The World's Best Book Summaries
How can you turn mistakes into opportunities? How can you keep mistakes from stopping your progress? Edward B. Burger and Michael Starbird argue that failure is a powerful teaching tool and a vital part of achieving your goal. Don’t view mistakes as hindrances but instead as opportunities for growth. A mistake gives you a specific thing to address: Why was this wrong? Read more to learn why it’s okay to make mistakes.
How does the cycle of abuse work in an institution? Is “just following orders” a valid defense? In The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn doesn’t excuse the brutal actions of officers and guards. However, he argues that they were under incredible pressure from the state to participate in violence and believes that most acted out of fear of their leaders, the desire for safety, and the need to conform. Read more to learn about corruption in the Soviet gulag system.
What are the best ways to deal with stress? How can you prevent everyday stress from spiraling into anxiety and burnout? Knowing how to cope with stress effectively is an important skill for a fast-paced modern life. If you’re unable to tame your stress, you’ll constantly be living in a fight-or-flight state, which is bad for your mental health. Being chronically stressed is also associated with developing life-threatening conditions. With this in mind, here are three ways you can build resilience to buffer yourself against stress.
Do you want to learn about the psychology of weight loss? What are the key psychological factors that determine weight loss success? Weight loss advice tends to focus on the mechanics of weight loss (e.g., counting calories and exercising). However, weight loss is ultimately all about changing your behavior to achieve a desired goal, and behavior change is in the realm of psychology. In this article, we’ll talk about the psychological side of weight loss. Specifically, we’ll discuss why motivation isn’t that important when it comes to losing weight, how to form weight loss habits you can stick to, and
What is social alienation? How has it been used as an authoritarian tactic to gain power? One of the ways the Soviet Union controlled its citizens was via social alienation—conditioning them not to care about or connect with each other. This worked to repress dissident movements. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn discusses this tactic in The Gulag Archipelago. Continue reading to learn how the Soviet government exploited social alienation in the general population as well as in the gulags.
What exactly is “priming”? How can moving your body help you induce a desired emotional state? According to Tony Robbins, priming is creating your desired state of mind by stimulating your body. For instance, if you want to improve your focus, you could lean forward; if you want to feel happier, you could force a smile. Here’s how you can control your mind by controlling your body, according to Tony Robbins.
What is positive stress? In what ways can stress be good for you? Stress isn’t necessarily bad for you. Stress can actually be a good thing if it kicks in when you feel determined to achieve something or feel called upon to perform, but you don’t perceive your life to be at risk. Psychologist Kelly McGonigal refers to it as a “challenge stress response.” Keep reading to learn about the benefits of the challenge stress response, according to McGonigal.
What is “systems thinking”? In what way is systems thinking superior to the conventional cause-and-effect pattern of thinking? Systems thinking is a non-linear pattern of thinking that relies on feedback loops. Systems thinking enables you to see the big picture of any situation or event and predict how it will unfold in the future with better accuracy. Here’s why you should think in loops instead of lines.
What is the tend-and-befriend response? What is the evolutionary benefit of the tend-and-befriend response to danger? The tend-and-befriend response is an instinctual stress response triggered by a perception of threat to one’s loved ones. Evolutionary psychology suggests that the tend-and-friend response is a typical female response, mediated by the release of hormones that promote vigilance and attachment. Here’s how the tend-and-friend response works on the hormonal level.
How much did the public know about the Soviet gulags when they were in operation? How much did people fear them? Though the conditions in Soviet gulags were obviously inhumane, they were rarely discussed in public—let alone protested—prior to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s first novel about the camps in 1962. This silence, and the extent and brutality of the gulags, were made possible by the near-total control the government had over its citizens. Read more to learn how Soviet society was kept in the dark about the gulag system for so long.