You only see the winners. That’s the problem. You see Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs. All dropped out of university, all became billionaires. So you conclude that dropping out leads to success. You don’t see the thousands who dropped out and failed. That’s survivor bias. You’re only seeing the survivors, only seeing the winners,…
For nine years, nobody could do it. For decades before that, people had been getting closer. And then the record just stopped, like it had hit an invisible wall. The four-minute mile. 240 seconds. A barrier that scientists, doctors, and athletes believed was close to the absolute limit of human capability. It’s a story about…
Sometimes gradual doesn’t cut it. Sometimes you need to burn the bridges. Disruptive change is major change that happens all at once. It’s not gradual, it’s not incremental, it’s not marginal gains compounded over time. It’s sudden, complete, and irreversible. It’s the opposite of everything we’ve discussed about small steps and one percent improvements. But…
You’re getting older. That’s the one thing that’s always true. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a grown-up, and like me, you left your childhood behind many years ago. But here’s the question. When you left your childhood behind, did you also leave behind some of the life skills you had when you were young…
By now, the honeymoon period is over and the excitement has worn off, and you’re staring at the reality of what you’ve signed up for. You’ve already found out the obstacles are bigger, the path is harder, and part of you is still wondering if you should just go back into your old life. The…
I originally wrote an article on ‘The Power of No’ after reflecting on a busy Monday-morning triage session. If I had to identify the single most important thing that kept me on track that day, and the single most important thing that allowed me to be most productive in my efforts, it was my ability…
A few years ago, I worked with a patient who was struggling badly with anxiety. Not the occasional nerves most people experience before something important, but a persistent, debilitating pattern that was affecting her work, her relationships, and her confidence. At the centre of it was a physical experience she’d come to dread: the racing…
Nobody tells you, when you’re growing up, that the single biggest factor in whether your life goes well or badly isn’t your intelligence, your talent, your work ethic, or even your luck. It’s the people around you. That’s it. That’s the whole secret. The people you surround yourself with will determine more about your outcomes…
People love to say that nobody’s out to get you. That paranoia is irrational. That most people are fundamentally decent, and you’re just being negative. Most of the time, they’re absolutely right, most people aren’t actively plotting your downfall, that is, until you meet one that is. Sometimes there actually are predators, call them villains,…
I was born in the 70s. In fact, anyone born after the mid-60s to the early 80s is said to be a member of my generation too. I am a member of Generation X. We are the non-Baby Boomers. If you simply look at the numbers, we’re also a minority. We’re the post-boom generation sandwiched…