The World's Best Book Summaries
What is “why power”? How can defining the reasons and motives behind your goals help you change your life for the better? According to Darren Hardy, the author of The Compound Effect, changing your life through the force of willpower is a dead undertaking. Instead of willpower, Hardy suggests you draw upon what he calls “why power.” Here is how finding your “why power” can help you in your quest for success.
How do you find your passion in life? Does everyone has a passion? And if so, how does one discover it? Everybody has a passion for something. According to Gretchen Rubin, the author of The Happiness Project, to find your passion, you must let go of the image of yourself you’re trying to project to others and consider what you actually like to do with your time. In this article, we’ll discuss how to find your passion, and then explore different ways to grow in your passion.
Who invented the group madness theory? Why do people behave irrationally—even violently—when in a crowd? Group madness is the idea that people lose their free will, reasoning, and restraint when in a crowd—everyone goes mad all at once and there’s no ideological motivation or justification involved. Group madness theory was invented by nineteenth-century French polymath Gustave LeBon. Keep reading to learn about Gustagrve LeBon’s group madness theory.
What is the problem with groupthink in the workplace? What are some ways groupthink can affect an organization? Groupthink suppresses dissenting opinions for the sake of social harmony and conformity. In the workplace, groupthink can become especially toxic because it discourages people to voice their ideas out of fear of disrupting social harmony. New ideas should always surface, regardless of what a fraction of people believe in and how threatening it can be to any portion of the company. Keep reading to learn about the causes and consequences of groupthink in the workplace.
What is neomania? Why do we experience it and how can it make us more fragile? Neomania is the obsession with any and all things new. This is a normal preoccupation for humans, but can lead to the development of fragile systems. Read more about neomania below.
Why do negative emotions tend to stack on one another? What caused the stigma around negative emotions? How can we escape this feedback loop from Hell? You know the feeling: you get angry, then you get angry at yourself for getting angry, then you’re angry about being angry over being angry. It’s the feedback loop from Hell. Continue reading to learn what causes the emotional feedback loop and how to escape it.
What is the meaning of optionality? How does optionality work and how can it improve choices and outcomes? A key aspect of antifragility is having a variety of choices available. Having many options maximizes your chances of achieving success in most situations, whether it’s political, economic, or another type of system. Read more about optionality, its meaning, and how it relates to antifragility.
What is behavior momentum? What role does momentum play in habit formation? Behavior momentum is a psychological metaphor based on the concept of momentum in physics. When you start practicing a new behavior, the progress is slow and the resistance is high. But when momentum kicks in, the new behavior becomes your second nature and it becomes easy to keep moving. Here is how you can put behavior momentum to work for you to help you establish and stick to new habits.
What do we know of the psychology of shame? What do people tend to be ashamed of? Do you think shameful feelings are grounded in reality or are they purely subjective? Although shame is a subjective emotion, the psychology of shame has more to do with other people than with ourselves because shame stems from the fear of judgment. Most people tend to harbor shameful feelings about things that wouldn’t be deemed scandalous by others. That said, there are also some things that would be deemed shameful by society in general. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at
What exactly is mindfulness? Can you cultivate mindfulness without meditating? Mindfulness is a state of mind in which you are fully aware and engaged with the present moment. While meditation is the most direct way to enter this state, there are other ways to cultivate mindfulness. Here are some other things you can do to cultivate mindfulness without meditating.