How to Read People

Don't preoccupy yourself trying to be more successful than your friends, neighbors, or coworkers. Instead, focus on improving yourself. Concentrate on being better than you were a day, a week, even a year ago -- whether that means getting in better shape, becoming more productive, having more money in the bank, or just becoming a better person all around. Comparing ourselves to other people can only lead us down a path of jealousy, resentment, and frayed relationships. We must all concede that there will always be someone more popular, attractive or successful than us. But that doesn't mean we have to begrudge them their fortune. And it doesn't mean we have to emulate them either. Their lives are theirs alone. You have your own life in which to achieve the goals that you've chosen to pursue. Those goals won't always align with others', and that's okay. Not all of us want to be rich doctors, parents to four children, or globetrotters. Some of u...

Women don't fall for jerks... They fall for confident men . In my view, no attribute draws women more to men than self-confidence . Self-confidence is the ultimate attraction builder. He doesn't have to be the best-looking, richest, smartest, or funniest man. Of course, all of those enhance his appeal, but they're not nearly as consequential. A man who knows what he wants and goes for it full throttle, in most women's eyes, is an irresistible aphrodisiac. Women love men who will let nothing or no one get in the way of their dreams -- even the women themselves. They love it when men exhibit boundless ambition. Unfortunately, too many men mistakenly assume that giving women flowers and compliments is all that's needed to build attraction. Women are highly perceptive -- they know when you're going overboard on the flattery just to get in their pants or win their approval. But that's just the thing. A confident man doesn't need a woman's appr...

The word of the day is sanguine . According to the dictionary, to be sanguine is to be optimistic, confident, or positive, especially in a bad or difficult situation. Other similar words include buoyant, enthusiastic, upbeat, and cheerful. I don't see sanguine being used that often. I first came across the word in a book I read recently. For whatever reason, it initially sounded to me like a word that could mean "sad" or "melancholy." Thus, to be sanguine is to look on the bright side -- to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. Antonyms of the word sanguine include gloomy, negative, and pessimistic. When we're in a tough spot, it certainly pays to remain sanguine. Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes. The more disposed we are toward shunning those negative thoughts that trickle into our mind, the better our chance at success. If you assume you're going to fail, you probably will. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Belie...

It's a question that gets thrown my way quite frequently. While others may maintain that only one soulmate exists for every individual on this planet, I contend that there's more than one person in the world with whom we can have a fruitful relationship/marriage. Otherwise, no one would ever remarry in the event that their first marriage goes awry. To assert that the person you're with is the only person you can achieve a deep physical, mental, and spiritual connection with -- and that no one else could fill those shoes -- is, in my view, very naive. What if you'd been born at a different time or in a different place?  What if you had met someone a year before you came across your partner? What if you had opted not to go to that college, party, coffee shop, or other venue where you and your significant other first locked eyes? Exactly. You could very well be with someone else right now. Context and happenstance matter. I'm not saying that we can hook ...

On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be necessary for the use of congress." The books, purchased for what we know today as the Library of Congress, were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three maps was stored in the U.S. Capitol, which served as the Library's first home. On January 26, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson approved the first legislation that specified the role and functions of the library. In an interesting coincidence, Jefferson later sold the bulk of his book collection to Congress for $23,950 after the British set the Capitol ablaze in 1814. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It aims to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the public, as well as to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge for future generati...