How to Stop Overthinking: 7 Thinking Traps That Keep Your Mind Looping
Overthinking feels like solving a problem. Usually it is one of a few predictable thinking traps on repeat. Here are seven, with a one-line test for…
21 essays
Essays
Short pieces on attention, habits and the stories our minds tell. Most grow out of a chapter in one of the books, with the research behind it and something to try.
Books About Feelings for Kids: 13 Picks, Sorted by the Feeling They Help With
Thirteen books about feelings for children aged about 3 to 10, sorted by the feeling they help with: anger, worry, frustration, sadness, missing someone, bravery, kindness…
7 Signs of Self-Sabotage That Look Like Being Responsible
The signs of self-sabotage that are hardest to spot don't look like sabotage at all. They look like patience, research, preparation and hard work. Here are…
How to Stop Procrastinating: The 10-Minute “Ugly Step” Method
Most procrastination advice tells you to find motivation first. This method does the opposite: take the smallest, ugliest step you can, within 24 hours, and let…
Gifts for History Lovers: 17 Books for Every Kind of Curious Mind
Seventeen books for the history lover on your list, grouped by the kind of curious mind they suit: big-picture thinkers, animal lovers, money minds, book collectors,…
Human History Timeline: 300,000 Years in a 300-Page Book
Give every 1,000 years of our species one page, and human history becomes a 300-page book. Farming shows up on page 289, writing on page 295,…
How to Spot the Fictions Your Mind Tells You Every Day
Your mind turns facts into stories in seconds. Learn the camera test, the three most common fictions (judgments, predictions and mind-reading) and a simple practice for…
Your Inner Critic Is Not Your Enemy: How to Work With It
Your inner critic is a frightened protector, not the truth about you. Why fighting or obeying it both fail, and a three-step practice to listen, translate…
Why You Can’t Control Your Thoughts (and What to Do Instead)
Your mind produces thoughts on its own, and fighting them makes them louder. Here is why, and a one-minute practice for responding instead of controlling.
30+ Quotes on Perception, Reality, and The Self from The Art of De-Illusion
Do you ever feel like your own mind is an unreliable narrator? We live our lives believing we see the world as it is. But as…
The 40% Productivity Tax: What Task-Switching Really Costs You
Switching between tasks feels efficient and isn't. What the research on switch costs, attention residue and the "47-second" screen habit actually shows, and four habits that…
What Is Perceptual Learning? How Experts Learn to See
Perceptual learning is the way practice changes what you are able to perceive. Here is the research definition, everyday examples from wine to radiology, and a…
How to Stop Your Brain’s Storyteller From Pulling You Away
Your brain's storyteller is a real network that pulls you into replays of the past and previews of the future. You can't switch it off, but…
Why You Always Choose the Corner Seat: Prospect-Refuge Theory and the Language of Spaces
Walk into a café and you will head for the corner or the wall almost every time. Prospect-refuge theory explains why, and how reading the "language"…
How to Build a Mind Palace: A Step-by-Step Blueprint
A mind palace is a familiar place used as a filing system for memory. Here are the five steps, a worked example with a seven-item list,…
Beyond Willpower: How to Build a New Identity From Evidence
Willpower is a poor tool for lasting change. Here is how to build a new identity from evidence instead, one small, observed vote at a time.
How to End the Inner War: The Observer Is the Observed
An inner war is the fight between how you feel and how you think you should feel. Here is what Krishnamurti meant by 'the observer is…
The Sherlock Scan: Observe, Infer, Deduce
Sherlock Holmes was modelled on a real Edinburgh surgeon who read patients at a glance. His method can be learned. A practical guide to the three…
What Is Metacognition? How to Step Into the Director’s Chair
Metacognition is thinking about your own thinking: noticing what your mind is doing and changing course when it is not working. Here is the research definition,…
The Invisible Gorilla: Why Focus Hides the Obvious, From Meetings to Burnout
Half of the people in a famous experiment missed a gorilla walking through a basketball game. What inattentional blindness is, why experts are not immune, and…
Your Brain Hides Most of Reality: The 11-Million-Bit Problem
Your senses gather far more than your conscious mind can handle, so your brain filters nearly all of it out. Here is the size of the…