“Focus on your strengths,” is now standard advice. Along with “be yourself” and “follow your passions”, it is one of those snippets of wisdom we rarely question. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong in enough cases to be worth questioning. A better question to ask would be: when should you focus on your strengths? If you understand […]
Staying in School Forever
As a species, our incubation period is getting longer. Just a few hundred years ago, finishing twelve years of education was uncommon. Today it’s difficult to get a job above minimum wage without a high-school diploma. Teenagers were once miniature adults. Fifteen year-old girls got married. Sixteen year-old boys went to work. Today teenagers are […]
Why the World is Actually Getting Better
I’m halfway through reading The Progress Paradox, by Gregg Easterbrook. The paradox is simply this: why do people feel worse, when life is actually getting better. Easterbrook spends a long chapter arguing how, in almost every dimension, life for Western countries is not (as many exclaim) diving into an abyss, but getting better. And, it […]
Why Good Deeds and Money Don’t Mix
Would you rather serve soup at a homeless shelter for free, or for $2 per hour? If you’re in a country with a high minimum wage like Canada, you would probably rather volunteer. For the same reasons, your mother-in-law would be offended if you offered to pay her $20 for making a family dinner. I […]