Marty Nemko's Blog, page 328

Thoughts on Turning 66

I wrote this during the hour before I turned 66.  My thoughts:

I'm filled with gratitude for my health, the opportunity to be productive, and for my good wife. We've been contentedly together for almost 43 years now. Oh, I  must also mention my preternaturally loving doggie Einstein.

Aware that most men my age are on the downswing, I'm working longer hours than ever. That's in the spirit of Isaac Asimov, who had written 450 books and was asked, "What would you do if you had six months to live?" His answer: "Type faster."  Most people can't relate to this but, for me, the life well-led is about using as many heartbeats as possible being productive.

For a very long time, I've been afraid of dying and tried everything to cure myself. What works best for me is simply to distract myself the first moment the fear enters consciousness. 

I'm very disciplined but not about eating. Ironic, I care so much about staying healthy and yet can't stop myself from overeating. I guess few of us are fully explainable by the rational.

Also ironic in that I used to be a committed liberal, I'm sad about the leftist bias of society's mindmolders: the schools, colleges, the media, and GoogleSearch. The relentless message is that Left is always right, that redistribution is justice. While I am liberal on many issues, I deeply believe that wisdom can be found across the ideological spectrum. Yet dare an idea veer right of center, it's censored or censured from society's major mind-molders. For example, Fox News, which, perhaps surprisingly, was found by Pew Research Center  to provide the most balanced coverage, is dwarfed in impact by the leftist-biased New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, CNN, PBS, NPR, Time, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, etc., etc., etc. Ironic that the Left continues to harp on Joe McCarthy's censorship from the Right of 70 years ago while today it exerts censorship that's far more pervasive.  I don't want to go into details here lest I be viewed as self-pitying but suffice to say that I have often been a victim of that.

Even if I were a leftist, I'd worry about how much control the aforementioned societal mind-molders have over policy. Whatever control the "military-industrial complex" had is dwarfed by society's mind-molders' power. That concentration of power cannot ultimately be good for humankind. 

In closing, thank you for having read my writings. That adds much meaning to my life.

Cultivating Charisma

I wish the world focused more on its steak than its sizzle but charisma is key to influence, and it's learnable. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer tactics derived from our most charismatic leaders.

Supercourse: Education Truly Reinvented

I believe the best idea I've ever developed is SuperCourses, an approach to reinventing education that would allow every child, worldwide, to receive an education far superior to the standard one. I lay it out in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Does Your Self-Concept Match How Others See You?

As my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer an easy way to compare your self-concept with how you're perceived.  

What is it Really Like to be a Social Worker?

After 20 years as a social worker, Jessica Ritter ran Pacific University’s social work program and is the senior author of the book 101 Social Work Careers , now in its 2nd edition. I had a conversation with her today on my NPR-San Francisco radio program. I offer a distillation as my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Choose a Career Already!

 
In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a fast yet effective way to choose a career.

The Multi-Ring Circus Career

More and more people will be having a multi-ring-circus career and will be happier for it. I describe it and make the case for it in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

A Waiter Wants to Change Careers

Despite a learning disability, a client of mine got a bachelor's degree in sociology  from a prestigious public university.

That was 15 years ago. Since then, he's been a waiter and desperately wants a new career. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I describe our first session.

We're All Automatic LIars

I saw comedian Tom Devenport at the Napa Valley’s Lucky Penny Community Arts Center. He closed with a bit that cut close to many of our bones. We lie and get lied to so often—especially in an election year--that we don’t even register common lies as lies.

Sure, a white lie for politeness isn't a mortal sin but when fibs fall so trippingly from our tongues that we don’t even recognize them as fibs, it suggests that maybe we could all use a little consciousness raising. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I list about 30 of our automatic lies.

The Case for Men Marrying an Older Woman

Many men are attracted to younger women. Mainly it's a visceral, physical thing although some men may value a younger woman because she is more likely to look up to him if only because he may have advanced more in his career.

But there are reasons men should consider older women as a potential marriage partner. I describe them in my PsychologyToday.com article today.