Further
Health - Wealth - Wisdom
I’ve discovered something from writing 41 feature articles for Further over the previous 41 weeks … a potential book. A book about the intersection of happiness, motivation, and personal growth. It wasn’t my intention to write a book. It’s almost become a badge of honor that I’m known for teaching people to write, yet seem …
further: feature When it comes to convincing others to act in the way you’d hope, both heart and mind need to be involved. Of course “heart” is also in our heads, as an emotional connection rather than a purely rational one. If you’ve had any sales training, studied copywriting, or explored ancient principles of rhetoric, …
further: feature If you want to lose weight, controlling what you eat is much more effective than exercise. So it’s no wonder that at any given time, at least one in five American adults is on a diet. And yet, research featured in this month’s cover story for Scientific American Mind reveals that most people …
further: feature If you want to lose weight, controlling what you eat is much more effective than exercise. So it’s no wonder that at any given time, at least one in five American adults is on a diet. And yet, research featured in this month’s cover story for Scientific American Mind reveals that most people …
further: feature You’re a solidly rational person, right? No magical thinking for you, no sir. For example, you don’t: Abide by the “2-second rule” when dropping food on the floor. Wear your “lucky” jersey, shorts, or socks for sporting events. Knock on wood when you feel you’re “tempting fate.”
further: feature What does it mean to be happy? Happiness is at essence the experience of positive feelings. Feeling more positive emotions than negative ones would seemingly make for a happy person. But happiness is also a highly subjective experience. The way we contrast or amplify positive events compared to negative ones can lead to …
further: feature Take a moment to reflect on your life so far. When you do, it’s inherently in the form of a story, right? Not only when we recite that narrative to others, but also in how we personally construct who we are. We’ve explored in that past that our sense of self is an …
further: feature Back in the 1950s, a bedridden man faced certain death from cancer of the lymph nodes. Tumors the size of oranges had invaded the man’s neck, groin, chest, and abdomen. The prognosis was certainly grim. The only long shot hope was a new experimental cancer drug called Krebiozen.
further: feature Working too hard is not good for us, and we know it. Ramifications ranging from burnout to dangerous levels of life-shortening stress are well known, and yet we often toil away at our desks regardless. And then research provides the bitter irony – the longer hours you work, the lower your productivity. Anything …
further: feature It’s often hard to accept that our limitations are largely in our own heads. Personally, every leap forward in my adult life has been the simple result of a change in the way I think. A growth mindset is not usually characterized by unlimited forward progress, but more like an irregular staircase of …
further: feature Have you heard of the Yale Study of Goals? Here are the essentials of the research, as recited by author Oliver Burkeman: In 1953, students graduating from Yale University were asked by researchers whether or not they had formulated specific, written-down goals for the rest of their lives. Only 3% of them said …
further: feature Remember life as a kid? You could play with a cardboard box or a pile of dirt and have a grand time. You didn’t need a reason. Research shows that the main thing that motivates us as adults is extrinsic motivation, which is a fancy way of saying we pursue activities that we …