[This post is part of a series on four main myths that discourage entrepreneurship and how to overcome them. If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Many classmates in business school said they wanted to start businesses yet few did. For that matter, many people in life say they want[…] Keep reading →

I’m switching from spodek.net to joshuaspodek.com for various reasons. Thanks to Sebastian for setting it up and getting me blogging regularly. Thanks to John for everything at spodek.net and getting me started blogging in the first place. I’m starting to get the hang of the blogging process besides just writing thanks to these guys.

If you accept mainstream ideas of creativity, then your understanding of creativity is holding you back from creating things and being creative. Mainstream views on creativity sell books, movies, magazines, and so forth. They sell over-romanticized myths that, while entertaining, undermine your ability to create things and solve problems. Let’s start with two contradictions to lay bare the counterproductivity in mainstream views. First, mainstream views value creative, original, so-called outside-the-box[…] Keep reading →

The Worst problem In The World is two people with different standards who don’t realize their standards differ evaluating each other and acting on their evaluation. This is not hyperbole. Think of a recent news headline involving conflict. It was probably a variation of The Worst Problem In The World. Many significant conflicts in the world are either solvable or are variations of The Worst Problem In The World. Many[…] Keep reading →

“Free food tastes better,” someone said to me. It rang true. I immediately added the corollary “free alcohol tastes better too.” I thought it resonated with me because I was a graduate student for so long. Then I noticed something at a fancy gallery opening with art selling for tens of thousands of dollars. Normally galleries serve wine, sometimes another alcohol if they have a sponsor. At this opening they[…] Keep reading →

Focusing on what creates emotional reward is great. If it works for you, you can do better. When something brings you emotional reward, here are two things you can do more than just focusing on it to bring more reward into your life: overindulging in your emotional reward and sharing the reward. Overindulging in reward means if your manager pats you on the back and you feel good about it,[…] Keep reading →

Do you feel if you don’t deal with difficult things you’re denying or avoiding reality? Does that bring you down or make you feel irresponsible? Does that compel you to do things you don’t want to? Here’s how to make sure you don’t. After a conversation last night, my friend said she looked at enjoying life in a whole new way for the better. Let’s start with an analogy. On[…] Keep reading →

The New York Times wrote yesterday about Eben Moglen, whom I wrote about recently. “We have to aim our engineering more directly at politics now,” he said. “What has happened in Egypt is enormously inspiring, but the Egyptian state was late to the attempt to control the Net and not ready to be as remorseless as it could have been.” … If revolutions for freedom rest on the shoulders of[…] Keep reading →

Here’s a model for you: think of a baby learning to walk. No baby learns to walk right the first time. Not even the tenth time. So-called failure for them is not just figuratively painful, it looks physically painful. Yet babies learn to walk. They try and fail. And try and fail. And try and fail. For months they try and fail. This model alone shows how poorly the popular[…] Keep reading →