iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Do we instinctively pick the self-help that flatters what we're already good at, and ignore the advice we'd gain most from? Cate Hall on why the good advice you least want is often the advice you most need, in my latest podcast episode: podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/321/...

010

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I made a mathematical formula for productivity. If you define the factors right, it's literal, not a metaphor. productivity = time x efficiency x importance Here's my video about how the formula works:

120

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

In the remarkably polarized U.S., it's impossible to find a set of policies that appeals to all parts of the political spectrum... At least, that's what we thought until we ran a study testing 195 policy ideas to find ones that every political segment supports! Take a look: 🧵👇

100

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

How evidence-based are different self-help techniques? I'm happy to announce Clearer Thinking's evidence pyramid, where you can explore the strength of evidence for different self-improvement approaches: selfhelppyramid.clearerthinking.org

selfhelppyramid.clearerthinking.org

The Self-Help Evidence Pyramid | ClearerThinking.org

140

Reposted by Spencer Greenberg

koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

There’s no shortage of self-improvement literature—there’s so much it’s hard to work out what does and doesn’t make sense @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social and colleagues reviewed 100 books and 500 popular techniques, and identified several overlooked ideas: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/clea...

022

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Can't believe our book, The 12 Levers, comes out so soon! Here's an audio sample. Our goal was to write the self-help book we wish we could have read, packing it with the most useful ideas we could find studying >100 self-help books and >20 therapies: 12leversbook.com

000

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

On average, people rate themselves as more skilled than 57 out of 100 peers. But surprisingly, this overconfidence reverses for some skills. I break it down in my latest YouTube video where I tackle controversial psychology questions ⬇️

382

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A 75-year-old woman in rural Kenya used her cash transfer to buy a 10,000-gallon water tank - then resold clean water to her village. No NGO would've designed that. Why cash often beats experts, with GiveDirectly's Nick Allardice, in my latest podcast episode👇

140

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

A question for you: not including food/beverages, what's something you don't experience the hedonic treadmill for - that is, even if you do it every single day, you still keep enjoying it just as much each time?

760

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

I was surprised to learn that there were a number of competing theories to Stoicism during the time it flourished in Greece, and that each proposed a different "purpose of life" (or telos) to spend your life optimizing for: 🧵

160

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

We analyzed Elon Musk's predictions to see how accurate they have been (only including those that had an explicit or implicit time frame, and where that time has passed). Here are the results:

3232

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

A call to academic psychologists (and those who trained in related fields) - it would be fantastic if you'd participate in our study on controversial and hotly debated topics in psychology! We'd also really appreciate it if you'd share this as we need more participants: ⬇️

150

Reposted by Spencer Greenberg

Helen Toner @hlntnr.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

New podcast ep! Had fun talking US-China competition, military AI, and more with @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social: podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/251/... Even spent a few min at the end on something I rarely get to ramble about: what I've learned about relating to humans from working with horses🐴

podcast.clearerthinking.org

092

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

As the year comes to a close, you may find it useful to reflect on the past year or quarter, as well as what lies ahead. We made a free tool to help you do so, called "Your Life Review": programs.clearerthinking.org/your_quarter... It lets you decide which areas of life you want to focus on.

2130

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

There's a simple yet effective way to conquer acute fears like flying or public speaking. I used it to overcome my intense (and irrational) fear of approaching strangers at events. If fear interferes with your happiness, it's a method worth learning: 🧵

1161

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

This is a controversial claim, but in my experience, more than 90% of the time, when people bring up neuroscience during explanations of psychological phenomena, the neuroscience adds nothing of value to the explanation other than making the explanation *seem* more authoritative

9281

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Statistics is hard enough for most people as it is; please stop using the phrases "type I" and "type II" errors. Unless, of course, your goal is to confuse people - in which case, congrats - you've succeeded! Just say "false positive" and "false negative" instead.

2240

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

It's confusing when I meet die-hard free-market folks who believe in economic theory. Economics has clear predictions that markets will fail (even if everyone's rational) in the face of: • information asymmetries • natural monopolies • externalities • public goods etc.

2230

Spencer Greenberg @spencrgreenberg.bsky.social · 19/07/2023

Even many of the smartest people that have ever lived convinced themselves of false things (just like the rest of us). Here are some fun and wild examples: [thread]

291