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

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: 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