Sharing what I have learned from what I have read: A blog by Joe Abittan
I don't think about it as much any more, but several years ago I was nearly obsessed with the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. I ran cross country in high school and at the time I was very motivated by winning medals, winning a state championship, and impressing my friends and family. After graduating … Continue reading External Versus Internal Goals
"The evidence is persuasive," writes Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow, "activities that impose high demands on System 2 require self-control, and the exertion of self-control is depleting and unpleasant. Unlike cognitive load, ego depletion is at least in part a loss of motivation." Yesterday I wrote about our misconceptions regarding individual self-control. … Continue reading Self-Control Depletion, Continued
A book I haven't read, that has been on a reading list of mine for a while, is Simon Sinek's book Start With Why. While I haven't read the book, I am familiar with Sinek's ideas and have listened to him in several podcasts and TED talks. At the root of the book is the … Continue reading The Drug War’s Goals
When we imagine who we are going to be in the future, what we want to accomplish, and how we are going to reach our goals, we see ourselves as a super version of who we are now. We imagine that we can focus and achieve anything we set our mind to, at least if … Continue reading Limited Willpower
"Slumps are normal," writes Dan Pink in his book When, "but they're also short-lived. Rising out of them is as natural as falling into them. Think of it as if it were a cold: It's a nuisance, but eventually it'll go away, and when it does, you'll barely remember it." Pink's quote about slumps … Continue reading Slumps
I'm a big fan of college basketball, and I really enjoyed the section of Dan Pink's book When that discussed midpoints. Pink shared interesting research of college basketball teams which showed that teams that were down by one point at halftime were more likely to win the game than the team that was up by one … Continue reading Midpoints
The last few weeks I have been wasting time with thing that are not meaningful. My time and attention have been eaten away by things that don't add value to my life and leave me feeling slightly guilty. This morning I recognized, when I took advantage of an extra 30 minutes in my schedule, … Continue reading Keep What’s Meaningful
A book that is on my reading list for the future is called Start With Why by Simon Sinek, you can find a great Ted Talk from him with the same title to get the idea of the book. People, businesses, and groups all need to figure out why they do what they do if … Continue reading Why Do You Do What You Do?
In his book The Ego is the Enemy, author Ryan Holiday writes the following, "You must practice seeing yourself with a little distance, cultivating the ability to get out of your own head. Detachment is a sort of natural ego antidote. It's easy to be emotionally invested and infatuated with your own work. Any and … Continue reading Seeing Yourself With A Little Distance
The Coaching Habit is Michael Bungay Stanier's book about how to become a more effective coach and help the people you work with, manage, or coach to become the best version of themselves possible. His book is full of both theory and practical applications, looking at psychology and building on his own coaching experiences and experiments. … Continue reading Asking Others What They Really Want