I’ve been thinking about what makes advice helpful - both so I can get the most out of advice from others for my own problems, and so I can be as helpful as possible to other people.
Read MoreA lot of people say they find writing hard. But what exactly makes writing so difficult? Just putting random words on paper is easy. What’s difficult is turning those words into sentences that really express the ideas you’re trying to convey.
Read MoreIn no particular order - some of the books I most enjoyed reading, and learned the most from, in 2015.
Read MoreI really like taking some time around the new year to do step back and review: to reflect on the past year and what I’d like to improve.
Read MoreIn general, I think giving people compliments is great, and most of us don’t do anywhere near enough of it. This said, I think there are also risks involved in giving people positive feedback, and each of us should be careful about the kindof compliments we give other people.
Read MoreIt seems like there's naturally a tension between improvement and contentment: the more you want to improve, the harder it is to be happy with things as they are, and the more content you are, the less drive you will have to improve. I don't think this tension is irresolvable - it's possible to be constantly improving without feeling dissatisfied, though doing so in practice may not be totally straightforward.
Read MoreThis was written for the wedding ceremony of two wonderful friends of mine - Ruby and Miranda. Sadly, I couldn't be there in person to see them get married, but the privilege of writing part of the ceremony was almost as good!
Read MoreIf you want to achieve any goal, one of the most valuable skills to develop is the ability to seek out and respond to quality feedback. So why don't most people do it more, and how can we make feedback easier?
Read MoreOther people are different - but how different? I suggest that most of us model other people by assuming their experiences are roughly similar to our own, and that this might lead us to underestimate just how different other people can be.
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Misconception #1: 'Making a difference' is only for a very select group of people.
Read MoreMany philosophers, psychologists, and authors have written about how we tend to think of our lives as stories. But is this a good thing - or does it hold us back?
Read MoreSome people are brimming with self-confidence: never doubting themselves or their abilities. But is this a good thing? Not if self-confidence comes at the expense of having a realistic picture of yourself, I argue.
Read MoreWe tend to quickly adapt to positive events over time - known as the "hedonic treadmill". Things that once made us happy become commonplace. Is it possible to stall this adaption - to pin down happiness in a way that truly lasts?
Read MoreWhen I graduated, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I feel like I've learned a fair amount since then about how to think about your career early on - this is a summary of some of the insights I've found most useful.
Read MoreWhy avoiding bad news might be doing you more harm than you think.
Read MoreI've always been pretty disturbed by the fact that one day I'll die. So I set out to try and understand why, exactly - whether fearing death makes sense, and whether I could find any way to overcome my fear.
Read MoreWhat do we really mean when we say "I love you"? It doesn't seem to have a particularly fixed meaning - "I love you" - can mean very different things in different contexts. Might a richer vocabulary for love - more words to distinguish between these different uses of "love" - actually improve our relationships?
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A trick from psychology to boost your self-esteem at any time.
Read MoreEither telepathy is real or we need to be more skeptical about some of the psychology studies we hear about.
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