The Present
We lose acres of the present saving time (for what?) and planning for a future (that arrived yesterday but also never comes). Authentic Happiness
Modern Poetry
Ernest Davis, Verses for the Modern Age The 37% Rule When I was one-and-twentyI heard a wise man say“If you would wed a maiden,Then listen to my lay.Let N denote the numberOf women you might likeFirst date N over e,And tell them, ‘Take a hike.’ And then you ask the restTo dinner, one by one,And… Read More Modern Poetry
Live By Your Values
Whether we’re talking of artists, doctors, athletes, businesspeople, rock stars, politicians, or police officers, “successful people” are typically defined in terms of the goals they’ve achieved. If we buy into this woefully limited definition, then we’re condemned to a goal-focused life: chronic frustration punctuated by fleeting moments of gratification. So I invite you now to… Read More Live By Your Values
Wealth, shown to Scale
https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/ The 400 richest Americans has $3.5 trillion. “A trillion dollars is such a large figure, that you might as well say ‘eleventy gajillion zillion dollars.’ We will try to understand the scale of this figure by looking at what could be accomplished with various chunks of this wealth.”
Algorithms to Live By
Applying the lens of computer science to everyday life has consequences at many scales. Most immediately, it offers us practical, concrete suggestions for how to solve specific problems. Optimal stopping tells us when to look and when to leap. The explore/exploit tradeoff tells us how to find the balance between trying new things and enjoying… Read More Algorithms to Live By
Listening
Research has shown that relatively mild mental illness can be improved simply by talking to empathic listeners, whether they are trained PhDs or nonpsychologist university professors. The Mind Club Talk to a listener on 7 Cups!
Empathy
Empathy is about more than just dispassionately recognizing others’ suffering; it is about suffering alongside them. Because suffering is aversive, empathizing with another person’s pain compels you to help alleviate it. The Mind Club: Who Thinks, What Feels, and Why It Matters by Daniel M. Wegner, Kurt Gray
Doing Right
“Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?” http://www.marcandangel.com/2009/07/13/50-questions-that-will-free-your-mind/
Competition
“The roots of the word “compete” are the Latin con petire, which meant “to seek together.” What each person seeks is to actualize her potential, and this task is made easier when others force us to do our best.” Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Effective Education
“What if different environments lead to different kinds of achievement rather than different levels of achievement? What if we measured intelligence by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environments? What if we measured intellect by an individual’s desire to know? What if we realized the best way to ensure an effective educational system is… Read More Effective Education
