LATEST BLOG POSTS

What people get from polluting and depleting less: I used to tell people that they’d save money and time because they will. Nobody believes me. Nobody. They see buying coffee at Starbucks to go and ordering takeout as saving time, missing that those who do those things have the least time. Knowing your values so you can prioritize them and dismiss less valuable things (like takeout coffee and takeout) restores[…] Keep reading →

This week I finished: How To Know Your Self: The Art and Science of Discovering Who You Really Are, by soon-to-be podcast guest J. Eric Oliver: I’m scheduled to record an episode with Oliver. He is a professor at the University of Chicago. He teaches in the political science department, but has also taught a course for undergraduates that is apparently popular on knowing yourself. As I understand, this book[…] Keep reading →

Regular readers know I’ve read a lot about psychology, anthropology, economics, and why people do things. According to most theories, donating blood shouldn’t make much sense. It doesn’t cost that much in time, nothing in money, and has a low risk of loss, but you won’t get much direct benefit. The odds of you receiving your own blood are zero. Materially speaking, donating is a dead weight loss, but if[…] Keep reading →

Two core elements of leadership are effective communication and creating community. AJ has done both. I can attest from taking her writing workshop and participating in her author community since. I wrote the first draft of Sustainability Simplified in her workshop. I also valued the book she co-wrote with her writing partner and podcast guest Mike Michalowicz. As you’ll hear in our conversation, their podcast is one of the only ones[…] Keep reading →

In Leadership Step by Step, I give several exercises on how to influence how you perceive the world. I recently found a simpler way of describing them. We all know that our beliefs influence our perception. If you believe a person approaching you is friendly, you perceive them differently than if you believe they intend to hurt you. Many people don’t know that they can choose their beliefs, even people[…] Keep reading →

Josh Bandoch published a book on persuasion, influence, and leadership: How to Get What You Want: Mastering the Art and Science of Persuasion. I wish I’d had this book decades ago. It handles myths many people hold about persuasion that hold people back, then builds up the skills and theory to influence and persuade people effectively. It compiles many essential building blocks of persuasion and influence into one place. We[…] Keep reading →

Fixing the results of a problem is not the same as stopping it from recurring and you rarely can undo all the problems, especially if you do it persistently. For example, exercising doesn’t make up for an addiction to doof. Even if you burn off the calories, it doesn’t fix the health problems or make back the wasted money. More importantly, since you keep consuming doof, you’ll likely miss exercising[…] Keep reading →

Find me a war where at least one side isn’t partly funded by oil money. Find me a war that isn’t threatening to expand at least regionally, maybe globally. Where is that oil money coming from? Who is helping raise fossil fuel prices, thereby increasing the resources and power of Putin and his peers? Look no further than this restaurant, running the air conditioning with the doors wide open, and[…] Keep reading →

I wouldn’t want to live in a nation or world without freedom of speech, freedom of the press, protection of being tried twice for a crime, or any of the protections in the Constitution. I don’t know anyone who would. All must enjoy the protections you do for it to work, even if you really want to deprive others of them It might be tempting to think it would be[…] Keep reading →