From the category archives:

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Creativity and Novelty

by Stephen Mills February 14, 2010
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Optical illusions work because of the perceptual shortcuts your brain has developed from past perceptual experience. This tendency of your brain to make snap judgments and statistical predictions is a very good thing. It occurs in many different areas of your brain and it reduces by many magnitudes the amount of mental resources required to function in your every day life.

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12 Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself

by Stephen Mills January 17, 2010

Asking yourself the right kinds of questions is a powerful tool to keep you focused on what really matters. The following are some of the questions I like to ask myself.

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Are We Disconnecting From Real Life?

by Stephen Mills December 13, 2009
Online

Technology is making meeting the needs of our daily existence easier, but it certainly isn’t making life overall easier. I think technology is creating such an unnatural environment for human beings to exist in that our minds and bodies can’t take it. We are not made to be connected 24/7, socializing through a computer, living in a concrete jungle, and up all night in the artificial lights. Our brains are exhausted from over stimulation of the unnatural kind.

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The Investment Banker and The Mexican Fisherman

by Stephen Mills December 9, 2009
Fishing Boat

An investment banker stood at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

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A Values-Based Approach to Goals

by Stephen Mills December 2, 2009
Goals

I used to have a goal that said I wanted to have to be rich and to me than meant having X million dollars. When I asked myself why I wanted to be rich, the answer was because I wanted freedom and I wanted stuff. I thought then and I still do that money can buy you freedom that people with less money don’t have. I’m not sure I want the stuff anymore. Regardless of whether you agree or not, the key point here is that money is not really a value to me. Money is a goal and the value is freedom. That’s a core value to me and has been for as long as I can remember.

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The Brain Surgeon, the Janitor, and the Six-Inch Pizza

by Stephen Mills November 10, 2009
Surgeon

We have a hard time cutting out what is not essential because in our minds we create a story that makes everything essential. It’s not. Most of it is trivial and won’t matter in the end.

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Irrational Decisions – Relativity

by Stephen Mills October 18, 2009
Einstein

We humans seem to make choices by comparison shopping. We have a hard time choosing between dissimilar alternatives, but throw in something to compare one of the choices with, and all of a sudden the decision becomes easy. Watch out for this one because it affects your purchasing decisions!

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Stop Learning to be Helpless

by Stephen Mills October 13, 2009
Helpless

Research has shown that it is fairly easy for most of us to learn to become helpless. When we fail to achieve results we will often give up trying and what is worse we can generalize our failures to other similar types of situations. We basically learn to believe we are helpless victims of our circumstances. You are likely to not even be aware of this effect.

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Peak-End Experiences Matter Most

by Stephen Mills October 5, 2009
Happy Ending

Here’s an interesting fact of human psychology. It seems it doesn’t matter how long an experience, good or bad, lasts. What matters is the intensity (not length) of the peak highs, lows, and ending. That’s how we remember experiences You can use this wonderful fact to your great advantage by manipulating the ending of your experiences.

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Finding Meaning and Happiness in Your Work

by Stephen Mills September 28, 2009
Cubicle Fun

One of the best ways to find some personal meaning and happiness in your job is to use it as an opportunity to improve yourself. Personal growth is one of the best ways to do something rewarding and meaningful, for at least one person – you. You can make your work the education and practice ground for creating a better you. What a fantastic way to approach any job! Just make your own personal growth become your doing what you love.

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