Hitchiking Imitates Life

There’s no stupider way to hitchhike than to stand by the side of the road with your thumb out hoping someone will stop. And yet do you see people do it any other way? Which way are you living your life?

You Can Always Yell Later

My mom taught me as a child, it’s really hard to unyell once you’ve yelled. If you want to get what you want, start soft. You can always yell once that fails, but you once you’ve yelled, it’s too late for the soft approach.

Ice Cream For Dinner: A Graduation Speech

Most graduation speeches are full of clichés, claptrap and wicked insinuations. I have tried to adhere to that model as closely as possible.

Three Keys to Good Decisions

It’s hard to make good decisions, but here are three quick jedi mind tricks to avoid a lot of bad decisions:forget sunk costs, use absolute numbers rather than proportions, and be aware of confirmation bias.

Stealthy Workplace Workouts

If you have a formal office and you’re not comfortable grunting your way through a set of pushups or the other aggressive workplace exercises, but you still like the idea mini exercise breaks, there are still some great things you can do and nobody will even know that you’re exercising.

Office Workouts for the Uninhibited

If you have a private or free-spirited office, you can actually get in a nice little mini-workout on a short break. Just select one or two exercises and then have a drink of water.

Is Stevia Safe? Is it Good for You?

Stevia is the newest sweetener on the market at the moment. Many times sweeter than sugar, that means that it is considered a zero-calorie sweetener. Stevia is an extract from the leaves of the stevia tree and therefore is considered a natural product. But does that mean it’s safe? A word about the word ‘natural’ […]

The Truth about Cinnamon, Metabolism and Weight Loss

Numerous weight loss articles and forum posts tout the virtues of cinnamon, commonly saying that it increases metabolism twenty fold and is therefore a useful supplement for weight loss. Sorry folks, but this is wrong on too many counts to count! That said, the research does show that cinnamon has beneficial effects on blood pressure […]

Social Proof (Weapons of Influence, part 3 of 3)

We all know birds of a feather flock together, but we’re often unaware of how frequently we flock with birds of our feather. Even when we say we are uninfluenced, the opinion and action of the crowd often get us to behave in ways we do not expect and can be used against us to influence our actions through the principle of social proof. (part 3 of 3 in the series on Weapons of Influence).

Commitment and Consistency (Weapons of Influence, part 2 of 3)

Consistency and Commitment are usually good things, but what about when underhanded marketers or other persuaders get us to subtly commit ourselves before we know what they’re after and then play on our desire to be consistent with our commitments? This is used against us every day. (Part 2 of 3 in the series on Weapons of Influence).