Being right is fun, it’s profitable, it’s correlated with better health outcomes (this sentence has not been fact-checked), and it generally beats the hell out of being wrong.
Luckily, being right is easy when you follow a few simple principles.
“How I Found Freedom In An Unfree World” is an ugly-looking book by a former US politician who you won’t have heard of, advocating a worldview that could easily be criticised as selfish or impractical.
It’s not a perfect book, but I re-read it every couple of years because it contains a simple message that’s easy to forget: you have far more control over your life than you think you do.
When you have a goal, you’re often told to make steady, incremental progress towards it. But what if you have no idea what change you want to make?
There’s a rule I’ve come up with over the last couple of years: if you want an accurate prediction for what’s going to happen, ask someone who’s not emotionally invested in the outcome.
One question to help you make better, easier choices – and to understand the choices of others.
Although it seems obvious that we do things because we like them, I believe we might have it backwards: we actually like things because we do them.
Because I’m one of the first people ever to have fathered a child, I feel a heavy weight of responsibility to pass on wry anecdotes and unsolicited advice – just in case this “parenting” thing ever catches on with humanity at large.
Save time and energy by ignoring your responsibilities. Strategically, of course.
Summary: The brain is weird.
Why you shouldn’t let me join your pub quiz team, but I’m a lot happier for it.