en challenged, focus on "getting better" -- not doing well or looking good. Get-better goals increase motivation, make tasks more interesting and replenish energy. This effect even carries over to subsequent tasks. Via Nine Things Successful People Do Differently: Get-better goals, on the other hand, are practically bulletproof. When we think about what we are doing in terms of learning and mastering, accepting that we may make some mistakes along the way, we stay motivated despite the setbacks that might…
's relentlessly tested and tweaked onstage over a period of months. Via Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries: When beginning to work on a new show, Rock picks venues where he can experiment with new material in very rough fashion. In gearing up for his latest global tour, he made between forty and fifty appearances at a small comedy club, called Stress Factory, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, not far from where he lives. In front of…
can. Making mistakes can be vital to improvement. Via Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation: “The errors of the great mind exceed in number those of the less vigorous one.” This is not merely statistics. It is not that the pioneering thinkers are simply more productive than less “vigorous” ones, generating more ideas overall, both good and bad. Some historical studies of patent records have in fact shown that overall productivity correlates with radical breakthroughs…
ssing an hour of sleep turns a sixth grader's brain into that of a fourth grader. Via NurtureShock: The performance gap caused by an hour’s difference in sleep was bigger than the gap between a normal fourth-grader and a normal sixth-grader. Which is another way of saying that a slightly-sleepy sixth-grader will perform in class like a mere fourth-grader. “A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to [the loss of] two years of cognitive maturation and development,” Sadeh…
a Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There": Best time to have surgery: Morning (4x less likely to have complications in the morning than between 3-4PM) Best time to get a human being on the phone when calling a company's customer service line: As early as possible (lowest call volume) Best day of the week to eat dinner out: Tuesday (freshest food, no crowds) Best…
re here via the always interesting Derek Thompson. Join over 135,000 readers and get my free weekly email update here. Related posts: What 10 things should you do every day to improve your life? How To Make Your Life Better By Sending Five Simple Emails 4 Lifehacks From Ancient Philosophers That Will Make You Happier
rst, the bad news: your brain was never designed to multitask well: To put it bluntly, research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously. Across the board multitasking lowers productivity: Our results show that multitasking is bad for productivity even if one is not concerned with average duration. Neither gender is better at it: We do not find any evidence for gender differences in the ability to multitask. But if multitasking doesn't work,…
end more time outdoors. Nature has a myriad of incredible positive effects that have demonstrated by research: Being out in nature reduces stress. Nature walks or even looking at pictures of nature improves memory. Flowers increase romantic feelings. Nature can even make you a better person. Can't be bothered to step outside? Even a potted plant has been shown to improve attention span and increase creativity in an office environment. You might be inclined to discount this. I know that…
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