Free Resources

Your First Week

The book’s entire starting assignment, small on purpose:

1. Measure your starting point: rate your satisfaction with life, health, purpose, relationships, and financial security, each from 0 to 10. Date it. (The full Well-Being Baseline worksheet is in Appendix A.)
2. Pick your single lowest-scoring area.
3. Choose one small daily action that serves it, and do it every day this week.

People who measure are the people who continue. Repeat the baseline every few months and compare.

A Five-Minute Meditation to Start Tonight

1. Sit comfortably, spine upright, eyes closed.
2. Take ten slow, deep breaths, letting the belly (not just the chest) expand.
3. Let breathing return to normal, and rest your attention on its sensations: air at the nostrils, the rise and fall, the little stillness where the exhale turns.
4. When attention wanders, and it will, gently return it to the breath. Getting lost and returning is the practice, not a failure of it.
5. Five minutes daily beats thirty minutes weekly. Anchor it to a routine you never skip.

The complete beginner’s guide, including body scan and loving-kindness meditation, is Appendix B of the book.

The Drains Checklist

For each, mark 0 (not present), 1 (minor), or 2 (significantly affecting my life): rumination • chronic stress or burnout • poor sleep • loneliness • a harmful relationship • comparison and envy • perfectionism • substance or behavioral escape • unprocessed grief • clutter and information overload.

Anything scoring 2 deserves attention before you invest in new positive practices: fix the drain before running more water.

Downloads

Download the free worksheets: Well-Being Baseline Worksheet (PDF) • Foundations Audit (PDF) • 7 Habits for a Happier Week (PDF)