Later, podcasts emerged, and I fell in love with this new medium. Every day begins with listening to a podcast, and at night, I fall asleep to the sound of one. Whether it's the stories of others or more serious philosophical and scientific topics that intrigue me, the excitement of listening – that childlike joy – still burns brightly within me. Even my learning is tied to this deep, almost playful, curiosity.
Anger
As I grew older, especially in recent years, I've been practicing expressing myself and my feelings, but I still can't react properly and managedly when the atmosphere is very tense. After a few bad memories of physical confrontations, I started suppressing my anger more, and after two decades, this resulted in experiencing unhealthy and complex emotions through internal explosions of anger.
War
Today, while expressing our disgust for war, we need to help ensure the education our children receive is anti-war and learn how to talk and teach them about war.
Superhuman
But with the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, power is slipping out of our hands and being entrusted to algorithms and artificial intelligence. We no longer dominate our own destiny through our thoughts and feelings; collective reasoning no longer exists in that sense. AI platforms understand better than we do how we think and what we feel; therefore, they can even predict or shape our future behaviors. Entrusting power to algorithms and artificial intelligence is one of the main signs of Homo sapiens' extinction and the emergence of a new species of humans who will dominate their surroundings with a power beyond current biological capabilities.
Silence
I feel sorrow, and I know that for me, sorrow means an opportunity to be silent and embark on a journey within. For others, it may mean sharing their feelings, lightening the burden through conversation. This is the difference between us as human beings. While the modern world excessively glorifies extroversion, nearly half of the people on this planet – like me – are introverts who need silence.
Ikigai
What the World Needs?
Here, “the world” can refer to humanity as a whole, a smaller community we are part of, or even the entire living ecosystem. What the world needs may be based on our own observations or the expressed needs of others. This could include skilled doctors, clean water, housing, or education for children. At this point, ikigai connects with others’ needs, looking beyond personal desires.
Father
My childhood unfolded during the war. My father spent the entire duration of the conflict on the front lines. The image I had of him was that of an imposing colonel who would return home every few months. We’d visit the park or go to a restaurant, and he was always stern and serious.
Love
Love reaches its peak when union and the beginning of a shared journey materialize. In cases where union is not achieved, the lover remains trapped in the agony of unfulfilled longing – perhaps one of the most excruciating experiences of human life.
Inequality
When I reflect on school construction through this lens, its significance becomes even clearer. Schools offer children in my country the opportunity to experience at least the minimum standards of an educational environment, reinforcing their sense of worthiness for a quality education.
Austria
On this trip, I sought to answer one key question: How has this small country in the heart of Europe managed to create a capital that consistently ranks among the top three most livable cities in the world? And how has its economy, despite the country’s small size and limited resources, achieved a GDP almost half that of Iran’s, with each Austrian enjoying five times the wealth of the average Iranian?
Confidential
what changes threaten oligarchies the most?
One of the most significant threats is public awareness of how officials access wealth and resources. Therefore, preventing such transparency becomes imperative.
Hiro
I read somewhere that Hassan Yazdani is not just an athlete to us – he represents us all, fighting for his rights on the mat. Yazdani’s opponent was an American wrestler who had become a significant obstacle to our champion’s success. When Yazdani lost to him at the Olympics, we felt as if our dreams were shattered. Once again, it seemed that America – the symbol of lost opportunities and dreams – was about to crush us, this time on the wrestling mat. But this time, we defeated them.
Habit
One popular model for developing good habits or stopping bad ones is the Habit Loop, which reflects the physiological cycle behind behavior formation. By designing this loop in four stages and committing to it, we can intentionally cultivate or eliminate habits.
Think Again
By conventional definitions, intelligence is the ability to think and learn. Most people assume that being more intelligent allows them to solve more complex problems and find solutions faster. However, in today’s complex world, a different set of cognitive skills might be even more crucial – skills like rethinking, reconsidering, and unlearning old beliefs and knowledge.
Suicide
Last week, the world marked World Suicide Prevention Day. I write this not as a doctor, but as someone who has lost loved ones to suicide. This piece is not an academic analysis of suicide, but rather a reflection of empathy and understanding for the loneliness felt by those who take their lives. I hope its message might resonate and make a difference, however small.
Corona Virus (COVID)
Later that day, I visited my father’s house, where one of my uncles – someone very dear to me – had come for a visit. Again, COVID dominated the conversation for hours. My attempts to revisit childhood memories and shift the topic were slightly more successful here. We managed to take a short trip down memory lane and indulge in nostalgia.
Japan
Other factors mentioned by the professor relate to work culture – specifically, dedication to one’s responsibilities, even for the smallest tasks. Let me share a personal experience. One night in Tokyo, I was walking back to my hotel after a formal dinner. Construction was underway to repair the sidewalk. One worker’s sole responsibility was to ensure pedestrians, like me, could pass safely. He respectfully guided me with a small flag, as if he were performing a critical surgery – meticulous and professional.
Analgesic
Last week, while stuck in traffic on my way home, I saw a man holding his young daughter’s hand, using a wire to try to extract a bill from one of those piggy banks. I wanted to get out and help him, but I lacked the courage. I decided that today, I would write – as a reminder to myself and others…
Afghanistan
I provide this brief overview to remind us that we are talking about a group of Afghan people trying to reverse the modernization and westernization of Afghanistan.
Fairness in the workplace
Good Corporate Governance: A Key to Success
In Japanese, "Si" (with a soft 's' sound) means fairness and is one of the core principles of corporate culture in Japan.
Failure of the nation
The need for security – humanity’s most fundamental need – leads people to accept that a group capable of providing or jeopardizing security holds a monopoly on power. Those in power know that development is an intelligently destructive process for them. In exchange for providing security, they use their power to close public spaces and extract the maximum possible profit from economic and political markets.
Khuzestan
During this time, out of curiosity, I spoke with young men my age who had angrily blocked the road. These were young men whose childhood had begun under the bombardment of war, and the initial developments during the reconstruction era had brought nothing but increased unemployment and migration to large cities
Guild selection
Today is the Medical Council election, and for the past few days, I have left a piece of paper on the kitchen counter to list and review the candidates – most of whom are unknown to me. In the analyses I have read about past elections, I discovered that only a small percentage of doctors actually participate in the voting process
The Sophistry of confiscation is desirable
The report concluded that there is a lack of transparency in the allocation process, and oversight systems must intervene to direct currency resources toward supplying the medicines needed by the general public. The bitter irony of the situation is that even the policymakers responsible for these allocations attribute the issue to the existence of a "medicine mafia."
Commercial Sophistry in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Here, there is a major business sophistry. The argument made by defenders of this domestic production approach is that without support, the country's pharmaceutical industry will not be able to obtain raw materials due to international sanctions, leading to widespread drug shortages. However, these companies themselves, under the best conditions, purchase the very same raw material from China and India as a precursor one or two steps before the final raw material, and with a few industrial or sometimes semi-industrial processes, they end
Sophism
First, let’s understand what sophistry is:
Sophistry is a claim that may seem true at first glance but, when measured against the rules of logic, turns out to be false. Sophistry is often used to mislead people and make them believe something that is not necessarily true. There are many people who, without any convincing evidence, try to make you accept what they say. On the other hand, there are also people whose intentions are not malicious, but they still present illogical arguments because they fail to understand the implications of the information they have.
Fast and slow thinking: The Revision Bias
This cognitive bias is known as the Hindsight Bias or Retroactive Judgment, and it has extremely damaging effects on decision-makers' evaluations, as it leads them to judge decisions not based on the quality of the process but rather based on whether the outcome was good or bad.
Fast and slow thinking: Anchor
So, if the anchoring effect is so powerful, what can we do to avoid it, especially in financial decision-making?
The answer is external reference. Since both Systems 1 and 2 work together to create cognitive errors, it’s essential to have someone outside of you—someone who isn’t influenced by the initial numbers (the ones that create the anchoring effect)
Fast and slow thinking: Cognitive Ease
Our brain is constantly processing information from the outside, and automatic assessments are made by System 1. The important output of these assessments is determining whether additional effort from System 2 is required. One of these assessments is the measurement of cognitive ease, which answers the question of whether we have prior knowledge of the phenomenon being evaluated or whether we are faced with an unknown phenomenon, which creates a state of tension and requires System 2 to engage. This mechanism is known as cognitive ease.
Fast and slow thinking: Associative
Association is one of the remarkable functions of System 1. When we encounter a phenomenon, System 1 quickly assigns meaning to it and unconsciously creates a causal story, weighing potential threats and preparing us for future events. This is, without a doubt, the biggest cognitive bias I’ve encountered, as described in Daniel Kahneman's book Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Fast and slow thinking: Restraint
I remembered Nariman 1 and Nariman 2; I should have managed the crisis, but my physical state had already plunged me into a full-blown crisis. The more I tried to go over the right solutions, the less I seemed to find one. It felt as though my effort was inversely related to finding the solution.
Fast and slow thinking: Attention and Effort
One of the notable experiences this week happened on Saturday. On my way to the office, I realized that my car's fuel light was on, and I knew there was a mobile fuel station ahead. I slowly pulled over to the right side of the street, behind the pump, and asked to have my fuel tank filled. The street was quiet, and on the right side of the road, there was only the mobile pump and my car. While the tank was being filled, I started talking about work on the phone. After paying, I shifted the car into reverse to move backward and exit the parking spot when suddenly...
Fast and Slow thinking: Introduction
The book discusses how by changing the framework of questions and replacing them with simpler ones, we tend to overestimate our intuition and insights in life and business decisions, leading to incorrect decisions. It also explores how recognizing cognitive biases can help us avoid errors.
Persuasion – Seventh: Lack
You probably also remember the long lines at gas stations every time the price of gasoline went up. Many times you’ve asked yourself, "How much benefit is there in saving a small amount of money on a tank of gas?
Persuasion – Sixth: Authority
Is this person an expert on the subject they are persuading us about?
Is this person trustworthy regarding the topic they are persuading us about?
Reza Moghaddam, also known as Reza Marmolok, is a notorious thief with a long history of arrests and imprisonments. However, in his latest arrest, he is charged with armed robbery. Reza is sent to prison, where he is injured in an incident and transferred to a hospital outside the prison. There, he steals the clothes of a sick clergyman and, disguised as a priest, manages to escape from the hospital
Persuasion – Fifth: Liking
There are several other ways to persuade through liking, such as complimenting the other person or offering help or collaboration in a related matter. I would like to share my personal experience of saying "no" when I was persuaded to do something using this technique. It’s a story about the time I didn’t say no, and ended up spending several hundred euros.
Persuasion – Fourth: Social approval
In the business world, I saw the impact of social proof in the story of the Tehran stock market over the past year. When the stock market was experiencing daily growth, I gathered all the energy of my knowledge to explain to my friends that this kind of growth in a market doesn’t work and is a bubble
Persuasion – third: commitment and stability
However, the questions are designed to subtly guide you toward expressing interest in their products or services. Once you show interest in a product or service as an answer to one of the questions, they gently lead you to commit to buying that product or service. Often, they can even sell you a discount coupon right there, under the guise of a seemingly casual offer.
Persuasion – Second: reciprocity
A mobile phone salesperson passionately explains the specifications of a new phone and spends a relatively long time with you. But even if you haven’t made your decision yet, they bring you a free phone cover in your preferred color, as a gift from the store. Immediately, the powerful energy of reciprocity is activated, and you are more likely to buy the phone.
Persuasion – First: the principle of contradiction
This principle subconsciously influences us in many situations. For example, if you are interviewing several candidates for a job, and you interview the weaker candidates first and then immediately interview a moderate candidate, that person will seem stronger than they actually are.
Deep Work
Entering the league of the third category comes with its own challenges, and that’s not the focus of this article. However, what can we do to belong to the first or second categories?
Leadership in crisis
I read a lot, listened a lot, and still walk through the streets with a lantern to learn how to help myself and my team navigate this crisis safely.
Procrastination
Now, a personal experience: reduce the number of open cases in your mind. How many emails do you have that you read several times but keep postponing responding to?
Preface
The suggestion seemed simple, but I needed to test it and see if it was right for me. "Why don’t you share your experiences on LinkedIn?" I hadn’t thought about it. "But you often do this in your personal and work conversations.
Focus
Focus and attention are not innate; they must be practiced, and the more you practice, the more aware you become. In a world full of distractions, whether you're a leader in an organization or simply trying to improve the quality of your own life, it’s essential to practice. Maybe for you, this practice is a few minutes of meditation at the beginning of your workday, or perhaps you choose a different method. But whatever it is, research has shown that focus enhances our ability to succeed.
Harmony Between Personal Life and Work
Jeff Bezos' idea really resonated with me. Maybe it resonates with you too.
