Category Archives: Rationality

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For several hundred years now, most businesses have fought to keep things secret.  Ingredients, techniques, processes, suppliers, you name it.  Anything that might be a competitive advantage would attempt to be shielded from competitors and the public.  In fact, the … Continue reading

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Lies, Happiness, and The Tyranny of the Biographer

Being happy in your life and being happy about your life are very different concepts. This is a result of the fact that you have, in a sense, two selfs. There is an experiencing self, who lives in the present, … Continue reading

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Language and Rationality

Thinking in a different language may lead to more rational decisions: Keysar’s team recruited 54 University of Chicago students who spoke Spanish as a second language. Each received $15 in $1 bills, each of which could be kept or bet … Continue reading

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How To Be 10x Happier In Just 60 Minutes A Day

If you have a job, chances are most of your waking hours are not your own.  Most of all your hours may not be your own.  Between the time it takes you to get ready in the morning, your commute, and … Continue reading

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How Criticism Encourages Creativity

We’re taught to think that brainstorming is an effective way to generate ideas and spur creative thought.  The key to successful brainstorming, it was thought, was lack of a lack of criticism.  This makes sense: if people aren’t afraid that … Continue reading

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Overvaluing What We Have

One of the worst tricks we manage to play on ourselves is overvaluing what we already have and undervaluing what we don’t.  This is especially sad since most of us don’t have all that much anyway, and taking the chance … Continue reading

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On Cheating

People become more likely to lie or cheat when they see others lie or cheat, explains Dan Ariely: …we gave participants 5 minutes to solve as many mathematical problems as possible (where they were instructed to find which two numbers … Continue reading

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Should I Go To Business School?

Generally, business school is a poor investment.  If you want to go to a top 20 school, you’re going to spend at least $100,000 and two years of your life (easily another $100,000 or $200,000 in lost earnings).  Realistically, your … Continue reading

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Color and Creativity

What color should you paint that room?  It depends on what you want to do there.  If you need to pay close attention to detail oriented work, paint it red.  If you want to maximize the chance for creative insight, … Continue reading

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Big Money

There’s a not-so-strange tendency for people make really poor financial decisions when there’s a lot of money involved. If you’re buying a $50,000 car that comes with 17″ aluminum wheels, but the salesman offers you the fancy 18″ chrome wheels … Continue reading

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Happiness Obligation

Other people don’t have an obligation to make you happy. You have an obligation to those around you to be happy.  Even if you’re not, you have an obligation to appear happy.  Fake it, if necessary. Don’t bum out your … Continue reading

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The Most Astounding Fact About The Universe

You may have seen Neil deGrasse Tyson’s quote about what he considers to be the most astounding fact about the universe, but it’s even more impressive when mashed up by Max Schlickenmeyer:

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How To Break A Habit

We’ve talked before about building habits.  That’s important.  But so is breaking habits.  Luckily, unlike forcing yourself to repeatedly do something new and scary, breaking existing habits isn’t nearly as hard.  One of the easiest ways is simply to substitute … Continue reading

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You Can Decide To Be Happy

Good listen:

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…But No One Else Is Doing It

It’s scary if you’re the only one doing something.  The immediate thought is that you must be doing something wrong.  Surely, if you were right, someone else would be doing it. Sometimes, that’s true.  Nobody is selling bacon-flavored oxygen because … Continue reading

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