What would you still try, if you knew you would fail?
Despite having no plans to write a novel, I love reading advice for authors—maybe because it helps me understand what I love about my favorite books. Recently I was recommended Story Genius by Lisa Cron, which walks you through the stages of building a compelling novel around a compelling character arc, and I got to […]
Three tools for changing your mindset
One of my earliest posts here was about different meanings of “habit”: there are … … intentional habits, things you regularly choose to do, … automatic habits, things you do on autopilot, and … mindset habits, your default ways of thinking. Intentional and automatic habits look very similar — the difference is how much mental effort you […]
Exercise and the Just Do It attitude
As a child I used to swim at the pool—a lot. I can still remember the way my vision would gradually go cloudy and gray from (I assume) the chlorine in the water and my habit of swimming with my eyes open. But I always had a hard time getting into the water. I’d usually […]
Soak the nut
Growing up in my family, my sister and I took turns with the chore of washing dishes every evening. This was not a job I liked, and there were many ways I tried to get out of it: Before dinner, I would do some other extra chore, so that when the calendar was checked to […]