understand + work backwards from the root goal • don’t rely too much on permission or encouragement • make success inevitable • find your angle • think real hard • reflect on your thinking
Having a Growth Mindset Makes It Easier to Develop New Interests
Much innovation happens when people combine knowledge from different disciplines. But some people are more likely to reach outside of their areas of interest and expertise than others. Researchers investigated why by studying people’s “mindsets” about interest and their impact. They found people vary — some people lean more toward the view that interests are inherent in a person, simply waiting to be awakened or found (a fixed mindset of interest). Others lean more toward the view that interests can be developed and that, with commitment and investment, they can grow over time (a growth mindset of interest). They reasoned that these mindsets might affect how open people are to new or different interests, whether they be in arts, science, business, athletics, or other areas. In studies, they found that students with a stronger growth mindset reported being more open to areas outside of their interests than those with a stronger fixed mindset. Their research also suggests that a growth mindset may promote resilience in maintaining interest when a subject becomes challenging and that a growth mindset may be cultivated.
Intrinsic Motivation: A deep dive
I dig into the research on intrinsic motivation. Super interesting subject. Long but hopefully quite thorough.
Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER - FROM THE 2025 BBC REITH LECTURER A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE SUMMER 2025 'Gives us hope, humour and guidance at a time when all are in short supply' TIMOTHY SNYDER 'The rare read that might actually help you become a better person' ADAM GRANT THE ANTIDOTE TO APATHY FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR RUTGER BREGMAN Every day we're bombarded with methods, mantras and life hacks that promise us wellness and prosperity - while time and talent remain some of our most squandered resources. The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job: are you making the most of them? Do you truly believe in what you do, day in, day out? What if you want to do something more with your limited time on the planet? Internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman shows us that with moral ambition - the will to make the world a wildly better place - we can be both idealistic and successful, and change the world along the way. Uncovering the qualities that made the great change-makers of history so effective, he shows how we too can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to inequality to the next pandemic. With moral ambition, we can do more than be on the right side of history: we can make history itself. This book won't make your life easier, but it should make it more meaningful. The question is: what will you do with it? As the 2025 BBC Reith Lecturer, Rutger Bregman will present 'Moral Revolution', a four part series: -A Time of Monsters -How To Start a Moral Revolution -A Realist's Utopia -Zoom Out Available to listen on BBC Four
A revolution in our sense of self | Nick Chater
Psychologists have tried to plumb the depths of human motivation to make sense of our behaviour. But our inner mental world is a fiction, sustained by constant improvisation
Add these 4 words to your vocabulary right now, experts say: They can make you more influential at work
Incorporating a handful of simple words into your vocabulary can make you more persuasive, according to a Wharton professor, a Harvard study and more.
The Ultimate Guide to Writing
Think better. Grow your audience. Accelerate your career.
how to look at social media
a guide for regaining agency in the algorithmic milieu
The DevRel Path to Success: Awareness, Enablement, Engagement — Mary Thengvall - Community Builder
Whether you’re trying to figure out what type of Developer Relations professional to hire or trying to decide which of your team members is responsible for which tasks, having a clear framework with which to divide the responsibilities and focus our work is important. In this blogpost we’ll talk abo
Effective Altruism’s Bait-and-Switch: From Global Poverty To AI Doomerism
The Effective Altruism movement Effective Altruism (EA) is typically explained as a philosophy that encourages individuals to do the “most good” with their resources (money, skills). Its “effective…
Foundational research — Passing the Message Stick
We can build widespread support for self-determination and justice when we lead with our strength and solutions.
The Toolbox Strategy: How To Become Uniquely Valuable
After having just dropped out of university, at 19-years-old; I received a line of advice that changed how I made every decision in my career…
Expecting researcher taste and judgement to become increasingly valuable (this is from Anthropic's Opus 5.5 system card) anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5-system-card
