In my previous article titled So You Hate Your Job, I said, When you feel forced into a decision to take a job, it means you need to seriously look at the negatives of not taking the job. My Thinking Labber joked about being homeless if he didn't...
So You Hate Your Job
I had an interesting conversation the other day with a Thinking Lab member who has hated his job off and on for a long time and wants to do something constructive about it. The key word here is "constructive." People "hate" all kinds of things: the culture, how their...
Thoughts on Keeping the Holidays Happy
It's a bromide that the holiday season can be stressful. There are plenty of reasons for that. Likely you have more social engagements than usual, so you have less time to yourself. You may undertake several seasonal projects with firm deadlines — decorating the...
Thoughts on Sticking to a Deadline for Writing Work
If you've read my newsletter for a long time, you know a few things about my thoughts related to working on a deadline. I don't think it is ever wise to suppress your emotions (barring a literal life-and-death emergency) — a related discussion is here. Based on this...
Further Thoughts on “Motivation by Love”
I was recently interviewed on the Yaron Brook Show on the topic of "Motivation by Love." The main point of the interview is that it's important to go deeper to understand the source of your motivation for any action. The fundamental motivation needs to be the desire...
Chewing Ayn Rand’s Ideas on Happiness
I have been reading and thinking about one paragraph a day from "Galt's Speech" from Atlas Shrugged. When I got to paragraph 75, I decided it needed two days of thinking. Then I decided I should share my chewing of this meaty and important paragraph with you. Here is...
Thoughts on Despair
Recently I've been discussing the need to reboot your thinking when you are in a dysfunctional state. The emotion of despair deserves special attention under this heading. Unlike other emotions, the emotion of despair always indicates a mistake somewhere in your...
Intense Emotional Conflict as a Dysfunctional State
In my previous article, I explained what dysfunctional states are and why you need to "reboot" your mind when you get into one. But I kept to the simple ones: overload, confusion, and blankness. Conflict, meaning the experience of emotions pulling you in multiple...
The Need to Reboot Your Thinking
“Thinking” is a purposeful process of integrating new observations with your existing knowledge and values to reach new conclusions. It is not a passive state of registering random impressions. It is an actively sustained process of identifying...
Thoughts on “Overthinking”
After back-and-forths with some Thinking Labbers, I've got a lead to what causes some people to bog down in thinking about issues and never get into action. It's popular to say that such people are "overthinking" and need "a bias for action." But inaction is a symptom...