Most of us rank its propaganda high on what we identify with North Korea. We saw and heard plenty while we were there, to the exclusion of nearly all other forms of public expression. For background, see the Wikipedia page or this essay. They give more background and pictures than I could, so I’ll stick with my observations. Today I want to comment at a high level on North Korea[…] Keep reading →

EDIT: I modified how I present the Method slightly. Please see the new version of this page and the updated series on implementing the Method. The Method’s first two steps — knowing your emotional system and understanding your current emotional cycles — involve little action. They constitute awareness. The appeal to act on a situation you want to change quickly and decisively can tempt you. I advise against it, whether[…] Keep reading →

Following up from yesterday’s common questions about visiting North Korea, part 1… Is it legal to go to North Korea? I wrote more here, “How to get to North Korea and if you can legally“, but basically, with proper paperwork Americans can legally tour North Korea, according to the State Department, but it warns you you’re taking serious risks, you just have no legal recourse from the U.S. government because[…] Keep reading →

EDIT: I modified how I present the Method slightly. Please see the new version of this page and the updated series on implementing the Method. The Method’s first step was a once-per-lifetime step. Once you understand your emotional cycle once, you can retain it all your life. Step 2 begins the preparation for each situation. The main part of understanding your current emotional cycle is to understand the elements —[…] Keep reading →

People ask me a lot of the same questions about visiting North Korea. Maybe if I answer them here I can save us all time and point them here. Well, people tend to ask me at parties and social events, so I know that solution won’t work, but here are answers to common questions anyway. How hard is it to get to North Korea? Going to North Korea is easy.[…] Keep reading →

Following up last week’s interview on sales lessons from a great failure, this week’s interview covers the result of sticking with it after that failure: Submedia’s first sale, which came with Coca-Cola signing as Submedia’s début advertiser, as documented in the New York Times, for example, and elsewhere. I doubt Submedia could have achieved such a great success without first having gone through a spectacular failure at first. Small interface:[audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/life_lesson_first_sale.mp3][…] Keep reading →

People like to talk about food in places they travel. Naturally they ask about food in North Korea. At the beginning I liked it, but by the end a couple things get to you. First, as a tourist you get a lot of similar things over again. Second, at least when we visited in August, besides some slices of apple with breakfast, we had no fresh fruits or vegetables. Most[…] Keep reading →

EDIT: I modified how I present the Method slightly. Please see the new version of this page and the updated series on implementing the Method. Today’s post will be brief. The Method’s first step is always to know your emotional system. Knowing the Model does just that, and my series on the Model gives the overview of it. This familiar diagram summarizes it. Keep in mind that the Model above[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on The Method to use The Model — my model for the human emotional system designed for use in leadership, self-awareness, and general purpose professional and personal development — which I find the most effective and valuable foundation for understanding yourself and others and improving your life. If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the[…] Keep reading →