Betterment

There’s a better cause right around the corner. It might not work. You’ll never be able to keep all the promises. It can’t last forever. We’re all going to die. It’s n…

“It’s simple.” “It’s complicated.” When you talk to someone about your new idea, they’re going to realize right away that it’s one or the other. The …

Managers have to wait for permission, because management requires authority. But in every area of our lives, if we choose to lead, we can lead. Simply by beginning. It might be that few will choose…

You have more than a billion choices online. With just a few clicks, you could be just about anywhere. Thanks for reading this today. What did you have for lunch yesterday? Of all the lunches in al…

Life can get difficult. Especially the middle of life -- yup, the famous midlife crisis. How do avert one? Here's what the science says...

One sort of job requires people to follow a recipe. Another, better sort of job requires people to understand the recipe. If you understand it, that means you can change it. You have resilience and…

As another year draws to a close, we’ll be taking the next week off from publishing new content to enjoy the holidays and catch up on all the behind-the-scenes tasks that go into running a website and podcast. While we’re away, check out some of our best and most popular content of the year. Articles […]

Sometimes, people with every advantage act as if they don’t have what they deserve. They’re ungracious, unkind and even vulgar about it. The first problem is that it earns them little i…

As makers, software engineers should adopt these 7 essential habits.

If you open a roadside motel, expect that tired and demanding budget travelers will arrive. If you run a fancy restaurant, don’t be surprised if people will angle and cajole and lie to get a …

My obsession with how we get good at things continues. Here I review seven more books that dive deep into teaching and learning.

If you sell your time as the measure of the work you do, the work is over when the shift ends. Clock in, clock out. If you sell your output as the measure of the work, your work is over when the in…

Dig deep or dive right in? How much background knowledge do you need before you should start practicing a skill?

“If it were only nicer out, I’d be happier.” That’s just a step away from, “If the current world crisis would abate, then I’d be able to concentrate.” Whic…

One of my favorite books is a two-thousand-year-old text of Hindu scripture called the Bhagavad Gita. I’ve known about the Gita since I was in high school. For example, I knew that Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, quoted the Gita when he saw the bomb tested for the first time: “I am […]

If you’re asking someone to work for you, help you or advise you, it turns out that being specific about what success looks like is an obvious way to get better results. If everyone can agree…

There’s one best, sure-fire way to keep your house neat and tidy: Regularly invite people over to it. Whenever you’re anticipating a visit from guests, finding the motivation to get your place in order ceases to be a problem. Toilet paper rolls move from the floor to the holder; shipping boxes get taken to the […]

New hires can earn higher salaries, which could pay off to switch jobs if you find out a coworker makes more money than you.

Piano tuners have a vital job… and very few pianists do that work themselves. Who maintains your tools? Perhaps it’s a computer with all the software that goes with it. Do you have a wo…

Outsized rewards go to people who figure out how to master a skill or a point of view, and then commit to doing it again and again. This insight helps us with two things: if you want a certain kind…

Thinkism is the fallacy that problems can be solved by greater intelligence alone. Thinkism is a fallacy that is often promoted by smart guys who like to think. In their own heads, they think their own success is due to

In most pyramids, the top gets all the attention, but it’s the foundation that truly matters. Marketing is no exception. The base of the pyramid, the most important layer, is INTENTION. What …

If you’re considering putting an unmarked key into a drawer filled with keys, you’re better off simply throwing it out instead. Not only won’t you be able to find that unmarked ke…

It’s hard not to open a book or scan a news site without hearing about burnout. Workers are burned out. Parents are burned out. Everyone is burned out. As the word denotes, and it’s popularly conceived, burnout is a function of being overextended, overwhelmed, and overtaxed. It’s a function of too much. Too much work. […]

A collection of Jack’s London’s quotes. Read a few when you’re feeling restless and sick of drifting through life.

Modern agile practices in software development are usually a synonym with well-defined chunks of work over a specific timeline, usually a 2-week sprint. What this implies is that by having a fixed timeline to work on, it also limits the amount of work that a team can deliver in that fixed period of time. So, it becomes imperative that people work on what can deliver the most impact. However, knowing how to choose exactly what to work on can be a bit of a tricky question that can arise when using these types of practices. Immediately, several questions can arise such as:

It’s not the same as being rich. Rich is always relative. Compared to your great-grandparents, we’re impossibly, supernaturally rich. We have access to information and technology that w…

Does it feel like the world is out to get you? Does it seem like everyone you know is an a-hole? Does it feel like your life is going nowhere and that you’ll always be a loser? If you answered “yes” to one or more of the above questions, then you might be a miserable […]

Who am I to walk up to someone at a party and introduce myself? Who are you to start a new project? Who are they to give a talk on the main stage? Don’t raise your hand–someone else mig…

Emotional intelligence develops with a clear understanding of our own emotions. Our team of experts recommends books that can teach you the basics.