How to Find Your Purpose in Life, According to a Therapist

A therapist explains ‘purpose anxiety,’ why finding meaning can feel overwhelming, and how everyday experiences can help you find it.

This is how great managers respond to disengaged employees

Why most managers turn to control when it comes to disengaged employees, and why they should try another approach instead.

The Strange Psychology Behind Always Letting Your Coffee Go Cold

The 'cold coffee theory' suggests constantly delaying small pleasures may reflect a broader habit of putting productivity and obligations first.

Note: Here's a one-paragraph summary of **[The Strange Psychology Behind Always Letting Your Coffee Go Cold](#rid:1854566222)**: The article explores the "cold coffee theory" — the idea that habitually letting your coffee go cold reflects a broader pattern of delaying small pleasures and putting productivity, obligations, and other people's needs ahead of your own well-being. The author describes…

Being in a crowd doesn’t make you part of a mindless mob | Psyche Ideas

It’s often assumed people lose their minds in a crowd. Research on riots, festivals and sports tells a more uplifting story

What we get wrong about dopamine

Sometimes dubbed the 'pleasure chemical', dopamine is often wildly misunderstood. Nikolay Kukushkin delves into what the much-discussed neurotransmitter really does to our brains.

Incentives are for losers

OR: you must look at this fish and go insane

critical part of human development—in fact, the most human part of human development—is to acquire a purpose

The NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony on life after basketball | Psyche Portraits

For 19 years, the NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony mastered the version of himself the world demanded. Retired from basketball, he confronts a harder question: who is he now?

Face it: you're a crazy person

OR: why your brain needs a boxcutter

Josh Hart is more than a glue guy. He’s an example of ‘the street sweeper’ mentality

Hart remains an example of the street sweeper mindset. He does not need the ball to make an impact, and he understands who he is.

“If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.”

How to walk through walls

On hacker mindset

Nobody Is Coming to Save Your Career

I waited years for someone to invest in my career. Nobody came.

The Power of Affirmation at Work

How leaders can build a culture where employees feel valued.

How to talk to yourself | Psyche Guides

Self-talk is a proven way to boost motivation, think clearly and process your emotions. These tips will help you use it well

I’ve trained Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for years. Here are 5 things you can learn from him

Dwayne Washington was a teacher at St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School, where Gilgeous-Alexander attended, and also his club coach.

The 2020 Commencement Speech You’ll Never Hear

The 2020 commencement speech you’ll never hear

Five small habits sports psychologists wish everyone did

Sports psychologists work with athletes to get their best performance on the field or court, but these tools are ones anyone can try.

The Self-Motivation Toolkit: How to Stay Curious and Committed

Self-motivation isn’t some mysterious force that you’re born with or without. It’s a skill that can be learned and developed. By understanding the science behind it, you can master the tools you need to stay motivated and make progress on the projects that matter to you.

The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior

Bertrand Russell’s magnificent Nobel prize acceptance speech.

Startling differences between humans and jukeboxes

OR: The secret geniuses of Wisconsin

How to drive a stake through your own good heart

OR: The demise of the Optimize Guys

Unlocking User Engagement: 8 Strategies to Drive Conversions in Web and App

Some apps or websites are beautiful, stylish, and well thought out in terms of UX, but have one problem: they are boring. These products can trigger both desire and resistance in the user at the same time. Here are a few tricks that will help solve this problem not from a…

Currencies (On Motivating Different People) (Ed Batista)

A theme in my practice is the leader who's seeking to increase employee motivation. In this context it's important to bear in mind the work of Frederick Herzberg, a 20th century psychologist who had a profound influence on our understanding...

8 Techniques in Persuasion from Antiquity

Persuasive rhetorical techniques from the speeches of Demosthenes in Classical Athens to Cicero in the Late Roman Republic.

Hacker News

If you want to get anything done, there are two basic ways to get yourself to do it. The first, more popular and devastatingly wrong option is to try to motivate yourself. The second, somewhat unpo…

Book Summary: Spark by Dr. Jeremy Dean | Sam Thomas Davies

This is a book summary of Spark by Dr. Jeremy Dean. Read this Spark summary to review key takeaways and lessons from the book.

Managing the “Invisibles”

Reprint: R1405G Even in an age of relentless self-promotion, some extremely capable professionals prefer to avoid the spotlight. “Invisibles” work in fields ranging from engineering to interpreting to perfumery, but they have three things in common: They are ambivalent about…

Reiss' 16 Human Needs

Here are the 16 human needs as defined by professor Steven Reiss.

A Crash Course in the Neuroscience of Human Motivation — LessWrong

[PDF of this article updated Aug. 23, 2011] • [skip to preface] …

The Elephant in the Brain — a new book by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson

Motivation theories

These are psychological theories about motivation.

How to Ask for Feedback

Asking for feedback is often fruitless. Why is that? In this article, we look at why most requests for feedback fail and how to effectively ask for feedback to improve.

How to Deliver Constructive Feedback in Difficult Situations

“We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.”―Marshall Rosenberg, As a founder, my biggest regrets revolve around not having difficu…

One simple way to build someone’s confidence: Ask for their advice

When we want people to change, we typically tell them what to do. But what if we flipped the script and asked them for their wisdom instead? Behavioral scientist Katy Milkman PhD explains the power…

Find the Right Words to Inspire Your Team

It’s important to understand that when you, as a leader, communicate with your team, using weaker words weakens your message and blunts your ability to inspire people. It’s not enough to just throw thoughts out there and hope for the best. You need to actively recommend ideas…

This is How to Repair a Toxic Work Culture

Feeling safe is the magic ingredient to a healthy work environment. In this article Nir discusses novel research on how to eliminate toxic work culture.

The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Jerry Seinfeld — A Comedy Legend’s Systems, Routines, and Methods for Success (#485) - The Blog of Author…

Please enjoy this transcript of my interview with entertainment icon Jerry Seinfeld (@jerryseinfeld). Jerry’s comedy career took off after his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1981. Eight years later, he teamed up with fellow comedian Larry David to…

Extrinsic Motivation: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices

The goal is to use extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in concert.

Why Losing Bonds Sports Fans

A study on team loyalty among fans shows that club ranking plays an important role in how they identify with one another.

The Science of Changing Someone's Mind

Don’t try to change someone else’s mind. Instead, help them find their own motivation to change.

How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model

B J Fogg is a Stanford professor who came up with a simple model of behavior that helps us understand why we take action or not take action at any given moment.

What Makes Someone a Fan?

It’s more than just ticket sales. Rich Luker, a social psychologist, studies fandom and why, for example, someone might get a tattoo of their favorite team.

Not Available - PsyBlog

Sorry, this ebook is no longer available for purchase.

Objections Are Goals

After I published test && commit || revert, I got a variety of responses on Twitter and on Hacker News. The Twitter comments were mostly…

This is how Google motivates its employees

Transparency and the ability to take risks are big factors.

How to Motivate Frontline Employees

One question that has long plagued organizations is how to create high-performing front lines — without unexpected consequences. The solution may be simple: Focus on motivating frontline workers. An experiment with a national retail organization found that transforming the…

People Don’t Buy Products, They Buy Better Versions of Themselves

What Apple, Samsung, and Starbucks learned from Pepsi

Publicly credit your employees

Do Quests Not Goals

South Island, New Zealand, a.k.a. Middle-Earth If you were to make a list of what you want to get done this week, it would mostly consist of things you have to do. Get groceries. Book a hair appointment. Get back to so-and-so. Read that health and safety thing for work. If you…

Why trolls extremists and others spread conspiracy theories they don’t believe

These people share conspiracy theories to promote conflict, cause chaos, recruit and radicalize potential followers, make money, harass, or even just to get attention.

They are opportunists.

Being Empathetic Is Easier when Everyone’s Doing It

Research is revealing the key to motivating empathy—and making it stick