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2014
December
31: The stages of developing empathy and compassion
30: The value of technique in leadership
29: My next seminar, January 12 at The Yard in NYC!
28: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Your World Cup Ethical Questions, Answered
27: How you lose weight
26: A reader asks about integrity and self-control
25: Protecting the environment improves your life
24: Why feeling understood feels so good and feeling misunderstood feels so bad
23: More inspirational SIDCHA videos
22: Three years of burpees
21: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: A Boy Named Dana
20: Particle Fever
19: An unhealthy gift
18: The Meaning of Leadership — the class
17: Rappelling down a three-story wall!
16: A corporate perspective on global warming and pollution
15: You learn behavior through experience, not people telling you what to do
14: The Model: the series
14: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: The Perks of Being a Layabout
13: Is effective leadership manipulation?
12: I like judging people
11: I don’t know what to call it but I can’t call it food
10: Hold yourself accountable with precision. It gives you freedom.
9: You need to read this post
8: One year of cold showers
7: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: A Survey Course in Campus Ethics
6: Less dessert, more appreciation
5: Questions for job interviews
4: Value people who refer and recommend you!
3: A leader we can learn from
2: How you feel when you feel misunderstood
1: My scientific and engineering view of coaching and teaching leadership
November
30: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Should Free Office Food Be Taken Home?
29: You don’t need six months to prepare. You need an hour.
28: Exercise in minimizing
27: Happy Thanksgiving
26: More effective than willpower
25: My first Community-Supported Agriculture shipment
24: What happens when you develop empathy and compassion skills
23: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Sorry, No One’s Sitting There
22: Join Joshua Spodek’s leadership workshop, Saturday December 6 in Soho
21: Another successful testimonial
20: What are you doing that’s exciting?
19: Almost everyone I spend time with loves what they do
18: 100 burpees: 9 minutes 21 seconds
17: A reader shares a genius business idea in action
16: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: What if an Athlete Wants to Bet on Himself?
15: The natural beauty of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha Island — Pictures and videos of dolphins
14: Two videos from one of the best books I’ve read on the environment, our impact on it, and what we can do about it
13: Asking “Are leaders born or made?” doesn’t help you develop as a leader
12: Why I plan never to visit Brazil again
11: Now I understand meat eaters asking weird questions — they don’t know what they’re talking about
10: The problem determines the solution
9: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Why Can’t I Clean My Boyfriend’s House for Pay?
8: “You can live cheaper in New York City than any place in the world”
7: My current biggest failure
6: Minimum effective behavior
5: When to choose not to connect with people
4: How you develop social skills
3: Joshua Spodek’s 2014 New York City Marathon Results
2: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Is It Wrong to Divulge a Secret to Protect Someone’s Honor?
1: Marathon burpees
October
31: A successful testimonial on leading someone so she wanted to be led again
30: New SIDCHA series post
29: Music to make a day enjoyable
28: Why I am inspired to learn leadership
27: Another genius business idea: Communities refurbishing their subway platforms
26: Sunday Nonjudgmental ethics: Is It Cheating to Compete Against Younger Runners?
25: “You haven’t even failed”
24: The smallest effective difference
23: Successful behavior comes from little tricks more than lofty ideals
22: Motivation = expectation of success compared to now, research shows
21: Two readers ask about confirming and anchoring in relationships
20: Risks in relationships, rock-climbing, and ratcheting
19: Sunday Non-judgment: Why Tell Koko About Robin Williams’s Death?
18: The rewards, pleasures, and life lessons of running fast
17: I love my breakfast!
16: No time to exercise? I bet you do, but you don’t want to make the effort.
15: Defining moments
14: Why Are Americans So Fascinated With Extreme Fitness?
13: Ran last half-marathon to train for this year’s marathon yesterday
12: Non-judgmental Ethics Sunday: Tourist Retractions
11: Cooking from scratch means less garbage
10: Op/Ed Fridays: Americans’ distorted view of wealth
9: Why do you freak out when you’re late?
8: Nonjudgmental ethics: Is It Wrong to Watch Football?
7: See Joshua Spodek on leadership at General Assembly, Sunday October 19
6: If we taught piano like we teach leadership
5: Sunday non-judgment: Coffee for young mormons?
4: Eisenhower on deciding, resolving conflict, and uniting a divided team
3: Dustin Hoffman on feeling understood about a passion and how it helps a leader
2: How to start to lead
1: Not the ethicist, part 5
September
30: Phil Jackson on Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal
29: Reminder: International Entrepreneurship Panel, October 6 at NYU
29: Not the ethicist, part 4
28: Not the ethicist 3
27: Not the ethicist 2
26: Not the ethicist
25: New series: Non-authoritarian non-ethics
24: Judging doesn’t annoy people. Imposing values on others does.
23: Olympians, Nobel Laureates, Oscar winners, and others I’ve met
22: Hustlers and clowns
21: Emotions have (at least) two components: motivation and feeling
20: What makes an emotion a passion?
19: How do you motivate someone who claims to have no motivation?
18: When the best way to solve a problem is to solve it, not analyze it forever
17: International Entrepreneurship Panel, October 6 at NYU
16: 1,000 days of burpees
15: Video: How to make selling fun and effective
14: Grunt work and sales leads to leadership roles
13: How to promote yourself without bragging or leaving information out
12: See Joshua Spodek on leadership at General Assembly, Sunday September 28
11: When I was mugged at knifepoint in Amsterdam
10: Pain, discipline, and self-reliance
9: Video: Sam Harris on consciousness and internal monologue
8: Six reasons to learn leadership skills even if you don’t want to lead
7: Handling leadership issues when you don’t have authority, follow-up
6: Why I avoid sending resumes: people say no to resumes, they say yes to people.
5: Cold Showers — The Series
4: Simplifying personal development
3: If you have to force something you think others will like, rethink it. You can probably do it easier.
2: An exercise to help make you more aware of yourself when you need it most
1: Why I don’t think much of TED talks
August
31: Exploring boundaries means you cross them sometimes. But regrets pass.
30: An exercise to help you understand your world and become more aware of yourself
29: See Joshua Spodek at Cole Haan, Flavorpill, and General Assembly’s Inspiration Workshop, September 6
28: An exercise to help you understand others, reduce arguments, and become more aware of yourself
27: Funny: Every TED Talk ever in 99 seconds
26: Myers-Briggs doesn’t help you, it helps your manager, if anyone
25: Want to change something big and complex? Start simple and long term.
24: How to handle leadership issues when you don’t have authority
23: Want to start a habit? Here’s the best instruction to start — SIDCHA style
22: The incredible value to a leader of making people feel understood
21: Advice I ignore. Advice I take.
20: How to get the body you want, never buying another fitness or diet book
19: How inspiration feels, in depth
18: Learn more leadership, motivation, and influence Saturday!
17: A friend my age, a married father of three, and his cancer
16: My plan to solve executive pay
15: Why I chose to study science
14: People who say you think about it too much are telling you they willfully misunderstand you
13: How inspiration feels
12: Crunch time strategy
11: Problems with learning leadership skills only on the job
10: A problem with teaching high-level principles
9: Exhaustion rocks! … and relaxes
8: Op/Ed Fridays: Building roads creates congestion. What does increasing the food supply do?
7: Another way to drain energy from a conversation
6: One way to drain energy from a conversation and how to avoid it
5: Lessons in freedom and self-expression from a high school student in a project-based learning school
4: How to manage your manager: the main concepts
3: Understand your anger to develop compassion
2: How to make more, deeper, and closer friendships
1: “Wheat Belly:” Almost as worthless as Quiet
July
31: Common traits among leaders and successful people across industries, fields, and disciplines
30: How to discipline a friend, an example
29: I want skills, not inborn talent, intelligence, wishes, or hope
28: Is the New Yorker following me?
27: Six pack pic for accountability
26: See Joshua Spodek on leadership at General Assembly, August 23
25: There’s no point in trying to figure *everything* out
24: 40,000 Burpees!
23: Read my blog, learn about yourself, get hired
22: Student-driven inquiry-driven project-based learning rocks!
21: Logic and convincing don’t motivate: an example
20: The sadness of “I wish I could have a life like yours”
19: More value of low-level instruction for leadership: Margaret Thatcher
18: Op/ed Fridays: “Free speech zones” undermine free speech
17: “Slow and steady wins the race” is garbage
16: “Should I go to graduate school?”
15: What’s not “practical” about fun?
14: What you’re thinking
13: Suffering in silence hurts yourself
12: Making burpees friendly
11: Inspiration from high school entrepreneurs
10: Making fitness inevitable
9: The risks of saying “I need…”
8: How to increase empathy, part 2: a model and strategy
7: How to increase empathy, part 1: why it seems so hard to
6: My strategy for success
5: Everybody got made fun of and feels emotions from it today
4: Op/ed Fridays: Independence Day: Are we the British?
3: How not to lose your composure: Rational Emotion
2: The most important part of exercise: starting with knowing what emotion you want
1: Explaining “I’m just being honest” is usually a jerk move deceiving only the speaker
June
30: Unnecessary pollution
29: Everybody has a cringeworthy past
28: Half-marathons and cold showers
27: Op/ed Fridays: Does “Stay in school, work hard” produce mediocrity? Can it produce greatness?
26: High status and living by your own rules: Jack Nicholson at the U.S. Open
25: Why people get fat, from a systems perspective
24: Why do people who say “You can do anything you can dream of” or “You can make your dreams come true” not fly or cure AIDS?
23: Do you rely on authority to lead?
22: How to engage people you lead
21: How to turn anxiety into excitement
20: Posture!
19: You don’t have to talk about what you don’t want to
18: Have you ever experienced nature?
17: Why is “know thyself” hard?
16: Thoughts on reading “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”
15: Use social gaffes to strengthen relationships
14: Thoughts on reading Steve Martin’s memoir, “Born Standing Up”
13: What I call great teaching
12: Intelligence? Emotional Intelligence? I’ll take someone with skill over intelligence
11: Leadership without trying to control and change people
10: Calling any emotions negative shows you don’t understand emotions
9: Do you want to be miserable?
8: If someone tells you the world around you isn’t real or what you think it is, watch your wallet!
7: Two posts by others I recommend
6: Op/Ed Fridays: Applying “A rising tide lifts all boats” to the economy is stupid or malevolent
5: Know your emotions: jealousy isn’t envy
4: The evolution of a coaching client
3: Rejected lately (or ever) and looking for encouragement?
2: Does lecturing turn schools into prisons?
1: Read more deeply: a list of my longer posts
May
31: Clear your desk every afternoon, clear your mind every evening
30: Op/Ed Fridays: military leadership and conscientious objection
29: Four ways coaching helps
28: Visualizing reactivity and freedom, part 2: how to improve
27: Visualizing reactivity and freedom, part 1
26: Hard work is never easy. You can love hard work.
25: A student’s testimonial
24: 113,792 points in 2048 with the 8192 tile!
23: “Why we store fat” doesn’t make sense
22: What to say when an organization is considering hiring you
21: See my Ivy Exec talk
20: What a pound of juicy, ripe cherries teaches you about life
19: Judging is inevitable. You choose if you communicate it.
18: Why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach
17: I helped a little old lady cross the street
16: See Joshua Spodek lead a leadership workshop at General Assembly, May 22
15: 370 Burpees in one day! 100 the next.
14: How to follow up a referral
13: See my webinar at Ivy Exec at 12:30pm today!
12: After ten days with no internet, phone, reading, writing, or talking
11: Ten days with no internet, phone, reading, writing, or talking
10: My semester at NYU
9: Where value, important, meaning, and purpose come from
8: Want to influence someone? Understand them and make them feel understood
7: “Want to eat more” and “tastes good” aren’t the same feeling
6: Personal development: take your training wheels off after you learn to ride
5: People who succeeded despite adversity: the series
4: Patience before sending saves relationships
3: People who succeeded despite adversity, part 4
2: SIDCHAs are a floor you won’t drop below and they don’t depend on others
1: Treat people like machines and they’ll work like crappy machines. Treat them like people and they’ll do their best
April
30: When and how polarizing helps
29: The better my life, the less I plan ahead
28: People who succeeded despite adversity: the series
28: How to get job offers without looking for a job
27: 2048 high score: 60,400 with a 4096 tile
26: See the April 21 NYU panel on Women in Entrepreneurship video
25: How to make relationships last
24: What is entrepreneurial marketing and why should I care?
23: Leadership, adulthood, responsibility, empathy, and consequences to one’s actions
22: How to win over a stadium of 20,000 angry African soccer fans
21: Binary thinking that ruins your life
20: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the world we live in
19: What is science? What is physics?
18: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
17: The problem with business books, and a solution
16: How to make your next performance review shine
15: Explore and expand your boundaries and those of people you lead
14: See my Harvard talk on not dwelling on decisions
13: Memories and getting rid of stuff
12: The value of low-level instruction
11: Specifics: more general than generalities
10: See my New York Academy of Science interview!
9: Seminar testimonial: tears of gratitude from leading an employee so they want you to lead them again
8: See an NYU panel on Women in Entrepreneurship April 21!
7: Home!
6: A burpee brother!
5: Four-and-a-half months to two years of helplessness
4: If they’re talking, you’re winning
3: Bored at work? Looking for a new job means you’re probably looking in the wrong place
2: Adam Smith: Life is more than materialist
1: Michael Jordan: fair to middling?
March
31: A reader responds on the concepts of introversion and extroversion
30: Creativity — The Series
30: Creativity — The Series
29: The 2014 New York City Marathon!
28: Op/Ed Fridays: Bloomberg’s most infamous legacy?
27: See Coco & Breezy at NYU Monday!
26: A testimonial from “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again”
25: A testimonial from Harvard talk on Friday
24: How meditation helps
23: Computer problems are difficult but teach you resilience
22: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it’s over
21: See Joshua Spodek at Harvard today!
20: How to Choose
19: A human perspective on quantum gravity
18: Motivating Rejections — The Series
18: Motivating Rejections — The Series
17: If you talk about protein, dopamine, seratonin, carbohydrates, and other big words you probably don’t know what you’re talking about
16: Fat people with diet books
15: Emotional skills versus emotional intelligence
14: Instead of connecting to a higher purpose, try a more personal purpose
13: The Origins of “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again”
12: Overcoming Objections and Blocks — The Series
11: Read KQED’s story about Joshua Spodek adopting inquiry-driven project-based learning at NYU-Poly
10: Four myths that discourage you from entrepreneurship and how to overcome them
10: Four myths that discourage you from entrepreneurship and how to overcome them—The Series
9: My Q&A with a Nobel Prize winner
8: Meeting my fourth Nobel Prize winner
7: “I can talk to my brothers and sisters again” — coaching client
6: The value of entrepreneurial skills for artists and vice versa
5: See Joshua Spodek on a distinguished panel on Entrepreneurship and Leadership at NYU March 27
4: Show, don’t tell
3: How managing your manager helps your relationship with your spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend
2: How to make yourself look good all the time in two simple steps that always work
1: Inquiry-driven project-based learning rocks!
February
28: “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again” My March 15 Leadership Seminar in NYC
28: Suffering in silence for someone creates problems. Getting the credit you deserve helps the relationship or keeps you from wasting your time.
27: What you can learn from a film director
26: How I keep from feeling depressed
25: What if I told you the least you could do was also the most effective?
24: The connection between physics and self-awareness and emotions
23: I’d rather know the subway train was ten stops away than not know where it is when it’s closer
22: “Passionless” people?
21: What does the current rate of global warming mean?
20: Overcoming childhood anxieties and fears: nerd and geek are just elements of your style
19: Another genius business idea: The construction broker
18: Another genius business idea: Luxury staycations at home
17: The Joshua Spodek Ten
16: My boss sucks. How do I manage my manager?
15: Improve your life by rejecting mental models that inhibit freedom, joy, and other reward
14: Op/Ed Fridays: the news forcing its irrelevance on us
13: Context, Action, Result (CAR): answering interview questions and describing experience effectively
12: How to overcome creative avoidance, destroyer of motivation
11: “You don’t understand me so I’m leaving you” happens in business relationships too
10: How to make someone feel understood: the Confirmation/Clarification Cycle
9: Talk to a misbehaving boss like you talk to a misbehaving child
8: The understanding handshake: skipping it undermines your ability to lead
7: Op/Ed Fridays: “I’ve been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No!”
6: How to set your angel free
5: See “The Business of Movies with Director Corydon Wagner, winner Golden Lion Cannes 2012” February 27, 6-8pm
4: A history of the universe in eight hundred words
3: Things you never get bored of
2: People who succeeded despite adversity, part 3: Superbowl Edition
1: What are your tricks?
January
31: Write a book! Feel your own book in your hands.
30: Brittle beliefs are easy to change
29: Secret silly confession
28: Willpower is like a starter motor. Emotions are like an engine.
27: How to lead your manager or boss
26: How to create a mentor
25: Technical solutions generally don’t solve social problems
24: Four reasons to see your colleagues as people first and places on organization charts second
23: Different perspectives
22: The top sign of a successful seminar series?
21: Thank you, attendees and organizers!
20: More inspiration from Martin Luther King, especially if you haven’t achieved much yet
19: Top 16 tips for starting habits you want and stopping habits you don’t
18: Protected: Slides for How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again, CBSACNY, January 18, 2014
18: Indulging
17: Sold to capacity
16: The 3 best tricks to get rid of things
15: Empathy Gaps — one of the most insidious barriers to getting hard things done and how to overcome it: the series
14: How not to help people
13: A leadership position doesn’t make someone a leader
12: Empathy Gaps — one of the most insidious barriers to getting hard things done
12: Master introversion AND extroversion
11: Don’t let rigid or stupid beliefs make you stupid or rigid
10: Op/Ed Fridays: “Do Women-Only Initiatives Really Help Women?”
9: 30,000 burpees!
8: Quiet garbage: a feel-good book on introversion that promotes complacency and limiting beliefs
7: The perfect comfortable life — how to live without injury or risk
6: The 42.3 degree shower (5.7 Celcius): Trading fleeting discomfort for long-term reward and growth
5: How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure — the series
4: “How to Lead People So They Want You to Lead Them Again” — My January 18 Leadership Seminar in NYC
3: How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure—the series
3: Introducing the joshuaspodek.com Archives
3: 30 days of cold showers review: Lessons in discipline and pleasure
2: The Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA) series
1: A list of Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activities (SIDCHAs) you could do
Previous Years: 2026 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

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