What we focus upon, we internalize. Focus is our cognitive magnifying glass: the more intense the focus, the deeper our experience. Most of the time, we do not focus. We move from thought to thought, activity to activity, and internalize very little. We can participate in conversations at a party and retain little of the…

Not long ago, a medical student, let’s call him Paul, walked into my shift in the emergency room of a large university and told me that his life was ruined. I’m a clinical psychologist. And for the past 20 years, I have worked — in many capacities — with young adults. I’ve counseled them in…

Courtesy of the good Dr Angus. Most parents are keen to discourage their children from gambling, but science writer and amateur poker player Alex O’Brien believes the game should be taught in schools. Alex has been studying poker with the help of some of the best players in the world. She says she’s learnt a…

“The things right in front of us are often the hardest to see,” declares Apollo Robbins, the world’s most famous theatrical pickpocket. “The things you look at every day, that you’re blinded to.” As he says these words, he’s standing on stage at a TED conference in 2013. He invites the audience to close their…

If you’re an overthinker, you’ll know exactly how it goes. A problem keeps popping up in your mind – for instance, a health worry or a dilemma at work – and you just can’t stop dwelling on it, as you desperately try to find some meaning or solution. Round and round the thoughts go but,…

There has been in recent times a debate over the necessity for someone to be passionate about what they are doing in order to be successful. And as coincidence would have it this piece came to mind courtesy of two things I saw with only a slight gap between them. The first is the video…

Let’s say the situation at work is not good. The project (or product, or re-org, or whatever) has launched, and the best you can say is that things aren’t going as planned. At all. It’s a disaster, though the best word for it is the one you drop over drinks with your team and when…

One listless day at my last full-time job (which was the kind of job where every day was listless, because it was a media company in a constant state of crisis and reorganisation), an email arrived from the CEO. Things were often stressful and frequently dull — the acute periods of anxiety that your job…