Psychology & Living

I deeply regret the passing of Ralph Raico. In his youth, he was my brother.

Watching sports satisfies a vital human need.

Speed up confusing, bogged-down tasks by slowing down your thinking.

Q: I'm terribly afraid of aging. I'm only in my forties, but I think about it a lot. Is there anything you can do to help? A: You're aging -- we're all aging -- from the minute we're born. Ruminating about something over which you have no control only serves to raise...

Valentine’s Day is a great way to celebrate a love you already have. But if it’s a way to make up for your lack of appreciating your love the rest of the year, you better do some thinking.

Making simple things complicated.

Where there is rule of law and individual freedom, humanity is better off.

The New York City schools were among the best in the country in those days, better than they had been for the European immigrants before me and much better than they would be for the mass influx of blacks from the South after me.

There are, however, many mistakes you can make in goal-setting that will delay and hinder you and make your goals harder to achieve. This book points out these pitfalls and how to avoid them.

In the end, it’s not how you die that matters at all; it’s how you live.

A goal set at the right level of difficulty motivates you to do your best work.

“Poetry of work” is worth pursuing. It gives us purpose—and it gives us happiness.

Steve Jobs and Barack Obama are a contrast in two types of man.

Happiness comes from achieving your values: pursuing a career you love, a romantic relationship, perhaps raising a family, or running a successful business.

An MBA student of mine who had just read my book commented: “Those principles you write about make a lot of sense, but at the same time, business is ruthless, and most people do not follow such moral principles. How can you act on principle when others don’t?” My...

In Thinking Tactics, I teach a set of thinking procedures that each take under 10 minutes. They can be used to clarify most confusion, resolve most conflicts, and figure out the next step on most projects. But not everything. Sometimes you face a bigger issue--one...

If you want to better understand the concept of cognitive therapy, tune in to an unlikely source: Chef Robert Irvine’s Food Network series, Restaurant Impossible. Food Network’s website describes the show as follows: “Turning around a failing restaurant is a daunting...

The best way for human beings to survive and flourish is not to be givers or takers but traders.

One of the most important and far reaching questions in moral philosophy is: Who is the proper beneficiary of an individual’s actions? There are only two possible answers to the question: The individual taking the action, or others. “Others” may mean the community,...

At a humor workshop I attended recently, Judy Carter taught us a formula for creating a joke around something mean that someone said to us. The steps were: 1. Remember exactly what words were used, plus the tone and body language, so you can act it out. 2. Backtrack:...

Fear is the great inhibitor. When rational, fear is life-serving and life-protecting. However, the purpose of fear is avoidance. You rationally avoid things in order to obtain what life has to offer. You avoid an oncoming car when crossing a street in order to survive...

"I need more time." That is what a client told me was the solution to his grueling work schedule. We say such things without thinking about it, but it's worth pausing for a moment to focus on the thought. How could the solution possibly be more time? There is no such...

If you were alone on a desert island you would not be able to escape the fact that you must work to sustain your life. Alone on the island you could spend your days in any activity of your choosing—hunting, fishing, building a home, swimming, or napping. But you would...

Dear Dr. Hurd: My mother is a good, well-meaning lady. But every so often she reminds me of the fact that she grew up during the Great Depression, and so learned the value of saving things. And whenever I am seen throwing away a plastic bag or a piece of aluminum foil...