Never underestimate the big importance of little things – Matt Haig, The Midnight Library A successful ad campaign based on little things In 2012, Olivari Olive Oil, an international Olive Oil brand, decided to enter the already-competitive US olive oil market. To launch the brand in the US and increase its brand awareness, the ad … Read more
That feeling of “what on earth was I thinking” when you remember something embarrassing you said or did is universally unpleasant. But it comes with a silver lining. Seeing our own errors in judgment is a sign of progress and a testament to improved self-awareness. We just need more of it in our lives. Henry … Read more
Canadian educator Laurence Peter once said, “Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has a lot more patience.” Truth. We try to play safe to avoid adversity in life, even though growth is interminably linked with growing pains in the natural order of things. Instead of fighting adversity, embracing mild stress and minor setbacks can be … Read more
There is no dearth of material on minimalism—books, podcasts, blogs, shows. It can be addictive to watch someone on a Netflix show discard 90% of their possessions and still be left with a fairly cluttered space. But the reasons to simplify and declutter go beyond healthy bank balances and walkable spaces. Social scientists Elgin and … Read more
We are all walking bundles of expectations. We have expectations of ourselves and others, and we feel bound and pressured by what others expect of us. All of this collective weight of expectations really just does one thing—it makes us irritable, angry, and disappointed because, let’s be honest; eventually, we’ll fall short, at least on … Read more
Singapore has a law called the “The Maintenance of Parents Act.” This law provides elderly parents who can’t support themselves a legal channel to seek maintenance from their children who are capable of helping them but won’t do so. Is the mere existence of such a law a clear sign that we humans are an … Read more
In a speech in 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “The battle for women’s rights has largely been won.” I guess you could call Thatcher an extreme optimist. Gender parity has been and continues to be a hot-button issue. We’ve come a long way in the last few centuries, but we still have ways … Read more
“I had a tough childhood, so I want to make sure my children have it easy” is a common refrain among many parents. Fair enough. While this philosophy is well-intentioned, it’s often poorly executed. The result: overzealous parents with overprotected children. Consequently, we raise kids who do not know how to problem solve effectively or … Read more
NY Times writer David Brooks wrote an opinion piece a few years ago about how, as a society, we focus on developing resume values instead of eulogy values. Ultimately when we pass, no one’s going to care about the degrees we accumulated, the perfect spreadsheets we built, or the $ in our bank accounts (okay, … Read more
Neuroscientists have proven that repetition improves learning. According to the multiple trace theory, finding at least one trace of an event becomes easier when there are more traces of that event in memory. With that premise in mind, this post is a consolidated summary of a few articles published earlier this year— a wellness recap … Read more
It starts as a whisper and slowly gets louder and louder. Before you know it, it crowds out all your other thoughts. Soon, you have no choice but to listen to it humbly. I’m referring to the voices in our head telling us to back off when we’re about to exert ourselves in challenging situations. … Read more
Having an open mind or getting someone else to open up their mind to a different point of view is hard work. But it can be done. The Galileo affair from the 17th century has some classic lessons and some do’s, but mostly don’ts, on how to get someone to change their perspective, especially when … Read more
When people say, “I’d rather get a root canal than look at my unpaid bills,” they are actually exhibiting a universally favorite coping mechanism in the face of fear—avoidance. (Also, they probably have never had a root canal.) Burying your head in the sand will not make you invisible. It will simply make it harder … Read more
Have you ever checked every item on your to-do list, hustled all day, only to feel a sense of disquiet when you go to bed? The feeling that you haven’t done enough or could do more and be more can be very disheartening. On the other hand, you may struggle to admit that you are … Read more
There are few things in life we universally detest. Change is one of them. As we get older, our resistance to change seems only to increase. We become stubborn and resistant, throwing toddler-like tantrums whenever life deviates in any way from how it’s “supposed” to be. Why is it such a struggle for us to … Read more
Almost every day, I find a reference to a news article or a social media post extolling the need for work-life balance. By no means a recent topic of discussion, work-life balance, or for that matter, balance in life, in general, has long been the subject of much contention. The Covid-19 pandemic has simply catapulted … Read more
See if you can relate to this scenario: Exhausted after a long day, you stumble into bed at 11 p.m. It seems just a few minutes have passed, but then you are wide awake at 3 a.m. running through a mental list of problems from the present, the past, and potential future problems as well. … Read more
Not all of us may have had opportunities to meet celebrities. But, I can say with conviction that every single one of us has had the chance to meet a person (or people, if we are lucky) we consider interesting. And equally likely, we’ve also managed to meet someone who could bore the life out … Read more
I’ve seen this saying bandied about a lot: “Don’t ask for permission. Ask for forgiveness, instead.” It seems to be a culturally lit and, dare I say, a Silicon-valley-appropriate phrase (especially when there’s VC money involved.) Half-kidding! In all seriousness, though, the saying is well-intentioned and has its heart in the right place. Without realizing … Read more
If someone told us to do nothing, most of us would jump for joy. We’d assume it as carte blanche to doomscroll on our devices or mindlessly binge-watch TV shows (even bad ones.) But, doing nothing and focusing on just one thing are two sides of the same coin. It is an art form we … Read more