Curious Minds at Work

We live and work in a digital world where getting interrupted by communication tools is the norm. That means we shift our attention at least every 47 seconds. Then it takes us about 30 minutes to get back on task. At the same time, we continually interrupt ourselves – looking things up, tracking information down.

While some view this as a problem to be solved, Gloria Mark sees it simply as a new reality. And she believes we’re using old language and frameworks to navigate it. Things like flow and sustained focus, when neither our brains nor our work allows for these kinds of solutions. Instead, she believes we need to lean into what our brains need, including taking social media breaks. She also believes we need to organize our day around what she calls kinetic attention.

Gloria Mark’s book, Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, gives the attention space a much-needed update. There are tips you’ll immediately want to put into practice.

Episode Links

How to Restore Our Dwindling Attention Spans

A Psychology Expert Shares the 3 Things She Always Does to Boost Her Brain Energy

The Island of Lost Trees by Elif Shafak

Interview with Nick Carr

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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As humans, we have certain default settings that help us navigate the world. Yet those same default settings make us vulnerable to fraud and deception.

For example, our ability to focus helps us concentrate on what’s right in front of us. But it also prevents us from seeing what’s missing. For example, we’re more willing to believe a presumed investment expert who touts a winning track record without thinking about the losses he never mentions.

Our brains also rely on past experiences to guide our behavior. The upside is that it conserves energy and prevents us from having to relearn things like tying our shoes or driving to the store. Unfortunately, it predisposes us to act without thinking.

That’s why Daniel Simons has written a book called Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken in and What We Can Do about It. In it, he points out four habits that can put us at risk, and he shares ways to overcome them. He also points how others can leverage our very human tendencies to deceive us.

Talking to Dan helped me see another side to some of my default settings and how I can stay vigilant, so I don’t get fooled.   

Episode Links

Failures of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness

Failure to Detect Changes to People During Real-World Interaction

The Last Improv Show

Interview with Woo-Kyoung Ahn

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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We’re often told that saying yes to everything will be the key to our success. It’ll strengthen our relationships, enhance our reputation, and help us achieve our goals.

But what if the reverse were true? What if learning how to say no is the game changer? What if mastering this skill is the way to achieve our goals?

Vanessa Patrick has written a book on the subject titled, The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No That Puts You in Charge of Your Life.

There are so many factors that influence whether we achieve our goals, things like focus, persistence, and resilience. After reading Vanessa’s book, I’d add knowing how and when to say no.

Episode Links

Getting to Gutsy: Using Personal Policies to Enhance (and Reclaim) Agency in the Workplace

How to Say “No”: Conviction and Identity Attributions in Persuasive Refusal

Juggling Work and Home Selves: Low Identity Integration Feels Less Authentic and Increases Unethicality

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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Aiming for perfection seems like a noble goal. It’s like we’re holding ourselves to a higher standard or standing out from the crowd.

But striving for perfection means working toward the impossible. And the cost to our mental and physical health can be enormous.

London School of Economics Professor, Thomas Curran, experienced the impact of perfectionism firsthand. As a recovering perfectionist, he’s made the field the focus of his research.

Curran’s research led to his book, The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough. In it, he explains the psychology behind it, calls out cultural messages that reinforce it, and shares steps we can take to overcome it.

Episode Links

Perfectionists Need to Embrace Failure

The Rise of Perfectionism – and the Harm It’s Doing Us All

Understanding Perfectionism and Impostor Syndrome with Dr. Thomas Curran

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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For many, work is the centerpiece of our lives. It’s not only a source of status and fulfillment, but also central to our identity.

But what do we miss out on when hold these expectations of our work? What does it cost us?

That’s the question Simone Stolzoff asks in his book, The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work. In answering this question, he explains the drivers that got us here, the reasons society and culture reinforce them, and what life might look like if we reframed the role of work in our lives. He challenges us to recognize who benefits by us making work the whole of our lives.

Episode Links

Losing Your Job Doesn’t Mean Losing Your Identity

Please Don’t Call My Job a Calling

Stop Looking for the Perfect Job

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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Winning athletes and coaches have a lot to teach us. They’re asked to perform at the highest level, day in and day out, and they face enormous pressure to succeed.

Faced with these expectations, the most successful ones must continually elevate their performance. But how?

That’s a question Sally Jenkins has spent a career trying to answer. Through her work as a sportswriter at The Washington Post, she discovered the formula great players use to succeed, and she shares it with us in her latest book, The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us about Work and Life.

It’s a fascinating set of insights that will help you elevate your own performance.

Episode Links

Bitter Rivals. Beloved Friends. Survivors.

Another Side of Dad

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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There’s a lot to be said for the excitement we feel when we first set a goal for ourselves. The sense of exhilaration can give us the momentum we need to get started.

But when the exhilaration wears off – and it usually does – we’re faced with a choice. Will we revert to old habits or develop new ones?

These moments are what Jonathan Rhodes calls choice points, and the decisions we make can really add up. Ultimately, how we manage ourselves in these moments can be the difference between the life we have and the life we want.

That’s why I wanted to interview Jonathan Rhodes, author of the book, The Choice Point: The Scientifically Proven Method to Push Past Mental Walls and Achieve Your Goals. His Functional Imagery Training provides a concrete roadmap to help us stay the course.

Episode Links

Tokyo 2020: Simone Biles’ Withdrawal is a Sign of Resilience and Strength

How to Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs

The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

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Coming up with good ideas is hard. But it’s not because we’re not creative or smart enough. It’s likely we just haven’t learned how.

Fortunately, Sheena Iyengar, Professor at Columbia Business School, has written a playbook that answers the question, how can I get my best ideas? It’s her latest book, Think Bigger: How to Innovate.

Sheena’s approach leads us, step by step, from generating ideas to assessing which ones are innovative enough to act on. It’s a method informed not only by others’ successes but the science behind them. It’s a book you’ll return to again and again.

Episode Links

Sheena Iyengar Wants Us to Understand How Humans Come Up with Big Ideas

Does Brainstorming Actually Generate Great Ideas?

If There are No New Ideas, How Do We Keep Innovating?

Antonio Canova

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

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Ambition is complicated. Yet the messages we receive from an early age are simple: “Winners never quit.” “Reach for the stars.” “Follow your dreams.”

But like most simple messages, reality often paints a very different picture. Long hours that lead to burnout, or individual striving that results in loneliness.

Rainesford Stauffer ran up against these realities. And, in her work as a journalist, she spoke to others who did, as well. That’s what led her to rethink what ambition could be, and to write about it in her book, All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive.

In this interview, we talk about the roles history and religion have played in our ambition. We also discuss times when embracing ambition is a good thing. Ultimately, we try to uncover unexamined assumptions that can drive how we live our lives. 

Episode Links

There’s No Such Thing as Getting Ahead by Rainesford Stauffer

Seeking Self-Esteem: Construction, Maintenance, and Protection of Self-Worth by Jennifer Crocker and Lora E. Park

Too Much of a Good Thing: The Effect of Contingency of Self-Worth on Goal Setting by Xi Chen

Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

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We’ve all had the experience of working toward goals today that would benefit us in the future. Goals like exercising more, losing weight, or saving for retirement.

Yet when faced with early-morning alarms or tempting desserts, we may lose sight of our goals.

But what if the answer to sticking with them was to form a relationship with a very special person – future you?

Hal Hershfield, author of the book, Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today, has spent his career studying what happens when we build a closer relationship with our future self. His work reveals how this relationship can have an outsize impact on our success, one that extends beyond weight loss, fitness, and a comfortable retirement.

Episode Links

Nina Strohminger and Elizabeth W. Dunn and Kate Christensen and Paola Giuliano

End-of-History Illusion

Here There Are Blueberries

The Team

Learn more about host, Gayle Allen, and producer, Rob Mancabelli, here.

Support the Podcast

If you like the show, please rate and review it on iTunes or wherever you subscribe, and tell a friend or family member about the show.

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