Aruna Gobalan's Blog, page 10

Too Much Inspiration, Too Little Action: How to Bridge the Inspiration-Action Gap

Imagine watching a video about the mind-altering benefits of meditation and then sitting down to meditate, only to realize you can’t stop thinking about the stupid thing your co-worker said, and how you would handle it next time. And then get all wound up about how unlucky you are to be stuck in the job […]

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Why We See What We Want to See: The Extraordinary Power of Confirmation Bias

English philosopher Francis Bacon articulated the concept of confirmation bias before the term even existed. He said,The human understanding, when it has once adopted an opinion, draws all things … to support and agree with it. The saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” is one of the oldest idioms in the English […]

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Why the Quest To Simplify Our Lives Is Not So Simple

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. Henry David Thoreau. I'll admit it. I used to be quite judgmental about other people’s habits, even when they didn’t concern me one bit. For instance, I inwardly rolled […]

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The Mirage of Greener Pastures: Why It’s Perfectly Okay to Stay Put Sometimes

Are greener pastures worth chasing or just an optical illusion? A 2009 article in the NY Times described how Mr. Laermer, a quintessential New Yorker, fell in love with La Quinta, a California desert town, during his work trips. So much so that he bought a vacation home there, and over time, made it his […]

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Intellectual Curiosity: Not Just for Nerds

Intellectual curiosity: the official excuse for going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole at 2 a.m. - UnknownThe NY city school system had an established process to identify “bright” 10 – 12-year-old children in schools and place them in rapid advancement classes that would enable pupils to complete three years of schoolwork in two and a […]

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Discover The Magic of Being Alone: Why Solitude Is Serene

Here’s a quote from Audrey Hepburn on being alone.I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel. The year was 1960. As was tradition, almost three quarters of a million Americans were preparing to head to […]

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The Road to Self-Improvement: Overcoming Your Weakest Link

You are only as strong as your weakest link.A different kind of chip scarcity“The end of the world (as we know it) is here,” claimed a rather dramatic post in December 2021. The post wasn’t referring to the Covid-19 crisis, but instead was a response to McDonald’s announcement that they’d ration French fries in Japan. While […]

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Wondering Where Your Day Went? The Planning Fallacy Could be to Blame

The “planning fallacy” is that you make a plan, which is usually a best-case scenario. Then you assume that the outcome will follow your plan, even when you should know better. Daniel Kahneman. Estimator: An individual who does precision guess-work based on unreliable data provided by those with questionable knowledge.In 1957, the Aussie government chose […]

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Why You Should Embrace Deadlines Instead of Dreading Them

Most of us don't need more time. We just need more deadlines.On Sunday, April 3, 2005, Michigan State and North Carolina were battling out in the final four of the NCAA basketball tournament. The Detroit Free Press published an article about the game, in which columnist Mitch Albom alluded to the presence of two former […]

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Self-compassion: Why You Should Stop Beating Yourself Up

Unlike self-criticism, which asks whether you’re good enough, self-compassion asks, “what’s good for you?” Dr.Kristin Neff Most of us, when we’re not trying to remember where we put our phones, or whether there’s spinach stuck between our teeth, are too busy berating ourselves for how inadequate we are and what we could have, would have, […]

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