Posts by Ben Noble
How To Talk To Strangers
[ad_1] Talking to people who I know is hard enough. But ask me to talk to strangers? Well, I’d rather be doing calculus problems. Imagine, though, that I don’t have a choice. Imagine a world where I cannot choose calculus over conversation. Then, I focus on asking good questions and follow ups, which takes some…
Read MoreIt’s Hard To Say No
[ad_1] I was at a wedding this weekend. The father of the bride got up to speak. He started talking about perspective. About how when you’re born, after the first day, everything you know about the world is what happened in those first 24 hours. After the second day, your perspective encompasses the first 48.…
Read MoreAdditional Thoughts on Decision-Making
[ad_1] Earlier this month, I wrote about the challenges inherent in making a big decision. When you’re not sure which path to take, the impulse is to get more data. Ask for more advice. Expand your pro/con list. While you may feel like you’re making progress with these tactics, they’ll likely leave you just as…
Read MoreEverybody Wants To Leave Early
[ad_1] One of my least favorite things to sit through (and one of my favorite thing to rail against) is the encore. The first problem is that the encore is supposed to be a surprise bonus—the fans demanding more; the artists giving just a little extra. Now, though, the encore is baked in. Regardless of…
Read MoreUnder Construction
[ad_1] When I was in grade school, my parents gave me a Gameboy Color for my birthday. It was summer, so I had all the time in the world to play Pokemon. I’d sit around the house, staring at the screen. And when that got old, I’d go to my friend’s house and play it…
Read MoreWhen Have You “Read” A Book?
[ad_1] I once heard that Seth Godin reads 1000 books a year. How is that possible? Apparently, because he only reads the introductions. I don’t actually know if this fact is true. I tried to verify it, but I couldn’t. Then, I came across this post where he actually recommends the opposite. So, who could…
Read MoreIndecision Can’t Always Be Solved With Data
[ad_1] Over the weekend, my graduate program invited recently admitted students to campus so they could learn about the department and meet the faculty and current students. I was talking to one of them who was not so unlike myself. He has a job now and is trying to choose between our program and life…
Read MoreWorking at Play
[ad_1] On Friday night I performed in Cagematch, an improv show where two teams compete for audience votes. The winner (that was us!) performs again the following Friday. Some terrible photos of me, courtesy of my wife. Later on at the bar, a man came up to me. He told me he’d never seen an…
Read MoreCooking vs Baking
[ad_1] In my house, I do the lion’s share of the cooking. I can’t say it’s my favorite thing to do, but it’s not so bad. Plus, there are ways to make it less burdensome: It’s batchable. You can make a lot at once without loss of quality. It’s flexible. You can modify almost any…
Read MoreThe End of Experimentation
[ad_1] On his blog, Seth Godin writes (and this is the whole post): “The only way to learn from experience is to have different experiences. The very nature of an experiment is that there’s a chance you’re doing it wrong, or at least less ‘right’ than the way you usually do it. Which leads to…
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