Career Without College

In an attempt to avoid the pontification and aridity of the how-to article, as my PsychologyToday.com articles, I've recently been embedding psychological and other how-to-do-life issues in  short-short stories.

Today's offering takes us into the mind of a person for whom school "just isn't my thing." It explores his efforts to find a decent career.

In Defense of Oddballs

One of today's dominant values is to celebrate diversity. But the celebration tends to stop when we see someone whose behavior is even moderately outside the norm. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I argue that we, especially celebrants of diversity, should at least be more tolerant if not celebrate some oddballs in our midst.

Should Atheists Try to Convert Believers?

I'm an unshakeable atheist. For me, it comes down to this:

I believe that man created "God" to cope with life's challenges, that it's extraordinarily unlikely that a God rather than a yet unexplained scientific process created the world and is an entity who, per the Bible, sees all, knows all, and is loving. After all, can we really rationalize billions of painful deaths to cancer, natural disasters, etc as "mystery beyond human comprehension," 'God's punishing man for his sins," or "God gave us free will?" I can't.

When religious people tell me about their faith,  I'm faced with a decision: Do I try to disabuse them? In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I present the thought process I've gone through.

Should Tackle Football and Boxing Be Banned?

Lately, we've been hearing about the concussions and brain damage associated with tackle football and boxing. That's on top of stories of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by players as young as high-school age.

Should tackle football and boxing be banned? In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer my internal debate on that question.

"Never look back. Always take the next step forward."

Reinventing How We Select Our Poltiical Leaders

I've seen more sadness and anger about the current presidential campaign than any in my lifetime. 

Of course, much of it is centered around Donald Trump: How could such a person be the leading GOP candidate? 

At least in part, it's testimony to the system, in which money and bombast trump (pardon the expression) competence to do the job.

It is my own growing unhappiness with the system that motivated me to, here, update my WashingtonPost.com article on how to reinvent the way we select our political leaders.  The updated version was just published on PsychologyToday.com.

Productivity versus Pleasure

Before a First Kiss

In an attempt to avoid the pontification and aridity of the how-to article, I've recently been embedding psychological and other how-to-do-life issues in a short-short story.

Today's offering takes us into the mind of Sherry deciding whether to kiss Scott.

U..S. Spends #1 in World on Education Yet Scores Low. Why?

A Young Adult Who Has Failed to Launch

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I post the transcript of a part of a career counseling session I had with a young man who graduated from college two years ago and doesn't feel ready to launch a career.

Status, Prestige, Image...Silly

The Rapist: A short-short story about a psychotherapist's dilemma

In my PsychologyToday.com articles, I've recently been embedding psychological and ethical issues within a short-short story. 

Today's offering tells of a psychotherapist with a dilemma.

Many People DID Die Wishing They Spent More Time at the Office

"A Wretch Like Me:" How Much Fallibility Should We Accept?

In my PsychologyToday.com contribution today, I offer a short-short story that explores the question of how much fallibility we should accept in a stranger? In a spouse?

Why Bosses Resist Giving Feedback

Conversion: A Short-Short Story About the Tension Among Religion, Homosexuality, Biology, and Family

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a short-short story about the tension among religion, sexuality, and biology.

Are You Spending Too Much?

A 55-year old senior manager who was laid off and despite three diligent months of trying to land a similar paying job, remains without even a good lead.

My PsychologyToday.com article today presents a transcript of part of my session with him about cutting expenses.

The Only God is The One Inside Ourselves

Is Honesty Really the Best Policy?

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a short-short story about a run-of-the-mill dishonest person and what I'd say to him.

The Reported Unemployment Rate is Misleading

My Attempt to Help a Procrastinator

My PsychologyToday.com article today paraphrases a portion of a career counseling session I conducted today with an inveterate procrastinator.

The Only Lasting Route to Self-Esteem

An Addicted Physician: A short-short story

A survey reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that 17% of physicians knew a doctor who was practicing while impaired or incompetent. 

How could that be? After all, selection for and training for physicians is among the most rigorous. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a short-short story on how it can happen. It is a composite of experiences I've had with my career coaching clients.

Unpleasant Work is the Most Admirable

A Career Coach's Perspective on Choosing a Supreme Court Nominee, and Advising Donald Trump and Kanye West

In case a career coach's perspective might be valuable in picking a Supreme Court nominee and to Donald Trump and Kanye West, I offered my thoughts as my PsychologyToday.com article today.

P.S. The name that I withheld in the article is Sri Srinivasan

Networking is Anti-Meritocratic

A Spiritually Oriented Person's Search for Meaning

Yesterday in PsychologyToday.com, I offered a short-short story about a scientifically oriented person's search for meaning. 

Today, I offer a spiritually oriented person's search.

A Plea for Integrity

A Scientist's Search for Meaning

Hannah was working on among the most meaningful projects: trying to uncover the genes that cause early heart attack. And yet she suffered a crisis of meaning that made her quit. 

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer a short-short story about her.

School Succcess or Failure May Not Predict Life Success or Failure

The Procrastinator: A Short-Short Story

I've worried that a number of my how-to articles have been pontificating and/or boring. 

In an attempt at remedy, on PsychologyToday.com, I've lately written a number of short-short stories embedding how-to messages. Today's addresses procrastination.

Contribution is More Important Than Happiness

55 and "Laid Off." Now What?

Especially in the high-tech world, people over 50 are often seen as over the hill.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer the advice I typically give to older employees who have been laid off.

Amid the Maelstrom...

A Total Misfit: A short-short story about a man uninterested in what most people care about

Some people just don't fit in. They have no interest in what everyone else seems to be interested in. 

I write a short-short story about such a person in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Always Think Cosmically

Ups and Downs: A Look at Bipolar Disorder

In some recent PsychologyToday.com articles, I've embedded diagnostic and treatment information on common mental disorders in a short-short story.  

Today's offering is about a 30-year old with bipolar disorder, which afflicts 5.7 million Americans.

Where to Spend Your Time

A Piano Tuner's Tempo: Romancing an Introvert

As regular readers of my work know, in my PsychologyToday blog, I've been experimenting with trying to embed psychological profiles into very short stories. Today's is about romancing an introvert.

Use Your Best Skill More Often

The "Wild Man": A Man Who Decided to Be Radically Honest

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I tell a short-short story about a man who, diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, decides to be radically honest in service of the world. Was it a good idea? I'm not sure.

Terror: A short-short story about a person with generalized anxiety disorder

In some of my PsychologyToday.com articles, I've embedded information about mental disorders and their treatment in a very short story. Today's effort focuses of generalized anxiety disorder.

It's easy to be liked...but is it worth the price?

The Un-MBA

I have helped many clients to become successfully self-employed. I see such a discordance between the principles of starting and running a business taught in business school and what I've seen work in the real world.

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I explain why core principles taught in MBA programs usually don't work in the real world...and what does. 

A Reason So Few People Change Their Minds

Buzz: A Short-Story Story About a Person with ADHD

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I wrote a short-short story about the life of a person with attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and how he coped, indeed thrived. 

The Best Diet Advice: Note and savor each bite

What's New in Neuropsychology?

Sure, many of today's "exciting findings" will become tomorrow's blind alleys, but the quantity, quality, and centrality of the new neuropsychology research findings boosts my hope that we'll finally get those breakthrough cures and even ways to make us better "normals."  

I briefly describe the current crop of research findings in my PsychologyToday.com article today.

Staying Busy is an Anti-Anxiety Medication

Incorporating Your Hobby into Your Worklife

In my PsychologyToday.com article today, I offer 15 ideas for incorporating your hobby into your worklife.