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: 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: 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: Say you’re faced with a difficult challenge.

Or a big opportunity.

What if you approached it like a game?

This is the main idea behind Jane McGonigal’s SuperBetter framework, described in her book. It uses allies, quests, power-ups, bad guys, and epic wins to help you become more resilient and make real progress.

Yesterday, we looked at how radio producer Alex Goldman used SuperBetter to recover after … continue reading

1: Jennifer’s father was ill.
“The two things that he could do to improve his physical condition most significantly are to eat better and exercise,” she tells Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram, who write in their book The 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time.
And, “the two things he refuses to do are eat better and exercise,” she says.
Jennifer … continue reading

1: “Have you ever looked up at the clock after working intensely on a project and been amazed at how quickly the time has flown by?” Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram ask in their book The 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time.

“That is 5th gear,” they note.

Also called “in the zone” or “in flow,” 5th gear is your ability … continue reading

1: This was no ordinary rental car.

Jeremie Kubicek sat on the right side of the car, staring at the steering wheel in front of him.

An American raised in Oklahoma, Jeremie had just moved to England, making every aspect of daily life—including driving—a new adventure.

“Learning to drive on what the English call the correct side of the road is one thing,” he writes in The 5 Gears: How … continue reading

1: The year was 1975.

Psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham measured how fast forty-five of the fastest typists at a large company were able to generate text.

“The typists knew they were among the best in the company, but they had never measured how quickly they typed,” Charles Duhigg writes in Smarter Faster Better.

On average, each typist generated ninety-five lines of output per hour, setting a clear … continue reading