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The most effective way to sap distraction of its power is just to stop expecting things to be otherwise—to accept that this unpleasantness is simply what it feels like for finite humans to commit ourselves to the kinds of demanding and valuable tasks that force us to confront our limited control over how our lives unfold.Some Zen Buddhists hold... See more

The problem is that when you make productivity personal, you put the pressure on individuals to figure out the tension between different roles in their life. You’re telling them: You figure out how you organize the work, how you execute it. The more you do, the better. Now you have this tension of: If I spend less time with my family, I could do

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Moreover, depending on something to function, in and of itself, is not pathological. Many people require a daily medication to keep a chronic condition in remission, for example insulin, blood thinners, anti-retroviral therapy, and anti-hypertensives. Dependence becomes a problem when people persist in using a substance despite its use causing harm... See more

Jones’s mistake is one she shares with much of the contemporary Democratic Party. She writes extensively about the need for more government funding to solve every problem imaginable, while disdaining religion and family—the very things that sustain working Americans. A dismissive quip about a family member “colonized” by Fox News epitomizes the... See more

According to Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, the U.S. and many Western European cultures are extremely individualistic. The U.S. has the highest score for individualism. And it is only getting higher.

This is at odds with the human limbic system which thrives on and craves connection with others, with a community. Community means we are secure,... See more

“ To see the beauty of the Maxwell theory it is necessary to move away from mechanical models and into the abstract world of fields. To see the beauty of quantum mechanics it is necessary to move away from verbal descriptions and into the abstract world of geometry. Mathematics is the language that nature speaks. The language of mathematics makes

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I feel that it's even simpler: The company is the product.

When we have that mindset, we absolutely don't care about the thing that we call "our product." It's just food for the actual product, where we want to fatten it up, and sell it to the biggest slaughterhouse.

That starts almost immediately. You can't even get an A round, without an "exit... See more

Reciprocal Narrowing— refers to how the brain adapts to new experiences and environments. When we are immersed in addiction, this cognitive narrowing obliterates our capacity to see multiple perspectives. We become singularly focused on the thing, or ‘object,’ we are after. As a result, we become increasingly dependent on securing this object in... See more

Nature, art, and technology all matter because of their complexity. Complexity is beauty . It’s when a bunch of simple patterns overlap in a harmonious way to create something profound. A beautiful painting might appear simple, but if you analyze and isolate the patterns, you realize how much action is happening under the hood of your attention.