I’ve never been been a natural performer. So it’s nerve-wracking to know you’re being judged by how well you perform. But that’s how engaging with humans works, and like everyone else I’ve had to figure it out.
Category archives: Human nature
Sometimes I get tired of me.
A friend recently asked if I ever feel life is futile. My first thought: “You mean that permanent feeling on my mental horizon?” Here’s how I live with it.
When you make a mistake…
What do you do when you get it wrong? Just keep going.
Safe versus strong
Choosing safety at the expense of strength can leave you neither safe _nor_ strong, while risking safety to build strength might be your best shot at actually being safer.
Responsibility as a line or a path
Even when we don’t know where certain paths will take us, don’t we often know enough to not start off on them?
Call me by my name
My name is Ayomide and I want to talk about names: what they mean, who gets to give them and why all of it matters.
Why “normal” isn’t useful for describing things
I tell medical students early in our interactions to avoid describing things as “normal” because it’s not the useful description they think it is. It can mean two opposite things and that creates problems.
How we go from surviving to thriving
We are wired to remember bad experiences and normalise good ones. I was reminded of this recently when reading a review of Apple’s MacBooks that launched late last year. They contained the M1, Apple’s first desktop-class chip based on a decade of custom chips for their “smaller” devices from iPhones to AirPods. These chips that …
Hanlon’s Razor is a way to be generous
Shaving with Hanlon’s razor about once a week helps me stay generous and avoid cynicism. No, Hanlon isn’t a brand of blade, and it’s certainly not for shaving my beard. It’s a super helpful principle for thinking about why people do what they do. You might say it’s for “shaving” human motivation. I like to …
Sing the song of your life
There’s a world of difference in how we see ourselves and how others see us. I’ve often been described as intense. I’m the kind of person who tends to come on too strong and speak (or write) too forcefully. Sometimes it’s considered a good thing, and I’m perceived as confident. Other times and with other …