People trying to sell you things make developing yourself harder. They talk like their thing is best and people invest themselves into their activities. The biggest issue to me is that people too invested in one activity try to exclude other activities, making participating all-or-nothing. I think most people like to do a variety of things without committing exclusively to any, which conflicts with the plans of people selling things.[…] Keep reading →

Sometimes I find myself having to push hard on a project that seems like it would benefit everyone, but it doesn’t happen. My hard work goes nowhere. I’ve learned that if I have to push hard on something I think people would like, I’m probably looking at it ineffectively. Usually, I realize I’m trying to get people to see things my way when there are other ways of looking at[…] Keep reading →

Today’s exercise builds on the one in my post, “An exercise in knowing your beliefs; so you can change them,” so please do that one first. It’s easier for most people, more general, and develops skills that you can use for this post’s exercise. Still, you can do this on its own if you want. It also looks similar to, but is subtly different from, the recent exercise, “An exercise[…] Keep reading →

Do you watch TED talks? Many people seem to love them. Here’s why I don’t think much of them: When I ask people if they find TED talks inspirational, most people who watch them say yes. When I ask people to point out specific changes to their lives—that is, to describe what the talks inspired them to do—almost nobody can name action they’ve taken. Most changes people have taken have[…] Keep reading →