Humans are predictable. Sometimes, too predictable. We’ve been reading , and it turns out that many of the same social patterns that have helped humanity flourish have a dark side. In part one of this series, we talked about reciprocation. Today, we’re talking about consistency, and why sticking to your guns isn’t always the smartest […]

The art of persuasion comes in many forms. We’ve been reading , by Robert Cialdini, and quickly realized it’s got far too much depth to review in a single episode. So today, we start our series on the weapons of persuasion — starting with the rule of reciprocation. You’ve almost certainly participated in this rule […]

Some companies are born great, but not everyone can be so lucky. If you’re decently well-off, but not quite Apple or Disney, can you cross into their world and achieve greatness? In Jim Collins’ , he tell us the answer is yes — and of those that made the jump, there are quite a few […]

Money may be the root of all evil, but it’s certainly much easier to do good if you’ve got it. Along with wisdom and health, it’s an essential ingredient for personal freedom, and yet a discouragingly large amount of us are living paycheck to paycheck, one setback away from financial ruin. We’re talking a bit […]

We’ve talked a lot about the power of networking. Networking is powerful enough to land you job opportunities, friends, respect in your field, or maybe even a letter of recommendation from your favorite professor. But wait: you’ve never even spoken to your favorite professor. You’re also late to almost every class, and you usually just […]

We talk a lot about productivity systems, but they aren’t always as simple as they should be — should you be strict and results-focused, or flexible enough to follow inspiration? If you decide the latter is the best answer for you, you may eventually find yourself neglecting a few of your more un-inspirational subjects. Today, […]

How do you define “productivity”? If you ask me, a good working definition would be something like this: Productivity: The art of getting your brain to stop acting like a Red Bull-fueled chimpanzee long enough to actually get some work done. Now, I think some people – especially Tim Urban from Wait But Why – would […]

This week, we’re diving deep into the science of reading. My guest today is Liz Schotter, a postgraduate student in psychology at UC San Diego and one of the most active researchers in the field of reading and eye-tracking at the moment. I reached out to her when I was doing research for the 3rd […]

Should you study with music or not? I get this question a lot, and I’ve seen plenty of answers that range from a simple, “No,” to, “Only listen to classical,” to people excitedly trying to link me to their epic female vocal trance playlist What does science have to say about it, though? Well, to […]

As a student, I was always fascinated with the prospect of learning to read faster. I read tons of blog posts about speed reading systems, tried all kinds of reading systems, and eventually realized that each of them only made reading exhausting and less and enjoyable. Recently, I started digging into real research on speed […]