My physics training tells me economics views some things in a weird way. In physics, if your theory predicts something to happen a certain way and it happens differently, you say your theory is wrong, at least partly, and you work to improve it. Nature is always correct. You try to get your theory to predict what nature does. When economics predicts people to behave some way and they don’t,[…] Keep reading →

Life is full of difficult decisions. People struggle over them, sometimes for years, even people living great lives. You probably have one or two or more. I’ve had my share. A couple questions people asked me recently got me to figure it out. If your questions are reasonably similar, read on. Typical life questions “Which job should I take?” “Should we become boyfriend and girlfriend?” A couple friends asked me[…] Keep reading →

Discretion is the better part of valor yet quitters always lose. When do you give up on a project you love that’s going nowhere and when do you give more to make it work? Both ideas make sense in different situations. I learned an answer that has worked well for me every time. Entrepreneurs face such questions all the time. Small companies often walk the line between abject failure and[…] Keep reading →

Three days ago I mentioned I stopped eating meat for two categories of reasons: taste and intellectual reasons. Two days ago I covered taste. Today, intellectual reasons. First I’ll mention that none of the following reasons motivate me anymore. Though I once did, I no longer find them compelling. I find their counter-arguments equally valid, or just as well, I find them equally invalid. I find talking about these reasons[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday I mentioned I stopped eating meat for two categories of reasons: taste and intellectual reasons. Today I’ll cover taste. By taste I mean not just flavor, but what one likes or not, as in musical taste. I never liked eating meat. At least I don’t remember liking it, but it was a long time ago. I remember disliking eating meat. My mom would say “It’s all meat!” about the[…] Keep reading →

People often ask me why I stopped eating meat. I wrote a few days ago about how often people ask in order to argue and how I find the question boring after having been asked roughly daily or so for decades. Still, I’ve learned to appreciate and even celebrate things I can’t change so it doesn’t get me down. I used to argue with people about food too so I[…] Keep reading →

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me why I chose to go to North Korea. Why I chose to go was different than what made such a positive impression on me, a pattern that happens often in my life and I bet yours. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3[/videofile]

An article that came out the other day illustrated how beliefs affect your perception. The result is so relevant to the Model, I couldn’t help but break from the series on the Method. Apparently people in training to taste wine can’t tell a white wine dyed red tastes the same as an identical except un-dyed white wine. In fact, they taste different flavors in the wine. The study may cover[…] Keep reading →

A couple people emailed me today’s long New York Times article Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?. One pointed out that it echoed my post that English and romantic languages reflect the difficulty in deciding in the root -cide. On choosing The article reports research in choosing. This blog emphasizes not mere research but applying it to improve your life. I love reading research, but enjoying learning pales in comparison[…] Keep reading →