The Anxiety-Curiosity Switch: How to Redirect Your Mental Energy for Creativity
The anxiety-curiosity switch is the process of redirecting the mental energy that causes creative paralysis into curiosity-driven exploration.
Thinking Out Loud: How to Use Your Voice in Knowledge Work
Used well, thinking out loud can sharpen how we work and how we think. By speaking and using our voice, knowledge workers can improve clarity, creativity, and decision-making.
Why Writing Is the Best Tool for Personal Growth
Writing is wonderful. Thanks to the generation effect, it helps you better remember what you read – even if it’s just by taking notes – and it’s good for your mental health. Building a writing habit is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself as a maker. As Anaïs Nin would … Read More
Your Brain on Cortisol: How to Rewire Your Stress Response and Reclaim Your Energy
You’re working late on a deadline when someone emails about an urgent meeting tomorrow. Within seconds, your body prepares you for action and your cortisol levels rise. Cortisol isn’t inherently problematic; it’s a sophisticated chemical messenger that helped our ancestors survive countless threats. Yet in today’s environment this evolutionary advantage has become a potential liability. … Read More
Springtime Experiments: Cultivating Curiosity in the Season of Change
A simple way to make the most of spring is by conducting springtime experiments, so you can use this season as an intentional period of personal growth.
How to lead like a scientist
Leading like a scientist begins with a fundamentally different relationship with uncertainty. While leaders traditionally view uncertainty as a threat, research shows that teams that openly acknowledge what they don’t know consistently outperform those projecting false confidence.
The Comedown Effect: Understanding the Emotional Aftermath of Achievement
A month ago, my book Tiny Experiments finally made its way into the world after years of work. Launch day brought a flurry of notifications and messages of support, along with that strange feeling of seeing something that existed only in my mind now in other people’s hands. There’s something surreal about thousands of hours … Read More
Taking Note of Nature: City-Friendly Tiny Experiments to Connect with the Natural World
Many studies show the positive impact immersion in nature can have on your mental health. How can we go about getting these benefits when living in an urban environment?
Productive at Work, Paralyzed at Home: What to Do When You’re in a Functional Freeze
You excel at your job, and yet when you return home, a strange paralysis sets in. This is a functional freeze – a state where you’re performing well in your duties but are unable to invest energy in your own growth.
The Liberating Effect of Uncertainty
When I was seven, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I collected rocks and fossils, memorized dinosaur names, and could tell you exactly which period the Stegosaurus lived in (it’s the Late Jurassic, in case you’re wondering). Then it was veterinarian, astronaut, fashion designer – each passion consuming me completely until the next one came … Read More