Side projects are not just random diversions: they are a critical skill-building and rejuvenating activity everybody should actively participate in.     Programmers are especially keen on little side projects. The act of programming is, quintessentially, creating shortcuts to doing something. Many programmers got their start making little scripts to...

This is part one of my series of experiments on happiness using Track your Happiness, a “scientific research project that aims to use modern technology” to help you understand what makes you happy. It is the project of doctoral candidate Matt Killingsworth at Harvard University. During the course of many...

I’ve received a few requests for this post, so here it is: my approach to focus. It is not an end-all be-all solution for everybody, but rather a look at the key underlying ways you can keep yourself moving towards a task. The tricks here should work well for anybody,...

Regardless of if you’re hanging out with friends or running a business, you will need to make a request of your peers sooner or later. On one hand, you need to get something out of the request. On the other hand, you don’t want to be that guy.   This...

I’m not here to hawk any self-help products, yet like many book writers I will make the bold claim that I know the formula to success… and it is simple. Surprisingly simple — and widely overlooked or ignored.     I’m not saying that this formula will make you rich....

Why does it matter why we have brains? It seems like such a self-evident question that we don’t bother asking it… but once we do, it proves much more complex than anticipated.   It is a question which should be asked as we delve into philosophy, psychology or any other...

Normally when a celebrity passes away I consider the event tragic – but no more so than any other of the human deaths that happen every day. I generally have a somewhat callous attitude toward our celebrity-driven worldwide culture.   Yet I found myself profoundly moved by the passing of...

Malcolm Gladwell uses the term “Outliers” to describe people who are exceptional in some way. His point is well made, but at the end of the day we tend to forget that outliers are people who are different. Strange. Weird.     To have unusual success, you need to be...

Blackouts.   Anybody who has ever drank a lot (or been around people who do) knows about this phenomenon. Entire sections of the night can disappear from a person’s memory without a trace. A recent Lifehacker article about drinking and decision-making caught my eye, and one comment in particular claimed...

How many times have you put off starting something? How many times did that same task end up being relatively easy, once you finally got started?   In chemistry, activation energy is the “minimum energy required to start a chemical reaction.” What is fascinating about the concept is that this...