Psychology

There's a moment when the unconscious crystallises into consciousness, leading to all our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. In ancient texts, this moment is referred to as 'vedana', and we describe them as 'feeling tones.' These feeling tones are the mind's initial acknowledgment or categorisation of experiences as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral.

These accumulating errors can foster feelings of the world being against us, a sense of continuous misfortune, and the magnification of everyday stresses and unhappiness. In earlier, more primitive times, external factors would often interrupt these negative mental states, snapping us back to a more grounded reality.

Our brains actively construct a model of the world, which is our actual experience. Incoming sensory data serves mainly to verify and correct this internal model. A familiar example is predictive texting on smartphones. You start typing, and the phone anticipates the rest of the word. This process mirrors how our brains handle sensory input, triggering various internal models.

Being 'online' does feel sort of 'godlike', it does make you feel that the limitations of material human existence don't apply quite so much. This godlike feeling explains some of the terrible behaviour on anonymous social media. It also gives you this sense that you somehow could become one with the metaverse.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

The crux of the matter is the internal liberation that comes from acknowledging that there will always be more to do than we can handle, and that certainty about the future is unattainable. It's a form of defeat, yet immensely productive, because as long as you believe mastering everything is just extremely challenging, you'll continue to struggle.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

Patience is really the act of letting things take the time that they take. It becomes more important as the world accelerates and as we have the opportunity technologically to do things faster and faster. There are many things that can't continuously be accelerated, or which can only be accelerated to a certain point.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

We use these tools to do things quicker – but that never help us get on top of everything because they systematically increase the size of the 'everything' – It's a rigged game!

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

The efficiency trap is very modern, but it's now become a holdover from the Industrial Revolution. If you only relate to time, as if it were a certain kind of 'thing', like a natural resource… something that you could maximise, then you're going to be in a perpetual state of psychological struggle because you won't be using the right conceptual tools to live in time.

Guardian columnist & author on psychology, time management, and happiness

Firstly, it's crucial to adopt a bold mindset right from the start. I advocate for setting almost unrealistic targets. This approach might seem counterintuitive, but it's essential for enabling substantial change. If we only aim for realistic targets, our efforts will be limited to minor tweaks rather than significant transformations.

On a fundamental level, any experience that nudges your mind to engage from a unique angle is immensely valuable. Art, for instance, demands a different set of appreciation and communication skills. It invites you to respect and marvel at someone whose talents may be starkly distinct from your own.

Author of "The Tipping Point" & Popular Cultural Theorist

In the realm of experts, intuition, anchored in a substantial reservoir of experience and knowledge, becomes an invaluable asset. It's essentially a dialogue with your unconscious. However, for it to be constructive, your unconscious necessitates a good measure of education. An uneducated unconscious is a perilous entity.

Author of "The Tipping Point" & Popular Cultural Theorist

I believe the traditional perception, which posits that success is merely an accumulation of advantages while failure is an accumulation of disadvantages, is overly simplistic. It's the disadvantages that offer a more fertile ground for learning, albeit for a smaller cohort. The depth of learning and engagement derived from tackling difficulties is substantially richer compared to that gleaned from facing advantages.

Author of "The Tipping Point" & Popular Cultural Theorist

We can be sexually aroused by a mere text message, tapping into a primal sensory system in a bizarre way. We can feel empathy for someone on the other side of the globe. We can perpetrate violence, like dropping a bomb from 30,000 feet, without ever seeing the victim's face.

Neuroscientist & primatologist known for stress research and public engagement

Intelligence and self-deception appear to have co-evolved, with the belief that we are fully in control of our destinies serving as a mental safeguard, despite its inaccuracy.

Neuroscientist & primatologist known for stress research and public engagement

When a coach gains the player's confidence and establishes a strong partnership, they can effectively motivate the player, boost their confidence, and help them break through barriers. This can elevate a player's career to new heights.

Tennis coach who famously coached Serena Williams

Champions possess a distinct mindset, a relentless drive for excellence that sets them apart. They're not content with just doing okay; they strive for excellence constantly. Being second is not an option for them, they aim for the top.

Tennis coach who famously coached Serena Williams