One of my all-time favorite comics is this classic from xkcd:

It seems everyone thinks the world is full of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad people. And sure, while you’ll find your share of jerkholes everywhere you go, I think a lot of this way, way overblown. People are mostly good, even if we all have the capacity to be…

The Breakthrough Newsletter | April 10, 2023 — This is a repost of a Breakthrough newsletter—one idea, one question, and one exercise each week that could spark your next breakthrough. Sign up to receive future newsletters every Monday here. TWO THINGS FOR YOU TO THINK ABOUT All relationships require work. Good relationships get better with work. Bad relationships need constant work just to stay the…

For years now, I’ve written that ruminating on one’s happiness is probably not helpful. Happiness is not the point. And if you make it the point, then you’re not going to be happy. This view has put me at odds against the dozens of popular “How to Be Happy” books…

The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once wrote, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” It was a simple and profound thought about the nature of boredom, self-awareness, and our endless capacity to distract ourselves with dumb shit. Try it: sit in a…

You’ve probably heard the words “modernism” and “postmodernism” before. Perhaps you heard them uttered by a stuffy professor or some nerd with a bow-tie in an art gallery. But I’d like to take a few minutes to convince you that they are practical and important terms. First, some definitions. Modernism…

Loneliness is low-key the root of so many of the mental health and social welfare issues today, yet nobody seems to know how to talk about or solve it. Loneliness is a tough topic to tackle. It’s so widespread, yet we still know little about how or why it happens. What’s the Deal With Loneliness? …

In economics, there’s a concept known as the sunk cost fallacy. The sunk cost fallacy occurs when someone makes a decision based on their previously invested time or resources. The classic example occurs when you buy something that you end up not needing or enjoying, but you force yourself to…

I’ve found there are a lot of misconceptions out there about how to read more and read well, mostly picked up from when we were in grade school. Here, I want to cover the three most common questions I get in regards to reading non-fiction: How do you remember what…