I often think about self-development, chores, and saving money in terms of doing my “future self” a favor. My future self is me, after all. Procrastinating might feel right for my present self, but my future self will regret it; I will regret it. This calculation has been working pretty well. In fact, the payoffs often outweigh the upfront costs by a huge margin. But why is this? Why is… Read More »Your Future Selves
When the day began, I thought I had a pretty good sense of the upper limits of human dexterity and focus, two skills essential for my obsession at the time: extreme Jenga. But by the day’s end, those limits would be far surpassed and my general sense of human potential would be greatly expanded. That evening, hanging out with three friends who had little to no Jenga experience, I set… Read More »Your Incredible Human Potential
Have you ever regretted doing the dishes? Have you ever regretted working out? Have you ever regretted going for a walk in the park on a sunny day? Have you ever regretted getting a good night’s sleep? Have you ever regretted saying ‘thank you’? Have you ever regretted doing anything that you were supposed to do? Have you ever regretted doing anything that was genuinely good for you? Remember your… Read More »You Won’t Regret It
What does creativity have to do with becoming better? How can it help with productivity, behavioral change, or happiness? And isn’t creativity just a luxury for those who have both the talent and the time to make art? One of the assumptions underlying these doubts is that “creativity” only refers to art, music, dance, poetry, and writing stories. As we’ll see, this narrow view of creativity is both wrong and harmful to… Read More »Creativity