This blog talks a lot about beliefs and how you can create your own. I don’t always talk about the limits to what skills creating beliefs can give you. If your mind can’t accept a belief, it won’t work for you. For example, maybe I’d be happier if I believed I could fly, but I have too much evidence to the contrary. I just can’t believe it. Sometimes a belief[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written before about on opening up, allowing yourself to be vulnerable in business and personal relationships, and the risks involved, mainly to your emotions. Probably the most important one was on my experience that choosing to care about something and to act on that caring means you’ll hurt. And the more you care the more you risk getting hurt. I wrote that post, “Leadership, personal development, choosing to care,[…] Keep reading →

I think my response to a client‘s email would be valuable for anyone. I don’t think many people make the progress he’s making and I think his doing it could inspire others. I know he inspires me. He didn’t come to me for personal insecurities or shame. He came to improve his life in other ways. Only once he started making progress there he realized things that he was holding[…] Keep reading →

Today’s post is a new exercise I made up that I found improved my thought patterns. It’s simple and takes no time, money, or other resources. Just your attention. It combines three things that work for me: changing words to change you thoughts, celebrating what you accept, and a property about truth. Ingredient 1: changing words changes your thoughts I’ve written about simple exercises to change a few words here[…] Keep reading →

The other day I wrote about how annoying someone saying “Why are you getting hung up on just one word?” sounded. Then I noticed a friend using some other annoying words and phrases in conversation that sounded annoying and decided to share them here. I don’t think she realized how annoying she was. So I put a few more annoying things, not as a how-to, but for people who might[…] Keep reading →

The concept of morality is for many people a complex topic. I like to simplify complex things, as long as the simplification works. If the simplification doesn’t work I drop it, but sometimes the simplification works well. Longtime readers of this blog know I avoid using terms like right, wrong, good, bad, and evil and have an exercise to avoid them that taught me a lot, decreased how many arguments[…] Keep reading →

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” 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.] Doesn’t it bother you when someone treats you like a preconceived notion instead of the person you are? Doesn’t it feel dehumanizing? Today’s belief came from[…] Keep reading →