1: Darlene worked as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, near Dayton, Ohio.

One day as she walked past an incubator, she sensed something was wrong.

“All of the machines hooked up to the child showed that her vitals were within normal ranges,” Charles Duhigg writes in Smarter Faster Better.

The nurse caring for the baby didn’t seem worried.

But to Darlene, something seemed off.… continue reading

1: What’s the best way to make your to-do list?

There’s something satisfying about writing down a task and then crossing it off your list.

“That’s exactly the wrong way to create a to-do list. That signals you’re using it for mood repair, rather than to become productive,” says Carleton University psychologist Timothy Pychyl in Charles Duhigg‘s book Smarter Faster Better.

Writing down a series of short-term objectives … continue reading

1: Tynan thought mindfulness and meditation were “too wishy-washy and time consuming,” he writes in Superhuman by Habit: A Guide to Becoming the Best Possible Version of Yourself, One Tiny human at a Time.

When he tried meditating, he found it hard to keep his attention on his breath. His mind kept wandering, which left him frustrated and ready to give up.

But then he discovered something that completely … continue reading

1: The year was 1993.  GE CEO Jack Welch was in Japan when he heard a story about the country’s railway system.

After World War II, Japan’s economy had been decimated.

“A large portion of the country’s population lived in or between the cities of Tokyo and Osaka, which were separated by just 320 miles of train track,” Charles Duhigg writes in Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real … continue reading

1: A GE worker had an idea.

He suggested to his managers that they stop outsourcing the construction of protective shields for their grinding machines, as Charles Duhigg explains in Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity.

This employee was taking part in what GE called a “Work-Out” within a struggling division that made jet engine parts.

Yesterday, we looked at a potential trap with SMART … continue reading

1: You’re angry. Lately, it feels like Phil keeps leaving the toughest or most unpleasant tasks for you to handle.

How do you respond?

You vent to your friends about always being the one who has to clean up the messes.

But what is it that you don’t mention?

“That you smile broadly when your boss compliments you for your willingness to take on challenging jobs,” Joseph Grenny and his … continue reading

1: “It’s a shame that everyone else is an idiot,” Tynan writes in Superhuman by Habit.

Pause.

“Of course, it’s important to remember that to everyone else, you are the idiot.”

It all begins when we realize that being positive toward others is a habit we can develop.

Tynan tells a story about a disagreement he had with a cruise ship staff member after he felt he was charged … continue reading

1: What if the fastest way to make progress isn’t focusing on your bad days—but keeping score of your good ones?

Six months after suffering a concussion, Jane McGonigal was still living with postconcussion syndrome.  “It didn’t heal properly,” Jane writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

The headaches “were bad enough that I was taking the maximum safe dosage of pain relievers almost every day,” … continue reading

1: Today, most games keep score automatically.

“At the bowling alley, computers tally points. Online Scrabble calculates your word scores for you. Video games track your experience points and level you up without any effort on your part,” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

But when you’re working toward big goals, keeping score yourself can really help you succeed.

For the past two … continue reading

1: How do you react when something bad happens in your life?

“Your knee-jerk reaction to bad events can be to only see, and to dwell on, the negative, giving you a biased view that can affect your mood and paralyze you from acting,” Tynan writes in his book Superhuman by Habit.

When you think about positive, healthy habits, chances are your brain immediately focuses on work and productivity … continue reading