Last week I shared some of my concerns with what I called high-variance professions. A high-variance profession is one where a lot of people fail and a few succeed. Think actors, entrepreneurs, musicians and athletes. I explained why high-variance is generally a bad thing, in terms of life outcomes, although it’s certainly not an open-and-shut […]
Should You Pursue Your Dream, Even if You’ll Probably Fail?
I like to think of myself as a rational person. Yes, I have emotions that muddle my choices, and I make mistakes on logic problems just like anyone else. But when I have big decisions to make in my life, I’d like to believe that I go with the facts. Which is why the titular […]
Just Finish It
A common staple of self-help wisdom is the advice to take action, immediately. You miss all the shots you don’t take, do it now and Nike’s famous slogan are just a few hints of this overwhelming suggestion to get started right away. There’s nothing wrong with this advice. Plenty of people waste years hesitating on […]
Swimming Upstream Against Your Destiny
The heritability of IQ increases with age. If this doesn’t surprise you, it should. What it means is that as you have more experiences, they matter even less for your overall intelligence. One explanation for this bizarre fact is that intelligence has a compounding property. If you’re slightly smarter as a child, due to innate […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.