psychology

What’s more, engagement and flow tend to prompt a virtuous cycle of sorts: we become more motivated and aroused overall, and, consequently, more likely to be productive and create something of value.

Kick me in the teeth or sing my praises, doesn’t matter, I’m still here. This is why I have a sign above my desk that reads DO THE HARD THING and why the Navy SEALs trumpet EMBRACE THE SUCK as their unofficial motto.

This book is meant to ignite that change, and you can read it in any sequence you want. We want you to read the table of contents, reflect on the dreams that excite you and the nightmares that scare you, then go to the precise chapter that helps you the most that day.

He said the ‘craving’ to be appreciated.

For the first time in evolutionary history, one individual could give any of a variety of resources without actually giving them away. The result was the lowering of the natural inhibitions against transactions that must be begun by one person’s providing personal resources to another. Sophisticated and coordinated systems of aid, gift giving,

The next is accepting that what’s rational to one person can be crazy to another. Everything would compute if everyone had the same time horizon, goals, ambitions, and risk tolerances. But they don’t.

The modern emphasis on multitasking plays into our natural tendencies quite well, often in frustrating ways. Every new input, every new demand that we place on our attention is like a possible predator: Oooh, says the brain. Maybe I should pay attention to that instead.

Don’t worry if this feels familiar. The tendency to focus on processes over outcomes is actually a natural psychological operation: because we spend the majority of our cognitive resources on what is happening right now—which makes sense, since we do actually have to act in order to create change—we’re biased toward focusing on those immediate

Have you ever wondered why sitcoms often have laugh tracks?

In fact, research indicates laugh tracks will make us laugh longer and more often, especially at bad jokes.

This is due to the principle of social proof , which states that we often decide what the correct course of action is by looking to others’ behavior. In the case of the laugh track,