This Is How To Improve Your Writing: 7 Easy Expert Secrets
metimes you don't know what you want to say. Other times you don't know the right way to say it. And very often you can't get your butt in the chair to write anything at all. Whether it's reports and presentations for the office, that great novel you'd love to write, or the movie you can see in your head that hasn't made its way to the page yet, you could definitely use some tips on how to improve your writing. Well, let's…
12 minutes
Ancient Wisdom Reveals 6 Rituals That Will Make You Happy
ople have enormous respect for ancient wisdom. They just don't read it. Funny thing is, we're more likely to live happier lives when we visit the classics section than the self-help aisle. So how do we get the skinny on what one group of brilliant dead guys -- The Stoics -- had to say? Well, for that, I called my friend Ryan. Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy. His…
8 minutes
How To Make A Relationship Last: 5 Secrets Backed By Research
ve is wonderful, love is joy, love is the greatest thing in the world... Love is also an enormous pain in the ass. Marriage is hard work. (Older people are nodding right now while young people are probably sticking their fingers in their ears and reciting their favorite lines from "The Notebook.") So how do you make love last? What myths about love are leading us astray and what do you have to do to have a loving relationship that stands the…
10 minutes
How To Be Persuasive: 7 New Secrets From Hostage Negotiation
all have to have difficult conversations. And they'd be easier if you knew how to be persuasive. Whether it's dealing with family members, buying a car or negotiating a raise, persuasion is always a useful skill. But much of what you read doesn't work in tough scenarios. So I decided to call someone who has handled the most challenging scenarios imaginable -- ones where lives are on the line... Chris Voss was the FBI's lead international hostage negotiator and he's the author…
10 minutes
Inner Strength: This Is The Research-Backed Way To Increase Grit
er feel like you just wanna give up on something? How can you develop the inner strength necessary to achieve your long term goals? Turns out that grit -- the perseverance that keeps us going -- is a lot more important than you might think. In fact, it's the best predictor of success among West Point cadets. From Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: The best predictor of success, the researchers found, was the prospective cadets’ ratings on a noncognitive, nonphysical trait…
9 minutes
How To Be More Confident: 3 Secrets Backed By Research
nt to know how to be more confident? There's an easy answer: Don't. Yeah, it's a trick question. But we've all been led to believe that self-confidence or self-esteem is the answer to everything. It's not. In fact, research shows it's the cause of a lot of problems. We don't need more self-esteem. We need more self-compassion. Don't believe me? I understand. That's why I called an expert... Kristin Neff is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the…
9 minutes
Growth Mindset: How To Make Sure Your Kids Have Grit
at makes kids persist? What gives them the "grit" to keep working hard in school, to get good grades and ultimately be successful in life? A big contributor is having a "growth mindset." You may have heard about this before but many people don't understand it nearly as well as they think. To make sure you and I get it right I called Carol Dweck. She came up with the growth mindset idea. Carol is a professor at Stanford University and author of Mindset: The…
10 minutes
The 4 Rituals That Will Make You An Expert At Anything
hear a lot about "10,000 hours" being what it takes to become an expert. But the majority of people totally misunderstand the idea. So I decided to go to the source and talk to the guy who actually created the theory. Anders Ericsson is a professor of psychology at Florida State University. His wonderful new book (with Robert Pool) is Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. So what does everybody get wrong? 2 things. First, the "10,000 hour…
9 minutes
