Writer Kevin Kelly said, “What you do on your bad days matters more than what you do on your good days.”
The reason is simple: nothing truly worthwhile can be created in a single day. But it’s often the case that we can undo the good work of many days with a single blow—a marriage, family finances, your health, your job, your life.
- It’s easier to break trust than to build it.
- It’s easier to fall out of shape than to get back in shape.
- It’s easier to spend carelessly in a single night than to earn the paycheck of the week.
- You can be honest with your partner for six days, but dishonesty on the seventh can put you in the category of liars.
It’s an asymmetric disadvantage.
It’s easier to destroy and cause misery with a single moment of irrationality and lack of self-control.
Sometimes, sticking to a good habit when you don’t feel like it is asking a lot. But what isn’t asking too much is simply avoiding actions that destroy your chance to get back up and return to what truly matters to you.
Looking back, I can see moments in my life when, unfortunately, my reaction to frustration was to burn everything down 🙁
I’m sure you, too, have been so overwhelmed by desperation that you thought,
… “TO HELL WITH EVERYTHING.”
That’s exactly where I found myself when I couldn’t see how to make progress or felt completely emotionally unsettled.
For example, I remember being so frustrated with a school essay in middle school that, in a split second, I impulsively deleted all my work. Maybe it was an act of revenge, resentment, or anger, but it was not my present self who paid the price… It is our future self who have to deal with the consequences of such an irrational urge.
The Dalai Lama says, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”
What if we applied the same logic to ourselves on rough days!!
- If we can’t do anything productive, what if we just avoided creating more misery than necessary?
- If our family or organization is struggling, what if we made sure not to be an extra obstacle for those trying to make things better?
We all find ourselves exasperated with life from time to time, so it’s dramatically important never to do anything too damaging to repair:
Never risk wiping out your family’s finances, no matter how promising the upside!
Similarly, if you’ve been lucky enough never to pay the price for repeatedly doing something reckless, don’t bet you’ll always get away with it.
Like driving drunk without having an accident—thinking it’s proof of how well you drive!
The only way to secure constant and never-ending improvement is to avoid putting yourself in danger of being permanently taken out of the game you’re playing.
About the author of this blog
Santi Coach
After a decade of relentless striving, he stepped away to ask a difficult question: Would there ever be a clear definition of “enough”? The absence of a clear answer marked the beginning of an extraordinary realization.
Now, Santi helps clients achieve results they haven’t been able to reach on their own—while reminding them that fulfillment must be found along the way, even in the midst of incompleteness and imperfection.
Many of his clients come to him feeling stuck in the endless pursuit of “more”—more attention, more money, more muscle, more recognition, more talent. Santi supports them in learning to embrace life as it is—right here, right now—as a necessary step toward moving forward with greater clarity, appreciation, and purpose.
Copyright © 2025 Santiago Barragan Noguera. All rights reserved.
Thanks for reading!
Did you like the content you just read? You can help me spread these ideas by sharing this blog post through your social media channels or sending it to your friends.
How Not to Age – Michael Greger
Dr. Michael Greger argues that adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet combined with lifestyle modifications can slow down aging and prevent age-related diseases. The book emphasizes that chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers are...
Psych – Paul Bloom
Paul Bloom’s Psych explores the intricacies of the human mind by synthesizing findings from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. The book presents a broad overview of how mental processes—such as thinking, emotions, memory, and perception—shape human experience....
A Brief History of Intelligence – Max Bennett
Max Bennett argues that understanding the evolutionary development of human intelligence is essential to advance artificial intelligence (AI). He traces the billion-year journey of intelligence across five key evolutionary breakthroughs that shaped the human brain,...
Caste – Isabel Wilkerson
Isabel Wilkerson argues that caste systems are rigid social hierarchies based on perceived inherent differences, which stratify individuals into unchanging ranks of superiority and inferiority. These systems are deeply embedded in societies like India, Nazi Germany,...
The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully – Frank Ostaseski
In The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully, Frank Ostaseski explores how understanding and accepting death can help us lead more meaningful, compassionate, and fulfilling lives. The book uses his experiences as a Zen hospice...
Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life – Morgan Housel
Morgan Housel argues that while many aspects of life and society are constantly changing, fundamental human behaviors and principles remain the same. Recognizing these constants can help individuals better navigate the complexities of the future without being...
Enlightenment Now – Steven Pinker: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Steven Pinker argues that the values of the Enlightenment—reason, science, and humanism—have led to remarkable progress in human well-being across a range of dimensions, such as life expectancy, health, prosperity, safety, knowledge, and happiness. Despite widespread...
The Inner Reality: Jesus, Krishna, and the Way of Awakening – Paul Brunton
Paul Brunton argues that spiritual awakening is a universal quest that transcends religious traditions and philosophies. He emphasizes the inner experience of divinity as the ultimate goal, achievable through self-realization, meditation, and an understanding of...
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World – Steven Johnson
Steven Johnson argues that key innovations in history often have unintended ripple effects that shape societies in profound and unpredictable ways. These breakthroughs, which he terms “hummingbird effects,” lead to downstream consequences that influence fields far...
Your Brain Is a Time Machine – Dean Buonomano
Dean Buonomano argues that the human brain is fundamentally designed to perceive, interpret, and navigate time. It does this by reconstructing the past, processing the present, and predicting the future. The book explores how our perception of time is not only a...
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain – David Eagleman
The book argues that much of what we think, feel, and do is governed by unconscious processes beyond our conscious awareness. The brain operates like a “team of rivals,” where different regions compete and collaborate, often without our conscious mind being in...
Leading a Worthy Life: Finding Meaning in Modern Times – Leon Kass
Leon R. Kass argues that leading a “worthy life” involves pursuing a deeper sense of meaning and purpose rooted in enduring moral, cultural, and philosophical traditions. Kass critiques the modern emphasis on personal autonomy, technological progress, and consumerism,...
Religion for Atheists – Alain De Botton
Alain de Botton argues that while atheism rejects the supernatural claims of religion, there is much to learn from the practices, rituals, and community structures of religions. These elements address human needs for connection, meaning, and moral guidance in ways...
The Status Game: On Social Position And How We Use It – Will Storr
In The Status Game, Will Storr argues that human beings are profoundly driven by the pursuit of social status. This drive is a fundamental aspect of human psychology that shapes much of our behavior, from individual ambitions to societal norms and conflicts. Storr...
In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom– Yeonmi Park
The central argument of In Order to Live is a powerful testimony against the North Korean regime, exposing its oppressive systems and the harsh realities of life under totalitarian rule. Yeonmi Park argues that individual freedom, dignity, and human rights are...
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life – Daniel Amen
Dr. Daniel Amen argues that mental health, emotions, behaviors, and overall life satisfaction are closely tied to brain health. Through targeted brain-based strategies, people can improve mental health, control destructive behaviors, and enhance cognitive functions....
Principles for Dealing With the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail – Ray Dalio
Dalio argues that global systems move in cycles, and understanding these cycles can help individuals, businesses, and governments anticipate and navigate future crises. He suggests that we are in the midst of a significant transition marked by economic shifts,...
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language – John McWhorter
In The Power of Babel, John McWhorter argues that language is not static but continuously evolving, fragmenting, and diversifying, much like species in biological evolution. He contends that modern languages are the result of millennia of transformations,...
Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are – Robert Plomin
The central thesis of Blueprint is that DNA plays a substantial, often underestimated role in shaping who we are, from personality traits to intelligence and mental health. Plomin argues that genetic factors are not only influential but also largely stable over time,...
Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone – Sarah Jaffe
In “Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone”, Sarah Jaffe argues that modern capitalist systems have transformed work into something we are encouraged to love and be passionate about, even though work itself cannot...
Know Thyself: The New Science of Self-Awareness – Stephen Fleming
The book argues that metacognition—our ability to think about our own thinking—is a crucial element of self-awareness and human experience. Fleming posits that understanding and improving our metacognitive abilities can help us make better decisions, improve learning,...
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s central argument in Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder is that certain systems, ideas, and entities thrive and improve when exposed to volatility, uncertainty, chaos, and stressors. These “antifragile” systems not only withstand shocks...
Committed: a skeptic makes peace with marriage – Elizabeth Gilbert
In Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, Elizabeth Gilbert explores the institution of marriage from a skeptical perspective, particularly after her personal experiences with divorce. The main argument of the book is that while marriage is an often flawed...
The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great- Ben Shapiro
Ben Shapiro argues that the core values that have shaped Western civilization—rooted in Judeo-Christian ethics and Greek rational thought—are the foundation of freedom, prosperity, and moral progress. He contends that modern society is experiencing cultural and moral...
Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole – Susan Cain
Susan Cain’s central thesis is that embracing bittersweetness—feelings of sorrow, longing, and melancholy—can be transformative and healing. She challenges the cultural emphasis on relentless positivity and argues that recognizing and accepting the darker aspects of...
The Brain That Changes Itself – Norman Doidge
The main argument of The Brain That Changes Itself is that the human brain is not fixed or static, as was long believed, but rather highly adaptable and capable of changing its own structure and function throughout life—a concept known as neuroplasticity. This ability...
A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century – Heather Heying; Bret Weinstein
In A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein argue that modern society has evolved in ways that are increasingly misaligned with our biology. While humans are adapted for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, the...
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think – Hans Rosling
“Factfulness” argues that the world is in much better shape than most people think. Hans Rosling and his co-authors highlight that our perceptions of global trends are distorted by outdated thinking, emotional biases, and sensational media. Rosling believes that...
The Lessons of History – Will Durant & Ariel Durant
The Durants argue that history offers timeless lessons about human nature, civilization, and the cyclical patterns of societies. They believe that history reveals consistent patterns of progress and decline driven by human behavior, and that these patterns can help...
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men – Caroline Criado Perez
In Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, Caroline Criado Perez argues that there is a pervasive gender data gap in the world, where systems, policies, and products are predominantly designed based on data collected from men. This “male...
Think Like a Monk – Jay Shetty
In Think Like a Monk, Jay Shetty argues that adopting a monk’s mindset can help us navigate the distractions, anxieties, and challenges of modern life. By learning how to control our minds, detach from materialism, and live with purpose, we can achieve greater peace,...
Heart Breath Mind – Leah Lagos
Heart Breath Mind argues that through heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback training, individuals can improve their mental and physical health, enhance emotional regulation, and build resilience against stress. By using controlled breathing exercises, the book...
Think Again – Adam Grant
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Intelligence is traditionally viewed as the ability to think and learn. Yet in a turbulent world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn....
Getting Things Done – David Allen
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - The goal is to get things off your mind and get things done Clean psychic RAM by doing the thinking when you have the mental vitality and not when you are pushed by the pressure of the moment. Having a...
The Second Mountain – David Brooks
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - There are temporary highs we all get after we win some victory, and then there is also this other kind of permanent joy that animates people who are not obsessed with themselves but have given...
Losing Ourselves – Jay Garfield
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - The ideas that I will develop are inspired by my long engagement with two philosophers, one Indian and one Scottish: Candrakirti (c. 600-650 CE) and David Hume (1711-1776 CE). Candrakirti was a...
Linchpin – Seth Godin
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Be remarkable, be generous, Create art, Make judgments calls, connect people and ideas The competitive advantage the marketplace demands is someone more human, connected, and mature. Someone with...
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined – Steven Pinker
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Between 1976 and 2005 the average homicide rate for white Americans was 4.8, while the average rate for black Americans was 36.9. These United States. When it comes to violence, the United States is...
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – Yuval Noah Harari
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Three important revolutions shaped the course of history: the Cognitive Revolution kick-started history about 70,000 years ago. ABOUT 13.5 BILLION YEARS AGO, MATTER, energy, time and space came into...
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness – Morgan Housel
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Financial success is not a hard science. It's a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know. People from different generations, raised by different parents who earned...
The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History’s 100 Worst Atrocities – Matthew White
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Even if a general is reluctant to tell the newspapers how many men he lost in a bungled offensive, he still has to tell the accountants to drop 4,000 men from the payroll. Even if a dictator tries to...
Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity – Peter Attia
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in. —BISHOP DESMOND TUTU This is what happened to a hapless...
How I Built This – Guy Raz
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - People start businesses for all kinds of reasons. They do it to satisfy a dream or to solve a problem or to fill a void in the market. Some people want to improve on something that seems obsolete, and...
Permission to Feel
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Here are the five skills we've identified. We need to recognize our own emotions and those of others, not just in the things we think, feel, and say but in facial expressions, body language, vocal...
Possibilities – Herbie Hancock
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Improvisation - Truly being in the moment, means exploring what you don't know/ It means going into that dark room where you don't recognize things. It means going into that dark room where you don't...
Mindset – Carol Dweck
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset Your Abilities are carved in stone Qualities/abilities are cultivated through effort Every situation calls for a confirmation of intelligence, personality or character Why...
Made to Stick – Chip & Dan Heath
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Create something remarkable and put it infant of people predispose to care Create ideas with an eye to maximizing their stickiness SUCCESs • Simplicity: One sentence statement so profound that an...
Difficult Conversations – Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone, and Sheila Heen
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Three Conversations 1. The “What Happened?” Conversation Disagreement about what has happened or what should happen. Who said what and who did what? Who’s right, who meant what, and who’s to blame?...
Nonviolent Communication – Marshall Rosenberg
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - The separation between observation and evaluation (moralistic judgments, criticism, diagnosis, interpretations.) Explain the feeling and the need, not a diagnosis, interpretation, judgment, or...
How Emotions Are Made – Lisa Feldman Barrett
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - The classical view of emotion holds that we have many such emotion circuits in our brains, and each is said to cause a distinct set of changes, that is, a fingerprint. Because we experience anger,...
The Sweet Spot – Paul Bloom
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Marie Kondo became rich and famous by telling people to throw away possessions that don't spark joy, and many would see such purging as excellent life advice in general. Under the right circumstances...
The Righteous Mind – Jonathan Haidt
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Definitions of righteous, such as arising from an outraged sense of justice, morality, or fair play. The link also appears in the term self-righteous, which means convinced of one's own righteousness,...
The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel Van Der Kolk
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Refugee camp in Syria or the Congo to encounter trauma. Long after a traumatic experience is over, it may be reactivated at the slightest hint of danger and mobilize disturbed brain circuits and...
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership – Diana Chapman, Jim Dethmer, and Kaley Klemp
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - We've worked with many astounding leaders who enter midlife with broken marriages, fractured families, hardened hearts, and dreamless futures. The not enough resources belief (money, time, energy,...
Social Physics – Alex Pentland
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Have we evolved to function better as group minds rather than as individuals? It is not simply the brightest who have the best ideas; it is those who are best at harvesting ideas from others. It is not...
On Tyranny – Timothy Snyder
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Founding Fathers and contemplate the history of other democracies and republics. At the very beginning, anticipatory obedience means adapting instinctively, without reflecting, to a new situation....
Leonardo da Vinci – Walter Isaacson
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Together they served his driving passion, which was nothing less than knowing everything there was to know about the world, including how we fit into it. He had a reverence for the wholeness of nature...
Internal Family Systems Therapy – Richard Schwartz
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - I was particularly drawn to Carl Rogers and Fritz Perls. IFS invites therapists to relate to every level of the human system intrapsychic, familial, communal, cultural, and social with ecologically...
I Will Teach You to Be Rich – Ramit Sethi
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Invisible scripts are the messages you've absorbed from your parents and society that guide your decisions for decades and often without even being aware of it. We either ignore it and feel guilty, or...
Fluent in 3 Months – Benny Lewis
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - My initial tangential motivations for learning a language were replaced by a direct motivation to live that language and use it as a means of communication and connection. Did you think something like,...
Effortless – Greg Mckeown
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Disappointments are hard. Paying the bills is hard. Strained relationships are hard. Raising children is hard. Losing a loved one is hard. There are periods in our lives when every day can be hard. The...
Breath – James Nestor
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Even so, if the free divers and the ancient texts were to be believed, how we breathe affects all things. How could it be so important and unimportant at the same time? Pulmonologists, I learned, work...
Beyond Order – Jordan Peterson
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - People depend on constant communication with others to keep their minds organized. We all need to think to keep things straight, but we mostly think by talking. The id, the instinctive part of the...
Four Thousand Weeks – Oliver Burkeman
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - We’ve been granted the mental capacities to make almost infinitely ambitious plans, yet practically no time at all to put them into action. A fairly modest six-figure number of weeks—310,000—is the...
Productivity Project – Chris Bailey
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned - - - Productivity is about how much you accomplish by managing time, attention and energy. From knowing to doing. Attention: What do you focus on? how well? how easily you get distracted? Energy: how much...
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned. - - - Change of Paradigm The change comes always inside-out. Focusing first in character and not in competence. Becoming Principles-Oriented “The map is not the territory” It is only explanations of certain...
When Things Fall Apart – Pema Chodron
All the notes were taken directly from When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron - - - Glossary Maitri: Loving-kindness toward oneself Samrana: Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain Mara: Obstacles that generate confusion and make us loose...
Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott
All the notes were taken directly from Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott - - - Why “Bird by Bird” Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next...
How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - Fundamental Techniques in Handling People: 3 Principles P1 “Don’t criticize” Humans are emotional beings, full of prejudice and motivated by pride vanity Don’t condemn Speak no ill, only the good Do a...
Managing Oneself – Peter F Drucker
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - Discover your strengths Work on improving your strengths (Resources should go from make you competent into making you a star performer) Look where your intellectual arrogance is causing damage Taking...
Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - Outlier: Phenomena that lie outside normal experience Matthew Effect “Those who are successful are more likely to be given the kind of special opportunities that lead to further success. They win...
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – Marshall Goldsmith
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - At the higher levels of organizational life, all the leading players are technically skilled. They’re all smart. They’re all up to date on the technical aspects of their job. For example, we assume...
High-Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way by Brendon Burchard
All the notes were taken directly from "High Performance Habits" by Brendon Burchard! - - - HABIT ONE: SEEK CLARITY Practice 1: Envision the Future FourHave vision and consistently set clear intentions for who you want to be each day, how you want to interact with...
Thinking in Bets – Annie Duke
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - The Misunderstanding of Decision Making I ask group members to come to our first meeting with a brief description of their best and worst decisions of the previous year. I have yet to come across...
Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook by Peter Mallouk and Tony Robbins
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - High Fiduciary Guidelines Previous Credentials (Not title based): Size of the money and clients Team: CFP (Certificado Financial Plave), State planners attorneys, CPA: Tax Advise (Someone that helps...
This is Marketing – Seth Godin
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - How to make it happen? Offer a creative solution Narrow who’s it for (smallest viable market) Create a compelling story Spread the word Show up consistently Solution = Feeling Mirror of desire:...
Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success – Shawn Stevenson
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - Know the Value of Sleep Schedule sleep hours Reframe the idea of sleep. If you don’t value it, it won’t improve Get more Sunlight after Waking Up 6am to 8:30am (ideally 30min, even on a cloudy day)...
21 Lessons for the 21st Century – Yuval Noah Harari
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - WORK Humans have two types of abilities – physical and cognitive. In the past, machines competed with humans mainly in raw physical abilities, while humans retained an immense edge over machines in...
The State of Affairs – Esther Perel
All the notes were taken directly from the source mentioned! - - - Cheating is the only sin that gets two commandments in the Bible, one for doing it and one just for thinking about Euripides, Ovid, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Proust, Flaubert, Stendhal, D. H. Lawrence,...