In previous articles on "What is a Value Hierarchy?” and "How Values Form,” I teased readers with the idea that you can strategically reprogram your value hierarchy and I promised to write more on that topic. But first, there is a foundational skill that you need to...
The Importance of a Value Orientation Toward Past Actions
In my previous article, I argued that you need to motivate all action by reference to values rather than threats. I explained how you justify the goal in terms of values before you act and then stay focused on gaining values while acting. In this article you will see...
Launch Contents & Resources
Launch: Achieve a Major Goal in 8 Weeks This page explains a simple process to help you launch an 8-week initiative to achieve a major goal. If you have joined the Launch program, this gives you an overview of the program and links to everything you need. If you are a...
Productive Work, Happiness, and the Value Orientation
In this series on happiness, I have distinguished short-term pleasures and temporary joys from true happiness. To be in a state of true happiness, you need to gain your values every day, week, month, and year. This requires not only that you accept facts of reality,...
Your Indirect Control over Your Own Happiness
Our general topic has been happiness. We now get to the essential issue: can you make yourself happy? The answer is yes — but not by a direct process. You cannot guarantee existential success, nor can you predict your future emotions or your exact future...
Recovering a Benevolent Universe Perspective
Emotional resilience is your ability to recover a benevolent universe perspective after experiencing distressing emotions. After an incident that draws your attention to threats, problems, and difficulties, can you get back to seeing the world as filled with your...
The Work of Happiness
I derive my ideas on happiness from Ayn Rand, who wrote, among other things, "Morality...is a code of values to guide man’s choices and actions—the choices and actions that determine the purpose and the course of his life." (AR, The Objectivist...
FAQ: What is the Source of “Implicit” Ideas and Value-Judgments?
In my husband's discussion group for Objectivists, a member asked: What I’m grappling with here is the manner and degree to which the underlying ideas and value-judgments can be formed in the first place, without one being conscious of forming them. This is an...
What makes a positive attitude rational? – Free Webinar
In this free teaser class, Lin Zinser and Jean Moroney will discuss what it means to have a rationally positive attitude toward life. This is not a pollyanna view that tries to look on the bright side of disasters. Nor is it the delusion that we live in the best of all possible worlds. Rather, it is an objective, value-oriented look at reality.[…]
How to Find and Commit to a Central Purpose
Working out your central purpose is one of the most selfish things you can do. It has the biggest effect on your future and your happiness. It’s not a quick process. If you already have a general direction but need to clarify the personal significance for yourself,...