I’ve noticed that confident people tend to focus less on themselves and more on their outside environment. If you have polished public speaking skills, you don’t think about getting nervous or being embarrassed. Instead you’re focused on the audience and the content of your speech. I’d argue that self-confidence is an oxymoron because total confidence […]
People Remember Your Screw-Ups, Not When You Help
A friend of mine was asked recently to share his advice to a group of people. His advice was, “do what you say you’ll do.” People will remember when you break promises, but they won’t remember when you help them out. I think this is great advice about the importance of being reliable. People expect […]
Why You Should Be a Geek
Several weeks ago I had the privilege of hearing an unusual motivational speech. It wasn’t in a seminar, but in a computer science class. The speaker wasn’t Tony Robbins, but a professor Michael Zapp. Zapp interrupted a lecture on heap-sorting to share a valuable life lesson: the virtue of being a geek. Geeks are people […]
Can You Live With the Worst Case?
A great deal of self-improvement advice is based on one principle: if the cost of failure is low, taking action and making mistakes beats doing nothing. This isn’t motivational hype, it’s common sense. If the upside is great, and the downside is minimal, why not roll the dice? Unfortunately, few people actually ask themselves what […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.