How To Become An Expert At Anything: 5 Scientific Steps To Mastery
re’s the problem with advice about becoming an expert: it’s almost always junk. It’s not just that the advice itself is bad, it’s that it’s somehow both incredibly vague and aggressively overconfident: “Practice makes perfect!” Oooh, it’s got that motivational poster energy “Embrace failure.” Look, I’ve embraced failure so many times we’re in a common-law marriage. “Just start!” Another winner. Just start. Really? Here’s the thing: there’s a whole field of legitimate research dedicated to developing expertise. Whether you’re trying…
9 minutes
How To Be Successful: 4 Secrets Backed By Research
ese days the world strongly associates success with youth. The cultural narrative goes something like this: if you didn’t create a world-changing algorithm in your dorm room before you could legally drink, then why are you even trying? Don’t get me wrong, the world loves a good late bloomer story -- but only in retrospect. If you’re a potential late bloomer, chances are you’ve already spent enough time listening to your own voice drone on in your head like a…
10 minutes
New Neuroscience Reveals 6 Secrets That Will Make You More Productive
me days it feels impossible to get anything done at the office. (There’s a reason Susan in marketing has a voodoo doll of everyone, neatly labeled, in her desk drawer.) What can we do about it? Well, neuroscience -- yeah, that thing you vaguely remember hearing about in a TED Talk you half-watched -- has some answers to our office productivity problems. With a few simple tweaks, we can take a miserable workday from “soul-crushing marathon of existential despair” to…
9 minutes
How To Stop Procrastinating: 4 Secrets From Research
ocrastination. The bane of productivity, the thief of time, the reason why you’re currently reading this instead of doing that thing we both know you need to do. In the world of procrastination, time ceases to exist in its linear form. Hours stretch like taffy in a carnival booth, and you find yourself doing things you never knew you had an interest in. Suddenly, you develop an intense interest in organizing your spice rack. Did you know paprika comes in…
8 minutes
New Neuroscience Reveals 5 Secrets That Will Make You Smarter
is real, folks. It’s a number that tells you how good someone is at puzzle-solving, logical reasoning, and making you feel inadequate at dinner parties. But here’s the rub: IQ isn’t everything. Greater education and intelligence don't necessarily lift you up; sometimes they just provide better tools for digging trenches. Check this out: “Intelligent and educated people are less likely to learn from their mistakes, for instance, or take advice from others. And when they do err, they are…
9 minutes
How To Defeat Anger: 4 Secrets From The Ancients
ger’s greatest trick is making you think you’re standing up for yourself, that you’re finally taking control. It tells you that your outburst is justified, that your righteous fury is not only warranted but essential. It whispers in your ear: “You’re not being unreasonable. You’re being assertive.” But you’re not. You’re a grown person screaming at a parking meter. You look like a constipated gorilla trying to pass a watermelon. People are crossing the street to avoid you. And let’s…
9 minutes
This Is How To Be A Great Manager: 4 Powerful Secrets From Research
at makes companies great? Gallup did research to find out -- real research. They surveyed 24 companies in 12 different industries measuring productivity, profitability, employee retention and customer satisfaction. They ended up looking at over 2500 business units and interviewed 105,000 employees. And what was the thing that made all the difference? Good managers. Now we’ve all had bad managers. Working for them is like being in a real-life version of “The Office,” but without the comfort of a camera…
10 minutes
How To Know Who You Can Trust: 6 Secrets From Research
ust — humanity's favorite high-wire act. What’s the reason most people cite for wanting to leave their job? Not trusting their employer. And what quality do you value in a friend more than any other? You guessed it: trustworthiness. But a 2021 poll showed that 18 percent of American adults said they only have one or zero people they can trust for help in their personal lives. It’s a sad "I'll laugh about this in therapy" kind of statistic. Makes…
9 minutes
