Drama

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 18 2024

Drama is an interesting (pun intended) concept: the idea of eventful experiences in life that are worth talking about. “Bob went to the store and bought a gallon of milk,” is not interesting. It’s a statement of fact to convey information. Now, one way to spice it up is through plot: “Bob went to the store and bought a gallon of milk only to find...

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Growth Does Not Equal Effort

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 11 2024

Just a quick reminder that growth does not equal effort (or, at least, the feeling of strenuous effort). As The Secret famously said, grass doesn’t strain to grow. Most humans spend their lives eating, drinking, sleeping, and eliminating waste—not much effort at all, and they grow a lot. Even if you exercise heavily, the muscle growth occurs...

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Be True to Yourself, Lie to Yourself…Be Honest to Others, Lie to Others?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, September 4 2024

There’s an interesting conflict in recommendations from others around honesty: people will tell you to be honest or deceptive depending on what leads to the best outcome. Now, for those of you who have read The Meaning of Life: A guide to finding your life’s purpose or previous blog posts on the honesty ethic, that will not be a surprise since...

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The Two Hurdles of Motivation: Procrastination and Diminishment

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 28 2024

It can seem difficult to begin a journey and see it through. After all, you have to find something you want to do, figure out how to do it, be willing to put in the necessary effort to pursue it, take action, face adversity, be resilient, and continue to work until you succeed. That is all true, but there are really simply two major hurdles to...

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Forming Better Habits

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 21 2024

Some people run four miles per day and eat salads, while others watch 5 hours of television and eat popcorn. Some people study two hours per evening, while others play two hours of video games. Some people perform chores every week, while others buy new clothes for a year straight instead of doing laundry. What is going on here, and how can you...

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Accomplishments, Awards, and Asterisks

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 14 2024

What matters? It seems like a simple question. But here’s the thing: people every day ask themselves what they want in life or how they can find more meaning in life and never really face that question. They often end up looking around at what other people like and following them. With that approach, they had better hope that they like the same...

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Hitting the Elevator’s “Close Door” Button

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, August 7 2024

There’s a famous story about the elevator buttons that are designated to close the door: many of them don’t do anything. The running joke is that it’s a placebo making riders feel like they have control while also spending the waiting time doing something, thus increasing rider satisfaction but not actually changing the wait

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The Meaning Generation

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 31 2024

Gen Z is often called “The Meaning Generation”. The fact is that there are many factors in the world that influence generational trends: wars, diseases, economic events, and cultural trends. Major world wars led to the name, “The Greatest Generation” followed by “The Baby Boomers”, while the lack of a major defining moment for them is what caused...

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The Process of Elimination Approach to Finding Meaning in Life

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 24 2024

Have you ever asked someone where they wanted to go to eat and they say, “I don’t care,” except when you suggest a place they reject it…over and over and over again? The response you want to shout is, “So you do care?” In other words, they don’t know what they do want, but they seem pretty certain about what they don’t want. Well, you might not...

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Who Controls Your Lock?

Nathanael Garrett Novosel, July 17 2024

The difference between a shelter and a prison is who controls the lock. If you control the lock, you can protect yourself from things and people who could negatively impact your life. If someone else controls the lock, they can keep you from leaving and let anyone inside with you who could do your

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