News from home comes slowly and filtered here in China. I know only the basic facts about the shooting in Connecticut. I saw Obama’s first speech on it, but little more. I don’t know much of what happened or how the nation is reacting to it, but I know people are dealing with death and grief. In all my communications on the subject, I’ve found the most helpful this passage[…] Keep reading →
[This post is part of a series on internal objections and blocks and how to overcome them. 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.] Objection People often say things like I have to take care of “real-world†issues like earning money first. or their bosses, parents, or teachers say things[…] Keep reading →
Is there anything you do that wouldn’t benefit from having more confidence? Even if showing confidence doesn’t make a difference, at least having the option to show it helps. Have you noticed that people with more confidence can’t do that much more than people without it? They can’t lift heavier weights or solve more difficult problems. The guy at the gym who lifts the heaviest weights probably isn’t the most[…] Keep reading →
Early in my blog I posted about how people often don’t realize how much they judge and blame, even when they believe they don’t. People often say others judge and blame when the others’ values differ. When they themselves judge and blame they just think they’re calling it like it is. As I wrote then, it’s easy to say you don’t judge or blame when talking about other people’s values[…] Keep reading →
The New Yorker published a piece, “The Fairness Trap,” echoing the issues I wrote on yesterday in the context of the U.S. foreclosure and Greek economic crises. In both cases, people’s desire to punish people conflicted with clearly better economic solutions, according to the author. He talks about fairness, basically the same concept as justice — reacting to emotions like outrage, indignation, and self-righteousness over agreeing on criteria to evaluate[…] Keep reading →
Having written daily for a while I’ve found out great ways to generate lots of hits and to generate online discussion. I don’t do them on this page, despite how well they work. The tactics attract people to any media — press, tv, etc. Title Start with a title with a provocative question the answer is usually no to. Is Obama secretly working with the GOP? Can you make millions[…] Keep reading →
I posted on another board in a discussion on taste Is classical music better than punk? Museum art better than street art? Haute cuisine better than burritos? Is the op-ed page better than stand-up comedy? Is classical philosophy better than folk wisdom? My life improved when I learned I didn’t have to accept anyone else’s hierarchy of taste. Most people may consider one better than another, but I’ve learned to[…] Keep reading →
Wrapping up my series on the counterproductivity of leading with morality, ethics, and judgment, I’ll present a model based I got from Einstein. Without all the emotion judgment can grip you with, you can understand the physics model easily. Then you can apply it to the emotional situation. Then I bet you’ll improve your life. Before Einstein: the problem of the aether Before Einstein, people created a concept called the[…] Keep reading →
Yesterday I wrote on how to lead people (yourself or others) you disagree with without judging them. I skipped cases where you felt you could not work with the person under any circumstances. Let’s look at such cases today. I’m going to treat these cases strategically. Most cases will be unique at the tactical level so you’ll have to figure out how to apply the strategy. If you can’t work[…] Keep reading →