Shortform Books

How to Motivate Your Team to Do Their Best

Do you feel like your team is disconnected from the goals of your organization? How can you bridge that disconnect and get your team excited about your vision? Many companies suffer a disconnect between the grand vision of the organization and the motivations of its individual team members. As a result, employees lack the motivation to consistently meet and exceed expectations. To bridge this disconnect, create and celebrate meaningful milestones that matter to your team members on a personal level. Here is how to motivate your team to do their best.

How Opportunity Costs Affect Decision-Making

What is an opportunity cost? How do opportunity costs affect decision-making? An opportunity cost is when you need to consider all options to put a decision into context. This affects your ability to make a decision, because it means you need to make a trade-off in order to make a decision. People don’t like making trade-offs, because they lead to three psychological blocks: indecision, emotional stress, and excessive justification. Continue reading to learn about opportunity costs, decision-making, and how to work through indecision.

Effective Learning Habits: The 4 Strategies You Need

How are your learning habits? Is procrastination one of them? You can make the most of your study time when you take control of your habits. A Mind for Numbers includes four strategies for changing your learning habits—and three ways to overcome the habit of procrastination. Keep reading to discover how to establish effective learning habits.

How to Craft Defining Moments in Everyday Life

Can you think of a defining moment from your past? What made it so? More generally, what makes a defining moment? There’s a common misconception that defining moments in life are large milestone events—such as the birth of your child—or simply happen as a matter of pure serendipity—such as going to a café and bumping into the woman you’ll marry. However, according to Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of The Power of Moments, most defining moments happen in small, everyday events, and what makes them stand out is how you shape them by investing your time, effort, and strategic

How to Become a Good Student: 5 Keys to Learning

Would you like to be a better learner? What study principles can serve you in school and for the rest of your life? If you’d like to learn how to become a good student, you can benefit from Barbara Oakley’s insightful and perhaps surprising strategies to get the most out of your studies. Her five principles include managing your competitive nature and using equation poetry. Continue reading to learn about these principles.

The Psychology of Peak Experiences

What is a peak experience? Can you think of a particularly memorable experience from your past? What made it a “peak experience”? Peak experiences transcend everyday patterns and impart positive feelings like delight, motivation, and engagement. Some of these positive peaks naturally occur in everyday life but they don’t have to be spontaneous. According to Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of The Power of Moments, you can engineer these experiences through what they call “elevation.” Here, Chip and Dan Heath explain the psychology behind peak experiences.

Confidence & Joy: The 2 Keys to Enjoying Sex

If we’re wired for it, why is that so many of us struggle to enjoy sex? What do you think is the secret to pleasurable, problem-free sex life? Despite all of the encouraging new information we may learn about our sex, that doesn’t automatically equate to problem-free, enjoyable sex life. Sex researcher Emily Nagoski argues that when it comes to enjoying sex, we must not only understand our own sexuality but also love it for what it is. In other words, we must find confidence and joy in ourselves. Here is what Nagoski has to say about finding enjoyment in sex.

Arousal Non-Concordance: What It Is & Why It Happens

What is arousal non-concordance? Is arousal always accompanied by a genital response? Arousal non-concordance is the mismatch between what our brains identify as sex-related and what we actually find appealing. To demonstrate with an example, imagine you’re watching a sex scene in a movie. The scene doesn’t appeal to you because you don’t think the actors are attractive. Despite this, you find yourself becoming physically aroused at the sight of sex on the screen. Here is why non-concordance happens and what to do about it.

How to Boost Your Self-Esteem if You’re Codependent

Do you suffer from codependency traits? What steps can you take to nurture your confidence? If you have a codependent personality, then you likely suffer from self-esteem issues as well. In her book Codependent No More, Melody Beattie provides advice for codependents to boost their self-esteem and explains why they may be lacking confidence in the first place. Here’s how to boost self-esteem.

The 3 Major Personal Life Choices We All Must Make

What are the biggest personal life choices that everybody must make? In what ways does expanded choice affect these decisions? In his book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains that there are three major personal choices that we all must make in life: relationships, religion, and identity. Schwartz says that these already difficult decisions are complicated by the fact that people today have more options than ever. Here’s an overview of Schwartz’s discussion on personal life choices.