Choosing a Topic for a Talk, Article, or Post

Whether it’s giving a talk or writing something, the topic is the driving force. My Psychology Today article today may help you choose a topic that will work well for you.

Radical Honesty, Applied: 2 personal and 3 professional examples.

A recent post made the case for radical honesty: that to get what we want, we too often succumb to deception and out-and-out lying.

A skeptical reader provided two personal and three professional examples of where he felt radical honesty was unrealistic. My Psychology Today article today offers examples of how it might be applied in situations when it would seem undesirable or unrealistic.

When You or Your Child Doesn't Have Close Friends

Many people, adults and kids, have casual friends but not close ones. My Psychology Today article today offers composite letters from such an adult and such a child and my responses to each.

Parenting an Oppositional, Defiant Teen

I had a client today with an oppositional, defiant teen. My Psychology Today article today describes our exchange and some takeaways useful, in my view, for all parents.

Mysteries of How We Behave 7 head-shakers and possible solutions.

We're not machines; we're human. That means we won't always do the rational thing. My Psychology Today article today offers seven examples, including how we might be more rational... if we decide to be.

How Have You Changed? A self-inventory

Taking stock of how we’ve changed can gratify us. And it can motivate us to change some things. Answering the questions I offer in my Psychology Today article today should help you get clear on both.

My Current Reactions to 18 Ancient Proverbs

I’ve grown convinced that we benefit most from the brief. Proverbs are a particularly potent example of brevity. Proverbs are time-honored, distilled wisdom. My Psychology Today article today lists 18. For each, I amplify or dissent.

What You Might Say in 9 Difficult Situations

My Psychology Today article today suggests what you might say in 9 common difficult situations, in relationships and at work.

Funny Quotes That Say A Lot About Us

 Here's the link.

Quotes on War: The clearly and not-so-clearly anti-war

Here's the link.

Quotes on Wisdom

I believe that this collection of quotes could be particularly helpful.

Should You Accept Life As It Is?

Recently, a client told me that he wants to raise the white flag and accept life as it is. My Psychology Today article today paraphrases why he feels that way and my response. Perhaps it might help you or someone else who is dispirited about life.

When You Need to Memorize Something

Memorizing can be a good idea not just when you're an actor in a play, but when you're going to give an important brief talk, for example, at a meeting or a toast at a wedding, My Psychology Today article today describes an approach to memorizing that has worked well for my clients.

The Case for Radical Honesty: Our world is too filled with hype, veneer, and phony niceness

 That's my Psychology Today article today.

How to Be Kind: 5 ways to make kindness easier and more worthwhile.

Everyone tells us to be kind but a few specifics may help you feel better about the kindnesses you bestow. I offer them in my Psychology Today article today.

Quotes on Capitalism: Pro, con, and mixed

My Medium.com article today aggregates trenchant quotes on capitalism: pro, con, and mixed. It concludes with where I stand.

Why Read Books

Books seem obsolete.. Books are slow, inefficient, and, far less visual than TV and movies. The article is efficient, distilled wisdom, and a Google search can usually find you an on-target article instantly and for free.

So why should we remain enamored of the book? I make the case in my Psychology Today article today.

My Ten Favorite Quotes on Happiness

Here is the link.

Seven Quotes That Are Pretty Tough on Education

My Psychology Today article today is tough on that rickety, overrated education enterprise. Plus it offers tips on how to make the most of it.

 

My Favorite 23 Quotations About Relationships

 HERE is the link.

My Favorite 38 Quotes About Work

Here's the link to the article and to a YouTube of me reading it.  But because two readers said they weren't able to access it, here it is:

My 38 Favorite Quotes About Work

I reviewed hundreds of quotations about work and selected 38 that I believe are particularly worthy of your time.

The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. Go out and make some good things happen. Barack Obama

Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent. Calvin Coolidge

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. Franklin Roosevelt

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. Theodore Roosevelt

We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork. Milton Friedman

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. Abraham Lincoln

It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man. Benjamin Franklin

Spiritual Leaders

Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today. Pope Paul VI

Let us realize that: the privilege to work is a gift, the power to work is a blessing, the love of work is success! David O. McKay

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter. Francis Chan

The Entertainment World

Where I excel is ridiculous, sickening, work ethic. You know, while the other guy’s sleeping? I’m working. Will Smith

Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard. George Lucas

The only way to enjoy anything in this life is to earn it first. Ginger Rogers

I always got my work done before playing. Edwin Moses

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. Sam Ewing

The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. Vince Lombardi

Business

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. Peter Drucker

Give yourself something to work toward — constantly. Mary Kay Ash

It is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are explanations, promises are promises-but only performance is reality. Harold Geneen

Science

There is no substitute for hard work. Thomas Edison

Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity. Louis Pasteur

The greatest teacher I know is the job itself. James Cash Penney

Writers

Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work. Stephen King

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction. Anne Frank

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work. Booker T. Washington

Work alone is noble. Thomas Carlyle

Talent means nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything. Patrick Suskind

He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest. Dylan Thomas

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction. George Lorimer

Concentrate on your job and you will forget your other troubles. William Feather

Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now. Margaret Fuller

If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. Olin Miller

Motivational specialists

Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better. Jim Rohn

Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves. Dale Carnegie

Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them every day, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor. Brian Tracy

Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be. Zig Ziglar

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile. Gary Ryan Blair

A Portuguese Proverb

Think of many things; do one.

I read this aloud on YouTube.

You can reach career and personal coach Dr. Marty Nemko at mnemko@comcast.net

My Top Ten Quotes on Aging (plus a bonus)

My Medium.com article today consists of  my top 10 (plus one) quotes on aging.

"I'm Stressed Out!" Questions to ask yourself

My Psychology Today article today suggests questions you might want to ask yourself. Your answers should help you reduce your stress.

The Authoritarian Leader: How to succeed without a personality transplant

My Psychology Today article today describes an autocratic leader and how, without radically changing, he can be both effective and admired.

 

The Asymptote Effect: Key to improving productivity and reducing anxiety

The asymptote is the point of diminishing returns. It can be applied to how we work, and to great advantage. I explain in my Psychology Today article today.

How to Address Three Common Career Issues

My Psychology Today article today describes how I'd try to help people with common career issues: a difficult-to-achieve goal, trying to find work-life balance, and a career that, in midlife, is already going downhill.

Making It Easier to Feel Grateful

Some people try to make others feel gratitude with such reminders as, “People are starving in Africa.”

Alas, too often, that goes in one ear and out the other. Perhaps the bases for gratitude that I describe in my Psychology Today article today will be more helpful.

A FOMO Variant: Fear of losing what you have

Fear of missing out (FOMO) usually is criticized when we say yes to a new opportunity when it’s not in our best interest. For example, let's say that my friends invite me to join a road trip and, although I'm really busy with more important things, I fear missing out and so I go.

There’s a less-considered variant of FOMO: the fear of losing something we already have. My Psychology Today article today offers five examples and thoughts on making it a positive.

How to Become an Expert: Making the most of the 3 keys to mastery.

A number of my clients want to become an expert at something. It matters less what it is. They just want to become a master at something.

My Psychology Today article today offers thoughts on how to make the most of the three tools toward mastery: school, out-of-school learning, and practice.

Transformers: 7 Ways People Have Changed Their Life Fast

Many people would love their life to be transformed instantly, And just occasionally, I've seen that happen. My Psychology Today article today lists the triggers I've most often seen.

How Risk-Tolerant Are You? 13 scenarios

My Psychology Today article today offers 13 scenarios in which there's a risky and less risky choice. Which could you choose? 

3 Rules of Thumb for Easier Parenting

My Psychology Today article today offers three rules of thumb, guiding principles, that can make parenting easier.

Calming an Angry Personality: Lessons from a success story.

An angry personality can hurt a person professionally and personally. I had always thought of an angry personality as difficult to change, requiring a personality transplant, lots of effort, long-term with no guarantee of success.

Yet I had a client who—no credit to me—went from being a man usually seething to quite calm. My Psychology Today article today tells his story and lessons that may be of value to us all.

How We Become Liberal or Conservative

A number of forces lead us to become liberal or conservative. I describe them in my Psychology Today article today. Being aware of them can help us decide which to welcome and which to devalue.

Are You Thinking About Disengaging From Life?

Some people decide they’ve had enough. They're not suicidal. They're just giving up on striving for much of anything. My Psychology Today article today asks some questions.

How to Be a Good Counselee: 6 keys to getting the most from your sessions

So you decided to see a counselor. My Psychology Today article today suggests six things you can do to get the most from your counseling.

Private Practice Made Easier

I’ve been a career and personal coach for 36 years now and a number of my clients have asked me how I can not be burned out after all that time. I answer that in my Psychology Today article today. 

Are You Becoming More Like Your Romantic Partner?: A self-inventory

As a relationship continues, partners tend to become more like each other. Have you become more like your partner in one or more of the following? My Psychology Today article today offers a self-inventory and asks you what if any of the changes do you want to celebrate or change.

Succeeding While Lazy It’s possible . . . if you carefully curate your choices.

Sometimes, choosing just a simple, pleasant approach to a task is enough for you to be successful. My Psychology Today article today offers examples.

15 Tips for remembering your to-dos.

In our oh-so-busy lives, it’s hard to remember everything. My Psychology Today article today offers 15 tips to help.