#238 – What makes the passing of time so distressing?In the morning (or at the beginning of the week, month, or year), your "planning self" is hyperactive, recounting all the things you'll do together.Then life happens. The newspaper contains very in...
#237 – When does following up become chasing?The sales website Saleslion mentions,"60% of customers say no four times before saying yes.""Persistence is key," they say. But when does persistence become insistence, the characteristic if annoying trait...
#236 – And when they don't like... me?The only honest response here would be a giant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ."You don't like me? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So what?"The problem is, many of us people-pleasers (recovering or active) take so much responsibility for other people...
#235 – What happens when they don't like your work?Have you ever felt like you did something wrong because someone didn't like your work?I have. August, 2003, Pan-European Voice Conference in Graz, Austria. I'd memorized my speaking notes for th...
#234 – If not praise, what is worth working for?There's a question creators ask one another often – what is it for?Although it's a fair question, which can bring depth to any creative endeavor, I believe it's often misunderstood. It's easy to make th...
#233 – How can praise stunt your creative progress?People who do creative work tend to fear criticism: what if they don't like it, we think.But there's something more dangerous than audiences disliking our work – their enthusiastic praise.In 2003 I s...
#232 – What signal does patience send your brain?As defined by the Cambridge Dictionary, patience is"the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties, or to suffer without complaining&nb...
#231 – What's the source of your indecision?"If you have more than one reason to do something (choose a doctor or veterinarian, hire a gardener or an employee, marry a person, go on a trip), just don’t do it. It does not mean that one reason is bette...
#230 – Has "feeling good" become a tyranny?A few years ago, I met a woman in an online community whose husband had died unexpectedly. She wrote that, when learning the news, she'd dropped to her knees, in disbelief and unfathomable pain.Then, she sai...
#229 – Is self-victimization keeping you stuck in guilt?The Ghost of Misplaced Guilt (GoMG) had been gnawing at my ear every Monday since I started my weekend job selling coffee machines at a mall, with a commute of at least 90 minutes each way. "You...