In preparation for a new series of classes on "The Work of Happiness" in the Thinking Lab, I have been doing some high-level thinking about how you raise your baseline happiness. As I wrote in How Do You Measure Happiness?, your "baseline happiness" is the overall...
Is this you? You don’t mind working hard, but you hate discovering that your time was wasted. You are proud of having high expectations for yourself, but you notice that unrealistic expectations sometimes undercut your enjoyment of success. You try to focus on priorities, but you may still get bogged down in the minutiae of[…]
Exercise: How to Stop Flailing Background Remember the "Road Runner" cartoons? Wile E. Coyote tries to catch Road Runner again and again, failing every time. You wouldn't find the cartoons funny if you were Mr. Coyote. When you find yourself putting in effort,...
I often recommend that when you are confused in your thinking on some issue, you need to take multiple passes, first to gather information, then to test your thinking. The simplest test is to ask about each sentence, "is that literally true?" By asking this question,...
A Thinking Labber wrote: "Contrary to your advice to have one emotionally-challenging initiative, I have 4-5 major challenging initiatives at work and 3-4 in my personal life, none of which I feel I can realistically defer without significant consequences." This is an...
Flailing is my word for a particular pattern of unproductive effort: you try, and try, and try — harder, and harder, and harder — and you still don't achieve your goal. Some people call this hitting your head against the wall. It sure feels like it when you're...
Dissolve Enemy Images An enemy is a person who deliberately harms you or sabotages your success. An "enemy image" is completely different. An enemy image is an automatized negative emotional response toward someone. Whenever you see, hear, or are reminded of the...
When you are on a program of continuous improvement, you are often adding some new activity to your weekly schedule, or improving the existing one. But by continually raising the bar you create a hazard: the increased potential for failure! Here are a few things that...
If you've been following my work, you know that I advocate pursuing all goals on the basis of "motivation by love," not "motivation by fear," because it's the only kind of motivation that can lead you to consistent success over the long-term. That's great in theory,...
Consciousness has identity. It is what it is. It can do some things and not others. Some aspects of it are directly introspectible, others can only be inferred. This is a fact that one learns in philosophy class. Knowing it helps you solve real-world problems whenever...
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