Marty Nemko's Blog, page 251

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.

Driving Calmly....Yet Expeditiously

Traffic ever worsens, and mass transit often takes far longer and is less pleasant. After a long day, instead of the sanctuary of a car, you may be sardined in a high-decibel train or bus accompanied by sweaty co-riders' inescapable body odor.

But too many people deprive themselves of the respite of said sanctuary. Instead, they get stressed out by the traffic and by rude or oblivious drivers.

Nothing I say can bring back the days of pleasant, short commutes but perhaps the tips I offer in my PsychologyToday.com article today can cut your driving stress while not requiring such zen that you can sit blissfully in the slow lane, not caring that your commute is eating even more into your family and personal life.

Getting a Good Deal: Job, relationships, purchases, physica and mental health, and overall life.

We all like to get a good deal, but how many not be so obvious. My PsychologyToday.com article today offers some thoughts on how to get an edge in life’s major categories: work, relationships, purchases, physical health, mental health, and overall  in life.

Finding Comfort: Part II

Previously, I offered eight sources of comfort in stressful times. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I add nine more all which are time-tested by an n of at least one.

Giving Up: You probably won't save your best for last

The media sings of old people doing amazing things. For example, it tells anecdotes sent to them by encore.org about people who, late in life, have spearheaded some help-the-poor initiative.

But the vast majority of older people reading such stories are unlikely to be inspired to do the same. They’re more likely to feel inferior, guilty for having realistically assessed that late-in-life success is too unlikely to justify expending their waning physical and mental capabilities in hopes of a last hurrah, to not go gentle into the good night, to save the best for last.

I defend that decision in my PsychologyToday.com article today. 

Education in 2040?

Education has long been held up as a bulwark of hope for an improved society, for example, reducing the achievement gap. Alas, that promise remains largely unfulfilled, with the achievement gap as wide as ever despite a $22 trillion spend to close it. And as ever more jobs require high-performance information-economy skills, the need for dramatically improved education grows.

So it’s no surprise that, for decades now, there have been calls for education’s reinvention. But powerful organizations with vested interest in the status quo have heretofore stalled major change.

Unfettered by such restraints, in my PsychologyToday.com article today, I posit what could be a dramatically more effective educational system, which by 2040, could even become realistic.

The Workplace of 2040? One possibility

In a recent article, I offered a possible scenario of what the average person’s life will be like in 2040, an era of diminished employment opportunities. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I project what life in the corporation or large nonprofit might look like.