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Do the Painful Things First

November 20, 2013 by James Clear Leave a Comment

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Before I became an entrepreneur, I went to business school. While studying for my MBA, there was one lesson I learned which has proved to be useful over and over again in my life.

I was sitting in a marketing class, and we were discussing ways to design a wonderful customer experience. The goal is not merely to provide decent service but to delight the customer. Behavioral scientists have discovered that one of the most effective ways to create a delightful experience is to stack the painful parts of the experience early in the process.

Psychologically, we prefer experiences that improve over time. That means it’s better for the annoying parts of a purchase to happen early in the experience. Furthermore, we don’t enjoy it when painful experiences are drawn out or repeated.

Here are some examples:

  • If you’re at the doctor’s office, it’s better to combine the pain of waiting into one segment. The wait will feel shorter to your brain if you spend 20 minutes in the waiting room rather than 10 minutes in the waiting room and 10 minutes in the exam room.
  • People enjoy all-inclusive vacations because they pay one lump sum at the beginning (the pain), and the rest of the trip is divided into positive experiences, excursions, and parties. In the words of my professor, all-inclusive vacations “segment the pleasure and combine the pain.”
  • If you’re a professional service provider (lawyer, insurance agent, freelancer, etc.), it’s better to give the bad news to your clients first and finish with the good news. Clients will remember an experience more favorably if you start weak but finish on a high note, rather than starting strong and ending poorly.

These examples got me thinking. If you can make a customer experience more delightful, why not make your life experiences more delightful?

Here are some ideas for how to take advantage of the way your brain processes painful and annoying experiences and use that knowledge to live a better life.

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Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Goals, Intrinsic Motivation, Self-Improvement, Work Happiness

Why You Should Stop Keeping Score at Work

July 18, 2013 by Janet Choi Leave a Comment

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There’s probably been some time in your life when you’ve been just a touch surprised that you haven’t been hoisted upon shoulders and celebrated with cheers for your great achievement — whether you go as far back as that group English assignment making a diorama about summer reading or yesterday’s big client presentation.

Or maybe you’re more familiar with that fake almost-smile, as Joe Shmoe stood up to cheers and beers and pats on the back, leaving you amidst the ghosts of the hours of sweat and tears you put into the work.

It happens, and it stinks. But then again — we’re actually all credit hogs in our heads.

When you’re on a team, you don’t have an accurate sense of the proportion of your contribution. It’s just not that straightforward, because what happens in your very smart but usually selfish mind is that you underestimate your teammates’ contributions and overestimate yours.

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Filed Under: People Management Tagged With: Collaboration, Intrinsic Motivation, Work Transparency

Priorities in Threes to Spur Your Productivity

July 11, 2013 by Stacy-Marie Ishmael Leave a Comment

Named by Business Insider as one of the 30 Most Important Women Under 30 in Tech, Stacy-Marie Ishmael is one of the most productive people we know. Currently VP of Communities at The Financial Times and creator of the #awesomewomen newsletter, Stacy-Marie offers one of her most effective productivity tips.

Top Three Priorities

I think a lot about lists (a side effect of an ongoing and enduring fascination with GTD) and I make quite a few of them. One of the most valuable lists I make is my top three priorities for the day.

I’ve long been an advocate of taking a moment every morning — after coffee, before email — to set my top three priorities down on paper or in pixels. This simple process that takes no more than ten minutes has had a consistently profound and positive effect on my productivity.

Why after coffee? Because part of my morning ritual is brewing coffee or steeping tea before I get down to the business of the day. This ritual is one of the highlights of my day, and it makes waking up at unreasonable hours that much easier.

And why before email? Because once you get into your inbox, you’ve handed over control of your schedule to other people, and priorities are about what you want on your agenda.

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Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Focus on Work, Intrinsic Motivation, Prioritize, Time Management

Make Your Life Easier: The Best of the Internet

June 21, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

Lil girlHappy Friday – Double Awesomeness Edition! Catch up with the best of what we’ve shared on the interwebs these past 2 weeks: 

This dull skill makes for excellent management.

How to make your life easier.

The most engaged employees work at small companies.

Spark happens when we create the conditions for it to do so.

The extreme habits of great remote teams.

Culture prevents people from jumping ship.

3 motivational mind tricks.

imageDundee’s Tip of the Week:  Keep track of specific kinds of dones by using #hashtags!

 

Anywhere in the text of your done or comment, type “#” followed by a keyword or topic name, like this: #reimbursements or #win.

Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Intrinsic Motivation, Management, Small Teams, Work Engagement

Do Good Work

June 3, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

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Do good work, tell people about it. Acknowledge your progress and recognize others’ good work!

Filed Under: The Progress Principle Tagged With: Creativity, Intrinsic Motivation, Progress

Be Brave, Escape Anxiety!

May 27, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment


Punch ahead through anxiety, and be brave, friends!

Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Intrinsic Motivation, Procrastination

Don’t Dwell on the Past

May 21, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

You can’t change anything that has happened, but you can change what’s about to happen.

Tina Lin, a 14-year-old high school student, wants to become the first U.S. table tennis Olympics Champion.

Her wise guiding principle? Don’t dwell too much on the past and the points lost. Go after the next ones.

Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Intrinsic Motivation, Progress

Happiness Through Creativity!

May 20, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

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Image: Krissy Venosdale

Get happy by making progress and getting creative!

Filed Under: Lifehacks Tagged With: Creativity, Intrinsic Motivation, Work Happiness

The Emptiness of How to Work Better

May 13, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

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Image: rytc

This painting on the wall of a Zurich office building is actually an art piece called “How to Work Better” by artist duo Fischli/Weiss (that’s Peter Fischli and David Weiss).

The interesting part? As described in the Guardian‘s obit of Weiss:

How to Work Better (1991) is a manifesto comprising 10 persuasive but empty sentences, each with the aim of improving workplace productivity and morale… . Fischli/Weiss plucked these stock phrases from a factory in Thailand and painted them in large stencilled letters to cover the exterior of an office block in Oerlikon, Zurich, visible on the approach into the city centre by train from Zurich Airport.

Think twice about pithy motivational business quotes!

Filed Under: The Progress Principle Tagged With: Intrinsic Motivation, Meaning at Work

How To Measure Success

May 8, 2013 by I Done This Support Leave a Comment

First, the seed being sown falls on good ground, but the birds get it. Then it falls on shallow ground and can’t grow. Then on thorny ground, where it withers away. And only with the last attempt it falls on good ground and the seeds grow.
So we must shift our focus. We don’t want to look for which seeds thrive and which don’t. We want to know what the rate of success is.

Buffer’s Leo Widrich describes Jim Rohm’s law of averages in explaining his approach to measuring success.

Great things are not accomplished with a silver bullet shot of optimism but require work and a kind of faith that is informed by reality.

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Image: Sergiu Bacioiu

Filed Under: The Progress Principle Tagged With: Intrinsic Motivation, Progress, Success

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