Dan Ariely Explains When Your Irrational Behavior Is A Good Thing
bsp; Dan Ariely teaches psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University and is the bestselling author of three books I love: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves Here's one of his TED talks: Dan has an online course called "A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behavior". You can check it out here. He and I spoke about…
5 minutes
5 ways “where you are” might be more important than both “who you know” and “what you know”:
bsp; 1) Happiness Want to be happier? Sad as it may be, part of happiness is generated by your relative status. Research shows people are happier living in a rich neighborhood in a poor county. 2) Creativity Do creative work at home. Do boring work at the office: On the uncreative tasks, people were 6% to 10% less productive outside the lab. The fall-off was steepest among the least productive third of workers. (People who reported procrastinating on their homework were also, unsurprisingly, poor…
4 minutes
Howard Suber Of UCLA Film School Explains How To Tell A Story
bsp; Howard Suber is one of my mentors. He founded the graduate program I was in at UCLA and has taught literally thousands of students about the power of film and narrative structure. From his bio at UCLA: During his 40 years on the UCLA faculty, Howard Suber helped establish and also chaired the UCLA Film Archive, the Critical Studies and Ph.D. Programs, and the UCLA Producers Program. He is a former Associate Dean, recipient of UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and has been…
5 minutes
How do you find the best mentor for you?
bsp; Mentors have been essential for me. No matter how many books you read or how much time you spend researching on the web, mentors are still a crucial part of learning in any arena. So how do you find a great one? Daniel Coyle goes through the research in his excellent book The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills and pulls together five points: 1) Avoid Someone Who Reminds You of a Courteous Waiter …one who focuses his…
4 minutes
NYT Bestselling Author Ramit Sethi explains the secrets to managing money, negotiating and networking
friend Ramit Sethi is the NYT bestselling author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He's also well known for his blog of the same name. What's always interested me about his work is that it's based on psychology and a strong, practical knowledge of how people really behave. Subscribers to my free weekly newsletter get access to extended interviews. Join here. ——————- The Secret to Managing Your Money: Systems And Big Wins Ramit: One of the things that I talk about…
5 minutes
What do great workplaces, making friends, networking, dealing with kidnappers and being happy all have in common?
l are done well by focusing on other people: Get out of your head and into theirs. Great Work Environments Bob Sutton reviewed Bill and Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company and called out “Dave Packard’s 11 Simple Rules” as guidelines for building an excellent work environment. What was #1? 1. Think first of the other fellow. This is THE foundation — the first requisite — for getting along with others. And it is the one truly difficult accomplishment you must…
3 minutes
5 Secrets To Using Your Time Wisely
Schedule things that make you happy You often schedule things that are "important", but what about the things that make you happy? Activities on your calendar are more likely to be the things you do. So be as good about scheduling the personal as the professional. From my interview with Stanford happiness researcher Jennifer Aaker: ...people who spend more time on projects that energize them and with people who energize them tend to be happier. However, what is interesting…
4 minutes
These 5 Things Will Make You Smarter
bsp; 1) Get rid of the distractions You can't multitask. Via Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School: To put it bluntly, research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously. All those buzzing text messages and email chimes can reduce mental ability by an average of 10 IQ points. For men, it’s about three times the effect of smoking marijuana. Via Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining…
4 minutes
