It has been said that the fundamental adult skill is deferred gratification. Children who master this skill usually become successful adults, and those who don't, don't.

You'd be hard-pressed to discern this truth from any ad for any commercial product, since nearly everything is marketed on the basis of promising...

Observers of the U.S. election have plenty of theories about how Obama and Romney will fare against one another. They assess current economic indicators and compare them to historical data. They gauge how demographic factors like education, income, race and urbanization affect how people vote. They pick apart the candidates'...

Modern Family is my favorite show on TV. It is very well written and the characters are in most cases amazingly well drawn. They're exaggerations that ring entirely true. Given that I think about Myers Briggs Type theory every day, it's perhaps no surprise to my faithful readers that I...

What should we think about the results of the 2012 elections? One option is to question our automatic ways of judging the results. I question my automatic assessments because I've grown tired of them. I spent enough time feeling depressed, frustrated and angry during the Bush years, during the impeachment...

One of the best things I have done for myself in years was to create a working writers group with my friends Gretchen Rubin and Marci Alboher. We meet to discuss whatever is on our minds every six weeks or so. It's been an incredibly creative,...

Writing a book is hard, and often thankless. It takes years of effort. You have to fight throughout against pessimism - not just the doubts of other people, but your own as well. You probably won't make any money. And when your book actually reaches the marketplace, you can bet...

I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love for the second time. Here's something I can say about Elizabeth Gilbert, the author: as a writer, she is the real deal. Her book is extremely entertaining, artfully written (I sometimes reread paragraphs just to experience her cleverness with words again) and, on top...

I love the show Ugly Betty. There are lots of pleasant aspects about this show but the one that is most meaningful to me is the character Justin, Betty's 14-year old nephew. Justin is portrayed brilliantly by Mark Indelicato.

Justin is the first obviously gay kid I have seen...

What's an ENFJ? Me, for one. One characteristic of ENFJs, and NF types in general, is that we are always searching. This urge can help us to make a positive impact on the world, and it can also make us crazy and ineffectual. A yearning to make life better can...

I don't like it when people smoke around me. I don't like breathing cigarette smoke, I don't like getting it on my clothes, hair and skin, and perhaps more than anything else I don't like the inherent civic rudeness of public smoking - the idea that someone can contaminate...

When I was a kid in the early 70s I had an unusually good grasp of the Great Depression, at least compared with the average 8-year old. Part of this knowledge came from my parents, who were children during the Depression, but most of it came from the books I...

For the past 18 months, I've been obsessing about Barack Obama's Myers-Briggs type. He's not easily reducible to any pat description. President Obama (have I mentioned how much I love saying, "President Obama?") is no cliché. But I'll try to deduce his type anyway.

According to the theory behind...

Fingers crossed, we're going to win on November 4th. It's possible that Barack Obama will start his term in office with majorities in the House and Senate, and perhaps even a filibuster-proof majority. The likelihood of this is underscored by the shrill, panicky articles about the threat of a Democratic...

Usually, Republicans hate affirmative action. A core Republican message is that they are the sole protectors of embattled white men against the forces of entitled minorities and aggressive women unfairly going after their turf. This message is picked up and amplified by Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, and the like.

Have you ever seen a Bollywood musical? I have viewed a few over the years. Though I tried mightily, I could not really get into them. There are songs, there are dances, there are wet sari scenes. Sadly, though, I have never managed to feel the POW! that hundreds...

After seven years in office our current president is still somewhat of a cipher. What exactly goes on in his head? What does he believe in his heart of hearts? And what's his Myers-Briggs type?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the world's most widely used personality sorter. It's a basic...

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are so different-so say their supporters, and so say political commentators. The nature of their differences depends on whom you ask. Does America want a candidate who is visionary and inclusive, rather than polarizing and compromised? Or does America want a candidate who is experienced...

Hillary Clinton is an introvert. I'm quite sure about this. My best guess is that, in Myers-Briggs terms, she is an INTJ (details below). This explains a lot about how the world regards her and why the press seems to find her so problematic.

Let me start backwards. In yesterday's...

A couple of months ago I sat behind Ivanka Trump on a flight from Newark to Hong Kong.

At the time, I didn't realize that the tallish blonde person in front of me was the daughter of The Donald. She seemed nice enough, pretty smart, a little chatty on...

When I was checking into the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore a few weeks ago, I asked the front-desk person, "Is it possible to get a room with one king-size bed rather than two double beds?" I get kind of creeped out sleeping by myself in rooms with two beds.