Last year I wrote a piece on commitment devices, another practice to help you to make good habits stick. A reader sent me a note saying how much he loved the piece, and he told me what he and his wife have been doing to make changes that stick, as…
This is a guest post by Ash Govender. Making changes can be hard. In your own case, you may have often heard someone say: “make it a habit to…..” followed by some difficult to accomplish task. Then, you try it a few times until you either stop because you don’t…
I've written many times: helping others is one of the greatest happiness strategies. A recent way I have been helping others is by donating my voice to people who live with voicelessness. My involvement with this activity started when I read an article about VocaliD, a for-profit company. It seems…
I have been greatly influenced by the writing of Stephen Covey, the late author of Seven Habits for Highly Successful People. What I learned from his ideas have been very important for my time management. Essentially, his message, as explained by the first three of his seven habits, is this:…
Last week, I wrote about the many things I threw out when helping my parents move from a house to an apartment. I wrote about throwing things out or donating them along the way, rather than accumulating things you don't need. There is another way. Don't buy things you don't…
This week, my parents moved from the house I grew up in to an apartment. They don't need as much space and the move has many pluses for them. Most importantly, they will no longer be responsible for maintaining their property and the apartment is one level, which will make…
After I republished my post Kindness & the Common Good in my monthly newsletter, a reader sent me this note I want to share with you: Thank you for this email (newsletter)! I have a constant, inner conversation with myself where I try to be mindful of the point of…
I have written about the fresh start effect, which I heard about on an episode of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, When Willpower Isn’t Enough. I have written often about the way willpower impacts our ability to make changes that stick—simply, we have a limited amount of willpower (it’s been studied),…
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I’ve been watching a series of TV specials marking the anniversary: I Am MLK Jr, King in the Wilderness, and Hope & Fury. I’ve read many books on Dr. King and the civil rights movement, but it’s…
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about Investing in Time Rather than Things, for Happiness after I read about a study showing that using money to buy yourself more time results in greater happiness than using money to buy things. It’s especially beneficial to invest in freeing…
I have frequently written about the power of smiling. When we smile, there is a chemical reaction which causes us to think we are happy, even if we were not feeling happy before that moment. In addition, smiling at others usually causes them to smile back at you. (In fact,…
Freakonomics, which I read many years ago, remains one of the most entertaining books I have read. Stephen Dubner, one of the book’s authors, hosts the Freakonomics Radio podcast, which I don’t regularly listen to (because I listen to too many others). The podcast’s web site describes it this way:…