Making a New Friend: The many flavors of friends and how to find one that’s right for you.

Recently, a few clients to me they wish they had more friends. So I wrote today's PsychologyToday.com article on making friends. HERE is the link.

Has Life Been Unfair to You? Five tools for getting past the anger and disappointment.

It seems like some people have all the luck. And if that's not you, it's easy to feel sorry for yourself. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers a path upward. HERE is the link.

Asking the Right Questions: A potent tool for enhancing your professional and personal life.

Ask a question and you not only obtain desired information but show you’re interested in what the person has to say. The right question can be particularly potent in abetting you, professionally and personally.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers useful questions to ask your boss, someone you're interviewing--from a shrink to a college admission officer, to a salesperson, to a romantic partner.

HERE is the link.

Human Genome Editing A breakthrough toward curing AIDS, depression…and augmenting normal humans?

The current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that an approach to human genome editing, a gene therapy, may "provide a viable path toward a permanent cure for AIDS and a means to vaccinate against other pathogenic viruses.”

My PsychologyToday.com article today explores the issues likely to derive as gene therapy becomes more of a reality. HERE is the link.

Grappling with Aging: Remarkable honesty from people in their 60s and 70s

Thanks to the confidentiality of my career and personal coaching practice, I’ve been privileged to hear hundreds of older people speak candidly about their aging: their cognitive functioning, energy, memory, work fears, sexuality, health worries, and so on.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers composites of their disclosures. HERE is the link.

Making Dating Sites Work for You

In theory, dating websites are an efficient way to find Mr. or Ms. Right. Alas, poor vetting of potential matches and deceptive profiles and photos have caused more mismatches than matches. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today shows to improve your results. HERE is the link.

Top Ten Apps for Making Your Life Easier

We’re more mobile and we want apps. And now massive numbers of them are available, mostly for free. But which will be most useful to you? 

With millions of apps available, no one can honestly assert that any ten are the very best. But my PsychologyToday.com article today offers a link to 10 apps, each of which have stood the test of time and been updated again and again, certainly can make almost anyone’s life much easier. HERE is the link.

MOOCs: The Best Way to Learn Anything? And They’re Cheap or Free!

Regular readers of this blog know that I believe that the most cost- and time-efficient way to learn is to read articles (largely emanating from Google searches) perhaps guided by a mentor. 

I view the course, let alone the degree, as overrated because courses teach masses of content, much of which you don’t need or will have forgotten when needed, at a level and pace defined by the teacher, not you.

That said, many people need the structure of school to stay motivated and/or want a piece of paper to show employers that they’ve taken X courses. For such people, I believe that  Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) may be a wise option. And that’s not just because they’re free or very low-cost. I make the seemingly unreasonable assertion that you may get a better education than you could have gotten for hundreds of thousands of dollars at a Harvard or Stanford. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I make the case and offer links to sites where you can find the right MOOCs for you. HERE is the link.

When Both Your Parents are Gone: What’s your parents’ greatest legacy?

My mom died recently, my dad years earlier.

When our second parent dies, it reminds us that we’re getting toward the end of life’s conveyer belt. It also calls for me to look at their legacy not just for me but perhaps for you, my dear readers.

My article in PsychologyToday.com today may help you identify what your parents' greatest contribution was or is.  HERE is the link. 

 

The Ultimate Race Against Time: Might You Want to Spend Your Time Differently?

As we get older, we become more aware that the sand in our hourglass is falling, seemingly ever faster.

We’re all in the ultimate race against time. Perhaps the best we can do is to be more conscious of how we’ll spend that time. 

My PsychologyToday.com article asks you questions to help you decide what you might want to spend more or less time doing and with whom. HERE is the link.

Are You Too Passive? Too Aggressive? A 10-Question Self-Assessment

Not that long ago, to stay reasonably employed, you only had to do what you're told. But today, alas, mainly the assertive thrive. Of course, you don’t want to be too aggressive. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today is a self-assessment: 10 questions to help you judge if you're too assertive or not assertive enough. HERE is the link. 

Life Advice from the Smartest and Wisest Person I Know

Michael Scriven is smart, wise, and a polymath: He has published in the leading journal in eleven separate disciplines: from philosophy to mathematics, evaluation to parapsychology. He’s also relentlessly practical: with impressive expertise in design of word processors, knives, and sports cars.

I got to know Scriven as my Ph.D. adviser at Berkeley and we have remained friends ever since: three decades.

This afternoon, I spent three hours interviewing him on the question, “What are your thoughts on living the life well-led? I publish the highlights of that interview as my PsychologyToday.com article today. HERE is the link. 

Six Cookbooks Offering Recipes That Are Fast, Healthy, and Yes, Yummy

George Bernard Shaw wrote, “There’s no sincerer love than the love of food.” Yet today, many of us don’t have time to make meals we can truly love.

My PsychologyToday.com article today recommends six cookbooks that offer meals that are fast, healthy and, yes, yummy. HERE is the link.

Children's Picture Books Adults Should Read

Sometimes we learn a life lesson not from a complex book or deep introspection but from a simple story. Among the simplest are children's picture books. 

In My PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer eight that are wonderful for children but that also are thought-provoking for adults. HERE is the link.

Men, Power, Money, and Sex: An interview of Warren Farrell

In my PsychologyToday.com article, I interview famed men's advocate, Warren Farrell. We discuss men, power, money, and sex. HERE is the link.

Making the Ask: Getting a yes, resisting unwanted solicitations.

Fundraisers are experts at getting people to say yes. And fundraisers who specialize in getting bequests are among the most sophisticated. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today is a distillation of an interview I just did with Russell Brand, one of the leading experts in the field. HERE is the link.

Detecting Deception, Resisting Giving Too Much Information

No, there's no way to become a human lie detector but there are ways to increase your chances of assessing if someone is lying.  And being aware of those techniques can keep you from revealing what you don't want to. 

I interviewed three leading FBI/CIA interrogators to obtain those techniques and I present them in my PsychologyToday.com article today. HERE is the link.

Ten Career Tips I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger

My PsychologyToday.com article today: Ten Career Tips I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger. HERE is the link.

Are You Excellent at Running Meetings?

Meetings can be horrible wastes of time. And even if they're not, decisions made at meetings tend to be lowest-common-denominator---the tepid plan everyone can agree to.

My PsychologyToday.com article today offers a 15-item self-assessment to help you identify how you might better run meetings. HERE is the link.

Should You Retire? Ten questions to help you decide.

My PsychologyToday.com article today: Should You Retire? Ten questions to help you decide. HERE is the link. 

Seven Ways to Make Yourself Follow Through

When we're facing a big, hairy task, it's tempting to procrastinate until the last minute, at which point, you only have time to do a marginal job. 

My PsychologyToday.com article today lists the tactics my clients have found most useful in helping them follow through.

HERE is the link.

What Would You Like at Your Memorial: Planning your own funeral can be rewarding

My PsychologyToday.com article today is on planning your own funeral or that of someone you love who's no longer able to do so.

I believe that planning your memorial is worth doing even if you're a long time away.  HERE is the link.

Dying Well: Suggestions for an Easier Death and More Rewarding Life

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I revised an earlier article I wrote on dying well. HERE is the link.

How You Can Live Better Than a Millionaire on $20,000 a Year (Really)

My PsychologyToday.com article today is the latest iteration of my article on how one can live well on $20,000 a year. 

In this version, I'm more audacious: I assert that one might be happier on $20,000 a year than are many millionaires because living on less gives you the freedom to choose a career you might enjoy much more--for example, helping people versus being a bond trader. HERE is the link.

My Nine Favorite Purchases

My PsychologyToday.com article today describes my nine favorite purchases and invited readers to list theirs.

I wrote that article not just to turn readers on to some wonderful products but because looking at one's list of favorite purchases can be revealing of who you are. HERE is the link.

13 Metaphors and Analogies to Help Your Career

Metaphor often helps us understand better. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer 13 metaphors and analogies that have helped my career counseling clients. HERE is the link.

What if School Didn't Exist: A thought experiment

What if school didn't exist? I wrote a little fiction story that explores that as today's PsychologyToday.com article. HERE is the link.

We Educate Nonsensically...And How to Change Things

Update: This article was just selected as an Editor's Choice/Essential Read. 

I've long believed that education could be so much better. In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I show how. HERE is the link.