1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Fridays or over the weekend, I try to share some wisdom or something I’m thinking about or working on.

May 4th will mark seven years of writing RiseWithDrew every weekday.  Haven’t missed a day except for holidays.

For the last several years, I’ve done … continue reading

1: “The fog was thick that day,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

It was the evening of September 8, 1923.

“Captain Edward H. Watson and Lieutenant Commander Donald T. Hunter were leading a fleet of warships on an engineering run off the coast of Southern California,” Anne-Laure writes.

“Because of the poor visibility, Captain Hunter had been navigating by … continue reading

1: “We do not learn from experience,” John Dewey tells us.  “We learn from reflecting on experience.”

Yes, indeed.  

But life moves fast.  And without the right toolset, it’s easy to overlook the reflection piece and miss out on the learning.  

To address this problem, author Anne-Laure Le Cunff has developed a weekly process she calls “Plus Minus Next,” a simple yet powerful tool designed to spark reflection … continue reading

1: Ever heard of the “effort paradox”?

It’s the reason most New Year’s resolutions fail.

We “overcommit to a bunch of lofty aspirations,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in her book Tiny Experiments. 

“The human mind has a love/hate relationship with effort,” she notes. “We are drawn to the idea of it, yet we would rather not have to put in actual effort.”

We think we will be happier if … 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: “We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience,” said the educational reformer John Dewey.

Our ability to think, to reflect, to “think about our thinking” is integral to our ability to learn.

The term used to describe our ability to be aware of our thinking is called metacognition. 

Which author Anne-Laure Le Cunff calls “the forgotten secret to success” in her book Tiny Experiments… continue reading

1: What are our assumptions about time?

“The ancient Greeks had not one but two words to speak of time,”  Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

The Greek word Chronos refers to quantity.

“This is largely how most of us in the modern world relate to time,” Anne-Laure writes. “It is the time of clocks and calendars, of productivity tools … continue reading

1: Startup success is often associated with young entrepreneurs.

The data says otherwise: “The odds of a founder in their fifties reaching a successful exit are almost double those of a founder in their thirties,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World.

“Similar patterns apply to creative breakthroughs in science,” she notes.  “The peak productivity of a scientist occurs around the … continue reading

1: New Year’s resolutions don’t work.

“A survey of over 31 million activities by the team at Strava found that most New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by January 12,”  Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in her book Tiny Experiments, “which they called Quitter’s Day.”

So, why do New Year’s resolutions fail?

Because we “overcommit to a bunch of lofty aspirations,” Anne-Laure explains.  “The human mind has a love/hate relationship with … continue reading

1: Alexander Kallaway was just another high school student growing up in Russia.

“He had a quiet life, but the world called to him,” Anne-Laure Le Cunff writes in her book Tiny Experiments.

“What new cultures and customs might he discover if he left this familiar environment?” he wondered. “What skills could he gain by learning from different perspectives?”

So, he figured out how to attend a Japanese university. … continue reading