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Category Archives: Rationality
Being Absurd: It Works
We’ve talked before about how an anchor point can seriously change the course of any negotiation. This effect, where you plant a number in someone’s mind, works because people aren’t terribly rational. They’re unwittingly susceptible to all sorts of manipulation, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Money, Negotiation, Persuasion, Rationality, Self-Improvement
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Inherent Problems With Effective Philanthropy
One is that in order to learn how to do something well, you have to fail sometimes. In order to fail, there has to be a measurement system. And that’s the problem with most philanthropy–there’s no measurement system. You give … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Rationality
Tagged Data, Effectiveness, Philanthropy, Rationality, Steve Jobs
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Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Physiologically Sound
From Psychology Today: The great surrealist artist Salvador Dali was described by his fellow students at the Madrid art academy as “morbidly” shy according to his biographer Ian Gibson. He had a great fear of blushing and his shame about … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Persuasion, Productivity, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Body, Brain, Emotion, Mind, Physiology, Psychology, Rationality
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Why Procrastination Is Good
Very interesting thought from Cal Newport: The evolutionary perspective on procrastination, by contrast, says we delay because our frontal lobe doesn’t see a convincing plan behind our aspiration. The solution, therefore, is not to muster the courage to blindly charge … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Productivity, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Cal Newport, Evolutionary Psychology, Procrastination
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Why Economists Are Wrong, or How Specialization Makes Us Unhappy
We generally understand how specialization and competitive advantage make us all richer. Lawyers particularly, and I imagine other highly paid hourly workers, understand that the best use of their time is spent lawyering. For this reason, these professionals have an … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Productivity, Quotes, Rationality, Video
Tagged Comparative Advantage, DIY, Do It Yourself, Rationality, Specialization
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Curiosity, or How Elon Musk Thinks
ELON MUSK: I think, generally, their {other people’s} thinking process is too bound by convention or analogy to prior experiences. So it’s very rare that people try to think of something on a first principles basis. They’ll say, “We’ll do … Continue reading
Posted in Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Critial Thinking, First Principals, Thought Process
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I Don’t Know
My friend Richard Feynman said, “I don’t know.” I heard him say it several times. He said it just like Harold, the mentally handicapped dishwasher I worked with when I was a young man making minimum wage at Famous Bill’s … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Quotes, Rationality, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Answer, Honesty, I Don't Know, Question, Response, Truth
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Being Interesting Requires Being Interested
Seth Godin with another pithy post: Interesting and Interested . . . it helps to be both. These are the two ways you earn attention. If it’s so obvious, why is it so difficult? Everybody wants to be interesting, to … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Rationality
Tagged Interested, Interestingness, Life, Seth Godin
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Don’t Judge Me, Bro
Judgment is a basic animal process. A dog’s brain instantly processes hundreds of data points of sounds, smells, visual cues and behavioral phenomena to determine which animals are friendly and which are not. The reactions are so quick because these … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Persuasion, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Brain, How We Decide, Impression, Johnah Lehrer, Logos, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Mind, Perception
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Only Scientists Are Successful
I’ve touted the importance of awareness and curiosity before, and I stand my belief that without those two traits, your chance of success is basically at the lottery level. Every successful person I know possesses these traits in abundance. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Science, Scientific Method, Scientist, Testing
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Maturity Means No Excuses
In the law, the state doesn’t hold minors responsible for some of their actions. If a bank agrees to give a 16 year old a credit card, that 16 year old isn’t liable for his debts because the law assumes … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Law, Rationality, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Excuses, Law, Maturity, Minors, Responsibility
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Pay People To Insult You
Here in California, nobody sends anything back at restaurants. Even when the food is terrible or prepared totally incorrectly, most people refuse to send it back. This isn’t a regional phenomenon either. Even in New York, the bastion of speak-your-mind-straight-shooters, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Diet, Food For Thought, Money, Rationality, Relationships
Tagged America, Business, California, Feedback, New York, Pussies, Resteraunt, Send it back, Service
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How To End The Lockouts
Seth Godin is a smart guy. You know how I know? Not only does he have great insights and produce great work in his chosen field, he offers great insights into all sorts of different things. For those who don’t … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Negotiation, Persuasion, Rationality
Tagged basketball, Brinksmanship, football, Lock Out, Lockout, NBA, Negotiation, NFL, Sports, Stalemate
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