Need a quick mood booster? Research shows that people are happiest when they’re surrounded by living plants and verdant colors. Spending time in nature activates positive pathways in your brain, rather than allowing it to focus on upsetting experiences. Outdoor exercise increases creativity, provides stress relief, and restores energy. Going outside for small amounts of […]
How to Handle Feedback
We need other people’s feedback to make ourselves (and our organizations) better. But what many people fail to realize is that collecting feedback is only one step in a longer process of self-improvement. The next two steps in the feedback loop, processing and responding, are must not be forgotten. Feedback needs to be heard, yes; […]
Do You Have a Motive?
People are motivated by many kinds of desires. To sell something, first you need to get to know your audience—especially what motivates them. Understanding the psychology of motivation is the key to the art of persuasion. People are much more apt to buy into ideas and personalities than they are to buy products or plans. […]
The Art of Customer Service
A lot of experts talk about how important it is to provide good customer service. But a single extraordinary experience where customer service goes above and beyond does not guarantee continued patronage. The truth is that most consumers don’t need stellar customer service. They just want to achieve their desired outcome with as little effort […]
2 Things You Need to Know About Teamwork
Successful endeavors are difficult, if not impossible, to undertake as as an individual. To reach the upper echelons of achievement, you need a great team. But simply forming that team won’t lead to great teamwork by itself. One way to make sure that everyone on the team is on the same page is to align […]
Control the Wheel of Fortune
Napoleon Hill was one of the first celebrity self-help authors. His quintessentially American philosophy of self-reliance set a standard that continues to dominate the field today, some 50 years after his death. One of Hill’s core beliefs was that thoughts of success eventually lead to that success. The inverse is also true, in that fear […]
Stop Obsessing Over Your Mistakes
Have you found yourself staring at your own image during a Zoom call, worried about how silly or tired you look? Self-consciousness is part of human nature, but most of the time it doesn’t serve us well. Giving a presentation can make us hyper-aware of every mistake or near-mistake, for example. Letting yourself feel embarrassed […]
How to Get What You Want
Strategy. Power. Human nature. Self-help author Robert Greene has written about them all. In The Art of Seduction, Greene takes a deep dive into the intricacies of social power. According to Greene, natural charisma isn’t everything. In fact, charisma exists on a spectrum, which means that it’s a quality that can be cultivated. To amplify your […]
Unfinished Business
It’s much easier to start a new project than to finish an old one. Our open tasks can accrue over time, piling up until they become intimidating to address. Such unfinished business can become a mental roadblock. Tackling unfinished work may feel overwhelming at first, but if the task is broken into smaller steps, you […]
Rethinking the UX
Designers don’t create products. They create experiences. And in the time of COVID-19, when so many activities take place online, a lot of those experiences are bad. How can you ensure that you provide a stellar user experience? Try to anticipate problems and recognize potential pain points. Using new technology? Test it, then test it […]
