Betterment

Why are we more likely to get tasks done than to take on new initiatives? Checking something off a to-do list requires far less emotional energy than adding something to the list was in the first p…

Imagine a curve. Amazon is on the left, hyper-efficient, where you can buy a nice handbag made in China for $15. Hermes is on the right, hyper-inefficient

After half a century working there, Joe Holtz, the director of Brooklyn’s Park Slope Co-op, one of the oldest food co-ops in the country is stepping down.

You are someone’s ancestor. Most immediately, you are the ancestor of the you of tomorrow. That’s why we don’t spend every penny in our bank account, why we put leftovers in the f…

There’s a hidden story hanging over all of our heads, subtly influencing everything we do, say, and think. Think about it – what brings people to their

How often do we assume that popular things are good, and that good things become popular? If your work doesn’t catch on, does that mean it wasn’t good? In almost every field, people wit…

“Ease” isn’t the same as “easy.” In fact, they’re often at odds. Easy work is hardly worth our effort. It can deaden us instead of giving us the chance to bring …

Successful software is buggy software.

Walk into an office, and the person behind the desk begins an interaction. You respond (or react). They respond (or react) in turn. Answer the phone. Caller ID tells you who it is–are you smi…

Making any new habit is not usually one habit, but many. Not a cue-response relationship, but a collection of flexible strategies that deal with most scenarios reality throws at you. When you’ve done that, you’re acquired a kind of expertise—not of a subject, but of yourself.

Intuition is simply a theory we haven’t yet put into words. Once we write down and share our intuition, it becomes more resilient, focused and useful to others.

23&Me has been dominating headlines lately, going from a $6 billion unicorn to a penny stock. It will likely be delisted from the NASDAQ soon.  The

Time alone offers unique psychological benefits, once you learn to embrace these quiet moments rather than escape them

Somewhere along the way, you realize that no one will teach you how to live your own life — not your parents or your idols, not the philosophers or the poets, not your liberal arts education …

My new book (out today) contains more than 500 questions. Here are some to get you started: Who is this project for? Who is my smallest viable audience? What change do I seek to make with this proj…

What does it take to change your life?  Sometimes, not all that much. As our old friend, Brian Solis, writes in his new book, “Mindshift, “A better

Floundering is flopping around and making little progress. A Dutch word for getting mired and lost. Foundering is what we call it when the ship goes down. It’s an ancient French word based on…

Collaborating on documents and projects has never been easier, which is why we screw it up so often. Sharing and interacting with intent will save you heartache and wasted time. Some things to cons…

The human mind is designed to predict, but uncertainty helps us thrive.

This rarely comes up in focus group data. It doesn’t come up when a school talks to students, or a conductor asks the orchestra. It doesn’t come up when the gym owner surveys potential …

Culture is: “People like us do things like this.” We might even have a chance to choose our group. Hipsters do this, hippies do that. People in this town wear this outfit, students at t…

It's really happening! I mean, I even updated Hack Education with the news. Here'a little bit of what my book-writing process looks like: I read. A lot. I read stuff online, sure, sure. I already lament not having access to academic journal articles. So for now, I'm reading books – books

From the creation of the Soviet Union in 1917 until its dissolution in 1991, Pravda, its largest newspaper, was the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist

Do you see the defaults? The question, “What are things like around here?” has two possible answers. When a new idea or opportunity arrives, your organization says yes, unless there&#82…

But not all costs are the same. There are three kinds of costs that people get confused about, but understanding them, really understanding them–in your bones–unlocks opportunity. Oppor…

What’s the most memorable line from the Harris-Trump debate?  “They’re eating the dogs.” This bizarre claim born from a single regretted social media

Habitats of the mind: Your Zettelkasten is a thinking environment.