A friend asked why guys who have trouble meeting women insult them. With the worst insults you can think of, no less. As we’ll see, not only men in that context do it. In other contexts women do it. And not just about other people. I do it. You do it. Everybody does it. What’s going on? Let’s look at the pattern. It keeps you from improving your life, so[…] Keep reading →

I wanted to love the China Study, a bestselling book by a scientist and doctor on nutrition. It’s gotten a lot of media attention (from the NY Times, Huffington Post, Bill Clinton, and Oprah, for example). It’s based in science, promotes healthy eating, and does two main things — one well, one not so well. Overall, I like the book and recommend it. At the end of this post I[…] Keep reading →

I gave this advice to someone I coach going through a difficult period and got feedback it was “golden.” So if you’re someone endeavoring to develop personally or professionally and making progress but feeling despair, impatience, frustration, or something similar, I hope this advice helps you. I’ve come to believe all meaningful personal development has periods of self-doubt, wondering if it’s worth it, and such. Anyone can sit on a[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I suggested ways to improve your storytelling skills through practice. Performing in public can be daunting, so today I’ll tell about my first experience telling a story in front of hundreds of people, being judged. First, despite my anxiety before going up, I loved the experience, learned a lot, and without a doubt will do it again. I recommend it to anyone, especially if you’re scared, like I was.[…] Keep reading →

Want to improve one of the most important skills for any field, almost free? Want to hook and engage anyone you communicate with? Tell a story. Everyone knows it, but it bears repeating. All communication can benefit from having it tell a story. Whether you’re pitching a product, pitching your company, answering a question in a job interview, talking to a friend, flirting on a date, or anything, humans love[…] Keep reading →

If you look for problems you’ll find them. And you’ll fill your life with problems. But if you look for solutions you’ll find them too, and you’ll fill your life with solutions. You’ll find your problems go away or don’t show up at all. A day after posting on labels not helping with introversion and extraversion came this op-ed piece on a guy whom doctors diagnosed with autism, supposedly “a[…] Keep reading →

On a discussion online about introversion and extraversion, I responded to someone pointing out that the labels of introversion and extraversion hurt more than they helped. Labels add no value and hold people back from improving their lives. Dealing with groups requires one set of skills. Dealing with solitude requires another (with much overlap). If you don’t have skills for one situation you will avoid it. Once you acquire the[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on willpower and how to understand and use it. 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.] Yesterday’s post showed some delightful images of children and marshmallows from a video of the marshmallow experiment. If you want to see cute images and hear cute[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on willpower and how to understand and use it. 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.] Here is some footage of a remake of the marshmallow experiment I found online. I prefer the stills below to the video they came from. I find[…] Keep reading →