It’s time for a new story
Well, two new stories. The truly important one needs to be authored by us, humanity, if we are to avoid ecological collapse on the planet we share. An act of unity that seems...
Category: The human condition
Articles about the human condition – our common traits and what makes us tick.
Introducing William Henry
More than ten years before I published Clear, Concise Compelling and Endangered Words, I attempted to establish myself as a novelist and screenwriter. I was in my mid-20s, gorging on novels (like The Crow...
Simplifying the goal of optimal performance
Wanting ourselves and others to perform optimally is a common goal, but achieving the goal remains a rarity. Below, Simon introduces a 16-word Optimal Performance framework he has developed through his work educating knowledge workers...
Good health
It’s the festive season—a time to gather with friends and family to celebrate the year passed, a time to toast one another’s good health. Health. Such a deceptively dull word and yet the...
The ninth need
In addition to the eight needs in my theory of universal human needs, I believe we also share an over-arching ninth need: the need to understand who we are, why we exist, how...
A theory of universal human needs
Even simpler than Abraham Maslow’s 5-tier Hierarchy of Needs, and Clayton Alderfer’s 3-part ERG Theory, my Theory of Universal Human Needs has just two types of need: survival and betterment. Why we do the things we do. Survival needs Betterment...
Cinema unanimity
A strange thing happens in cinemas: unanimity. In the real world, few of us can agree on how we should live our lives; but as cinema-goers we are typically unanimous—that’s right, unanimous—about what...
Organized for romance
If I had to describe my experience of fatherhood in a single word I would choose surprising. Sure, wonderful, exhausting, fun, and rewarding would all have made the list, but surprise is the emotion I...