Lesson No. 1: It’s not about how fast you can go.
Your body’s amazing reaction to water
Journalist James Nestor explores the science of the “mammalian dive reflex,” the phenomenon by which water triggers an immediate decrease in heart rate.
Ten Steps Towards Happiness - Hintjens.com
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Opinion | There’s a Good Reason You Can’t Concentrate
Just as we changed our thinking around physical fitness, we need to change our attitude toward cognitive fitness.
Overcoming Bias : Tiptoe Or Dash To Future?
To test who should TA elite classes, new physics grad students at U Chicago in ’81 were asked to pick a physics problem and explain its solution to the group. I did well by picking the question: should you walk fast or slow if you want to get the least water on your front while moving a certain distance in the rain. The answer is: move as fast as you can.
How to be perfectly unhappy
This comic was inspired by essay from Augusten Burroughs: How to live unhappily ever after. In addition to the essay, I highly recommend reading his books. It's also been described in psychology as flow.
Learning From Older Adults: An Intergoal Compatibility Account for Successful Happiness Pursuit
Academic Abstract People want to pursue happiness but often fail, a phenomenon known as the paradox of pursuing happiness. The mechanisms underlying this paradox remain elusive. Age differences in happiness—specifically that older adults appear more successful in pursuing happiness (the emotion paradox of aging)—provide valuable insights into effective happiness pursuit. Drawing on this literature, we propose an intergoal compatibility account to interpret both paradoxes through the lens of intergoal interactions, an intuitively critical yet underexplored factor in existing interpretations. This account asserts that greater compatibility (fewer conflicts and greater facilitation) between happiness pursuit and other important personal goals enhances the effectiveness of happiness pursuit, and such compatibility can be enhanced through contextual influences (e.g., age-graded developmental tasks) and strategic self-regulation (e.g., goal adjustments). This account generates testable predictions and practical implications for enhancing happiness pursuit across the lifespan. Public Abstract Why do people often struggle to achieve happiness? And why are older adults happier than younger adults, even though they face more losses in life? While these questions have drawn extensive attention, they remain puzzling. A crucial yet insufficiently explored factor in successful happiness pursuit is intergoal compatibility —the extent to which the pursuit of happiness aligns or conflicts with other important personal goals. For younger adults, the demands of age-related developmental tasks (e.g., educational and career aspirations) often create conflicts with the pursuit of happiness, diminishing its effectiveness. Conversely, in older adults, happiness becomes more prioritized and compatible with other important personal goals, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of pursuing happiness. A lesson we can learn from older adults is to pursue happiness in ways compatible with other important personal goals.
The Case for Lowering Your Expectations
It may be the key to happiness and sustainable performance
Finding joy in the little things really can benefit your wellbeing – a scientist explains
Enjoying a cup of coffee or performing an act of kindness are some examples of the everyday ‘micro-joys’ that can boost your wellbeing.
Logarithmic Scales of Pleasure and Pain
Rating, ranking, and comparing peak experiences suggest the existence of long tails for bliss and suffering.
A Deceptively Simple Way to Find More Happiness at Work (Published 2019)
You don’t need to change everything about your job to see major benefits. A few changes here and there can be all you need.
A psychologically rich life: Beyond happiness and meaning.
The downside of being happy
Nobody likes to be sad, but it can have a powerful and positive effect.
Top Performers Have a Superpower: Happiness
Employee well-being and happiness are surprisingly powerful predictors of performance.
Walt McDonald: "Advice I Wish I'd Been Told"
Over the years, I've heard good advice from others; I wish they had told me sooner. Probably they did, but I didn't listen. What I'm about to say is what I constantly urge myself to do. I offer these comments to save us time, to help us strip off some ankle weights of language. The difference between second place and first place in the high jump, between the silver and the gold, is only about an inch. Ah, but "How glorious that inch / And that split-second longer in the air before the fall" (Robert Francis, "Excellence").
Works in Progress: The Long Journey to Doing Good Better
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know. — Albert Einstein
How your bank balance buys happiness: The importance of “cash on hand” to life satisfaction.