HUB 5 OF 12 · 22 ARTICLES

Taking the first steps

Start here if you’ve started, and it’s harder than you expected. The practical, unglamorous work of the first few weeks.

  • Causality, and the Moments in Life That Define Everything

    Moving away from chaos, we need to move on to its close friend: causality. Causality is simple in theory. It’s the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first. Press the button, the light turns on. Touch the fire,…

  • The Fallacy of Fairness, Why ‘It’s Not Fair’ Is Ruining Your Life

    “It’s not fair.” I hear this expression at least every week. Usually from people who aren’t particularly happy with their lot in life, especially when they feel others have more than them. Sometimes it’s said with resignation, sometimes with anger, sometimes with genuine bewilderment that the universe is out to get them or hasn’t arranged…

  • The Grass Is Always Greener: Are You Wasting Your Life Looking Over Fences?

    Remembering the Fallacy of Fairness from the last article, let’s move onto another concept that seems to affect a lot of people, causing indecision, hesitancy, uncertainty, and a lack of resoluteness in their life. I call it the Grass Is Always Greener Misconception, and it’s quietly destroying your ability to commit to anything long enough…

  • The Decision of Indecision: Why Waiting Too Long Can Be the Wrong Choice

    On a surgical rotation, one of my old mentors at the time (thanks Rob) told me that there are three types of decisions you can make when you have a sick surgical patient in front of you. You can make the decision to operate and take the patient to the operating theatre. You can make…

  • Existentialism

    You’re free. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Freedom. Choice. The ability to steer your own ship. But here’s what nobody tells you about freedom: it comes with a price tag, and that price is responsibility. I speak to people every day who’ve forgotten they have choices. They sit in my consulting room and tell me they’re…

  • Clinging On and Reactance Bias

    Sometimes moving forward is as simple as letting go of what’s holding you back. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be amazed how many people stay stuck precisely because they’re gripping too tightly to the very thing that’s keeping them trapped. Think of monkey bars in a playground. You know how they work. To move…