February 2012
21 posts
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“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”
– Adlai E Stevenson
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The Dark Sides of Our Digital Self
I recently picked up a copy of Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality at my local library. The author is a psychiatrist by the name of Elias Aboujaoude who is currently serving as the director at the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Clinic at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The thesis of Aboujaoude’s book is that the world wide web can have a very profound affect...
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Challenge Your Brain - And Other Ways to Maintain...
It may sound cliché, but the truth is if we don’t use our brains, we are more likely to lose them.
The brain thrives on sensory stimulation. It’s designed to absorb new information from its environment and build neural connections based on what it learns from those experiences.
A baby’s mind is like a sponge, constantly absorbing new information from the environment and making new...
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Habits Aren't Destiny
“Habits aren’t destiny — they can be ignored, changed or replaced. But it’s also true that once the loop is established and a habit emerges, your brain stops fully participating in decision-making. So unless you deliberately fight a habit — unless you find new cues and rewards — the old pattern will unfold automatically.”
Source: How Companies Learn You Secrets
Really great...
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Success in Seven Short Steps
From Scientific American:
People who succeed in their jobs and in life are typically blessed with a special blend of four qualities: efficacy (self-confidence), resilience, hope and optimism. This mental confection, which scientists call psychological capital, reflects our capacity to overcome obstacles and push ourselves to pursue our ambitions. Not surprisingly, having lots of it is...
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“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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How to Change Habits with 20 Minutes of... →
A guide on how to make long-term habit changes using 15-20 minutes of visualization a day.
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Understanding both sides of the story doesn’t mean you have to agree with both sides.
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If you have a pesky, negative thought in your head (for example, “I’ll never be good at this.”) try changing the volume, pitch, and tone of your inner voice until the thought becomes less influential over your attitude. You can even make it something comical (like Daffy Duck or Mike Tyson) and the thought will become more humorous than negative.
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Don’t feel like you have to prove yourself to everyone.
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In an ideal world, the cheapest form of mental health care would be to teach people how to take care of themselves.
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The Necessary Pain of Trial-and-Error →
Trial-and-error is one of the most useful forms of learning. When we make an error, or fail at something, we give ourselves an opportunity to analyze that failure, make a change, and then try again.
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Don’t concern yourself so much with being the best, but doing your best.
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When Too Much Optimism Blinds Us →
While optimism is often associated with less stress, less anxiety and an empowering and motivating attitude, some research also suggests that too much optimism can be harmful in certain situations.
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True or false: Atheists and non-religious people can still be happy and moral?
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The Connection Between Physical and Mental Health →
One of the oldest myths in psychology is that our minds are separate from our bodies. Today, however, there is an overwhelming amount of research that shows how our mental health is directly influenced by our brains and biology.
January 2012
22 posts
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Why Buying Experiences Is Better Than Buying Stuff →
Buying experiences often leads to more long-term pleasure and satisfaction than buying material goods, which lose their novelty far more quickly.
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Just because you can always apologize in the end doesn’t mean you should willingly make mistakes.
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50 Common Things We Procrastinate On →
There’s always tomorrow - except when there’s not. Here is a list of the 50 most common things we tend to procrastinate on.
What are some good psychology and self-improvement articles you’ve read lately?
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Try One Small Habit Change - Just For This Week. →
Making small changes in our life can often lead to big improvements over time. Here is a simple exercise to try new habits for a week.
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People who are never willing to voice their opinion or have a healthy debate aren’t minimizing conflict, they are in fact making it worse by avoiding the problem.
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The Purpose of Thinking →
Why thinking and reflection is beneficial to learning and problem-solving.
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Perspective-Taking: A Tool for Building Stronger... →
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How to Overcome Awkward Phases of Self-Improvement →
Often we go through awkward phases throughout our self-improvement. Here are some good suggestions for getting through this part of our development.
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Calling other people’s actions “irrational” or “insane” is just a way of blocking yourself from truly understanding why a person behaves the way they do.
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Everyone has good ideas, the problem is so few people are willing to act on them.
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Your Mantras for the New Year →
I asked people on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and LinkedIn to choose one mantra for the new year. Here are some of the responses I got.
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What are your strongest and weakest characteristic?
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The Problem with Black and White Thinking →
Black and white thinking is our tendency to look at the world in terms of “all or nothing.” This strict and stubborn view of the world can actually be the cause of many problems in our life.
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“One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying...”
– Paul Nitze
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If you had to choose one mantra for the new year, what would it be?
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December 2011
28 posts
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The Wrong Way to Help People →
There’s a right way and a wrong way to help people. It’s important to remember that even when you act with the best intentions, you don’t always know what is best for someone else.
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Half of smart decision-making is knowing when to cut losses.
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The Curse of Familiarity →
The “curse of familiarity” is our bias toward that which is familiar and safe, which can often inhibit ourselves from trying new things and expanding outside of our comfort zone.
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Building a Following: What I've Learned from One... →
Some things to understand when building a following - a simple breakdown of the the types of people you will come across as you reach out to more and more people.