Thinking Lab Scholarships

Thanks to a generous donor, we have 20 Thinking Lab scholarships available for “worthy young persons.”

Who should apply? Any “young person” who is interested in the work of Jean Moroney and has made use of some of the free materials available on this site, such as the Thinking Directions Starter Kit or the blog. There are no bright line requirements regarding age or school or career status, but we prioritize younger people (under 30) who would not be able to afford the Thinking Lab otherwise.

What is the length of a scholarship? They vary. It is relatively easy to get a limited 2-month trial scholarship. If you make use of the trial, it is routine to get that extended to a 6-month regular membership. If you make full use of the six months, then it is likely you can get it extended to a year.

How do you apply? The application process is simple: You need to write an email to me answering a few questions about yourself and why you want the scholarship. I will share the email with Ellen Kenner, my colleague who runs the scholarship program and supports scholarship recipients during your time in the Thinking Lab. She will email with you regarding next steps.

Application

Please email info@thinkingdirections.com with your answers to these five questions:

What is your name, phone number, email address, and mailing address?
What have you been doing with your life since you were a youth?
What free or paid materials from Jean Moroney have you digested, and how did they help you?
What aspects of the Thinking Lab are you most interested in?
Why are you a good candidate — “a worthy young person” — for this scholarship? Please include why this makes a difference financially.

And…if you don’t think you qualify based on our age and financial criteria, feel free to email us why you would be a good candidate anyway. Let us know what we might be missing. We revisit the criteria periodically and your feedback will help us.

What a previous recipient has said

For an idea of how the Thinking Lab can benefit you, please read this thank-you letter from a Thinking Lab scholarship recipient to his anonymous donors upon the renewal of his scholarship:

Dear Donors,

I’m amazed that it’s been a year since, thanks to your support, I had the unique opportunity to participate in the Thinking Lab and learn from Jean. But to tell you that I have benefited from the program would be an understatement. So let me tell you a little bit about my week…

My university studies continue to progress and this week I found myself in a very familiar situation for me: once again I left a lot of homework to do at the last minute! But now things are very different, as I’ve learned that living putting out fire after fire is not a good policy to fulfill my goals (nor to preserve my energy and good spirits).

A few months ago, I took a full-time job with a friend with whom I’m starting a philosophy startup (a crazy idea, isn’t it?) By far, this has been the most exciting and intellectually demanding job I’ve ever had in my life, and, not least importantly, the most personally meaningful. Coupled with a full commitment to university life, I’d better get ready putting on my firefighter’s suit, right?

Not so fast!

Jean’s courses and classes have taught me a key insight that every time I need to get down to work, makes me stop and reflect first about the habitual way I’m used to working: your productive output does not have to be bound up in despair, pressing deadlines, or physical struggle–not if you can steer your motivation properly.

For a guy who has questioned any form of determinism and fatalism ever since, as a young teenager, he decided that his teachers were wrong, the idea of harnessing your motivation might not seem so revolutionary. But you wouldn’t believe how much I’ve been able to learn about my mind and character by studying, testing, and trying out all the tools that you and Jean have made available for me.

I continue to learn every day, making sure to carefully study Jean’s material and adapt it for my concrete situations. In the process, I have had to face what some people would call my demons and dragons, those that sabotage my mind by leading me to procrastination and demotivation. Or at least that’s what I would call them if I didn’t know first-hand the Thinking Lab’s way of understanding and approaching motivation.

And that’s the crux of the matter. Understanding my mind and my motivational mechanism has not only helped me to be more productive, undertake new projects, and work on starting even more ambitious ones very soon. At root, it has made me a man of greater integrity.

Today, when I have to complete the last of my exams at the latest hour, I am happy to say that there is a lot I can do (here, now, this minute) and that I know exactly how to do it creatively, efficiently, and perhaps even with time to meet some friends for a drink. Strain and guilt have no place in my worldview.

I can’t thank you enough for all of this and my wish is that you may have experienced some of my journey (not necessarily with the fire and music that I put here, something very typical of my Latin roots!). Of course, there is much more material that I have yet to go through when the time comes. To that end, counting on your ever-appreciated support would be of huge help for the year (and ambitions) to come.

Thank you again, and I wish you the very best!

Ricardo Pinto

Philosophy Student, University of Business and Social Services

How to be a Donor

If you are interested in offering a Thinking Lab scholarship, please email info@thinkingdirections.com so we can discuss next steps.

Scholarship money concept. Coins in jar with money stack step growing growth saving money investment

If you are interested in applying for a Thinking Lab scholarship, please email us with your answers to these five questions:

What is your name, phone number, email address, and mailing address?
What have you been doing with your life since you were a youth?
What free or paid materials from Jean Moroney have you digested, and how did they help you?
What aspects of the Thinking Lab are you most interested in?
Why are you a good candidate — “a worthy young person” — for this scholarship? Please include why this makes a difference financially.

If you are interested in offering a Thinking Lab scholarship, please email info@thinkingdirections.com so we can discuss next steps.

About Ellen Kenner

Ellen Kenner, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and was host of the nationally-syndicated radio talk show, The Rational Basis of Happiness^®. She and Dr. Locke co-authored The Selfish Path to Romance: How to Love with Passion and Reason, a path-breaking guide for finding and nurturing romance, inspired by the ideas of Ayn Rand.

EKenner

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