This is part two of our Following Through series. In part one, we talked about overcommitment as a major obstacle to following through. Many of us are vulnerable to feelings of fear, guilt, and obligation that prime us for wanting to please others reflexively by volunteering for their projects while neglecting our own. In part …
This is part one of our Following Through series. Do what you say! If you want to accomplish your life goals and build strong relationships, it’s really that simple. Following through on what we say builds trust with other people and raises our self-esteem. We need to reduce how often we commit to something and …
Answering three simple questions will clarify your intentions and make it more likely that you’ll accomplish your goal. What is the next step? When will it be done? Where is it’s home? Let’s examine each of these questions and how your answers can increase productivity and diminish stress. Prepare Before we begin, you’ll need to …
Writing can improve mental health – here’s how Any kind of writing can help. Yulia Grigoryeva/ Shutterstock Christina Thatcher, Cardiff Metropolitan University Ernest Hemingway famously said that writers should “write hard and clear about what hurts”. Although Hemingway may not have known it at the time, research has now shown that writing about “what hurts” can …
Status refers to the power dynamic between two or more people. High status people dominate low status people who submit to their demands. The unwritten rules that govern human interactions create this social hierarchy, which is so intuitive that it becomes almost invisible to us. People with ADHD tend to exhibit low status behaviors, which …
I’ve been thinking a lot about going back to life like it was before the pandemic. What people sometimes call “normal” life. Unfortunately, “normal” isn’t something I’m eager to return to. In fact, much of the lockdown really worked for me. Before the pandemic, it was mostly considered strange when I felt uneasy outside my …
I have discovered the secret to your highest quality productivity. If you’re reading this then this one thing is guaranteed to affect your life. It makes your contribution to any project 100% easier, less stressful, and exponentially improves the final result. Racing thoughts erode our productivity as each thought demands our attention in such rapid …
Willpower is not enough. It will never be enough to reliably make big changes in your life. Willpower is like voluntary, self-manufactured stress. Unfortunately, we prove to ourselves over and over that we are unreliable, even if we are desperate for change. The only thing we can rely on is our ability to avoid change. …
Here and gone. That’s what it is to be human, I think—to be both someone and no one at once, to hold a particular identity in the world (our names, our place of origins, our family and affectional ties) and to feel that solid set of ties also capable of dissolution, slipping away, as we …
“It’s these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudesNothing remains quite the sameWith all of our running and all of our cunningIf we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane”–Jimmy Buffett These lyrics express the importance of attitude for our mental health and also its instability. The song suggests travel –a radical change of exterior circumstances– …
