Want to be a better problem solver? Do this first.
The way that most people solve problems reminds me of a scene from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. During the trial of the Knave of Hearts, the King says “let the jury consider their verdict.” The impatient Queen interrupts and says, “No, [...]
Why setting goals makes you less likely to achieve them
I’m a recovering outcome addict. Since my teenage years, I’ve been chasing one outcome after the next. The list is exhausting. Leaving Turkey and getting into a great college in the United States. Going to law school. Passing the bar exam. Finding [...]
To catapult your life, destroy it first
Merck’s CEO Kenneth Frazier, one of the country’s most prominent African-American executives, made headlines when he quit President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council. His resignation came in response to President Trump’s attribution of blame to both sides in the violence that ensued [...]
What Teddy Roosevelt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sofia Vergara have in common
Teddy Roosevelt was not your typical President. Just for fun, he would memorize obscure poetry and dense state documents and recite them on cue. He would send to Congress book-length messages, complete with graphic illustrations. During his "spare" time, he was a [...]
Why uncertainty beats certainty
Why do we fear uncertainty to a pathological degree? Why does uncertainty get the best of us, prompt us to stay the course, and lead us to turn down promising opportunities? These were the questions swirling through my mind as I headed [...]
6 secrets to success from the athlete who revolutionized the high jump
Dick Fosbury couldn’t stand still. He was rocking back and forth, wiggling his fingers, eyeing the bar from a distance, and calculating the physics of his anticipated leap, while 80,000 fans watched with held breath. He began his confident jog toward the [...]
How schools kill creativity
In primary school, I didn’t have a name. I was a number. In Turkey, where I grew up, each student was assigned a number in first grade, not unlike how livestock are branded for identification purposes. My primary school teacher didn’t call [...]
Finding the joy in being criticized
It was one of my first conferences as a young law professor. I offered the contrarian argument--now the subject of my forthcoming book--that sometimes democracy comes through a military coup. In these coups, what I call "democratic coups," the military deposes a [...]
The contrarian secret to effective motivation
As I write this, I'm sitting in my home office and procrastinating about a presentation that I will give at the adidas headquarters this week about contrarian thinking. So much for practicing what I preach. This shoemaker decidedly has no shoes. As [...]
Still stuck
As I write this article, I’m sipping tea in Dublin, Ireland, thinking about Irish bathroom faucets. Specifically, I'm pondering their striking similarity to the Electoral College, the inch-pound system, space shuttle engines, and car headlights. More on that jumble of thoughts in [...]
How to turn your weaknesses into strengths
As a young law professor, I frequently hit the road to present papers at academic conferences. Many of these presentations were friendly affairs, but some took a hostile turn, particularly during the question-and-answer period. As a mentor once told me, academic arguments [...]
I’m a complete amateur
I was waiting in line for the bathroom at Interurban, one of our favorite Saturday hangouts in Portland. Ignoring my inner disciplined voice that tells me to stay off email on the weekends, I took a "quick glance" at my inbox on [...]
Johnny Cash’s secret to success
In 1954, Johnny Cash walked into the audition room at Sun Record Labels. At the time, he was a nobody. He was selling appliances door-to-door and playing gospel songs at night with two buddies. He was broke, and his marriage was in [...]
Why separation of powers doesn’t work
As democratically elected hate machines continue to gain power across the globe, the safeguards of constitutional democracy are being put to the test. Demagogues assume power through democratic elections and then proceed to undermine the very institutions that brought them to power. [...]
Why you should underplan your vacation (or how we ran out of money in Cuba)
Earlier this year, my wife and I took our first trip to Cuba. Cuba is a paradoxical mix between the past and the present, communism and newfound freedoms, and architectural beauty and decay. But if you’re like others I know, you have [...]
What Trump, Putin, and ISIS have in common
Istanbul, Nice, Paris, Brussels, Orlando, Berlin, Munich, London, and most recently, Manchester. The perpetrators of these horrific acts—all claimed by ISIS—are almost invariably misfit Muslims from marginalized communities with little to lose. To be sure, the vast majority of Muslims reject ISIS’s [...]
How to change a mind (yours or someone else’s)
If you had asked me this question--How do you change a mind?--two years ago, I would have given you a different answer. As a former scientist, I would have cautioned you to rely on objective facts and statistics. Develop a strong case [...]
Why we’re afraid of change (and what to do about it)
When I first started teaching at my law school, it struck me as odd that the students were required to take Criminal Procedure--ordinarily an upper-level class--in their first year. When I asked a senior colleague to explain, he lowered the newspaper he’d been [...]
The paradox of instant gratification
The line stretched as far as my 10-year old eyes could see. I had never seen a line that long for anything--let alone a movie. It was 1991. My father and I were standing outside on a cold Istanbul afternoon waiting for tickets [...]
The secret to overcoming failure
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” -- Thomas Edison. As a former rocket scientist, I view the world in hypotheses. Life is my laboratory. Every new project or idea is a mini experiment. Some of these [...]
8 ways to stop analysis paralysis
Every time we plan a trip, I get stressed out . . . over hotel options. Should I pick the one closest to downtown? Oh, but this one has a pool. Let me check those TripAdvisor ratings. The ratings are about equal, but [...]
Are you confusing symptom with cause?
We take painkillers to cure our back pain. The Democrats blame Donald Trump for everything that’s wrong with America. Donald Trump wants to “defeat ISIS” to keep America safe. We look for a solution to life’s problems at the bottom of a bottle. [...]
The contrarian guide to America’s conflict in the Middle East
I recently finished reading what turned out to be a timely book, titled America’s War for the Greater Middle East, by military historian and retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich. The book opens with an intriguing premise: From the end of World War II until [...]
The paradox of success
Strolling along the edge of the sea, a man catches sight of a young woman who appears to be engaged in a ritual dance. She stoops down then straightens to her full height, casting her arm out in an arc. Drawing closer, [...]
Say this word more often
About a year ago, I realized I’d been saying “yes” too much. I was accepting all sorts of conference invitations, speaking engagements, marginally useful projects, and offers to “grab coffee,” “get lunch,” and “hop on a call.” Looking at my schedule, I realized [...]
How you can accomplish more with less
When the head of Random House bet Theodore Geisel that he couldn’t write a book using only 50 words, most authors would have walked away muttering words like “impossible” or “nonsense”. But Geisel gladly took him up on the offer. Not only that, [...]
Why the experts are full of it
Expertise has become a self-proclaimed qualification. Experts become experts by calling themselves that. Equipped with little more than fifteen minutes of Wikipedia knowledge, everyone and their cousin can claim expertise on something and begin spreading nonsense to the masses. As if the term [...]
The myth of writer’s block
I get the same feeling every time I sit down to write. I don’t feel like it today. I’m just not inspired. I have writer’s block. I feel exhausted. I should just take it easy and answer some emails. But then I ask [...]
How to beat procrastination by watching The Martian
As a former rocket scientist, I have a soft spot for books about space. The Martian is among my favorites. There’s a particularly memorable scene where the protagonist—astronaut Mark Watney—is giving a lecture to astronauts-in-training about the lessons he learned from being [...]
The contrarian secret to success
What have I achieved this week?
The best productivity apps: pen and paper
The first draft of this blog post, written longhand. Inspired by the thought-provoking book The Beautiful Constraint, I've been experimenting with deliberately adding more constraints to my life. You read that correctly. I'm adding, rather than removing, constraints. This goes [...]
Let’s kill all the lawyers
As a law professor, I have a soft spot for lawyer movies. Philadelphia is high on my list of favorites. In a particularly memorable scene, Tom Hanks’s character, Andrew Beckett, is lying on his deathbed. At his side is his lawyer, Joe Miller, [...]
18 Life Lessons from Nike’s Co-Founder Phil Knight
I wasn’t supposed to like this book. I’m married to a loyal adidas employee. When it comes to sportswear, it’s three stripes or nothing for me. I'm also not a runner (unless I'm chasing a soccer ball). So, Nike co-founder Phil Knight’s [...]
Contrarian Spotlight: Jerry Seinfeld
For a comedian, there’s the guaranteed route to laughter. You swear, joke about sex, and score some easy laughs from the audience. It’s a sure-fire way to success, the get-rich-quick scheme for the aspiring comedian. It works. Except when it doesn’t. The field of comedians [...]
How to disarm your enemies
“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” ― Abraham Lincoln Political discourse has taken a particularly nasty turn. We use words normally reserved for mortal enemies to describe our political adversaries. Some of the choice terms thrown around in [...]
What does it take to be original?
We live in a conformist world. Starting at a young age, we are taught to use #2 pencils and color within the lines. Most of us grow reluctant to speak up and stand out, for fear of being ostracized by the mob. In Originals: How [...]
3-Minute Antidote for Despair
Whenever I need perspective on life, I watch Carl Sagan's iconic speech, The Pale Blue Dot. As it prepared to depart the solar system, the Voyager I space probe turned its cameras towards the Earth to take one last photograph of our blue planet [...]
Why white lies are black
"The moment we consider our dishonesty from the perspective of those we lie to, we recognize that we would feel betrayed if the roles were reversed." -- Sam Harris, Lying We tend to think that white lies are good. They spare others discomfort [...]
The Knowledge Paradox
Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. -- Lao Tzu It was one of my first classes as a law professor. I was young and reluctant to admit what I didn’t know, for fear of openly revealing [...]
Why “Follow Your Passion” is Bad Advice
If there is a theme that connects most commencement speeches, it is "follow your passion." We have a limited time on Earth, and to be happy, we're told that we must find what we love and never stop looking. Here's Steve Jobs from [...]
America’s Demons and Better Angels
I came to America for all the cliché reasons. As a young boy growing up in Istanbul, America had assumed a dreamlike quality for me, culled from the eclectic set of American television shows selected for translation to Turkish. To me, America was [...]
How I Read 65 Books in a Year Without Speed Reading
“Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth.” — Archimedes, Greek mathematician and astronomer Books are to me what the lever was to Archimedes — they allow me to lift objects beyond the limitations of my natural abilities. For the price [...]
Turkey’s Reichstag Fire
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. — George Santayana, Philosopher On February 27, 1933, a fire broke out in the Reichstag building, which housed the German Parliament in Berlin. Although the fire’s origins remain shrouded in mystery, [...]
Irony And Tragedy In Turkey’s Coup Attempt
Coup plotters failed to realize that coups against stable governments rarely succeed. A successful military coup requires careful planning, masterful execution, and a good dose of luck. All three ingredients were missing from Friday’s haphazard coup attempt in Turkey. The coup [...]
