We’d like to believe that everything makes sense. That everyone around us makes rationally sound judgements and decisions. But that’s far from the case. We don’t always buy the best product. We consistently fail to make the healthiest choices. We rarely hire the objectively best candidate. That’s how it works. Little in life actually happens …

Our past selves are embarrassing. I can’t keep track of how many things I’ve done or said that I wouldn’t imagine doing or saying today. The scary thing is that we’ll almost inevitably look back on our present selves in the same way. I thought my high school self was immature and clueless when I …

You need to be willing to be hungry to lose weight. That’s not to say that a temporary bout of hungry is by itself enough for weight lose. A few minutes of hunger is more than offset by a food binge or a sedentary lifestyle. But the discomfort is a prerequisite. It’s a seemingly laughably …

Rap is bad. That was a recurring lesson from my childhood. Often, from people who likely had never spent any significant time listening to the music they were ridiculing. Honestly, it’s understandable. There’s plenty of negative influences in the genre focused on sex, drugs, and violence. And in some ways, that’s the side that tends …

…when you look out the window and it’s the most beautiful sunset ever, and you’re just looking at the sunset. You’re fully connected with its beauty. Those are all moments where you’re losing your sense of self. The difference between meditation and those moments, is that you’re not really aware of losing the sense of …

Going to the gym every day is easy. It’s easy because we can afford to be sloppy. We don’t have to pay too much attention to how we spend our time in the gym – simply being there is likely enough to be reasonably fit – and we’re burning enough calories to make up for …

It’s astounding how often probabilities are misused. One of my favorites is a common way to make sure we consistently overestimate the odds of something coming to fruition. Say, for example, we want to know the odds that we’re going to win a contract. In many markets, it’s easy to focus in on your company …

Slightly different approach than usual, but I actually want to point to an article I recently posted elsewhere that closely ties into what I usually write here. In particular, it’s surprising how similar football can be to engineering in the automotive industry (or really any industry with complex technology). Please take a look on my …

Performing when we’re motivated is easy. Anyone can proudly walk into the gym on January 2nd or be excited about a healthy meal on the first day of their diet. But motivation is fleeting. No matter how excited we are when we start on a new quest, it won’t last. Eventually the novelty will wear …

When you launch a new product, the first question to ask yourself is not “How is this new product better than the competition?” but “First what?” In other words, what category is this new product first in? Charles Schwab didn’t open a better brokerage firm. He opened the first discount broker. … Everyone talks about …