I’ve written before about Arthur Brooks – articles of his I’ve read, the time I saw him as an event speaker, and episodes of his “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast. I very much enjoyed this podcast episode of his, featuring Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist and a Professor of…
We live in a world where companies encourage us to spend, even when we don't need to, for example, to keep up with the latest trends. The practice of spending more upon getting an income boost, is known as "lifestyle inflation." Instead of keeping up with the latest trends, a…
I’ve long been a big believer of the power of our thoughts. I wrote this post on the subject almost 10 years ago. Earlier this year, I listened to an excellent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast. Some of my favorite parts from the episode: When the world hands us…
A slightly early happy and healthy New Year! As I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the experiences I enjoyed this past year: what I listened to, what I read, what I watched, and more. Reading The best books I read this year: Fiction: The…
My brother-in-law is one of the all-time great people. For almost as long as people have been doing it, he has sent around emails with jokes, stories, wisdom, and more to a long list of people. I don’t read all of them, and it’s easy enough to delete ones I…
I’ve written before about Peter Singer (no relation) and his important book about giving, The Life You Can Save. I’m on Peter’s newsletter list. Since the start of the pandemic, he has written a series called “mythbusters,” each of which addresses difficult questions and common misconceptions around giving. Here are…
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about venting rarely being good for us. A key line from that post, which I learned from Arthur Brooks, is anger has a honeyed tip and a poisoned root – meaning, sometimes it feels good to vent (the honeyed tip), but it almost…
I’m a big fan of books in a category that might be best called Social Psychology. I am a fan of all three of Adam Grant’s books. His most recent book, last year’s Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, is full of valuable takeaways. I learned…
In order to keep up with current events, I look at three newspaper apps every morning, listen to one news app, and read one newsletter. Each afternoon, I read two newsletters, one of which is Dave Pell's Next Draft. Pell published a book last year, Please Scream Inside Your Heart:…
The fourth of my “Six Simple Rules” is “Be Organized,” and a To-Do list is one of my keys to staying organized. I’ve written about to-do lists in my book and more than once in the blog, such as here. I’ve also written that one of the secrets to my…
I’m a big fan of Arthur Brooks. I have seen him speak, I have read his columns, I have listened to his podcast episodes, and I have written about him here. Brooks had a podcast called How to Build a Happy Life and on the first episode, “Manage Your Feelings,…
I’ve written a few posts about the power of smiling and how it helps our happiness. When I present to groups, I always have them do this simple exercise: I ask them to smile. I then explain: When we smile, chemicals are released in our brains that make us think…
