Have you ever asked yourself this: How can I control myself when I feel the irresistible need to break my rules about how to invest in the stock market? That question pertains to the “hot-cold-empathy gap”, where we say to ourselves in a calm…
Have you ever wondered why you can become revved up and an exuberant risk taker, when flying high, or hesitant and risk-adverse, when cowering from your losses in the stock market? We have the impression that it is our deliberative mind that makes the most important decisions in…
I realise now that NOW is the only time that exists, although that truth about time took me a while to comprehend. Our life, you see, is about a series of moments in time, but we often live these moments hoping to improve a future moment—to have a better…
Chapter 1: You are What You Think “You are today where the thoughts of yesterday have brought you and you will be tomorrow where the thoughts of today take you.” — Blaise Pascal We can’t change other people and our…
Did you know that it is the default settings of our brain that often drive us—despite past experiences—to do things that make no logical sense, though they make perfect emotional sense? That, however, does not make us completely irrational; it…
Let me ask you: “Do you feel the urge to check your latest Facebook friends’ updates, news-feeds or Instagram photos—on the go? And do you succumb to this urge; thereby coincidentally increasing the probability of eliminating yourself—prematurely—from the gene pool?” The…
1) Next Tuesday: Before a purchase, take the time to consider what you’ll be doing, from morning to night, this coming Tuesday. How will this purchase affect you on Tuesday? This simple exercise—thinking about time used on a specific day (you…
We have the tendency to overestimate the degree to which others agree with us; therein making this—tendency—just another of those predictable patterns of thought and behavior that lead us to draw incorrect conclusions. Psychologists call this the False Consensus Bias. Let me ask you: “Is agreeing…
Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them. Some things are fragile—they don’t like chaos, while others are robust—they don’t care if things are crazy. Antifragility is beyond…
Do you love your brain? I mean, really, really love it? And do you treat it as well as you can? Do you appreciate the way it keeps you going, day after day, night after night? After all, it is your brain that ensured that you keep…