Trying too hard is stigmatized in our society. People don’t like it when someone goes too far when trying to accomplish something. This is unfortunate, because going too far is exactly what you need to do. Case in point: I recently started tracking calories. No, I’m not fat. No, I don’t think I am. But […]
Three Strategies for Behavior Change
Most of self-improvement boils down to behavior change. You want to exercise more, eat better, earn more money, learn a new language, stop worrying so much. All of it is a form of changing your behavior. Looking around, there seems to be broadly three ways of changing behavior: Bottom-up Top-down Inside-out I notice that people […]
What Does it Mean to Work Hard?
I don’t feel like I work very hard. These days I usually wake up when I want to. I take frequent breaks. I even take random days off to spend time with friends, to go hiking or to read a book. This seems to be true even when I have a lot of work to […]
How Much Stress Do You Need for Success?
A lot of anxiety in life is both unwanted and involuntary. Often when I have an early morning flight, I can’t sleep deeply. The worry about sleeping through my alarm clock has me waking up involuntarily, every hour or so. Even when I should have enough sleep to feel rested, I wake up groggy. I […]
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.