The many possible causes of large, positive changes in the world

February 24, 2018

I’ve noticed that people start with different assumptions about what usually causes large, positive changes in the world. It is rare for us to directly address these differences in worldview, even though they may contribute to difficulties seeing eye-to-eye on how we can make things better. For instance, I think some people believe that large, positive change usually comes about due to one or more of the following: (1) Progress - technological and scientific advancement causing a ris...

Extreme Interventions that are Sometimes Life-Changing

March 31, 2017

Although self-help techniques, when tried in isolation, usually fail, I occasionally hear about an extreme intervention that had a permanent and exceptionally positive effect on the person who tried it. One notable feature of extreme improvements, as opposed to medium-sized ones, is that they probably won't just happen to you by chance. Medium-sized improvements can occur randomly, so it's harder to confirm whether positive results are related to some purposeful change you've made. More extr...

Your Beliefs as a Temple

September 27, 2011

Your beliefs form something like a temple. The temple has many columns, rooms, and towers. The columns are facts and reasons that support the rooms. The rooms of the temple represent your major beliefs. The towers correspond to beliefs that build on each other. For example, you have rooms corresponding to aspects of your moral philosophy. On top of these rooms, supported by your moral philosophy, are rooms corresponding to your political philosophy. On top of these are still other rooms, corr...

Changing Your Life Using Habits

August 1, 2011

One of the most effective ways to get ourselves to regularly do a behavior is to make it automatic through habit formation. Once something has become a habit we no longer have to worry about forgetting to do it, or worry about lacking sufficient motivation. We do the behavior without even trying to do it, without even thinking about it. Habits make behavior effortless. We can program ourselves with new habits by following a very simple procedure. If you want to regularly do behavior B after s...