I Changed My Mind About Saying “Merry Christmas,” and You Should Too - Nir&Far

12/27/21 • 6 min

Nir And Far: Business, Behaviour and the Brain

In fifth grade, I was the only Jewish kid in my elementary school class. This was the 1980’s in Central Florida and even though it was a public school, unaffiliated with any church and funded with taxpayer dollars, my teacher taped a poster to the wall in her classroom that read, “Jesus Is The Reason For The Season.”

I wasn’t offended per se. I’m pretty sure at ten, I didn’t know what that word meant. But I could tell the teacher was sending a message to anyone in her class who might have different beliefs—such as, say, that the tilt of the earth on its axis is the reason for the seasons.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: I Changed My Mind About Saying “Merry Christmas,” and You Should Too https://www.nirandfar.com/saying-merry-christmas

Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: I Changed My Mind About Saying “Merry Christmas,” and You Should Too https://www.nirandfar.com/saying-merry-christmas

Previous Episode

How the Ancient Greeks Beat Distraction-Nir&Far

Distractions seem ubiquitous today, but they’ve always been a part of human life. Here’s how to resist them.

Distractions impede us from making progress toward the life we want for ourselves.

To visualize this, imagine a line that represents the value of everything you do throughout your day. To the right, the actions are positive; to the left, they are negative.

The positive actions represent traction: they draw or pull us toward what we want in life. The word “traction,” in fact, comes from the Latin trahere, meaning to draw or pull.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: How the Ancient Greeks Beat Distraction https://www.nirandfar.com/tantalizing-distractions/

Next Episode

Free Habit Tracker Template — Use this Sleek Google Doc - Nir&Far

By Annie Graham

Many people strive to improve themselves in one way or another. Whether it’s getting more sleep and exercise, or spending more time doing the things we love, our ideal selves drive us to be better. They symbolize our belief in our own potential to live in alignment with our values.

The drive to improve is also why strategies and tools that enable us to track our behaviors are so potentially gratifying. It feels good to see ourselves moving closer to our goals.

You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Free Habit Tracker Template — Use this Sleek Google Doc (and download your FREE Habit Tracker there) https://www.nirandfar.com/habit-tracker/