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Author Archives: AJ Kessler
You Can Decide To Be Happy
Good listen:
Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Psychology, Quotes, Rationality
Tagged Choice, Happiness, Psychology, Success
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The Importance of the Individual
Some interesting emails with readers about Dokkodo, and the merits of a life of service. Â Service is important, no doubt, But I still put the individual first. Â After all, service of any kind is, eventually, for the benefit of individuals. … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Future, Quotes, Relationships
Tagged Albert Einstein, Capitalism, Collectivism, Goals, Individualism, Purpose, Society
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What’s the Upside?
When their money is at stake, people often ask what the downside is. Â How much can I lose? Â Then they weigh this against the upside. Â How much can I make? Strangely, when money isn’t at stake, people don’t really seem … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Relationships
Tagged Don't Be a Dick, gossip, relationships, Upside
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How Photographers Actually Spend Their Time
Note that this is true for literally every profession, especially the “glamorous” ones (click to enlarge): HT: Chase Jarvis
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Marketing, Productivity, Quotes
Tagged Business, Career, Photography
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The Path of Aloneness
Miyamoto Musashi is regarded as the best swordsman in Japanese history, and one of the greatest warriors in history. Â He was also a devout strategist. Â Written during the week he spent preparing for his own death, a period in which … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Creativity, Food For Thought, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Duty, Minimalism, Mushashi, Tyler Durden
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…But No One Else Is Doing It
It’s scary if you’re the only one doing something. Â The immediate thought is that you must be doing something wrong. Â Surely, if you were right, someone else would be doing it. Sometimes, that’s true. Â Nobody is selling bacon-flavored oxygen because … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Psychology, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Art, Fear, Scary
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How To Write
More excellent advice from David Ogilvy, founder of one of the preeminent advertising firms in the world: The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Marketing, Quotes, Tips
Tagged Advertising, Copy, David Ogilvy, Writing
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Screen Real Estate, Productivity, and Idiots
Ran across these thoughts on how minimizing your screen real estate might actually boost your productivity: Having a big screen is a good excuse to stick a Twitter client here, mail client there, have list of files pane constantly open, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Creativity, Food For Thought, Productivity, Quotes
Tagged Advice, Idiots, Internet, Productivity, Screen
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Fear Breeds Superstition
Superstition, then, is engendered, preserved, and fostered by fear. Â If anyone desire an example, let him take Alexander, who only began superstitiously to seek guidance from seers, when he first learnt to fear fortune in the passes of Sysis (Curtius, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Psychology, Quotes, Rationality
Tagged Belief, Benedict de Spinoza, Fear, Rationality, Superstition
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Problem Solving In The Real World
From about 5 years old to somewhere between 18 and 30 years old, we’re asked to solve problems in some specific way in order to demonstrate we understand what the professor was paid to teach us. Â You’re allowed to use … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Psychology, Self-Improvement
Tagged Academia, Academics, Problem, Structure, Thinking
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Atheism 2.0: Religious Benefits for the Secular Life
The video, embedded below, is difficult to quote, but touches on some of the issues we’ve discussed before. Â Definitely worth soaking in:
Posted in Food For Thought, Psychology, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Alain de Botton, Atheism, Religion
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Who Am I
When I see those paparazzi pictures of Fat Kevin Federline, sometimes sporting dopey cornrows, sometimes waddling across some anonymous poolside deck with beer in hand, I imagine a guy who does not know who he is, what he is supposed … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Inspiration, Psychology, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Be, Being, Change, Life, Opportunity
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What You Want
Alain de Botton with a good reminder: One of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. A lot of the time our ideas about what it would mean to live successfully are not … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Psychology, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Desire, Dream, Happiness, Hope, Philosophy, Success
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Solve The Right Problem
In 1959, long before the X-prize, Henry Kremer offered 50,000 pounds to anyone who could finally build a flying machine powered only by the pilot’s body power. Â All an entrant had to do was fly in a figure eight around … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Leading, Productivity, Psychology, Self-Improvement
Tagged Kremer Prize, Paul PacCready, Problem, Solve, X Prize
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Gift Giving
The measure of a good gift is in its appropriateness, not its cost. The corollary to this is if you receive an expensive gift from a wealthier friend, you’re not obligated to give him something of equal value in return.  You’re only … Continue reading
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