The conventional path of accumulating optionality gives you reassuring but fragile options. In contrast, the best options — which involve lots of experimenting and tinkering — may feel riskier in the short term but will help you thrive through uncertainty.
If you add up the number of hours at your disposal during a given week, the total will be the same for every single living human being on the planet, whatever their occupation: 168 hours per week. Remove the weekends, and that’s 120 hours. Get some sleep, and you’re left with at most 90 hours … Read More
We live in a society where speed has become a measure of performance. We try to quickly go through our to-do lists, keep up with fast-evolving market demands, and rapidly ship product updates. Sure, we’re productive, in the oldest sense of the term — from Latin producere, which means “to bring forth”. But it somehow … Read More
In the past, workplaces were filled with experts who each knew a lot about one specific area. The changing scope of businesses, with more fluidity between roles and responsibilities, later led to the rise of generalists — individuals who are capable across a lot of areas but do not need in-depth knowledge of any of … Read More
We are all juggling multiple obligations, roles, and responsibilities across our personal and professional lives. Multitasking seems like it should be the perfect solution when faced with multiple demands and limited time. Doing two things at the same time is faster than doing them one after the other… Right? I’m a freelance medical copywriter. When … Read More
Once upon a time, an organization could take on a young, new employee, and know that with slow and steady development, that individual would loyally climb the career ladder, remaining with them until retirement age. Nowadays, the concept of a career for life has become outdated. Our professional lives are becoming increasingly squiggly, with a … Read More
We all know that children learn through imitation. They observe and then mimic their parents when learning how to speak, perform new motor skills, and interact with others. What you may not know is that mimetic learning is a lifelong process. In adulthood as well, the way we behave is heavily influenced by how others … Read More
Unfinished tasks can feel overwhelming, leading to procrastination and slowing your progress. On the other hand, the annoyance of having all of these unfinished tasks on your to-do list may motivate you to tackle them at the next opportunity. These contradictory experiences are due to two effects: the Zeigarnik effect and the Ovsiankina effect. A … Read More
Servant leadership may sound antithetic. Isn’t the role of a leader to guide and manage, rather than follow and serve? However, being a leader and being of service are not only compatible, their combination can lead to better outcomes than the sum of their parts. Instead of blindly following organisational goals, servant leaders prioritise the … Read More
You are likely to spend around 90,000 hours at work over your lifetime. If that number doesn’t seem big already, that’s ten years of your life. Depending on where you work, you may have little agency over the design of your workplace — hospital workers and flight attendants are rarely consulted when it comes to … Read More