One thing I've been striving to do - often unsuccessfully - is remove moral judgments from my observation of situations.
Most people don't distinguish between observing and judging.
They say, "It's bad that it's raining outside." Well. Maybe, yeah. But there's two things going on there - first, it's raining. That's either true or false. Then there's that "bad" - which is an opinion, a moral judgment on the situation.
I think most people aren't aware of when they're making moral judgments and when they're making observations. That's not good for being able to think clearly.
Analysis and observation needs to be separated from moral evaluation to do it straightforwardly, or else you get blind to effects you don't expect and don't want to see.
Question from a reader -
You strongly recommend audio books but I have a bit of trouble seeing myself listening to them regularly.
It just seems vastly inefficient compared to books, and even though it has the same content (perhaps even more through intonation), I feel as though I lose a lot of context when I listen to or watch things instead of reading them - perhaps a different part of the brain is being used? I think the exception to this is motivational work such as Brian Tracy (who I dismissed without reason as some sort of get-rich-quick schemer but gave a listen after your recommendation and enjoyed). Actually, I think conversational style books such as Gladwell's tone, or the research-heavy but not-too-deep books might work well as audio so I may have answered my own question.
Anyway, how did you make the jump to more audio books? What great books switched you over? Why are you such an audio book fan (all the extra books is a good argument, but I feel like there's a lost cost of all the books I now won't read and would hate to risk the greatness of a good book, just as one should usually read the novel before watching the movie).
Okay, this is a common question, observation, and mistake I see. You're thinking "audiobook = replacement for book"... but it's not. Audiobooks are a replacement for staring at your shoes while you're waiting to clear customs and immigration at the airport, while you're in line at the grocery store, or while you're going for a walk or otherwise running errands.
