There’s a good chance almost no one understands you at all

No One Understands You

This is stuff I think/worry about all the time. In the past couple of weeks, it’s felt to me like (a) I get less and less personal e-mails, (b) I get told to do more stuff at work as opposed to being… Continue Reading

“Got a minute?” costs the U.S. economy about $588 billion a year

Interruptions and Productivity

Got that stat in the headline from here. Basically the idea speaks to the power (for evil) of interruption, which is common in most workplace cultures, I’d auger. “Hey, got a minute?” At my current job, I actually saw one of those go… Continue Reading

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How to explain the world at a cocktail party

Talk about Inter-Temporal Discounting at a cocktail party

Want a cool expression to toss out at a dinner party the next time you find yourself in such a socially-elite situation? I’ve got one for you. It’s called “inter-temporal discounting.” Sounds cool, right? I bet you’re already interested. But what is it?… Continue Reading

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People always question failure. What about questioning success?

Question Success As Much As Failure

Almost regardless of the job level you have, if you’ve failed at something at work, someone has been up in your arse crack about it. “Why did that happen? I need answers!” People can be miserable, especially middle managers — who… Continue Reading

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Keep e-mails brief when e-mailing those Baby Boomers

People's relationship to e-mail

I literally despise the concept of e-mail. Every stat you read about it is insanely depressing. It’s a major time suck, and it came along at a time and in such a way that you have a totally-split workforce —… Continue Reading

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Core skill for salespeople: Verbal acuity

Traits of Good Salespeople

“Sales” is an insanely flummoxing concept to me. It’s pretty much everything at some level — because you can have the greatest product, the greatest process, or the greatest people in the world, right? But if no one can sell it and… Continue Reading

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Your social dynamics are hideously imbalanced

Your social dynamics are skewed

Consider this: “If you’re more extraverted, you may really have a skewed view of how extraverted other people are in general,” Feiler says. “If you’re very introverted you might actually have a pretty accurate idea.” Feiler and Kleinbaum reached this… Continue Reading

No shit, Facebook can cause depression

Facebook and Depression

People love to breathlessly analyze any stats about Facebook, largely because it’s at the center of a lot of people’s social universes. I think most logical people — remember: most people aren’t necessarily logical — can understand that Facebook probably isn’t the… Continue Reading