How to easily increase willpower and improve self-control:
at's it take to increase willpower? Roy F. Baumeister is the Frances Eppes Professor of Psychology at Florida State University and author of the New York Times bestseller Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. I spoke with him about how self-control works, what makes New Year's resolutions succeed and how to increase willpower. My conversation with Roy was over an hour long, so for brevity’s sake I’m only going to post edited highlights here. If you want the extended interview…
6 minutes
What should you do with your life?
uldn’t it be so much easier if you got a letter in the mail when you were seventeen, signed by someone who had a direct pipeline to Ultimate Meaning, telling you exactly who you are and what your true destiny is? Then you could carry this letter around in your pocket, and when you got confused or distracted and suddenly melted down, you’d reach for your wallet and grab the letter and read it again and go, “Oh, right.” That's…
6 minutes
This is how you should commit suicide
his book This Is How, Augusten Burroughs makes an important distinction between suicide and ending your life. Via This Is How: I realized suicide was the last thing I wanted to do. It was actually the opposite of what I desired. Suicide would not accomplish any of my goals: 1. Punishment of those who made me miserable 2. The infliction of lifelong guilt and remorse in everybody who had ever met me 3. Idolization by other suicidal teenagers 4. Something named…
2 minutes
Laws of subtraction: Should you do less to get more out of life?
fe is so busy these days. In an effort to slow it down it seems we only end up adding more. Is less what we really need? If so, how do you even start down that road? Matthew May explores this in his book The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything pulling from the work of many experienced contributors. What are the Six Laws of Subtraction? Here are May's six rules, and I've highlighted research…
4 minutes
Good old days: What can the modern world learn from older societies?
e good old days. Despite all the undeniable benefits recent centuries have brought, you may have a nagging feeling that we've lost something in the process. Jared Diamond (author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning must-read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies) has a new book to reassure you you're not crazy. The World Until Yesterday answers the question "What can we learn from traditional societies?" looking at diet, family, child-rearing, religion, violence and more. What made the good old…
4 minutes
Harvard professor Michael Norton explains how to be happier
chael Norton Michael Norton is an associate professor of marketing at Harvard Business School. He is co-author of the new book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, which explains how the latest social science research can help you spend your money in ways that improve your happiness. (More on the book here.) Mike and I spoke about how time affects happiness, why money is so motivating and how Netflix might just be making us less happy. Why are we…
6 minutes
5 Ways To Spend Your Money That Will Make You Happier
bsp; Can Money Buy Happiness? Yes. But you might be surprised by the ways you should spend it. Harvard professor Michael Norton and co-author Elizabeth Dunn have a new book out, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending, that details the research on the 5 best ways to turn your dollars into lasting smiles. What are they? 1) Buy Experiences Via Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending: "...57 percent of Americans reported that the experiential purchase made them happier than…
3 minutes
Ten Research-Based Steps To A Happier Life
went through a number of great books on happiness and pulled together ten research-based tips that can help build a happier life: 1) Cut the small talk. Discuss what matters. Via Pursuing the Good Life: 100 Reflections on Positive Psychology: First, happier participants spent more time talking to others, unsurprising finding given the social basis of happiness. Second, the extent of small talk was negatively associated with happiness. And third, the extent of substantive talk was positively associated with…
5 minutes
