1: “Imagine we’re floating in a clear blue ocean—somewhere warm like Hawaii or Mexico,” Ron Shaich writes in his terrific book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations.
“Waves are breaking and rolling toward the white, sandy beach,” Ron notes. “We know that’s where we are headed, so our ultimate destination is clear. And we know that any wave will take you to shore.
“But not just … 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 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
It was September 2022. Eliud Kipchoge set a new all-time world record for the marathon in Berlin.
“What many people do not know about one of the fastest marathoners in history is his habit of keeping a detailed diary,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.
“This diary is not just a log of his physical training,” Anne-Laure notes, “it also … continue reading
1: Psychologist John Gottman can predict who will eventually get divorced a stunning 94 percent of the time.
In a pioneering 1992 study, John and his team interviewed fifty-two married couples.
They asked each couple “a variety of questions about how they met, why they decided to get married, and what changes their relationships had been through and observed them as they took part in a fifteen-minute discussion about a … continue reading
1: “To create anything of value—whether it’s a product, a company, a society, or a life,” Ron Shaich writes in his powerful book Know What Matters: Lessons from a Lifetime of Transformations, “we must push through our default settings.”
How do we do that?
“By living consciously and deliberately, by making the hard choices, and by using tools … to discover what will really matter, again and again.”… continue reading
1: It’s the late ’90s. John Ortberg “was working at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, one of the most influential churches in the world,” John Mark Comer writes in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
“John himself is a well-known teacher and best-selling author—the kind of guy you figure pretty much has apprenticeship to Jesus down,” John Mark notes, “But behind the scenes he felt like he was getting … continue reading
1: “It’s a Sunday night, 10 p.m. Head up against the glass of an Uber, too tired to even sit up straight. I taught six times today—yes, six. The church I pastor just added another gathering,” John Mark Comer writes in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
“That’s what you do, right? Make room for people?” he asks.
“I made it until about talk number four; I don’t remember anything … continue reading
1: “I vividly recall the moment I realized I’d been overcomplicating my son’s fifth birthday party, which had come to feel like a significantly stressful undertaking,” Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.
“What the stress really signaled, I saw, was that I cared about the project,” Oliver writes, “which is entirely different from saying that it … continue reading
This week we’ve been exploring how to be more productive.
At the heart of these efforts is (#1) defining our key priorities, and then (#2) planning our days to get these things done, says Google productivity expert Laura Mae Martin in her book Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing.
Pretty simple, right?
Not so much. We say: “Well, this is great, and I’ve set my … continue reading
