The Two Words That Will Lead You To Success And Happiness
riously: Just Two Words Seems like this should be a very short post, right? Here's the quick and dirty: The word "yes" leads to happiness. The word "no" leads to success. Here's why. For Happiness Say Yes "Yes" creates opportunity. Saying yes a lot makes more things happen. And research shows that lots of little good things are the path to happiness. Spending money on many little pleasures beats rare big positives. Via The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but…
4 minutes
The Single Most Proven Way To Get Smarter And Happier
s, It's This Simple Many of the fixes for our problems aren't complex -- something that's clear in the things I recommend people do every day. What's a scientifically validated way to get smarter, happier, healthier and calmer? Stop reading this right now and go for a walk. It's that simple. Here's why. Exercise Powers The Body -- And The Mind They used to say you don't grow new brain cells. They were wrong. Via Spark: The Revolutionary New Science…
5 minutes
How Poor Planning And Being Impulsive Can Lead To Big Wins In Life
ve posted a ton of research about how conscientiousness may be the most important personality trait out there. What's conscientiousness? Having your act together. Neat and tidy. Organized and on time. Success, health, happy marriages -- they're all tied to it. Which can be really depressing because, frankly, I'm not all that conscientious. But this begs the question: are there benefits to not being conscientious? Yes, as a matter of fact, there are. My Spaghetti Abilities Are Unstoppable Peter Skillman created a design exercise called…
5 minutes
40% Of Your Team’s Effort Is Wasted. These 4 Methods Get Results:
% of what a team does ends up as "process loss." It's overhead that wouldn't exist if everything could be done by one person. Wasted effort. Obviously, many projects require teams. But how can you create, manage or be part of a team that is more efficient? I discussed the research behind great teams with Po Bronson, New York Times bestselling author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. Here are 4 things that can make a big difference in…
3 minutes
Here Are The 7 Things That Can Make You Wildly Successful
at does volumes of research say you can learn from wildly successful people? To Build A Better Career, First Build A Better You It might sound fluffy but research shows how people feel about themselves has a huge effect on success. Via The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People: For most people studied, the first step toward improving their job performance had nothing to do with the job itself but instead with improving how they felt about themselves. In fact, for eight…
7 minutes
9 Steps To New Year’s Resolutions That Last Longer Than New Year’s Day
is year I resolve to... Hold on a second. Let's not join the lemmings who screw this up every year. 88% of people fail to achieve their New Year's Resolutions. There is a ton of science on this subject so if we want to do New Year's Resolutions, let's do them right. First, Stop Fantasizing Do fantasies give you the energy to achieve your goals? Nope. Fantasies steal the energy you need to achieve your goals: Positive fantasies allow people to mentally…
5 minutes
5 Expert Ways To Deal With Difficult People — And Make Them Love You
ve posted a great deal on working with difficult people and how to make people like you. What new research and expert advice can we use to better deal with difficult people? The Feedback Sandwich Doesn't Work -- This Does Nobody likes delivering bad news. Stanford's Jeffrey Pfeffer recommends having someone else do it whenever possible. But what about when it's unavoidable? Don't do the old "feedback sandwich" of positive comment, negative comment, positive comment. Research shows it's better to be…
5 minutes
The Five Paths To Being The Best At Anything
€™ve posted a lot about becoming the best in your field. Looking back, what are the most successful methods for getting there? 10,000 Hours Let's get the most famous one out of the way first: Hard work pays off. Malcolm Gladwell popularized the theory in Outliers: approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice at something can turn you into an expert. Via Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined: ...the most elite violinists accumulated about the same number of hours of deliberate practice (about 7,410 hours) by…
6 minutes
