How to Manage with Lean Manufacturing & A Trust Culture

Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is how to manage others effectively. In this post, we’ll run through the Toyota Production System, which relies heavily on a culture of trust. We’ll examine five types …

How to Set SMART & Effective Stretch Goals for Success

Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is how we can set and achieve effective goals. In this post, we’ll dive into the SMART framework and how to set audacious long-term goals. We’ll round off …

How to Focus & Avoid Cognitive Tunneling with Mental Models

Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is the role of focus in our daily productivity. In this post we’ll discuss mental models as a way to focus and avoid cognitive tunneling. We’ll finish off …

How to Gain Self-Motivation with the Locus of Control

Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is the role our sense of control plays in self-motivation. In this post we’ll discuss a theory of self-motivation and its benefits. We’ll finish off with a case …

How to Create Effective Teams with Cultural Norms

Charles Duhigg wrote the book Smarter Faster Better, in which he discusses the eight secrets of being productive in life and business. One of the eight principles is the role that cultural norms play in effective teamwork. In this post we’ll discuss how norms impact team productivity along with two keys to creating effective teams. …

How to Use Visualisation for Self-Reflection & Goal Achievement

Visualisation is a self-reflective technique that’s become increasingly popular in the last few decades. The practice helps people clarify and visualise their goals, making them more visual and attainable. In this post, we’ll run through visualisation and its benefits. We’ll also offer a guide to starting our own visualisation practice from scratch. But first, let’s …

Set Positive Affirmations to Improve Mindfulness & Increase Focus

Emile Coue was a French Psychologist in the early 20th century. He noticed that telling patients how effective their treatment was, helped them recover quicker. Coue is generally considered the father of the positive affirmation movement for this insight. In today’s post, we’ll discuss positive affirmations – what they are and why everyone should use …

How to Journal for Reflection, Mindfulness & Mental Health

Journaling is great for many reasons. Above all, we can use it as a self-reflection practice. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the benefits of journaling and give a few examples of how we can pick up the practice. There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to journaling, so we’ll list out a few different approaches …

How to Reflect & Put Things into Perspective

Wilhelm Wundt originally developed the idea of self-reflection in the late 1800s, which focused on three functions of the mind: thoughts, feelings and images. His work eventually resulted in the development of cognitive psychology. This post starts by discussing the importance of self-reflection. Then we’ll offer a few simple methods and prompts to start reflecting …

How to Gain Mental Clarity & Productivity from Stoicism

Stoicism is a philosophy of life that aligns with the core practices of productivity. As opposed to surface-level productivity hacks, Stoicism offers a framework for living a productive life. In today’s post, we’ll run through some productivity lessons we can learn from the school of Stoic philosophy. As a result of such Modern Stoicism, we …