1: Life is busy. Yes, it is.
“It can feel like there simply isn’t enough time while we manage all the other things we need to do,” Rachel Barr writes in How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life.
“Who has the time to pause and watch a squirrel execute an elaborate heist on a bird feeder or enjoy the simple … continue reading
1: Researchers at Harvard and MIT analyzed the moods and behaviors of 28,000 smartphone users.
What did they learn?
“When people felt down,” Rachel Barr writes in How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend, “they tended to seek out activities that promised instant gratification, like watching TV or drinking wine.”
When the participants were in a good mood, however, “they leaned toward more productive activities,” Rachel notes, “that … continue reading
1: Ever eaten every French fry in the bag, even though we knew from the first bite they weren’t very good?
Me, too.
Turns out chasing pleasure isn’t always the key to feeling good.
“That’s not a moralistic perspective; it’s a neurobiological one,” Rachel Barr writes in How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life.
“To understand why, let’s go beyond … continue reading
1: Rachel Barr‘s experience at college wasn’t great.
“After a string of unfulfilling jobs left me yearning for more, I ventured into university life a little later than my peers,” she writes in her book How to Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientist’s Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life.
“It was supposed to be a fresh start,” she notes.
It wasn’t.
“Soon into my undergraduate degree, … continue reading
1: Feeling anxious or overwhelmed? Or, perhaps, a bit too full of ourselves?
The stoic Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius has some advice for us:
“Often think of the rapidity with which things pass by and disappear. . . For substance is like a river in continual flow, and the activities of things are in constant change, and the causes work in infinite varieties; and there is hardly anything which stands … continue reading
1: Ever said, “It’s just quicker if I do it myself?”
Probably.
Yesterday, we looked at the powerful results of “the ownership program” at the New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park where junior team members were given ownership of different types of beverages, including coffee, cocktails, and tea.
“I’m not going to lie,” General Manager Will Guidara acknowledges in his book Unreasonable Hospitality, “it’s much easier to … continue reading
1: It was the early 2000s. Will Guidara, the General Manager of Eleven Madison Park (EMP), “was lucky enough to was lucky enough to live around the corner from Ninth Street Espresso, one of the first serious espresso bars in New York City,” Will writes in his terrific book Unreasonable Hospitality.
The store’s owner, Ken Nye, “was notoriously exacting,” Will notes. He would adjust the coarseness of … continue reading
1: It was the team’s very first strategic planning meeting.
Everyone who worked at the New York City restaurant Eleven Madison Park was there. The team had been divided into ten groups.
The question General Manager Will Guidara had charged them with answering was: “What do we want to embody?”
As Will went from table to table, listening in, he noticed a certain tension.
“Some people were arguing passionately about … continue reading
1: A decade before their restaurant Eleven Madison Park (EMP) would be recognized as the world’s best restaurant, Will Guidara and Daniel Humm were young and hungry entrepreneurs.
The year was 2007.
“We wanted to be one of the best restaurants in New York,” Will writes in his book Unreasonable Hospitality. “We wanted to make our restaurant excellent without sacrificing warmth, contemporary without compromising standards.”
“But before we … continue reading
Author Oliver Burkeman and his family recently moved from Brooklyn to the North York Moors in northern England.
“Which means that very often in the early mornings, carrying a flask of hot coffee, I get to stroll along a lane with spectacular views across a valley to the heather-topped ridge beyond,” he writes in Meditations for Mortals.
“In winter, the pink light of sunrise pours itself slowly over fields … continue reading
