“New Year’s resolutions should be called res-ILLUSIONS”, my friend quipped on January 1st; “people delude themselves that they will actually do them.” Unfortunately, the research shows he is mostly right — on average, only 19% of people keep their New Year’s resolutions after 2 years! So why is long-term change so hard? As a psychologist, the #1 mistake I see people make with resolutions is that they focus more on goal-setting rather than than goal-iteration. While it’s useful to set S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound), the best intentions are usually never followed up with actual behavior change in the long run. I also know this first hand — I read dozens of great posts, articles, and books on leadership, entrepreneurship, and technology every year. They are written...
Continued from: The Cure for Obesity and Diabetes is Processed Food (Part 2): Incentives, Influence, and Innovation. “Diabetes can be reversed!” …read international headlines today, based on a randomized controlled trial published in the prestigious journal, The Lancet. Study participants were first taken off their medications for diabetes and hypertension, replaced their usual food with ~850-calorie per day liquid meal replacement shakes for 3-5 months, reintroduced regular foods back into their diets over 2-8 weeks, and also received structured support for long-term weight loss maintenance. The average participant lost an impressive 22lb and a quarter lost 33lb or more! The clinical outcomes were equally amazing: 46% had their diabetes go into remission, and of those who lost 33lb or more, an...
Continued from: The Cure for Obesity is Processed Food (Part 1): When the Poison is the Antidote. ‘Big Food’ is the New ‘Big Tobacco’: Using Economic and Social Deterrents In 1994, the CEOs of the seven largest big tobacco companies testified under oath to Congress, shamelessly claiming “nicotine is not addictive”, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Like obesity, smoking seemed like an unwinnable war at the time. But major successful lawsuits against ‘Big Tobacco’ paved the way for successful public health efforts. Progressive state governments like California delivered a one-two punch that helped many people kick the habit. First, they significantly taxed cigarettes, which skyrocketed costs from $1/pack to currently over $10/pack, which financially penalized consumption to cost...
We have a war between two food systems, a traditional diet of real food and ultra-processed food …tweeted Dr. Robert Lustig, a fellow Professor at UCSF School of Medicine. He’s right. But I replied with the inconvenient truth few are willing to admit: “processed foods have won the war.” That isn’t to say we should be hopeless about the obesity epidemic, but we must soberingly admit our current strategy for curbing it is doomed. But there is another way. When other strategies fail, clinicians sometimes use “paradoxical interventions” where the problem is prescribed as the cure. So this is a radical manifesto about how processed foods have not only caused the obesity epidemic, but can also cure it. To paraphrase Robert Frost: “The...
Part 3 of “Your Company’s Culture is Who You Hire, Fire, & Promote” Photo Credit: Breaking Bad “All I do is win, win, win, no matter what Got money on my mind, I can never get enough.” - DJ Khaled, All I Do Is Win I am floored that Part 1 of this series will surpass one million views. I’ve been fortunate to receive support from around the world, including from inspirations like Professor Bob Sutton of Stanford Business School, who tweeted: “One of the most thoughtful elaborations ever of #TheNoAssholeRule and org. culture more broadly.” But I have a confession: I am more saddened than I am proud. The success of this series is less due to my efforts, but more because so many of...
