Personal Development for Smart People^TM

“My name is Steve, and I’m a recovering online forum addict.”
“Hi, Steve.”
I posted a new article called “Effective Online Forum Usage” in the free articles section. This is a straightforward piece with 8 tips on using forums productively, with an emphasis on avoiding (or recovering from) forum addiction.
For years I was a heavy user […]

If you enjoyed the previous quiz, here’s another (also via Ravynstone Abbey): What philosophy do you follow?
My results are consistent with the last quiz:

Existentialism 100%
Kantianism 55%
Justice (Fairness) 55%
Hedonism 55%
Utilitarianism 45%
Strong Egoism 35%
Nihilism 20%
Apathy 5%
Divine Command 0%
You scored as Existentialism.
Your life is guided by […]

I found this short quiz that attempts to evaluate your world view (via Ravynstone Abbey).
My results are:

Existentialist 81%
Modernist 69%
Postmodernist 63%
Cultural Creative 56%
Materialist 25%
Idealist 25%
Fundamentalist 19%
Romanticist 13%
You scored as Existentialist.
Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is […]

One way to overcome fear of public speaking is to be afraid and speak anyway. As stupid as this seems, it’s possibly the most reliable way to gain confidence in speaking. Be afraid, be nervous, be hesitant, but do it anyway.
You won’t be very good at it the first few times, but don’t […]

Some of you have asked that I post a copy of one of the speeches I’ve given over the past year, so I figured I’d go ahead and post one. This was a 7-minute speech I gave to a Toastmasters audience a few months ago called “A Cup of Tea With the Grim Reaper.”
The […]

Since I’ve mentioned that I’m working on a book, I might as well post something about it here so I don’t have to keep answering emails about it.
My tentative working title is Personal Development for Smart PeopleTM. It’s a book about personal development which covers personal productivity, courage, drive, motivation, purpose, skill-building, focus, […]

Just as salespeople might have monthly sales quotas to meet, you can apply the concept of quotas to your personal productivity as well. I use this technique often and have found it highly effective for certain types of projects. Here’s how it works:
For each project you want to tackle tomorrow, set a minimum […]

It’s now day 18 after the official start date of the 30-Day Challenge. I’ve certainly had some tough days so far, but I haven’t missed a single day yet on any of my three challenges: 1) get up at 5am every morning, 2) write for at least 4 hours per day, and 3) […]

Meditation Linked With Longer Life

… transcendental meditation practitioners had:
A 23% reduction in the rate of death from all causes.
A 30% reduction in the rate of death from cardiovascular disease.
A 49% reduction in the rate of death from cancer.

I’ve been red-green colorblind since birth, and someone told me about a site with some neat photos that reveals how people like me perceive colors.
If you visit that link and scroll down a little, you’ll see two pictures of a fruit vendor. The first picture is normal. The second picture is how red-green […]