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Via David Hain

Here are my best psychology and self improvement articles of 2017 - check them out and see if there is anything you've missed, you'll find a lot of awesome tips and advice!

Via Ariana Amorim

You might be a financial whiz. You might even have that brilliant idea that would turn Einstein green with envy. But without the right mindset you won’t get anywhere. If Oprah had a negative mindset…

Our confirmation bias kicks in, causing us to seek out evidence to prove what we already believe.

Grit, the Scarlett Johannson of organizational cures, has problems. Neglected research points to the dark side of promoting and nurturing grit.

Via Sandeep Gautam

I’ve spent many years referencing Wikipedia’s list of cognitive biases whenever I have a hunch that a certain type of thinking is an official bias but I can’t recall the name or details. It’s been an…

Via Ana Cristina Pratas, Lynnette Van Dyke, Philippe Vallat

In April of 2015, I got serious about my goal to become a professional writer. I had written an eBook, Slipstream Time Hacking, and was anxious to know how to traditionally publish it. At that time…

Via Bobby Dillard

There’s a growing body of research about how counterproductive multitasking can be. While we may feel like we’re getting more done, the reality is that regular multitasking can leave us with a diminishing ability to focus.

 

That’s good to know. But if you’re a chronic multitasker who finds it hard to focus, is there any hope of getting your attention span back?

 

While neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, psychology professor at McGill University in Montreal and author of This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession won’t speak definitively for everyone, he says there are some general things most of us can do to improve our focus. Put these practices into place to sharpen your concentration and be more effective.

Via The Learning Factor

Humans have an inability to change; this is an argument that has been discussed for centuries and it is largely because of our tendency to be creatures of habit

Via Bobby Dillard

“You really can change the world if you care enough.” ~ Children’s rights activist Marian Wright Edelman
Is that all it takes — caring really, really hard? Or is it working 70 hours a week to the exclusion of all other activities? Or is it working smarter, not harder,that really instigates great change?
All of these have been recommended by someone at some point in time, but the fact is, there are some things you just can’t change, no matter how hard you try.
In fact, continuing to beat your head against the wall is… well, not very effective, and pretty painful. So cut it out, would you?
Perseverance and tenacity are only good qualities when the objective you’re working so hard to achieve is actually attainable. There’s a lot in life you just can’t change.

Via David Hain

In this first batch of personal takes on how some readers found purpose in life, a surprising theme emerged.

Via Sandeep Gautam

The presence of positive affect during everyday interaction is crucial. However, for a relationship to be healthy, both positivity and negativity are necessary.
Via Bobby Dillard

A new study shows a strategic mindset is as important as grit or intelligence for success.

Via Luis Valdes, Jose Luis Yañez

Via The Learning Factor

We might spend days, months, or even years trying to figure someone out. Is he who he says he is? Should I trust her? The wheels in our head spin as we think of all the variables and how they'll play out.

 

And still, we keep hearing that we should just listen to our instincts. Complicated questions, simple answer. What should we do, and where did this whole idea of the gut instinct come from, anyway?

 

Intuition isn't some magical, mysterious quality that we carry with us. It actually comes from the knowledge and past experiences that we all carry. Even if we're unable to explain why we feel the way we do, there's a logical explanation behind our gut feelings.

 

Whenever you encounter anything new, the unconscious side of your brain is constantly making assessments. It takes in certain cues, such as a smile or parts of a story, and then matches it with something similar in our database of memories to come up with a conclusion. Meanwhile, our conscious side remains unaware of this rapid process taking place.

Via The Learning Factor

“The only thing that is constant is change.” – Heraclitus Time never stands still in real life. It’s not like the movies where characters can freeze-frame and

Conflict is an entirely natural part of any human relationship, and if you manage it with caution and empathy, conflict can even make your work better.

It’s for these reasons I’d like to suggest there is great value in grounding wellbeing in the science of today — complexity.

I’m not suggesting we throw everything away and start again. The research done to date is valuable in supporting people with finding their own way. But to suggest there are controllable and predictable ‘ways’ to wellbeing — is more telling of the limiting beliefs the researchers and experts are telling themselves — than it is about their findings.

Positive psychology and the wellness industry faces an important choice. It can remain stuck in status quo patterns of thinking — or think and act anew. In ways that more appropriately acknowledge wellbeing’s essential nature.

A transition to a complex perspective isn’t going to be simple, because it’s threatening to the people and institutes who are heavily invested in the status quo. Particularly the people in power whose identity is entrenched in the control and predict sciences. No one likes to wake up and realise the way they see the world is grounded in a limiting belief.

But it also presents a beautiful opportunity for our open-minded practitioners who can acknowledge the work done before them and facilitate the potential of thinking anew.

It’s time to progress the way we talk about, and create space for, wellbeing on both and individual and a collective level.

Via David Hain

In his book, The Drunkard's Walk, Leonard Mlodinow outlines the three key “laws” of probability.

The first law of probability is the most basic of all. But before we get to that, let's look at this question.

Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.
Which is more probable?

Linda is a bank teller.
Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.

To Kahneman and Tversky's surprise, 87 percent of the subjects in the study believed that the probability of Linda being a bank teller and active in the feminist movement was a higher probability than the probability that Linda is a bank teller.

Via David Hain

Depression doesn’t discriminate. Everyone is a potential target for it, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, geographical location, or income. We are all subject to its grasp, and remember, it’s not the same thing as sadness.
Sadness is when you feel down because things aren’t going your way. Depression is when you feel down even when all is going well.

Via David Hain

Via Edwin Rutsch, Sarantis Chelmis, Lynnette Van Dyke, Saberes Sin Fronteras OVS

Nietzsche saw compassion as an utter failing. If you were really compassionate, you would wish sickness, difficulty, hardship, and woe on your friends, as these were the only things that helped them develop, making them stronger and smarter. With the advent of psychology, we began to see the environment’s influence and that of our upbringing. Loving parents for instance brought up compassionate children, while self-centered one’s bred selfish offspring.

Now, evolutionary science is weighing in, and finds that compassion may have developed as an evolutionary advantage which helped our species survive and thrive. This isn’t a new concept. Darwin himself in The Descent of Man argues that sympathy and compassion are some of humanities strongest traits. Instead, Darwin’s “Survival of the fittest” was taken to mean that humans are naturally competitive, and overwhelmingly motivated by self-interest.

Via David Hain

If given a choice between receiving 10 dollars today and 100 dollars tomorrow, most of us would likely opt for the latter. This kind of decision-making process is what psychologists call Delayed Gratification, and we practice it every time we consciously forgo immediate rewards to reap the benefits of a more distant goal.

Whenever we log out of Facebook to focus on our work, or when we choose to save our hard earned paychecks to travel instead of spending them on impromptu shopping sprees, we are choosing delayed gratification and executing our self-control.

Via David Hain

You are sitting at home and your mind keeps going over the negatives -- over and over. You keep reviewing what has happened to you -- perhaps a conflic
Via Bobby Dillard