Opinion Forum

Five Steps to Positive Life Change (and the Big Payoff!)

January 30th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor In my first post in this exploration of how we can produce meaningful and last life change, I described the four obstacles that prevent change. In my last post on this topic, I introduced you to the five building blocks of change. These steps I just described set the stage for [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: change, forks in the road, goals, obstacles, payoff, personal growth
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (1) | Home

Why Corporate Change is Difficult, But Possible

January 27th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor Now, more than ever, the corporate world is in a state of constant change. Whether increasing global competition, the emergence of new technologies, or the high turnover of company staffs, life in the business world is constantly in flux. Despite this reality, companies themselves don’t always adapt quickly or well to [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: business, change, management, motivation, obstacles, recognition
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Fatigue Is a Parent’s Worst Enemy (and Constant Companion)

January 26th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor An almost unavoidable part of parenting – unless, I suppose, you have a cadre of full-time nannies – is exhaustion, both physical and mental. Too little sleep, too few respites, and too little time dedicated to your own needs can all contribute to a state of deep fatigue that leaves you, [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: communicating, expediency, fatigue, mental, messages, parenting, physical
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Five Building Blocks of Positive Life Change

January 23rd, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor In my last post, I described how difficult changing your life can be and the four obstacles that you must overcome to achieve meaningful and long-lasting change. Yes, change is difficult, despite the “quick and without any effort” claims of motivational speakers and self-help books. The reality is that nothing of [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: courage, determination, emotions, epiphany, faith, personal growth
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (0) | Home

Four Obstacles to Positive Life Change

January 18th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor Change is essential for your growth and development as a person. Without change, you are assured of staying just the way you are and doing things just the way you have always done them. For some people, that’s a good thing; they’re happy and fulfilled in their lives. But for many [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: change, obstacles, personal development, personal growth
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (2) | Home

“Know Thyself” Is the First Step to Life Change

January 10th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor The first step in making meaningful changes in your life involves gaining a better understanding of yourself in essential areas that impact your life. This self-knowledge can provide you with direction as you try to maximize your efforts at change. Self-knowledge can also help you be more efficient and focused — [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: abilities, change, personal growth, self-knowledge, strengths, weaknesses
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (1) | Home

Motivation: The Drive to Change

January 4th, 2012

By Dr. Jim Taylor According to the research of Dr. Anders Ericsson, motivation is the most significant predictor of success. In simple terms, Dr. Ericsson found that experts in many walks of life, whether sport, music, chess, dance, or business, had put in the most hours at their craft. He coined the phrase, “It takes [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: change, effort, goals, matrix, motivation, personal growth, success
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Experts Aren’t Always Impartial or Very Expert

December 9th, 2011

By Dan Miller I am an Expert!

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: accuracy, climate change, data, expert, reliability, testimony, witness
Categories: Law, Politics, Science | Comments (3) | Home

A Commitment to Uncovering Local Environmental Issues

December 8th, 2011

By Jan Barry The headlines in a recent newspaper series unveiled a shocking story: “DEP let poison flow for decades” … “North Jersey riddled with failed cleanups” … “Desperate to move, but bound to stay; Residents say homes in Superfund site are worthless.” Got your attention? That’s the intent of the “Toxic Landscape” series that [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: chemicals, environment, Garfield, New Jersey, Ringwood, superfund, toxic
Categories: Media, News, Science | Comments (1) | Home

Why Inspirational Talks Don’t Work

September 7th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Have you ever listened to an inspirational talk, for example, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch? Have you ever read an inspirational book such as Born to Run? Or watched an inspirational film like Hoosiers? How do you feel after? Well, inspired, right? What a great feeling! You’re fired up and [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: books, effectiveness, film, inner, inspiration, motivation, speeches
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Your Children Send Messages Too

August 11th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Though my focus in Your Children Are Listening is on how you can send healthy messages to your children, the message highway is not one way. Your children are constantly sending you messages that you may or may not be getting or interpreting correctly. Your ability to receive and understand those [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: behavior, children, emotions, maturity, messages, responses
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Are You Sending Bad Messages to Your Children?

August 4th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Of course, you love your children and want to send them the very healthiest messages so they internalize the most positive values, attitudes, and beliefs about themselves and the world. But, as many adult children know in looking back on their own parents and upbringing, “The road to hell is paved [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: children, conflicts, messages, negative, parenting, positive, temperament
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Arne and Bill’s Misguided Adventure: An Open Letter

August 1st, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Dear Arne and Bill, I really don’t understand you two, the U.S. Secretary of Education and the world’s second richest man and noted philanthropist. How can you possibly say that public education can be reformed without eliminating poverty? Let’s start with you, Arne. Here’s a quote from you: “When I was [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, education, free market, poverty, vouchers
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (3) | Home

Is Technology Stealing Our (Self) Identities?

July 27th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Our self-identities, that is, how we define and see ourselves as unique individuals, play a vital role in who we are and the direction that our lives take. The self-identity encompasses the totality of knowledge and understanding that we gain about ourselves as we develop including our personalities, aptitudes and capabilities, [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: external, identity, internal, self, social media, society, technology
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The Best Messages to Send Your Children

July 21st, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor The most important thing that you can do to ensure that your children get the right messages is for you to know what those right messages. This understanding is not a given for all parents. To the contrary, many parents don’t give much thought to this level of their young children’s [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: children, conflicts, messages, parenting, priorities, styles, temperament
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Uncle Sam’s Dioxin Cover-Up

July 19th, 2011

By Jan Barry Vietnam and New Jersey, despite the vast distance between them, share a deadly link. Both places, lushly beautiful this time of year, were poisoned by United States government actions regarding one of the most toxic chemicals, dioxin. In Vietnam, dioxin was widely spread as a contaminant in forest-killing Agent Orange herbicides that [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: Agent Orange, dioxin, EPA, Ford, HBO, Mann, New Jersey, pollution, toxic
Categories: News, Politics, Science | Comments (0) | Home

Cognitive Biases Make Common Sense Neither

July 18th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor In a recent post, I argued that common sense was vastly over-rated as a tool for making sound judgments and that we need to engage in “reasoned sense” that includes both extensive direct experience and critical thinking. Taking steps that include the informal use of the scientific method can help us [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: behavior, cognitive bias, common sense, evolution, human, psychology
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Toxic Trails

July 15th, 2011

By Jan Barry Residents of a once-isolated mountain community in Ringwood, NJ have a bone-chilling tale to tell the rest of America. And HBO is offering its cable television services to help convey this story via a new documentary called Mann v. Ford. Highlighting the community’s fight against a plague of illness and deaths they [...]

Articles written by Jan Barry
Tags: cancer, children, deaths, EPA, Ford, lawsuit, New Jersey, superfund, toxic
Categories: Media, News, Politics, Science | Comments (0) | Home

Set Your Children’s “Defaults” Early

July 13th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor For you to send the healthiest possible messages to your children requires that you fully buy into my notion that children become the messages they get the most. Though it seems to be a pretty intuitive and reasonable concept, I feel the need to thoroughly convince you of the profound value of [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: children, culture, defaults, habits, parenting, responses, society, values
Categories: Economics, Life, Science | Comments (1) | Home

Common Sense Is Neither Common nor Sense

July 12th, 2011

By Dr. Jim Taylor Common sense, defined as “sound judgment derived from experience rather than study,” is one of the most revered qualities in America. It evokes images of early and simpler times in which industrious men and women built our country into what it is today. People with common sense are seen as reasonable, [...]

Articles written by Dr. Jim Taylor
Tags: common sense, culture, experience, facts, fallacy, judgment, knowledge
Categories: Education, Life, Science | Comments (5) | Home

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