HUB 2 OF 12 · 21 ARTICLES

The people around you

You didn’t get stuck alone, and you won’t get unstuck alone either. How the people closest to you shape — and sometimes stall — your progress.

  • Authority Misinfluence

    A high proportion of people do as they’re told. They go through life ticking boxes, keeping to the rules, conforming, thoroughly playing their part in society as a whole. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Society functions because most people follow most rules most of the time. We drive on the correct side of the…

  • Building Your Support Network

    We’ve spent this whole module talking about the people around you: how to spot the ones who’ll genuinely harm you, how to read an interaction, how to handle conflict, how to repair after a letdown, how to ask for help. This last lesson pulls it together into something practical: actually building the support network that…

  • The Halo and Reverse Halo Effect

    I’ve never actually seen a person with a halo above their head. Yet every single day, I watch good-looking people, popular people, and charismatic people get more credence in meetings than they really should be getting. I see attractive people in adverts selling you watches, perfumes, and lifestyles you don’t need. And I see you…

  • Self Serving Bias

    Before I go any further, let me be clear about something. I’m not suggesting you’re some kind of narcissistic sociopath hell-bent on destroying everyone and everything around you. But I am about to tell you about a cognitive bias that might make you look in the mirror and wince a bit. Because all of these…

  • They Syndrome

    You’re about to learn about a syndrome that doesn’t appear in any medical textbook, any psychiatric manual, or any psychology journal. Yet I can guarantee with almost absolute certainty that once you understand what it is, you’ll start noticing it everywhere. In yourself. In your colleagues. In your friends. Probably in at least three conversations…

  • Extreme Thinking

    You’re doing it again. You’ve just taken what I said, twisted it through your mental gymnastics machine, and spat it back out as something I never actually meant. You’re sitting there asking, “So you’re saying if I don’t do this perfectly, I’m a complete failure?” No. That’s not what I’m saying. That’s what you’re hearing…