self-development

  • The Alloy Effect

    It’s the 1% that makes all the difference. For some thirteen to fifteen hundred years, Japanese swordsmiths have forged iron sand and charcoal into tamahagane steel, crafting it into katanas (the really sharp swords the Samurai used). Even today, coke and iron ore combine in blast furnaces to produce steel. This alloy is stronger, harder,…

  • Do Something First

    You’ve got it backwards. You think you need motivation before you can take action. That’s why you’re stuck. That’s why the project stays on your hard drive and never makes it into the world. That’s why you join gyms in January and stop going by February. That’s why you tell yourself you’ll start when you…

  • The Positivity Trap

    Positivity’s brilliant. That is until it becomes a substitute for action. There’s an entire industry built on selling you the idea that if you just think positive thoughts, visualise your goals, manifest your desires, and believe hard enough, the universe will provide. You’ll get the job, the relationship, the money, the life you want. All…

  • Curiosity

    You’ve lost something along the way. Not your keys or your phone, something bigger than that, something you had as a child, but you don’t have anymore, chances are you’ve lost your curiosity. When you were five, you asked questions constantly, why is the sky blue? Where do babies come from? What happens when we…

  • The Pygmalion Effect

    You perform at the level expected of you. Not at the level you’re capable of, not at the level you want to reach, at the level others expect from you, and more importantly, at the level you expect from yourself. That’s the Pygmalion Effect in action, and it’s either working for you or against you…

  • Reflection

    Perhaps you’re making the same mistakes over and over again. You know you are. Same arguments with your partner. Same problems at work. The same patterns repeating themselves in your life. The same poor decisions leading to the same disappointing outcomes. Why? Because you’re not reflecting. You’re just repeating. Reflection in its simplest terms is…

  • The Paradox of Failure

    Everyone fails at some time in their lives and failure hurts, it undoubtedly leaves scars, mentally and emotionally. Every day of my working life I see people sitting opposite me telling me about something that has failed in their lives, their relationships, their body, their treatment, their marriage, their business, or something else in their…