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The Broader Context of the Stoic Optimizer
If you're reading this right now, you're probably human, which means that you get to live your life within the boundaries of the human condition. For better or for worse, this collection of aspects we call 'being a person in the world' presents us with a unique set of obstacles and opportunities when it comes to what we can do with ourselves while we're here.
These posts aim to uncover the limits of our being, whether physiological, psychological or evolutionary so that we can better focus on our life's mission.
Go through them when you're looking for explanations of why you might behave the way you do (and why it might not be your fault!) or when you want to better understand yourself so that you never waste time going against your nature.
When you blame procrastination, laziness or a lack of motivation for your failure to achieve some of your goals, you might be right. However, if you were able to accomplish great things in the past, yet struggle to move on to bigger targets, something more insidious might be the culprit. “The Big Leap” by Gay…
Read More →Be good and good things will happen to you; be evil and you will attract misfortune. I bet you didn’t even blink while reading that because it sounds so common sense. Not so fast. It turns out that agreeing with the previous statement is a good indication that you have fallen for the just-world hypothesis,…
Read More →Have you noticed how your self-esteem goes up whenever you are successful at something, no matter how little effort you put into achieving that thing and how your spirits drop whenever you experience failure, despite your best efforts and hard work to reach your goal? The reason why this happens is a predictable human thinking…
Read More →What Is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? If you've ever wondered what motivates people to act the way they do, a famous psychologist named Abraham Maslow might have a few pointers for you. He believed that there are 5 levels of human needs that drive behavior - from basic ones such as the need for food…
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