When we work hard to surround ourselves with the people who inspire us, the things that we aspire to have a way of working themselves out. It’s important to choose wisely the people who take up our space, time, and energy. Where our attention goes, our direction flows.
behavioral science
Jobs: How to find work going into 2026
Why is it so hard to get a job right now? Despite the lag in BLS data from October and November, the markers we’re seeing combined with the general sentiment suggests a very tough job market in the US. The unemployment rate has hovered around 4.4% as of September 2025, up slightly from prior months, … Read More
Don’t wait
Don’t wait. On your ideas, your plans, your goals. That trip you’ve wanted to take, that career change you’ve considered making, that course you’ve considered taking, that skill or hobby you’ve always wanted to pick up, that person you’ve wanted to be honest with, that loved one you care about but haven’t reminded lately. Because … Read More
Bridging tools & perspectives into actionable strategies
How to polymath in a world biased toward linearity and specialists Being a generalist or polymath can be…frustrating. 😂 But, it’s rewarding if we’re able to bridge the diverse set of tools & perspectives into actionable strategies. Here’s one example of this in the context of storytelling that I’ve encountered lately: https://travisandrewtatman.substack.com/p/bridging-tools-and-perspectives-into I don’t have the answers … Read More
A generalist approach to problem-solving
Research shows that generalists—those who draw from diverse sectors—are less prone to cognitive “tunneling,” the narrowed focus that stifles innovation. Ancient Roots and the PolymathThe value of range isn’t new. Ancient thinkers such as Aristotle and Plutarch championed the polymath—a person who studied and connected multiple disciplines as a path to wisdom. The term polymath … Read More
Black Swans and Why We Keep Getting Blindsided
Reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb drives home a brutal truth: it’s not just rare, world-shaking events that throw us off — it’s how our brains work. We’re wired to see the world as linear. We expect change to be steady, incremental, predictable. And when it isn’t, we freeze. Neil deGrasse Tyson nailed … Read More
On “What’s Next?” Cycles and False Fulfillment
Tim Ferriss was asked about success on his podcast (#813) and this was his answer, paraphrased: “Becoming successful (financially) makes the successful more predisposed to depression and anxiety. The reason is that when you’re striving you have two things: 1) you have the hope/belief that the vast majority of your problems, the things that keep … Read More
On Street Corners, Kicks, and the Choice to Feel Anger
My therapist recently tossed me a hypothetical. Picture this: You’re walking down the street. On the corner stands a man—just standing there, minding his business. Out of nowhere, another guy walks up and kicks him. Hard. No warning, no reason. Now, she asked me, do you feel angry for the man who got kicked? I … Read More
4 Ways to Help Folks Grapple with Retirement (While It Still Makes a Difference) | The Financial Brand
A new piece in The Financial Brand shows how financial institutions can better support retirement readiness — with strategies that align with how people actually make decisions. Read: 4 Ways to Help Folks Grapple with Retirement (While It Still Makes a Difference)
Sludge, Part 1: The World Is Drowning in It | Freakonomics Radio
I was recently featured in a Freakonomics Radio episode on “sludge” — the bureaucratic friction that makes life harder than it needs to be. I haven’t listened to it yet, but I do recall ranting about the unsubscribe process of a news publication for a few minutes. Enjoy my ranting, now available for streaming. 🎧 … Read More
Behavior and Behavioral Neuroscience Book List
A few folks have asked me for book recommendations in the field of behavioral science. I tend to lean toward behavioral literature and research for practical application in socioeconomic development, and also toward behavioral (or cognitive) neuroscience. Here’s a short list of sources I’ve found relevant and useful over the years. I’ll keep this list … Read More
Subliminal
When I first got into behavioral science, I was all about the work of Tversky and Kahneman or Thaler and Sunstein—guys whose names come up in any serious conversation about decision-making and human behavior. But if I’m honest, it was my deep dive into psychology and neuroscience that really kicked things off for me. One … Read More