Tag Archives: Mind

Ordinary People

Posted on March 6, 2012 by AJ Kessler

You asked me if an ordinary person, by studing hard, could get to be able to imagine things like I imagine things.  Of course.  I was an ordinary person who studied hard.  There’s no miracle people.  It just happens they … Continue reading →

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Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Physiologically Sound

Posted on August 27, 2011 by AJ Kessler

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 →

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Don’t Judge Me, Bro

Posted on August 12, 2011 by AJ Kessler

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 →

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Appreciation

Posted on August 8, 2011 by AJ Kessler

Nobody appreciates having clear nostrils and sinuses or a smooth throat until they have a cold. Nobody appreciates bending over until they throw their back out. Nobody appreciates sitting in the sun, or drinking a glass of wine, or eating … Continue reading →

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Why Meaningless Assignments Might Be Important

Posted on August 6, 2011 by AJ Kessler

One of the aims of military boot camp is to break a person down so that they can be rebuilt in the way the military desires.  This might sound insane, but it’s pretty important to know that your soldiers are … Continue reading →

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Obvious To You, Amazing To Others

Posted on August 2, 2011 by AJ Kessler

I love this old video from Derek Sivers.  It’s always easy to forget:

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Barely Hanging On? Count Backwards to Success

Posted on June 8, 2011 by AJ Kessler

The explosion came from out of nowhere. Flames surround me. I couldn’t see through the glowing white light of burning magnesium. That’s how the “second half” of Dan Ariely’s life began.  After sustaining third degree burns to over 70% of … Continue reading →

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There Is Always An Excuse

Posted on June 6, 2011 by AJ Kessler

“I had a bad day, I deserve this.” “I had a great day, I deserve this.” “Well, I’ve already done X.  Y won’t hurt.” “Well, I haven’t done X yet, so I can do Y.” Your mind is disturbingly capable … Continue reading →

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Games > Music

Posted on May 23, 2011 by AJ Kessler

In Delivering Happiness, Zappo’s CEO Tony Hsieh recounts how he, and every other Asian kid he knew, was forced to practice multiple instruments, often for hours each day.  No TV, no playtime, no games, until homework was finished and music … Continue reading →

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How To Get Smarter

Posted on May 18, 2011 by AJ Kessler

For years, people thought intelligence was genetic.  It was thought that your intelligence potential was more or less fixed at birth, that at best, you could make yourself dumber by huffing paint or drinking booze.  This was actually confirmed by … Continue reading →

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Trouble Focusing? Clean Your Workspace

Posted on April 17, 2011 by AJ Kessler

This is an interesting study from the University of Princeton’s Neuroscience Institute: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21228167 Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate … Continue reading →

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