Dear Blog Readers,

I’m sorry there have been so few articles coming out recently.

I’m looking forward to commencing a regular writing schedule after OCON (this weekend’s Objectivist Conference). If you’re going to be in New Orleans, come chat with me in the lobby of the Sheraton on Friday and/or Saturday from 5–6 PM. I’ll be hanging out to talk all things psychology.

Meanwhile, I just want to give you a taste of what I’ve been thinking about and therefore will start writing about for you.

The bottom line: Only value-oriented thinking creates sustainable real-world results. If you allow the slightest threat-orientation into your thinking — even in joking — it adds tremendous friction into the process.

The first aha that contributed to this conclusion came this winter when I realized I had a surprisingly negative attitude toward writing. It showed up when I had trouble, and it showed up in my joking about difficulties I was having. The dark humor helped to deflect from a real question: Why was I still struggling with writing problems after over 30 years of effort to solve them? I have now answered that question.

The second aha came for me this spring when I got some one-on-one coaching on sticking to a schedule. For the first time I saw how negative beliefs about my capacity were fundamental to my difficulties. I’ve been learning a new process for validating aspirational thoughts that has made a huge difference in this regard.

When I see two mistakes of the same type, I look to draw a principle. Given that I’ve been teaching “motivation by love” (aka the value orientation) since my speech on the topic in 2019, I can talk for hours on the subject, and the principle is integrated into everything I teach in the Thinking Lab, how could I have been blind to these two major areas of threat orientation in my own life? The answer hit me at once: writing and time management are the two skills that I had given the most time and attention to prior to 2019. I had already put more than 20 years into understanding each of them before fully grasping the fundamental importance of a value orientation. This meant that my value hierarchy in these areas was integrated with mistaken beliefs about what was possible.

Now I not only see the problem, I have a tool for solving it.

At the same time, I’ve been refining my theory of psychology, which I am naming “Philosophical Psychology.” I see the content of the science as building on the metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics of Objectivism. My definition of psychology is “the study of man’s faculty of consciousness from the aspect of the interaction between one’s mental actions and the automatic functions of the subconscious.” My view is that understanding the principles of psychology requires grounding them in introspective observation of one’s own mental actions. And that the validation of the principles requires Leonard Peikoff’s theory of induction to ensure the conclusions are objective, not subjective. Introspective data is prima facie subjective, so it requires the most rigorous epistemological methods to validate.

All of this has given me a new perspective on the Thinking Lab. I have fully embraced that my main audience is Ayn Rand sympathizers, though anyone committed to reason and a rational morality could get benefit from my work. I’m adding a group coaching component to the regular membership, because I see how beneficial it is to gaining objectivity about one’s own mental processes. And over the next 14 months, I intend to teach the process of “Thinking That Gets Results,” first as a process, then in each of the five major application areas: work/career, relationships, health/wellness, expertise/skill building, and money/trade. It’s going to be an exciting time in the Thinking Lab!

If this piques your interest, sign up now to lock in the current recurring rates at least through the end of 2027. The monthly price is going up as soon as I update the sales page to reflect these plans, maybe as soon as July 1.

Meanwhile, Happy Summer! I look forward to sharing more on these ideas over the months that follow — and maybe in the lobby at OCON on Friday or Saturday at 5PM.

Sincerely,

Jean M.

Jean Moroney
jm@thinkingdirections.com