Published inForge·PinnedMember-onlyWhy You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty for Ignoring the NewsStaying off the anxiety roller coaster of the war isn’t inherently selfish — I was living three blocks away from a hospital in Queens when the pandemic started. The sounds of sirens and helicopters woke me up in the middle of the night, when I’d check the COVID statistics page on the New York Times and start wondering what my day would look…Psychology5 min readPsychology5 min read
PinnedMember-onlyThe Cumulative Impact of Having the Wrong NameIn another universe, Karl Starr has already given a TED talk — One of the most disheartening conversations of my life happened at a meetup for science writers at a bar in New York about six years ago. I was venting to a friend, “John,” about not getting a response from a Professor after multiple emails; an interview would have been ideal…Psychology7 min readPsychology7 min read
PinnedMember-onlyFlexibility is the Ultimate Survival SkillThe Great Resignation is a Culture Shift: Loyalty only works in times of stability — I’ve been through multiple “once in a lifetime” economic meltdowns, and lost track of how many times I’ve been advised to stay the course, be consistent, and be loyal. The career advice we’ve all grown up with worked great in another era, that era of Boomers, when there was a…Biology3 min readBiology3 min read
PinnedMember-onlyThe Marshmallow Test Explains Why “Lazy” Millennials Are Actually RationalThe life-changing magic of empathy and zooming out — If you’re one of the few humans who hasn’t heard about the Marshmallow Test, here goes: a researcher at Stanford, Walter Mischel, tested kids’ ability to delay gratification. In his seminal study, he left kids alone in front of a piece of candy. If they could refrain from eating it…Psychology5 min readPsychology5 min read
Mar 28Member-onlyThe Life-Changing Magic of Letting Yourself Take BreaksThe Benefits of Being Inconsistent and Having a Psychologically Rich Life I haven’t posted anything in a while. I mean, a while. I felt guilty at first — I broke my semi-consistent streak, ran the risk of appearing unprofessional, and creates a gap in the newsletter archives. Plus, if the whole point of me writing online is to connect with like-minded…Psychology7 min readPsychology7 min read
Jul 24, 2022Member-onlyYou’ve Always Needed to Hustle to Make It in AmericaWorkaholism is in our DNA — You’re sick of hustle culture. You’re sick with the American obsession with productivity. You might blame it on a lack of social safety nets, the internet, or rising economic inequality. Bad news, folks: it’s not an artifact of the internet age, the industrial era, or even remotely new. The idea…History5 min readHistory5 min read
Jul 5, 2022Member-onlyThe Dark Side of Measuring EverythingReality is more complicated than numbers — The first book I ever fell in love with was Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield? Swoon. Now there was a protagonist after my heart: a swearing curmudgeon who just did his own thing. But the book has one fundamental flaw: it took J.D. Salinger 10 long years to write. …Psychology4 min readPsychology4 min read
Jun 22, 2022Member-onlyWhy Bosses Don’t Realize How Awful It Is To Work in an OfficeOffices are great for managers and awful for everyone else — You may have noticed something about all of the articles and propaganda discussing the “return to the office.” Guess who wants to return? The managers. According to a recent survey, three out of four executives want to return to the office—compared to only 1 in 3 workers. Managers are desperate…Work4 min readWork4 min read
Jun 12, 2022Member-only“Just Do It” Doesn’t Work When You’re DepressedAnd not being able to take that advice can make you feel worse — The well-intentioned Brad Stulberg, a performance coach and author, has recently written some pieces on “Behavioral Activation,” a premise revolving around the idea that motivation and energy follow action. Don’t wait until you feel like doing something, he says — just do it. The old adage “Move a muscle, change…Psychology6 min readPsychology6 min read
Jun 10, 2022Member-onlyThe Current Mental Health Pandemic is InevitableStress is cumulative; depression and anxiety follow — I have a new theory that there are now two kinds of people in the world: Those who have been dealing with significant mental health challenges during the pandemic Liars The answer to the ages-old question “genes or the environment?” is always both: the environment pushes us over the edge…Mental Health5 min readMental Health5 min read
