The New Ideas Blog

As you may have noticed, I often note the limitations of language. Of course being a heavy user of it, I certainly recognize its power. The problem comes when we focus more on the words and how they are used incorrectly, rather than on what the user is pointing to. This is very clear in the case of the word luck. Is there such a thing as good luck?

Even though I have written a book on how to have good luck, I am perfectly comfortable with the idea that there is no such thing. Why? Because (more…)

We tend to think of “lessons” as something that we are taught in a classroom or a book. Meanwhile the most valuable lessons that life offers are often disparaged as “struggles,” “bad experiences,” “inconveniences,” or just plain “problems.” With this in mind, why not treat such problems as though they are happening for a reason? The lessons we are currently being taught by our fighting cats, for example, are worth something if we pay attention.

We recently got a cat from the local shelter. Previously we “stole” a neighbor’s cat (more…)

Here are six new thoughts ranging from psychology to public policy to morality.

What would you think of a man who went almost every day to the same bad movie? Some people would laugh at this, or say the man had a mental problem. But how many of us revisit our own terrible internal movies again and again?

Ten times as many people are killed by (more…)

If you visit my websites or this blog much, you probably know that I am a big believer in turning problems into invention and product ideas. I also believe that a persons life does not have to be determined by their background or previous experiences. The following short and true story demonstrates both of these ideas.

Tina Aldatz-Norris was born and raised in Fullerton, California. She dropped out of High School at age 15. Her father was in a Mexican Gang and addicted to (more…)