Productive Stress
What a Soccer Shoot Out Can Teach Us About Pressure and Life
This past weekend, England fell short in capturing the European Championship with a heartbreaking loss against Italy. England has never won the European Championship. After 120 minutes of soccer, the game remained deadlocked at 1-1. That meant turning to the most anxiety-inducing invention of modern sports: the penalty kick shootout. A brutal mano-a-mano, shooter vs.…
Read MoreWorking on the Weekend Depends On How You Define Work
“Unpopular opinion: the best thing young people can do early in their careers is to work on the weekends,” tweeted a woman named Jordan Kong, who reports working in tech and splitting her time between San Francisco and Miami. “Disagree. Deadlift. Take long walks. Read fiction. Listen to music,” responded yours truly. The truth, of…
Read MoreHow Boredom Can Lead to Breakthrough
What do you do when you feel bored? There was a time in the past when the answers may have been diverse and varied. Read a book, call a friend, go for a walk, play a game, or if you’re a child, make up an entire adventure. Now, we all inevitably have the same reaction:…
Read MoreMoney is Not the Best Motivator (Here’s What Is)
Anyone who tells you that money isn’t important is either delusional or has so much money they’ve become blind to how important it actually is. That said, above a certain amount—between 75K and 100K with adjustments in both directions for geography, according to research conducted by the Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman—additional money is not…
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