Even if you know how you should be eating, you may still have a hard time sticking to good eating habits—most people do. A Wall Street Journal article last year had some great advice from a scientific study about how to eat better. Set one or two specific rules, and…
I have written a ton about habit change: including numerous blog posts, and my book filled with ways to be happier, nicer, more organized, and healthier. I have also given speeches to thousands of people on the same subject. This is going to be one of the shortest posts I…
I’ve written before about Arthur Brooks – articles of his I’ve read, the time I saw him as an event speaker, and episodes of his “How to Build a Happy Life” podcast. I very much enjoyed this podcast episode of his, featuring Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist and a Professor of…
We live in a world where companies encourage us to spend, even when we don't need to, for example, to keep up with the latest trends. The practice of spending more upon getting an income boost, is known as "lifestyle inflation." Instead of keeping up with the latest trends, a…
I recently heard a great quote: “Leading is action, not a position.” The quote is attributed to Donald McGannon. According to Wikipedia, McGannon was a broadcasting industry executive during the formative years of the television industry in the United States. As chairman of the Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, McGannon was a…
I’ve written many times about best practices for your health, and I regularly read health-related articles. Whether the articles are about reducing the chances of being impacted by cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or Alzheimer’s, the suggestions all tend to revolve around eating well, exercising, managing stress, not smoking, and getting…
In speeches, I say eating well, which is one of the most critical parts of being healthy, is hard for a bunch of reasons, one of which is the rules keep changing. Eggs are bad, eggs are good. All fat is bad, some fat is good. Recently, that happened regarding…
I’ve long been a big believer of the power of our thoughts. I wrote this post on the subject almost 10 years ago. Earlier this year, I listened to an excellent episode of the Hidden Brain podcast. Some of my favorite parts from the episode: When the world hands us…
A slightly early happy and healthy New Year! As I have done for quite a few years, here are some of the experiences I enjoyed this past year: what I listened to, what I read, what I watched, and more. Reading The best books I read this year: Fiction: The…
My brother-in-law is one of the all-time great people. For almost as long as people have been doing it, he has sent around emails with jokes, stories, wisdom, and more to a long list of people. I don’t read all of them, and it’s easy enough to delete ones I…
I’ve written before about Peter Singer (no relation) and his important book about giving, The Life You Can Save. I’m on Peter’s newsletter list. Since the start of the pandemic, he has written a series called “mythbusters,” each of which addresses difficult questions and common misconceptions around giving. Here are…
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about venting rarely being good for us. A key line from that post, which I learned from Arthur Brooks, is anger has a honeyed tip and a poisoned root – meaning, sometimes it feels good to vent (the honeyed tip), but it almost…
