Why do we daydream? Is it good for us?
u spend up to 8 minutes of every hour daydreaming. Your mind will probably wander for 13% of the time it takes you to read this post. Some of us spend 30-40% of our time daydreaming. Via The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (and Why They Are So Good For You): Do you remember what the previous paragraph was about? It’s OK, I’m not offended. Chances are that your mind will wander for up to eight…
3 minutes
How To Increase Willpower: 10 Secrets From Research
me insights about willpower from research, with links to the studies: Practicing a little willpower every day increases self-control over time. For immediate results: tighten your muscles, sit up straight or cross your arms. Or just think about money. Get enough sleep and don't miss meals. More shut-eye will stop you from wasting time on the internet. Skipping breakfast can lead to murder. Context is key. Those around you exert more influence on your behavior than you think. Don't get cocky. Thinking…
1 min read
This Quality Determines Success Better Than IQ Does
lf-discipline. From Charles Duhigg's excellent book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business: At the core of that education is an intense focus on an all-important habit: willpower. Dozens of studies show that willpower is the single most important keystone habit for individual success. In a 2005 study, for instance, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed 164 eighth-grade students, measuring their IQs and other factors, including how much willpower the students demonstrated,…
1 min read
What can you learn about learning from Harvard med students?
acing out learning over time leads to drastically improved retention. Via Annie Murphy Paul at Time: In more than two dozen studies published over the past five years, he has demonstrated that spaced repetition works, increasing knowledge retention by up to 50 percent. And Kerfoot’s method is easily adapted by anyone who needs to learn and remember, not just those pursuing MDs. And there's an easy way to implement this technique: How can you learn like one of Kerfoot’s Harvard…
1 min read
How can you stop wasting so much time on the internet?
t more sleep. Cheating yourself on sleep reduces willpower and it's this same store of self-control that helps us resist all those bad behaviors like aimless web-surfing. Via BPS Occupational Digest: Researchers have previously argued that sleep is a means of recharging our regulatory resources, and these studies confirm that less sleep does indeed make us prey to counterproductive activities like cyberloafing. Join over 140,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here. Related posts: 10 things you need to…
1 min read
The Simple Gesture That Can Make You Seem Smarter
e study was done on children so it might not be applicable to adults but it's fascinating nonetheless: Merely pointing at something made someone who had been established as ignorant appear just as competent as someone in the know. Via APS: The one who did the hiding would be the only one truly informed about the location of the ball. We know this and the kids obviously knew this, and indeed they picked the knowledgeable adult when both adults were…
2 minutes
This Is The Quickest Way To Become An Expert Negotiator
nice. We often associate negotiation with being tough or manipulative. While there are certainly situations where that's the case, a great deal of the recent research says we can improve our results by thinking more about making friends than waging war. A great deal of what it takes to influence others, gain their compliance and lead successful negotiations is just good advice on how to be a decent person. Be warm. We value warmth more than competence. Happy people…
2 minutes
Can teddy bears make you more ethical?
nt people to play nice and not cheat each other? Bring toys. Via Harvard Business Review: The finding: Adults are less likely to cheat and more likely to engage in “pro-social” behaviors when reminders of children, such as teddy bears and crayons, are present. The research: Sreedhari Desai and her research partner Francesca Gino had people play classic psychology games in which the subjects controlled how much money other people earned and could earn more themselves if they lied. Half…
1 min read
