Marty Nemko's Blog, page 250

Feedback Finding the courage to solicit, curate, and act on it without undue defensiveness.

Feedback is key to our growing. So if we care to improve ourselves, we must gird ourselves to endure the short-term pain of risking reaming for the long-term gain in professional and personal efficacy.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe how to find the courage to solicit, curate, and act on feedback without undue defensiveness.

 

12 Self-Improvement Books: Summer reading with a purpose

Are you up for some psychologically helpful summer reading?

My PsychologyToday.com article today describes 12 books that my clients and I have felt were helpful in self-improvement.

Your Doctoral Advisor: Key to making a PhD worth it

Your advisor is key to making the most of your PhD education. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today shows how to find a well-suited and excellent advisor and make the most of the relationship.

Toward a Wiser College or Graduate Application Essay

In writing an college or graduate school application essay (or job application), there’s such temptation to write whatever will “work.” that is “get you in” to a more selective college than would otherwise admit you.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe how to write an effective and ethical essay, with implications also for job application letters. 

The Case for Dropping Out of High School: An underconsidered option for bright, self-starter teens.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I make the case that more students should consider the seemingly absurd option of dropping out of high school.

The Case for Dropping Out of High Schoo: An underconsidered option for bright, self-starter teens.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I make the case that more students should consider the seemingly absurd option of dropping out of high school.

The Case for the Low-Risk Life

The media cherry-picks risk takers who won: the actor who made it big, the athlete who defied the odds, the kid from the gritty streets who’s now a millionaire.
Alas, for every one of those, there are millions wondering why "Follow your passion!" didn't work. Instead, they struggle to pay the rent even on a gritty street.
In a small attempt at offering balance, my PsychologyToday.com article today makes the case for the low-risk life.

Peer Mentoring: A potent tool for self-improvement and building friendship

Whether it’s for yourself, your child, or anyone else you care about, peer mentoring is among the more potent (and free) ways to improve a life.

In peer mentoring, two to eight people meet regularly in-person or virtually (phone/teleconference, Skype, Facetime, or Zoom) to listen, ask questions, and offer advice. Usually, the focus is a problem a person is facing but sometimes, especially after a relationship among the members has been developed, it might simply be to report on something good, bad, or just interesting that’s happened or is upcoming.

I have initiated and been a participant in a peer mentoring pair and a group of eight for years. My PsychologyToday.com article today summarizes what I’ve learned.

The Seven Deadly Sins...Not So Deadly

Perhaps especially today, too many people tend to be reflexive rather than reflective. In psychologist Daniel Kahnemann’s terms, they succumb to Level 1 thinking when Level 2 would be wiser.

My PsychologyToday.com article today attempts to show that even seemingly clearly bad human characteristics, the so-called 7 Deadly Sins, have a defensible other side. The hope is that it might inspire readers to look between the poles for nuance, for that’s often where wisdom lies, whether it’s in what to believe, whom to consort with, or whom to vote for in 2020.

Takeaways from a Career Counseling Class

I’m teaching a graduate course in career counseling. Some students told me that last night’s class was the most valuable yet. So I thought that, as my PsychologyToday.com article today, I’d describe some of its major takeaways.

Most are applicable not just to career counselors but to all counselors, therapists, and coaches. Most of them derive from a mock first career counseling session that I conducted with a student in the class.