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The Problem of New Year’s Resolutions: Two Prohuman Perspectives

Prohuman Foundation advisors Lauren Hall and Lexi Hudson both challenge conventional New Year's resolutions, but from different angles. Lauren advocates for "radical moderation," promoting sustainable, community-involved goal-setting that avoids the extremes of failure or over-ambition, using practical steps like habit stacking and reflection. Lexi Hudson shifts the focus from outcome-based goals to process-oriented commitments, arguing that controlling the process rather than fixating on outcomes leads to more fulfilling personal growth. Together, they offer complementary perspectives for those looking to make meaningful changes without the typical resolution pitfalls.

Radically Moderate New Year’s Resolutions

Lauren Hall

I’m not anti-resolutions. It’s about making the right kinds of resolutions at the right time for the right reason.

Against New Year’s Resolutions

Alexandra Hudson

Over time, I’ve learned the wisdom of abandoning traditional New Year’s resolutions and replacing them with something better: process-oriented commitments instead of outcome-oriented goals.

Don't Let Anyone Tell You Americans Are Too Polarized to Disagree Passionately but Productively

Prohuman Foundation advisor Jake Mackey wrote for the Journal of Free Black Thought, with Kimi Katiti and Becky Murdoch, about their third annual Substack Writers’ Meet-up. Attendees addressed contentious subject matter with a focus on friendship and mutual respect, suggesting that productive conversation across divides is not only possible, but fun.

A group of people, many of them strangers to one another, who spent over two hours exploring their political and ideological differences, parted not as enemies, in a spirit of mutual misunderstanding and distrust, but as friends, united by a sense that whatever their differences, they can discuss them honestly and with grace.

'Something's Rotten in the State of Canada,' As Antisemitism Skyrockets

Editors for The Jerusalem Post write that Canada's Jewish community, the fourth-largest in the world, faces a surge in antisemitism with a record 5,791 incidents in 2023, including violent attacks on synagogues and schools. Amid debates over government response and safety, Canada's upcoming National Forum on Combating Antisemitism in February 2025 will be crucial in addressing this alarming trend.

Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, welcomed the forum, saying, “Jews are the number one target of reported hate crimes in Canada despite making up just over 1% of the population. Antisemitism shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”

How Canada responds and deals with the scourge of antisemitism will have far-reaching implications for Jews in the rest of the Diaspora.

World Happiness Summit | Forgiveness: The Key to Healing and a Brighter Future

Prohuman Foundation advisor Fred Luskin has been a recurring presence at the World Happiness Summit, where he shares his groundbreaking research on forgiveness in deeply engaging and experiential ways. This inspiring lecture, recorded early last year, offers perspective on embracing gratitude and appreciating the abundance in our lives—a perfect message to set the tone for the year ahead.

Yes, I woke up. You get to a certain age and that’s good enough! [….] I woke up and there’s food in the refrigerator and I have running water. And I have transportation, and a job, and people who care for me, and something to do in this world.

So, any accurate reporting of our lives, would have a significant piece of ‘thank you’ in it, even though that’s not sufficient. But without it, we see an enormous distortion. We’re designed to misperceive reality [in order] to be threatened, because […] your nervous system is there to keep you alive, but not to make you happy. It lies to you all the time and finds everything that’s wrong in the world to focus on.

Opinions expressed in selected articles do not necessarily reflect those of the Prohuman Foundation. We value diverse perspectives that enrich our understanding of topics close to our mission: to promote the foundational truth that we are all unique individuals, united by our shared humanity.