My business coach encourages us to develop a new identity in order to produce at a higher level — to create more value for more people and therefore earn more money. Her stories about this are a dramatic concretization of the idea that “man is a being of self-made...

In the age of streaming video and audiobooks, many people turn to listening as their primary way of learning new ideas. This has some cognitive risks that aren't generally considered. If you are concerned with your operational intelligence, i.e., your ability to think...

In my previous article, I explained what dysfunctional states are and why you need to "reboot" your mind when you get into one. But I kept to the simple ones: overload, confusion, and blankness. Conflict, meaning the experience of emotions pulling you in multiple...

    “Thinking” is a purposeful process of integrating new observations with your existing knowledge and values to reach new conclusions.   It is not a passive state of registering random impressions. It is an actively sustained process of identifying...

After back-and-forths with some Thinking Labbers, I've got a lead to what causes some people to bog down in thinking about issues and never get into action. It's popular to say that such people are "overthinking" and need "a bias for action." But inaction is a symptom...

When the desire for approval is driving many decisions, it is a "defense value." It distorts your choices and actions and undercuts your successes and sense of self. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be remedied by taking an active approach to reprogramming your...

    Based on some comments I made in a coaching call, a Thinking Labber wrote to me as follows:   I'm fascinated by the idea that self-sacrifice is an easily activated context and not a habit. I'd love to learn more about that, but I'm not sure of the...

There are three kinds of actions that mark a person as having an active mind. 1. You look beyond the obvious options and the obvious explanations to make sure you've got the full picture. 2. You do the introspective work to make your own values explicit, especially...