Farnam Street
Signaling and countersignaling are hidden methods of communicating with each other. We do it all the time as a way to “prove” we are who and what we claim to be. *** The Basics We are constantly …
We tend to think that people can easily tell what we’re thinking and feeling. They can’t. Understanding the illusion of transparency bias can improve relationships, job performance, and more. *** “A …
Occam’s razor is one of the most useful, (yet misunderstood,) models in your mental toolbox to solve problems more quickly and efficiently. Here’s how to use it. *** Occam’s razor (also known as the …
Nearly four decades after her death, many of Ayn Rand’s works remain controversial and divide people into two camps: love them or hate them. Her lesser known book on philosophy provides broad, …
Our brains employ two modes of thinking to tackle any large task: focused and diffuse. Both are equally valuable but serve very different purposes. To do your best work, you need to master both. As …
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749–1832) Maxims and Reflections is a terrific source of philosophical wisdom. The German writer, statesman, lawyer, playwright, and polymath was brilliant at distilling …
No action exists in a vacuum. There are ripples that have consequences that we can and can’t see. Here are the three types of externalities that can help us guide our actions so they don’t come back …
Most people travel as an observer, and as a result, “see” a lot. When you travel as an active participant, the experience can transform the way you think, and how you see the world. *** Here’s a …
Healthy friendships offer far more than a reliable person to share a beer with. Research shows they can make us healthier, wealthier, happier and overall more successful. Here’s how. *** Is friendship …
The quality of the answers we get are directly correlated with the quality of the questions we ask. Here’s how to improve your questions. *** When we run our once-a-year Re:Think Europe event, 10 …
Along the same vein as Yvon Chouinard’s Let My People Go Surfing, The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness is the business philosophy handbook from the marketing, advertising, and PR firm Ogilvy & …
The most important things in life are internal not external. “The big question about how people behave,” says Warren Buffett, “is whether they’ve got an inner scorecard or an outer scorecard. It …
An interview with Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos touches on the timeless lessons he’s learned for business success. The three big ideas are (1) thinking on a different timescale, (2) putting the …
It’s only polite. Hold the door open for others, and they will open doors for you. We are far more interdependent than we would like to admit. We biologically need to connect. “Limbic resonance” is a …
“Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.” It’s unclear exactly who first made that statement, when they said it, or how it was …
One of the engines behind the Italian Renaissance was the concept of paragone—pitting creative efforts against one another in the belief that only with this you could come to see art’s real …