Marc and Angel Hack Life

40 Incredible Life Experiences You Will Never Forget

02.26.2020 by Marc Chernoff // 16 Comments

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
— Albert Einstein

The older we grow, the more peaceful and grateful we become. Life humbles us gradually as we age. We realize how much nonsense we have wasted time on. And we begin to feel the peace that flows from our decision to rise above the petty drama and distractions that don’t really matter.

I was reminded of this today after reading the opening lines of an email from a seasoned “Think Better, Live Better 2020” digital ticket attendee named Mary Ann. She gave me full permission to share her words with you…

“Today I am celebrating my 90th birthday. I’ve seen the world change many times over. It’s amazing how much progress we’ve made. When I was a child there was no such thing as a television, and now I’m online typing this on a touchscreen tablet my grandson bought me for my birthday. This ride we call ‘life’ is amazing! It’s something worth appreciating every day.”

The rest of her email discusses the ups and downs of her 90-year journey, and how she perceives life as being like an “ongoing jigsaw puzzle” we never quite complete. “It’s crazy how some pieces randomly go missing, and then other pieces you didn’t even know existed fit so perfectly in the empty spaces,” she says. “We just have to do our best to not let our own negativity get the best of us.”

Mary Ann’s words of wisdom remind me that there will always be ups and downs in life, but ultimately, at the end of the day, that’s what makes each of us who we are. Which is why you have to learn to accept both the good and the bad that falls on your plate with grace. Because everything in life happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at the right moment, neither too soon nor too late. For everything you lose, you gain something else. And for everything you gain, you lose something else. You don’t have to appreciate it, but it’s just easier if you do.

So, pay attention to your outlook on life. Every day you can either regret or rejoice; it’s your choice. When you choose the latter, life opens doors to amazing experiences you will likely remember forever. Here are 40 such experiences… [Read more…]

4 “Notes to Self” that Will Stop You from Taking Today for Granted

02.17.2020 by Angel Chernoff // 24 Comments

“May you actually live every day of your life.”
— Jonathan Swift

I recently received an email from a young “Think Better, Live Better 2020” digital ticket attendee named Kaarina that nearly brought me to tears. And after exchanging a few heartfelt replies back and forth with her, she graciously gave me permission to share the opening lines of her initial email:

“I’m dying of cancer (Lymphoma) at age 21. I was sent home from the hospital for my final weeks over 32 weeks ago. But now I’m back at the hospital being treated again, because my doctors believe there is renewed hope.”

Right now it seems a miracle is taking place in Kaarina’s life. I pray this miracle continues to transpire. And I’m also grateful for the reminder Kaarina has given me. Our lives are fleeting, and the best day to fight for the right to live is today — by taking small, positive steps forward on a purposeful path.

Truth be told, everything you want to do takes daily practice. Whether it means learning to dance by practicing dancing or learning to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each case, it’s about [Read more…]

7 Hard Things You Should Do for Yourself When You Don’t Feel Good Enough

02.06.2020 by Marc Chernoff // 23 Comments

You are enough. You have enough. You do enough. Breathe deep… let go, and just live right now in the moment.

Angel and I coach a number of students, 2-on-1 and in small groups — and pretty much every one of them is hard on themselves in some way. There’s this underlying feeling of stress and pain driven by disappointed in themselves, anger at themselves, or constantly believing they are inadequate.

Can you relate to this? I think most of us can.

This is a fundamental problem that most of us face, every single day. We don’t love significant aspects of ourselves. We beat ourselves up. We are frightened of uncertainty because we don’t think we’re good enough to handle it. We don’t trust ourselves, because we’ve formed a negative understanding of ourselves over the years. We get angry at ourselves for eating the wrong things, consuming too much alcohol, making mistakes in a social situations, getting distracted and watching Netflix or playing games on our phone, and so it goes. We are incredibly harsh on ourselves, and don’t like how we look or who we are, and it haunts us from the inside out.

Our feelings of self-doubt affects everything we do. It makes us more stressed, less happy, anxious, depressed, stuck, procrastinating, less present in relationships, less focused, more likely to reach for comfort foods or distraction or mindless shopping to comfort ourselves from the stress and pain of being who we are.

But if we could give ourselves [Read more…]

10 Little Habits that Wreck Thousands of Lives One Day at a Time

01.29.2020 by Angel Chernoff // 14 Comments

In a culture that seeks quick results, we must learn the beauty of effort, patience, and perseverance.

Have you ever told yourself that you’re going to make something happen and then nothing happened? All details aside, it’s because you didn’t have the right habits in place—the little things you do every day that build up to something bigger.

Habits define you. All the results in your life come from your daily habits.

If you’re out of shape and overweight, you have different habits than someone who’s physically fit. If you’re fit, you jump out of bed early every morning and sweat before preparing a healthy breakfast. If you’re out of shape, you sleep in and eat whatever is fastest and easiest.

This may be a bit of a generalization, but it’s not far from the truth for the average able-bodied person.

In all walks of life, you don’t become an overnight success. You become successful over time from all the little things you do one day at a time.

Failure occurs in the same way. All your little daily failures (that you don’t learn and grow from) come together and cause you to fail…

You fail to check the books.
You fail to make the calls.
You fail to listen to your customers.
You fail to innovate.
You fail to do what must be done.

And then one day you wake up and your business has failed. It was all the little things you did or didn’t do along the way—your daily habits—not just one catastrophic event.

Let this be your wake-up call.

YOUR LIFE IS YOUR BUSINESS!

YOUR HABITS ARE YOUR BUSINESS!

So today, let’s discuss some super-common habits Marc and I have seen plaguing thousands [Read more…]

1 Thing You Should Know About Our Uncertain Reality

01.26.2020 by Marc Chernoff // 16 Comments

In the mid-1950’s, the leaders of Thailand decided to build a new highway into their largest city, Bangkok. The highway would pass through an area with relatively low population density where an old broken-down temple stood. The government purchased the property rights to the old temple and the surrounding grounds, and agreed to let a few local monks move a 500-year-old white stucco statue of Buddha to a safer location.

The stucco Buddha was absolutely immense in size and weight. It stood nearly 11 feet tall, with a 6-foot circumference, and weighed in at nearly 15,000 pounds. So the local monks worked with the government leaders to arrange for a large crane and transport to safely move the stucco Buddha from the old temple grounds to a new home on the other side of the city.

A couple weeks later, when the crane was actually in the process of moving the stucco Buddha, it was clear that everyone involved had miscalculated the statue’s weight and fragility. At one point, a turbulent wind gust forced the crane operator to bring the stucco Buddha back down to the ground with a hard thud. The massive idol cracked open in several places the moment it hit the ground, and the local monks screamed and pleaded for all crane operations to be halted for the day. Then, tarps were placed over the cracked statue to protect it from ensuing turbulent winds.

That evening, one of the monks was still very disturbed and couldn’t sleep a wink. So he put on his windbreaker and returned to the stucco Buddha with a lantern. He wanted to evaluate the damage to his sacred and holy idol. As he peered under one of the tarps and through a crack in the stucco, he noticed something odd buried several inches beneath the surface of the statue.

He picked up a mallet that the crane operator had left on the job site, and carefully chipped away at [Read more…]