed? It’s turning me into a zombie during the day, but breaking the habit is hard.

The quality of our feelings affects the quality of our thinking. How we feel, however, based on an increasing wealth of clinical studies, is a skill. We can, far more than we might expect, direct our mood to overcome challenges like procrastination, anxiety, short attention spans and a lack of motivation.

When problem-solving, how do I make sense of new topics efficiently?

When reading heavy academic texts at university, I find myself getting lost trying to follow the author’s argument. Any tips on how to be found?

Whenever I try to sleep, my mind decides to start solving problems and listing all the things I have to do tomorrow. When I wake up, all that energy is gone and I struggle to get started. Any advice?

Exams always make me incredibly nervous because I’m always unsure if what I’ve been revising is actually going to come up. Do you have any advice on how to overcome this? And could you add some hints on how to get 100% in an exam?

Doing things from home has made me an awful procrastinator. Some times I just start at the ceiling and then I panic because I’ve left everything until the deadline. How can I kick this bad habit?

I keep procrastinating and get anxious about all the work piling up as the days go by. Do you have any recommendations for how to get started instead of feeling stuck?

How do I balance my time across everything I have to work on? I’m currently studying A Level Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Geography. I usually spend too much time on one, so the others suffer.

Can we talk about memory? I’ve been disheartened by the constant feeling that I have a sieve brain, and wondered how you made things stick at Oxford?

When trying to not get distracted, do you have a recommend phone setup?

What’s the best way to learn something? I know there are many ways, but if you had to choose one, what would it be?

What’s the best way to stay motivated and not get distracted?