Marty Nemko's Blog, page 241

Living By Your Principles: Baby steps toward getting there

Most of us would like to prioritize principles over expediency. As social reformer Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Expedients are for the hour, principles are for the ages.”

But we’re human. As psychologist Alfred Adler wrote, “It’s easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.” Perhaps one or more of the tips I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today will make it easier for your principles to prevail.

Becoming a Teensy Bit Better Thinker

Becoming a better thinker may seem daunting. After all, intelligence, at least as measured by intelligence tests, has proven quite resistant to improvement.


While your raw brainpower may be hard to improve, whether you make the most of it is more malleable. So, my PsychologyToday.com article today offers some teensies, suggestions that don't require undue effort, that could generate at least some improvement. That's worthy in itself.

Becoming a Teensy Bit More Disciplined; Baby steps

Few people who are reading this post will ever become super-disciplined, but if you're willing to settle for getting a teensy bit more, this article is for you.

You see, some perfectly good people just aren’t perfectly driven. No matter how much I tell them that the life well-lived is about productivity, they think, “Yeah, yeah” and get back to something more fun than that task.

Might any of the baby-step tips I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today tweak your lazy butt even a teensy bit?

Life in 2030? How politics may affect our work lives, values, and personal lives

The times have always been a-changin’ and people have always predicted that the changes will be big. I’m no different.

My PsychologyToday.com article today proposes how likely political changes could affect our work lives, our values, our personal lives.

Utilty: My guiding principle

Everyone has a foundational principle from which everything flows. Mine is utility: what will make the biggest positive impact on me, on my sphere of influence, on the world. My PsychologyToday.com article today expands.

Clear-Eyed Self-Assessment, Not Inflated Self-Esteem

Not so long ago, being hard on yourself was seen as an asset. Now, self-acceptance is more lauded. My PsychologyToday.com article today argues that's a mistake.

Are You Living a Life More of Integrity Than of Expedience?

My PsychologyToday.com article today argues that expedience too often trumps integrity, a problem I see worsening. It ends with a three-question self-assessment.

People As Impediments: Is human interaction overrated?

Involvement with other people is typically seen as central to the life well-lived. 

And for most people, it is. For example, self-love doesn’t duplicate love with another. Many people prefer to be on teams than to work solo. A baseball sent from a ball-throwing machine just isn’t the same as one from a pitcher.

And yet we perhaps too rarely stop to think how often people are impediments to our lives. I offer examples in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Truly Considering Diverse Views: A now undervalued value

Nearly everyone considers themselves open-minded if not downright celebratory of diverse ideas.

Alas, from where I sit, the truth isn’t as sanguine. Indeed, I see people getting more closed-minded.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers a self-assessment plus a practical suggestion.

The Case for Strictness Over Leniency

Increasingly, we venerate leniency over strictness, for example, the “kindly” boss, judge, spouse, or teacher. 

Students routinely give better evaluations to easy-grading professors. We respect  the decisionmaker who gives slack because of the “externalities” that contribute to a person’s bad behavior rather than a decisionmaker who rejects all but clearly serious and legitimate excuses.

I’m certainly not calling for the cruelty of a Dickensian villain but at the risk of seeming hyperbolic, I believe the trend to replacing strictness with leniency is a core cause of America’s descent. I make the case in my PsychologyToday.com article today.