4 days agoSet and Achieve your Goals using ScienceAlmost everyone has experienced New Year’s resolutions that haven’t panned out. The feeling of disappointment and frustration that can arise when learning a new skill or when pursuing a fitness goal often leads to distraction-seeking, whether it be watching TV or engaging in other mindless pursuits that don’t help us…Goal Setting15 min readGoal Setting15 min read
5 days agoMilitant atheism is a religionIf you feel uncomfortable over the way militant atheists talk you aren’t alone — and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Even if I were to grant you that they were correct about their beliefs, which they’re not, that’s not how you talk to people. Even if they were right…Religion3 min readReligion3 min read
Nov 20My conversation with an activistSome context. I’m straight, she’s gay. We are non-blood relatives and a few nights ago we had a short conversation that the whole dinner table (at home) stopped to listen to. She started explaining to everyone a project her group was currently involved in. A bakery had opened, not that…Activism5 min readActivism5 min read
Nov 14We are not JesusI’m not one of those unreasonable militant atheists whose names I won’t mention. Religion has been instrumental in organising human societies into large groups of people who don’t kill each other in the streets — the majority of the time. (Indeed, it can be argued that atheist states have conducted…Religion3 min readReligion3 min read
Nov 14Maintain a consistent level of motivation with random intermittent rewardsWe all have an image, from movies or elsewhere, of the junkie who is writhing in agony at the prospect of not being able to get a hold of his next fix. It’s a sad and pitiable image of a person being held a prisoner of their own biological needs…Motivation3 min readMotivation3 min read
Nov 6Addressing the elephant in the room during a negotiationWhen reading Chris Voss’s excellent Never Split the Difference I was delighted to find that I had inadvertently used one of the most simple & effective techniques during a negotiation I found myself in years before. The technique is called labelling and I employed it when working abroad. Although I’m…Negotiation4 min readNegotiation4 min read
Nov 3What I would bring with me back from ChinaI live in China, and recent news reports, articles and YouTube videos about my home away from home seem to be getting more and more negative. The Western media are behaving in a totally predictable and human fashion given how competitive China has become. Considering this trend, however inaccurate the…China6 min readChina6 min read
Nov 1Poker, sweaty palms and irrational clamberingHow do you perform under pressure? Having (re)started meditating recently I’ve found that several ideas that I’ve been ruminating on for some time are marvellously connected. The reason I started meditating, like many others, is to improve my focus and quiet my thoughts during stressful situations. Just a little while…Meditation6 min readMeditation6 min read
Oct 30Veganuary and Bad ScienceIn the beginning of February 2018 news articles spread in the UK claiming that only a quarter of UK evening meals contained meat or fish due to the meteoric rise of vegan and vegetarian diets. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. But upon reading the first few sentences of the articles…Science Journalism4 min readScience Journalism4 min read
