What do cliff diving and moving abroad have in common?  They are each scary when looked at from a certain perspective.  It is tempting to anticipate that moment of hitting the ice-cold water with such fear that it becomes difficult to actually make the leap.  The trick hacking our minds...

When I claimed that it was possible to travel on minimum wage, I received a number of interesting replies, many of them requesting proof.  Some of the more private responses were from readers who were a bit miffed that I would make such a bold claim!  They seemed to imply...

Every once in a while it behooves even the kindest of people to be a bit of a jerk.  The world tries to pull us each in different directions, and often it becomes necessary to put a foot down – and sometimes this cannot be done whilst maintaining the finest...

It always seemed cool to me to be ambidextrous. People who can do things with both hands are more versatile; if you’ve ever broken your dominant hand, you know how useful this skill can be.  As I began to do research for this experiment, though, I discovered a number of...

Minimalism is the art and lifestyle of doing more with less.   When I left the United States nearly a year ago, all I had was what you see in the picture to the left.  No checked baggage.  No box of clothes and books.  This is part of the reason...

Long before the first chemist ever burned his eyebrows off, there were chefs.  No skill lends itself to experimentation quite like cooking (I always wonder about the first person to say “I wonder if I can eat that?“).  You’re already eating two or more times per day… why not take...

Given that I cut the amount of sleep I need by 2 hours per day, you might expect that I have a loud alarm clock and a rigid sleep schedule without a social life.  All of these could not be further from the truth.     Some days I go...

Creating a language bubble is a great way to make use of otherwise “wasted” time when learning a new language. One blogger has even used it to learn Japanese before ever arriving in Japan. The idea is to surround yourself as much as possible with the target language so the time...

  Regardless of if you’re on an airplane or just trying to maintain your energy levels, crashes suck.  In both cases they are very preventable – but only before the fact.  By the time you notice that your energy levels are low (or that there’s a big hole in the...

It should come as no surprise that attention is closely linked with how much we remember.  If you daydream in class, you don’t learn much… it seems simple enough.   If you’re like me, your attention tends to drift during your study sessions.  Frequently I find myself watching the traffic...