How would you like for your body to weaken for no reason and become unable to do simple things you once could; where you stumble and fall just jogging; to have your weakness on display to the world so everyone sees you deteriorate; then to find out your body will continue weakening until you can’t use your arms and legs or any other muscles, and that you’ll die in a[…] Keep reading →

People tell me it’s hard to change beliefs and values. Some people think it’s impossible. I agree if they believe it’s hard, but you can and it gets easier with practice. Most people change their beliefs and values all the time without realizing it. One goal for this page is to help people learn to change their beliefs more easily so I try to give examples of how you already[…] Keep reading →

Two years ago I wrote about a movie clip that illustrates how we feel when we feel we’re right, the other person is wrong, and we have to convince them of it. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/The_Big_Lebowski_on_Right_and_Wrong_Versus_Not_Being_an_A-ho.mp4 I wrote recently how if you think you’re right and someone else is wrong, you’re probably pissing someone off. We’ve all been on all sides of such situations — aggressor, defender, third-party observer. You see something you[…] Keep reading →

Some advice sticks with you more than others. I still remember words a great friend of mine told me in college. I remember he said it while consoling me over a breakup with a girlfriend, which would have put it in 1989 or maybe 1990. Something that stands the test of time like that, I think speaks for itself. He said There are few shoulds in life. I’ve written at[…] Keep reading →

I’ve written about my models for how to motivate doing things you aren’t good at. Such skills are important in many fields, but especially so in leadership. More than having to motivate yourself to do things for the first time, you often have to motivate many others to do things they haven’t done. One is my practice of having low standards the first time I do something, which motivates doing[…] Keep reading →

Years ago I heard of a great examples of parenting I’ve heard of from one of the great people I’ve met in my life. Not having kids — merely the favorite uncle — I don’t know parenting firsthand, but I understand it’s challenging and related to leadership. My friend lives halfway around the world from me so I haven’t kept in touch with her. I can’t mention much about her[…] Keep reading →

Following up yesterday’s post, when I talk to people about something they judge, like torture, the topic that motivated yesterday’s post, some of them point out that once you decide something is torture or right or wrong, you can do something about it. People like labeling things because labels mean so much. If you don’t call a behavior torture, they think, people don’t know what it means. Once you call[…] Keep reading →

I just watched Zero Dark Thirty and read a bunch of stuff about torture. People often ask about morality and ethics — is such an action right or wrong, good or bad. Asking the morality of actions and behavior doesn’t change them. I don’t see categorizing, judging, and  labeling things helping. Calling something good, bad, right, wrong, etc does no more than label them (tomorrow I’ll write more on why[…] Keep reading →

I didn’t notice it until a few people wrote and called me about the awesome Vince Lombardi quote and I looked at the post on my front page followed by the previous day’s post on karaoke. So I wanted people to know that the irony, if that’s the right word, is not lost on me that I had back to back posts on one of the greatest coaches of all[…] Keep reading →