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
5 New Secrets To Achieving Your Goals, Backed By Research
al setting is one of the four techniques the military used to increase Navy SEAL passing rates from 25% to 33%. Studies have also shown it makes you happier. So what are five steps to achieving your goals? 1) Shut Up Keep them secret. Talking about big goals rewards yourself ahead of time and makes you less likely to follow through. Via Daniel Coyle’s excellent book The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills: While it’s natural and oh so tempting…
4 minutes
Five Simple Things That Will Make Your Life Better
bsp; 1) Want to be happy? It's more about perspective than anything else. Write down three good things that happen to you every day. Via Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being: Every night for the next week, set aside ten minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well. You may use a journal or your computer to write about the events, but it is important that you…
3 minutes
Why do you read 1000 things about change and never change?
owing isn't doing. I post a lot of stuff about getting better at things. A common response to my posts is "I know that." Knowing is great for watching Jeopardy. It's not nearly as good for life. So why is learning about improvement so easy and actually improving so damn hard? Most any change that requires a lot of consistent mental effort is going to fail because you spend most of the day on autopilot. Via Charles Duhigg’s excellent book The…
5 minutes
10 Videos Guaranteed To Inspire You
bsp; 1) How to be happier Harvard professor Shawn Achor is the author of the wonderful book The Happiness Advantage. 2) Is it better to come in first... or third? Malcolm Gladwell is the author of the bestsellers Blink, Outliers and The Tipping Point. 3) Why do we lie? And why do we lie to ourselves? Great interview with Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone---Especially Ourselves. 4) What’s it take to free…
2 minutes
Here’s The Secret To Efficient, Fast Teamwork
might be to forget about trying to be fast at all and to just focus on being smooth. A Formula One pit crew -- a group that depends on efficient, fast teamwork -- found that they weren't at top speed when they concentrated on speed. It was when they emphasized functioning smoothly as a group that they made their best times. Via Oliver Burkeman's wonderful The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking: Bosses are more frequently persuaded,…
1 min read
Why do life-threatening situations make some people more calm?
e heart rates of the best bomb disposal experts actually drop when they're in the danger zone. Why? Confidence. Via The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success: Back in the 1980s, Harvard researcher Stanley Rachman found something similar with bomb-disposal operatives. What, Rachman wanted to know, separated the men from the boys in this high-risk, high-wire profession? All bomb-disposal operatives are good. Otherwise they’d be dead. But what did the stars have that the…
2 minutes
Are puppies the secret to productivity?
iewing cute images improved performance on tasks that required carefulness," researchers concluded. Via Bodyodd: "Viewing cute images improved performance on tasks that required carefulness," researchers concluded. Earlier experiments found that people did a better job playing the game Operation after viewing photos of puppies and kittens. Researchers speculated that the cute images made subjects more attuned to being careful because baby animals suggest vulnerability... This means anyone who has to do work that requires careful attention, such as copyediting or accounting, could benefit. And: So go…
1 min read
