It seems that exercise is ever-evolving.  If you attend a gym regularly, you probably notice that every couple of months, people are flocking to the latest and greatest exercise adventure—from Zumba to hot yoga to TRX training.  Each program makes impressive claims, promising to increase your strength, control, power, and balance. There is one program [...]

Have you ever been so focused on something, you completely missed an obvious detail or opportunity that was occurring at the same time? It is a useful skill to be able to pay close attention to something, but it is amazing what can we miss because of selective attention.  For a hilarious example of this, [...]

What was once a doorbusting 30 percent off in the stores is now 40 percent, 50 percent, maybe even 60 percent off.  It seems like the commercials that tout these deals on television shout louder every day as we inch toward Christmas. Think about the your financial change goals from this year.  How are you [...]

  We’ve made it!  Here we are at the fourth post in a four-part series on self-control. We’ve covered the impulsive self, the planful self, and the conditions under which our impulses take over our behavior. Finally, we have arrived at the strategies for strengthening self-control.  Here are the top ten tips: Gain knowledge about [...]

Still thinking about the topic of impulse control and why it’s so important when it comes to maintaining our financial health? This post marks the third in a four-part series on the topic.  So far, we’ve looked at the “unthinking side” of impulse control, which includes the gut reactions and snap decisions that happen underneath [...]

This post marks the second in a four-part series aimed at understanding impulse control and why it’s important when it comes to maintaining our financial health. Last week, we looked at the “unthinking side” of impulse control: the impulsive self that operates underneath the radar of our conscious mind and makes quick decisions that sometimes [...]

“Control” is a word that gets a bad rap.  No one wants to be accused of being a control freak or engaging in controlling behavior. At the same time, self-control is one type of control that we probably wish to have in abundant supply, because the lack thereof could be devastating to our finances. This post [...]

We do pretty much everything else online these days; why not ask your computer for some help with the task of persisting toward your financial goals? Last week, I noted that there is an increasing number of clues in the scientific literature about what it takes to make a personal change stick.  I listed a [...]

Here’s a great thing to stumble across on a Sunday afternoon when a good nap seems in order.  There is now more evidence that sufficient sleep can support our quest for positive financial outcomes. Just a few short weeks ago, I mentioned how the functioning of the frontal lobes is disrupted when we are sleep-deprived, [...]

When we’re trying to change a difficult financial behavior, the obvious question we ask ourselves is “What is getting in the way of doing the right thing?”  This helps us identify and problem-solve around barriers and obstacles. What we often forget, though, is another question that is equally important: “What is allowing the wrong behavior [...]