Category: Self-Improvement, Psychology and Mindset

Fear shows up in our lives in countless ways.

Sometimes, fear takes the form of procrastination. We’re afraid of botching something, or we don’t like the feeling of anxiety that a project gives us, so we avoid it, dodge it, and indefinitely put it off.

Other times, fear takes the form of perfectionism through endless iterating and tweaking. We want to keep tinkering with a project, to get it “just right.” We applaud ourselves for our attention to detail.

Fear takes the form of making excuses and rationalizations for why we can’t pursue a goal or dream. We tell ourselves that some outside factor is to blame.

Fear takes the form of throwing ourselves pity parties and locking ourselves into a negative self-talk spiral. We get easily discouraged.

Fear takes the form of thinking others can’t be trusted, and pushing people away.

Fear has many faces.

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In May 1915, a renowned 58-year-old sea captain, Captain William Thomas Turner, made a series of questionable decisions.

He was the captain of the Lusitania, a ship with 1,959 passangers, sailing from Manhattan to London. The first World War was taking place around them, and Captain Turner knew he needed to move swiftly to evade German submarines.

His ship approached England; land was in sight. They had almost made it. Yet for reasons that will always remain a mystery, around 1 pm on May 7th, Captain Turner slowed the speed of the vessel to around 18 knots, slower than the 21 knots that they needed to outpace the threat of submarines. Around 45 minutes later, he executed what’s called a “four-point bearing,” which forced him to pilot the ship in a straight line rather than a zigzag course, which would be better for outmaneuvering torpedos.

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In 2003, Beyonce Knowles-Carter felt shy about performing sultry lyrics and dance routines on stage. She needed a tactic to overcome her nerves and stage fright. So she created an alter ego, Sasha Fierce, to bring out her more assertive side.

Beyonce is one of many top performers — along with other top artists, athletes, executives, speakers, investors, bankers, lawyers, negotiators, and more — who use alter egos as a tactic to overcome their insecurities and become better versions of themselves.

Today’s podcast guest, Todd Herman, is an expert at the practice of creating alter egos to improve your performance in any arena of life. He says that crafting an alter ego can help you become a better worker, leader, manager, investor, and even a better parent.

Todd joins us on today’s podcast to describe the “why” and “how” of creating an alter ego at work, at home, and in social settings.

Here are six takeaways from our conversation:

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Cal Newport created a philosophy called digital minimalism, which is the idea of reducing your digital life down to only the most important core essentials. Remove the apps from your phone, then slowly re-introduce only the ones that are the most useful and beneficial. Take control of your smartphone, rather than letting it control you.

Digital minimalism is a philosophy of technology use. This philosophy pulls from the concepts of minimalism, essentialism, the slow movement, and the 80/20 principle, applying these ideas towards your digital life.

Cal discusses the digital minimalist philosophy on today’s episode.

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You can do anything, but not everything … and definitely not everything at the same time.

How can you optimize your time and energy? How do you choose what’s worthwhile and what’s a waste of time?

How can you eliminate small decisions so that your mind is free to focus on the few choices that make a massive 10x impact?

How can you spend less time struggling with your Inbox, and more time on long-term projects that can boost your income?

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James Clear wanted to start flossing, but he never managed to follow through. Despite his best intentions, his dental floss sat unused in a bathroom drawer.

Fortunately, James had learned a thing or two about human behavior and habit formation. As a self-improvement writer, he’d spent hours pouring over scientific data about behavior changes. He […]

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Dr. Brian Portnoy is an expert in making decisions.

He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, he’s a Chartered Financial Analyst, and he’s the Director of Investment Education at Virtus Investment Partners.

Dr. Portnoy joins me on the podcast to discuss how to make smarter decisions — not only about investments, but also […]

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