What are the 18 secrets to giving a presentation like Steve Jobs?
bsp; In his book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs Carmine Gallo lays out 18 steps you can follow to give talks like the founder of Apple: "Plan in analog." - Don't get stuck in PowerPoint from the start. Play with ideas loosely on whiteboards or index cards. "Answer the one question that matters most." And that question is "Why should I care?" "Develop a messianic sense of purpose." Where is your passion for this subject coming from? Convey that. "Create…
2 minutes
Can setting goals be a bad thing?
al setting makes people more likely to cheat. Via The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking: Ordonez and her colleagues mounted the case for the opposition in a 2009 paper with a heavy-handed pun for its title - "Goals Gone Wild" - in the usually rather dry pages of the journal Academy of Management Perspectives... clearly defined goals seemed to motivate people to cheat... Those given a target to reach lied far more frequently than did those instructed…
1 min read
Is a liberal arts degree really worth anything?
bsp; Many students fail to make significant improvements in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills during college. Which students make the biggest gains? Those who get a liberal arts education. Via Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom: Anyone doubting the need for a redesign of education might benefit from a recent study, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, by sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. The book found that 45 percent of today's college students show…
1 min read
Can change kill you?
bsp; Major changes in your life can make you ill. Via Maximum Brainpower: Challenging the Brain for Health and Wisdom: One simple test developed by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe more than forty years ago can predict the likelihood of illness according to the number of changes a person has undergone in the last six to twenty-four months -- such things as marriage, the birth of a child, divorce, the loss of a job, and financial setbacks. The illnesses range…
2 minutes
Optimists vs. Pessimists: Who’s right?
bsp; I listed optimism as one of the ten things you should do every day to improve your life. Yet pessimism does have advantages and plenty of people see it as a better way to view the world. What does the research say about the best outlook to take? Glass as half full Optimism is associated with better health and a longer life. Being positive can actually cause better health because it changes how people behave. Via The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain:…
4 minutes
The Reason Your Child Might Be Less Creative
r schools and workplaces claim to love creativity -- but the research shows they don't reward it. In fact, they punish it. "...students with the highest GPA's were the ones who scored lowest on measures of creativity and independence..." "...supervisors judged their workforce the way teachers judged their students. They gave low ratings to employees with high levels of creativity and independence..." Via How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character: Teachers rewarded repressed drones, according to Bowles…
2 minutes
Are people with GED’s more like high-school graduates or high-school dropouts?
bsp; More like dropouts. While GED holders are as smart as graduates, in terms of future outcomes (annual income, unemployment, divorce, drug use) they look exactly like dropouts. The study made clear that "non-cognitive skills" like persistence, planning and self-control can be more important than intelligence in the long run. Via How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character: According to their scores on achievement tests, which correlate closely with IQ, GED recipients were every bit as smart…
2 minutes
What are the four things that kill relationships?
hn Gottman can listen to a couple for 5 minutes and determine, with 91% accuracy, whether they'll divorce. He was featured in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink. Gottman's researched marriage for over 40 years and couples that attend his workshops have half the relapse rate that standard therapy provides. His book The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is excellent and rich with information. In it he debunks a lot of myths about marriage, explains why marriages go bad and what can be done about…
3 minutes
