Good habits are hard to build. Until recently, I had never successfully managed it. Replacing my fries with a salad? Not happening, no matter how much I tried. However, last year I discovered a habit-building technique that sounded like it might work. Upon reading about this in James Clear’s awesome book Atomic Habits, I jumped …
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I love a good reading list … possibly even more than actual reading itself. With that in mind, I figured I’d share the books that I most enjoyed reading this year. So, in no particular order: Atomic Habits by James Clear I have recommended Atomic Habits to just about every human — and the occasional …
I firmly believe that Ctrl-Backspace (or Option-Delete on a Mac) can improve lives. I also believe that most people don’t know about Ctrl-Backspace. One final belief — and this one’s crushing: most people who learn about Ctrl-Backspace will quickly ignore it. Here’s the reason for those beliefs, using a completely non-scientific sample. In the last …
“Let’s play a game!” If you’re like me, these are the worst words to hear. I know how this ends: I start to lose, and then lose my senses. It’s pathetic. Monopoly boards topple. Trivial Pursuit Cheeses roll. Pucket pieces fly. Losing sucks. Someone — someone who isn’t me — has demonstrated their authority. There …
A bad workman blames his tools, apparently. It’s one of those aphorisms that may do more harm than good. I get it, of course I do. A good workman (work-person?) doesn’t make excuses. They are adaptable. They ‘Get The Job Done’. Given that, who wouldn’t want to be a good workman? (Or, indeed, work-person.) But …
History — as is often noted — is written by the winners. Or at least, about the winners. I’ve recently read two memoirs on winners: Shoe Dog, about the founding of Nike; and Rocket Men, about the Apollo 8 mission to the moon. These have plenty in common. For one thing, there’s an emphasis on …
Brute Force is often looked down upon. We sneer at it. Trial and error? Why bother when you can use sweet, sweet logic? Brute Force runs through walls, when there’s a perfectly serviceable door nearby. To me, Brute Force is epitomised by the X-Men character Juggernaut — ripped arms, wide helmet for ramming, no brains. …
Few modern devices give me the anxiety jitters quite as much as the dreaded milk jug. You know the one — that metal dispenser you find at the end of every queue in your local Costa or Starbucks or Cath’s Cafe. The exclamation point on every up-til-then successful drinks order. It’s there, waiting to pounce. …
Richard Thaler’s excellent book Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics has inspired me. Thaler is a founding father of Behavioral Economics (he won the Nobel prize in 2017) … but also one funny guy. Because of him, I am now seeing Behavioral possibilities everywhere. I see Behavioral Everything. What is Behavioural Economics? My layman’s understanding …
Make believe arguments often bounce around my head. You know the situation: you’re driving, someone cuts you up, and you mentally berate them for the next 6 months. Or someone at work upsets you in a meeting, and you picture a showdown in full view of the office. (In your daydream, the rest of your …