The hero is faced with a huge—potentially insurmountable—challenge. A random event or object sparks their creativity, and suddenly they devise a brilliant solution to save the day.
As romantic as this narrative is, it’s also highly unrealistic. Most of us don’t spontaneously develop genius ideas. We...
We tend to think about gaining new skills like we think about winning the lottery:
"Gee, it'd sure be nice…"
"…Think of all I could do with those new skills and abilities!"
"…But the odds of achieving this are so small… mmm, gonna pass."
But while the lottery is...
Surprise! Pushing your unwanted projects onto someone else actually increases productivity for everyone. For the overworked manager juggling their business development duties with supervisory activities, delegating sounds like a gift from beyond.
Okay, thoughtlessly shoving your spreadsheets onto your intern won’t produce the same benefits as a carefully planned...
Your decisions make you.
Whether you’re selling them as an entrepreneur, marketer, writer, or any other kind of knowledge worker, or facing a serious crossroads in your personal life, the choices you make today define your future.
So it’s no wonder that when it comes to our growth...
Ask yourself: if you could sit down with the most successful people in the world and learn their secrets, what kind of impact would that have on your life and career?
That's exactly what entrepreneur and self-proclaimed "human guinea pig" Tim Ferriss did—and he's recorded the answers...
Bad news: We’re biologically hardwired to procrastinate. Research shows we possess a limited amount of willpower that drains throughout the day, regardless of what we do. Stay on task for a full workweek and you might find yourself putting off your taxes until April 14. You simply won't...
As a college student, you balance classes, homework, extra curricular activities, job applications, internships, and (if you're lucky) a few side projects. It's like a four-year master class in time management.
At least that's my experience: I'm finishing up a major in philosophy at Carnegie Mellon...
Important people are busy, so anyone who's very busy must be very important, right?
Not necessarily. Our core focus should be on doing the most important work, then spending plenty of time resting away from work so we're ready to be creative again tomorrow. Rushing between tasks seldom...
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to make a to-do, but how much harder it is to actually get one done? Good news: there's a secret to completing your to-do, and it's prioritization.
That might sound obvious, but the real trick is to be as ruthless...
Whether you carefully plan every task in a Getting Things Done list or scribble reminders to yourself on the back of an envelope, your goal is the same: You've got stuff that needs doing and you're trying to get yourself organized enough to do it. With a task...