Jumpstart Your Dream Life

The Interesting Thing About Gut Instincts (Why It Plays Tricks On Us)

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This is part two of the Gut Instinct series. To read part one on gut instincts and people, click here.

Imagine you’re at a casino. Your palms are sweating as you hold a pair of dice in your hand. A crowd forms around the table and watches intently. This is it.

“I have a good feeling about this.”

You shake the dice loosely in your hand, hoping you’ll get lucky. Your fingers let go and the dice fly across the table. As the dice land on the board, you take one look and groan.

Regret begins to sink in.

Have you ever listened to that gut feeling you had, only for it to lead you astray? Sure, there were those times when you turned out to be right, but there are those other moments when things didn’t pan out the way you thought they would.

If Napoleon himself fell into that trap at Russia, what chance is there for the rest of us?

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Serial Killers and CEOs: The Role Our Gut Instinct Plays in Everyday Assessments

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“I knew there was something wrong about him.”

How many times we heard someone say this, or thought this in our heads? Whenever we feel conflicted about someone we meet, we hear the same thing over and over: “trust your gut.”

We might spend days, months, or even years trying to figure something out. Is there a good chance of succeeding in this new job? Should I trust her? The wheels in our head spin as we think of all the variables and how they’ll play out.

And still, we keep hearing that we should just listen to our instincts. Complicated questions, simple answer. What should we do, and where did this whole idea of the gut instinct come from, anyway?

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What Escape from a North Korean Prison Camp Can Teach Us About Creating Change

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What is a typical day in your life like? When you get out of bed in the morning, what are the most pressing matters that come up in your head?

For Shin Dong-hyuk, living in North Korea meant that torture, chronic hunger, and executions were a normal part of life. Born in a political prison camp, his everyday experiences included back-breaking labor and harsh beatings.

In order to survive, prisoners are encouraged to inform on one another and taught not to show affection towards others, including their own family members. Because of this, Shin felt little loyalty to his family, and later watched as his mother and brother were publicly executed.

He was later assigned to work at a textile factory, where he was forced to meet daily quotas under threat of physical punishments. But it was at the factory where he met a fellow prisoner who would change his life: Mr. Park. Unlike the young Shin, Mr. Park was a well-educated 40-year-old man who had visited places outside North Korea, including Germany and China.

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Are You Stuck in a Rut? Here Are the Signs.

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Sometimes it’s hard to notice when we’re stuck in a rut. You could go through the dull, numbing pain of everyday activities and not feel any desire to change anything. After all, as humans we have the amazing ability to adapt and cope with nearly any situation.

The downside though, is that we get used to things that make us unhappy. Ideas or places we used to resist eventually become the same things we cling onto, not out of need or want, but out of familiarity.

Here are some signs that you may be in a rut.

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5 Types of Music That Will Increase Your Productivity, According to Science

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Music has a way of permeating through empty corners and filling up environments with substance. It can help you relax, make you well up in tears, or feel alive. But can it make you more productive?

We use music to set the tone of our environment and our mood, whether we’re unwinding after work or throwing a party. But in an age when many of us spend our time staring at a computer screen, music has also become a mode of escape from outside distractions or dull tasks.

So how useful is music when it comes to focusing on your work?

Let’s take a look at the science behind music and productivity.

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Why Are Some People Luckier Than Others?

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Timothy Dexter was an incredibly eccentric person and businessman. He was also incredibly lucky.

Born in Massachusetts on January 22, 1747, Dexter had neither schooling nor money. He began life as a farm laborer alongside his father before becoming an apprentice to a Boston leather dresser at 16.

Five years later, Dexter completed his apprenticeship and moved to Newburyport, where he had his first stroke of luck. There, he met and married a wealthy young widow and purchased a large mansion using her money.

Dexter quickly became unpopular amongst his neighbors, who saw him as an ill-educated and unrefined man that married into money. Undeterred, he set out to increase his fortune by purchasing a number of large ships and launching an international trade business. When his neighbors heard the news, they purposely gave him bad business advice in the hopes that he would lose his fortune and move away.

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Every Day is a Test

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It was the first day of class.

We sat quietly, listening to the professor explain the syllabus. He raised the required textbook up in one hand and the workbook in the other, telling us that we needed to purchase them from the bookstore.

I had enrolled into Spanish class as an elective and found myself sitting with about 15 other students. As he spoke about the things we were going to learn, someone’s hand shot up. The professor put down his books and peered at the student. “Yes,” he said in a firm voice.

She put down her hand and asked the question that sat on everyone’s minds. “When is the first test?”

The professor gave her a stern look and shook his head. “No.” After a pause, he replied: “Every day is a test.”

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To Get More Out of Life, Choose to Do Less

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In 1998, Google was put up to a large task: to create a search engine that would be used by people all over the world.

They weren’t the first company to launch a search engine. Far from it. In the previous years, numerous other companies had launched various search engines that were already being used.

It wasn’t long before Google’s search engine became a leader in the industry, though. Users remarked on how easy it was to use Google for internet search. The homepage was so simple, so clean, and it delivered exactly what people wanted.

On the surface, the design looks incredibly basic. There are only a few things on the page, and its design almost seems like a no-brainer. But underneath that simple design was a lot of planning, systems, and just saying “no.”

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How Late Should You Be Drinking Your Daily Coffee?

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Imagine it’s a Monday morning. You wake up to the beeping of your alarm and slowly open your eyes. After lying in bed for a few more minutes, you slowly get up and rub your eyes.

Groggy and bleary-eyed, you get dressed and prepare yourself for another start of the week. You glance at the clock and realize that you’re running late, so you leave for the office ASAP.

When you arrive, you turn on the computer and put down your things before heading to the kitchen. Now, here’s a question: what drink do you make for yourself?

If you chose coffee, well, you’re in good company.

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The 3 Stages of Truth: How The Earth Became Round

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Have you ever started something new, only to be met with resistance from others?

Whenever we seek change at any level, there are those who will be opposed to it. Change can be hard to accept, even if it’s for the better. This applies to many aspects of our lives, whether we want to improve a part of our life or to creating something innovative for society.

Skeptics will always be around. People who refuse to let the things, people, and places around them change. People who mock something that feels novel, simply because it’s easier to stay with whatever feels comfortable and familiar.

This has led me to believe that truth, and any positive change, goes through multiple stages before it’s accepted. According to 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, “All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.”

Let’s take a closer look at the 3 Stages of Truth.

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