Persistence

When a reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail so many times, it elicited Edison's famous response: "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."

The Power of Stories

Self-efficacy is about believing in yourself — about telling yourself a story that you are capable of accomplishing what you set out to do.

The Paradox of Mindfulness

One of the first things you learn when starting a meditation practice is that fighting the thoughts that inevitably pop up only serves to amplify them. Like blowing air into a smoldering fire to put it out, trying to stop the mental interruptions typically has the opposite effect.

On Finding a Reason for Being

It's a question so many people struggle with: How can you make your life feel meaningful? One technique for considering this lies in a popular Venn diagram that illustrates the Japanese concept of Ikigai, or "reason for being."

Microwave Buttons

How many buttons on your microwave do you actually use?

The Spice of Life

Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes, and this tension between consistency (and the efficiency it affords) and variety plays out in so many areas.

Positive vs. Negative Sum Games

If I have an extra cup of coffee, and you have an extra two dollars, we both come out ahead when I agree to sell it to you.

Pruning Flowers

Growing flower bushes takes commitment. You have to water and weed them, and ensure they are safe from bugs and disease.

Questions from 6 Months of Writing

Clive Thompson made an online tool that extracts only the questions from a piece of writing. So I dumped the last six months of my blog posts into it in reverse chronological order. Here's what came out.