The science of setting and reaching goals tells us that the best goals go beyond SMART. Use the acronym SMARTEST Goals to help you reach your goals.
GO Beyond SMART to SMARTEST Goals
Why Games? Why are games great for learning?
“Why games? Why are games a good way to teach something?” I asked to kickoff the breakout session after my keynote at the International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) Leadership Summit. I was honestly blown away at the amazing answers: “All games teach.” “Because play is how we naturally learn, it’s how we’ve always learned throughout human history, read more…
Train Your Brain: Use This Tool to Boost Thriving at Work
This strategy is simple, free, and effective. Train your brain by using visualizations to help you boost thriving at work.
Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson (Book Review)
Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals focuses on goals: how we set them, how we reach them, and why we fail. This book is an extension of social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson’s popular Harvard Business Review blog post: Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. The things people do to succeed are: 1. Be specific 2. Seize the read more…
My review of the book “Character Strengths Matter” by Kathryn Britton and Shannon Polly
What’s even better than an inspiring, innovative, and useful book that helps us thrive? One that also supports a good cause. Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life, edited by Kathryn Britton and Shannon Polly, is just such a book. Character Strengths Matter explores strengths: those things we do very well and that energize us. The read more…
Truly Tap Your Strengths To Do Better Work and Enjoy It More!
Strengths = Talent + Energy At Happy Brain Science we teach individuals and organizations how to Truly Tap Strengths by focusing on examining beliefs that may be inhibiting strengths, exploring ways to discover strengths, and strategizing ways to act and build on strengths. A strength, as defined by strengths researchers, is a behavior that you read more…
Book Review: Incognito by David Eagleman
David Eagleman is a very smart person with an infectious enthusiasm for how the brain works. He does an excellent job describing how much of what happens in our brain is typically beyond our conscious awareness, like changing lanes on the highway, for example. In Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, Eagleman spends a significant portion read more…
My Gluten-Free Year, and Why We Need Science
Why do we need science? Because even smart, skeptical people like me and you can be fooled pretty easily by circumstances. My health is generally great, but I’ve had issues with my skin (eczema) most of my life, and more recently was having some “gut troubles” that I’ll certainly spare you the details about! I read more…
Collaboration through Candid Conversation (Book Review: Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull)
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull is literally and figuratively an exceptional book. I made a rare exception to my steady diet of books about science to read Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. Normally I prefer science to people’s opinions based on experience (including my own), but I made an read more…
Book Review: Flourish by Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman helped launch positive psychology. In Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, he redefines it. The book is important, and strongly recommended for anyone interested in deeply understanding positive psychology. That said, it is not a self-help book, and may not be terribly useful to the average person who wants to be flourishing more in life! read more…