Many managers are aware of the upsides of mediating conflict between employees. But mediation can break down, and the authors’ research explains four reasons why that may happen. Being aware of these potential tripwires allows managers to watch out for them and devise strategies to navigate each. There are four roles — beyond the standard mediator role — that managers can assume to limit the potential damage of a dispute and get it back on track.

The Mediator

The higher the intensity of a conflict, the more likely it is for mediation to collapse because the odds of one of the disputants storming out or freaking out and further damaging the relationship goes up. In our scenario above, the fact that the project is high stakes and the department heads have never gotten along are factors that notch up the tension levels.

Four Reasons Mediation Fail: 1. High Intensity

Conflicts that occur between people or groups who are solely competing against one another, especially over coveted resources, are also prone to fail in mediation. For example, perhaps those two department heads are fighting over sparse funding allocations or even the attention and recognition rarely doled out by higher-ups.

2. Competitive Relationships

Efforts that are greatly constrained by time, law, norms, or other factors are also prone to flop. To suggest that two employees can work out their issues in a single, two-hour meeting might be wrong. Working things out takes as long as it takes, and mediation doesn’t always respond to the parameters that organizations draw.

3. Limiting conditions

Problems can’t be resolved in open dialogue if important issues are kept hidden. For example, perhaps there are tensions around gender equity in the office, and the department heads in this scenario are of different genders. Mediations that involve issues that organizations aren’t talking openly about tend to fail.

4. Unspoken Issues and Hidden Agendas

The standard mediator’s role is ideally to open dialogue and then disappear, allowing the parties to reach their own resolutions. Once the mediation is underway, you want to offer a relational, non-judgmental approach by asking questions, reflecting on the answers, and reframing what’s being said to help the parties expand their viewpoints.But to do so, business leaders need to learn to navigate the four tripwires.

Avoiding The Four Tripwires

A mediator’s first task is to gauge and control the intensity of a conflict. For those highly volatile ones, it’s important to play the role of medic by triaging the conflict to reduce its intensity. A mediator in medic mode is active — they remain highly present throughout the process and enforce communication guidelines like keeping people from going on the attack. This does not necessarily require an overly firm intervention; instead, the medic strikes a deft balance between allowing the parties to vent while slowing them down long enough that they begin to talk.

The First Task: Be A Medic

The medic’s best tools are controlling the process, managing emotions, and providing a structure that finally lets the parties involved hash it out, in a reasonable amount of time. Simultaneously, it’s up to the medic to model a positive example of self-composure and self-expression, and to reassure those involved, all while consistently evaluating and reframing their problems. The medic’s authority as an executive helps. A strong presence controls the room, and that control leads to better outcomes.

The Tools Of The Medic

The next task for the mediator is to assess whether the dispute is primarily a win-lose competition. If so, you need to be prepared to support firm and fair negotiations between them. The referee models how to effectively bargain and horse trade and efficiently settles outcomes. The referee also gives guidance and direction and makes the rules of the process crystal clear.

The Second Task Of A Mediator: Being A Referee

The referee carefully evaluates the fairness and viability of both sides’ proposals. The problem may also require facilitating compromise and trade-offs or finding ways to expand the pie to move the parties out of a win-lose mentality. There may be more common ground than you think. For instance, in the hypothetical example above, it may be that the budget allocated to the project isn’t sufficient for either of the department heads to get their jobs done. That shared perspective can help align them toward working on a resolution together.

What A Referee Does

Another critical task is to identify any major constraints on the mediation. Here the fixer makes an assessment with the goal of pushing restrictive situations toward new possibilities. Are there external constraints like bad timing (a pressing deadline makes it impossible to think), lack of privacy, restrictive HR procedures, or others that are keeping the parties from working things out? If so, look at what you can do to lessen those constraints; ideally, you do this before bringing the disputants together.

The Third Task: The Fixer

The fixer can address tight constraints by calling them out and if necessary, discussing and solving them with the involved parties to make the necessary accommodations. This can trigger a more cooperative dynamic. The fixer can also leverage certain constraints to begin to lower the aspirations of anyone who’s completely stuck in their position or is there only to prevail. For instance, if the financial costs of a stalled project are escalating due to the dispute, the fixer might play to the budget concerns of the disputants to get them to budge off their position.

What The Fixer Does

Now for the tough part — to carefully surface unexpressed concerns or hidden agendas. This is where the counselor's role comes in. It’s best to speak privately with each party to unearth those covert issues. The counsellor is a neutral coach who makes all parties feel safe, heard, and understood. The private caucus is a sacred space created by the mediator for the benefit and comfort of the parties. The counsellor must set the tone to show their employees, “Here is a safe space where we can get work done.”

The Tough Part: Counselling

The counsellor’s tools are listening, coaching, questioning, clarifying, and probing the history of the dispute, all while taking their time. This approach often gets frustrated parties to open up about sensitive issues like workplace inequity, such as concerns about wages, access to promotions, advancement opportunities, and unequal distribution of work. It’s often in these more open, candid conversations that managers get a more accurate sense of the challenges some employees face.

What A Counsellor Does

Many managers are aware of the upsides of mediating conflict between employees. But mediation can break down, and the authors’ research explains four reasons why that may happen. Being aware of these potential tripwires allows managers to watch out for them and devise strategies to navigate each. The authors offer four roles — beyond the standard mediator role — that managers can assume to limit the potential damage of a dispute and get it back on track. These roles are the medic, the referee, the fixer, and the counselor. In some mediations, a leader may need to play all four of these roles to move things forward. Other times, they may lean heavily into just one. The key is to assess which of the pitfalls the parties are at risk of falling into, and respond accordingly.

Stashed ideas

Why Employee Mediations Fail — and How to Get Them Back on Track

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Write down your purpose and keep it on your desk to act as a constant visual reminder of why you do what you do</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Humans are basically suckers for punishment, and when we experience setbacks or receive negative feedback at work, it has a big impact on our energy levels</li><li class="ql-align-justify">In your own workspace, think about how you can create a wall of encouragement.</li></ul>

Create a "wall of encouragement"

When we are facing several big problems in our lives, we ironically don’t have the capacity to solve the little one. As a result, we tend to engage in short-term, reactive thinking.To escape the trap of tunnelling, give yourself some slack, in the form of time or resources. For example, is there a simple process that you find yourself executing regularly (budgeting, paying bills) that could be automated using software? Are there standard emails that you find yourself writing again and again that you could create a template for?

Tunnelling

When thinking about your “to don’t” list, consider the things you’re currently doing that are sucking your energy up.There might be certain people that you decide not to see, certain habits that you want to break, or projects that are no longer serving your growth at work. Sadly, there may also be a few items that you want to drop but can’t at this stage in your career. As such, focus on the things that are in your control.

Create a "To Don't" list

Stop Trying to Manage Your Time

As remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm, the debate continues around the value of connection in person. One aspect to be fully explored is how digital communication influences people's desire to help one another.

In-person connections

Research found a clear hierarchy of communication channels: Face-to-face is the most effective, followed by any form of video or audio communication, followed by text-based communication.<ul><li>A behavioural study found that if your goal is to get a "yes", physical presence in the room is the best. 80% of respondents agreed to help with a task when asked in person, while only 48% of people asked via digital communication agreed to do the task.</li><li>A second study found that video and audio communication channels were 86% more effective than email.</li></ul>

The hierarchy of communication channels

Participants in the studies were unaware of the effects. They expected that requests via email or a video channel would be as effective as asking in person. One reason in-person requests are more effective is that they make people feel more uncomfortable to say "no".

Why in-person requests are more successful

A recent study found that people were 67% more likely to agree to in-person requests than those made over audio or video call.

Need a Favor? Research Suggests It’s Best to Ask In Person.

Don’t let misunderstandings diminish the negotiation process. Be as organized as possible with what you want.<ul><li>The person with whom you’re negotiating will likely be impressed with your organization, and they’ll also appreciate the fact that you aren’t there to waste their time. </li><li>Do your best to paint a picture of what you want and establish your goal to reach an agreement first thing at the negotiation table.</li></ul>

Clarify Assumptions

In negotiation theory, a fallback plan is referred to as a BATNA, or ‘best alternative to a negotiated agreement.’ If you can’t get exactly what you want, you should know what alternatives there are. This puts you in a more powerful position in the negotiation and will help you not be let down when a deal doesn’t happen.

Establish a fallback position (BATNA)

Use the other person’s words at the bargaining table. Knowing the general personality traits of whom you are negotiating will make it so much easier, and skilled negotiators are masters at using other people’s words to persuade them into a deal.Are you unfamiliar with the negotiator on the other side of the table? It’s easy to get a feel for someone you work with every day, but someone from a different country speaking a different language is another bear of investigation to tackle.

Speak the other person’s language

A big part of facing problems is properly identifying them.You should still use neutral wording in your negotiating to avoid creating conflict. Yes, the problem needs to be addressed, but without negativity or over-angst.

Face problems head-on

Don’t necessarily treat a stalemate as the end, consider it a temporary impasse and a chance to “take a breather.”Negotiating can often end in a stalemate where both parties make a sacrifice to reach a successful end agreement, but ultimately end up in a deadlock.

Embrace the stalemate

There is a misconception that listening too much will make you look like a pushover and lead to being taken advantage of, but strategic negotiation stems from listening to the other side closely and inputting your first offer at the perfect time much like a quick jab in a boxing match.

Listen open-mindedly

Business success requires that you emit a vibration that emulates your personality and what you stand for. Nobody wants to do business with a robot, so it’s important to be who you are, and radiate your energy when making the deal. The opposing negotiator most likely wants to know you better as a person, and they’ll more likely be more lenient in dealing with you if you are putting off friendly vibes.

Radiate energy

It’s okay to point out things you like in the person you’re negotiating with. You obviously don’t want the other party involved to think you’re ‘buttering them up,’ but what are you doing if you’re doing business with somebody you don’t like?Showing that you’re willing to acknowledge the positives in the other person and their position can help build trust and strengthen your position.

Express sincere praise

In a business argument, there are always points where both parties agree to disagree. The important part is highlighting areas where both parties both want to be in on the action and capitalizing on it.The advantage of finding commonalities within the deal is that it will ease the other party into even more agreements down the road. Focusing on disagreement is a negative aspect of business negotiation that likely won’t get you far.

Acknowledge agreement

<h4>You can’t go into a negotiation without a goal, and proving the validity of that goal is what it’s all about. Few negotiators will agree with you without concrete evidence, so that means you’ve got to bring some cards to the table to highly influence your success.</h4>

Prove your point

Come to the table with multiple deals in mind, because you can quickly add details to the deal when the opposing side starts agreeing with you.
Win-win situations are always ideal, so work out all of those side details before you start negotiating, and if you can help the other side come out on top also — now that’s the sign of a master negotiator.

Cluster agreements

Clarification is huge in business deals, so asking lots of questions is a must. Specifically, start with easy and friendly ‘softball’ questions like what they want to eat during the meeting or how long they’ve been at their current position, and then quickly transition to the big important ‘hardball’ questions like “How do you feel about investing 500 thousand dollars in our business?”
When you start with a simple and easy question, it sets a tone for bigger questions to come out more casually.

Repeat questions

<ul>
<li>Don’t label people: People generally don’t enjoy having a label put on them, and this especially applies to a business situation. </li>
<li>No apologies necessary: Don’t say sorry in business negotiation because it makes you look like you’re either trying to take advantage or simply not cut out for the deal.</li>
<li>Forget the past: Let the past be. Just remember that any past negotiations don’t matter when working on your new deal. </li>
<li>Don’t speak in absolutes: ‘Always’ and ‘never’ should be used sparingly when negotiating because they end up creating unnecessary conflict and could shut down negotiations. Instead of speaking drastically, speaking hypothetically. Talk about positive aspects that would occur if the deal were to go through, and why you think it’s a good idea to come to a reasonable agreement.</li>
</ul>

Notions to avoid in business negotiation

Business negotiations happen almost every day. Whether it's a discussion between two potential business partners, an employee and a manager discussing a

Business negotiation strategies to land the perfect deal

Despite news headlines on life-changing investments on one stock item like GameStop, it is too risky to make short-term bets with sizable sums of money on what a stock is going to do next. Instead, some of the most respected investors in the world have long said the best way for everyday investors to make money is to invest in index funds and hold those investments over long periods of time.Most index funds offer low fees and will allow you to essentially buy the entire stock market. That way, if any one stock crashes it won't affect your portfolio.

Betting on a hot stock isn't worth it

The key to everyday investing is diversification, which means owning different types of investments to spread out the risk. You definitely want to own stock index funds because stocks over time have always offered the best return. You need investments that can do well when stocks are doing poorly. These include Treasury bonds and real estate funds.

Build a diverse portfolio

Checking in with a financial adviser is strongly recommended by experienced investors, but make sure you're speaking with a fee-only expert, who isn't receiving commissions for steering you into one investment over another. Once you find someone acting in your best interest, try to meet with them once a year or every two to three years. Find someone you can pay a flat fee for each visit. This will save you money in the long term.

Working with a financial adviser

There is no need to panic, even in times of big corrections in the market. With a diverse investment portfolio, you actually have an opportunity to make some extra money off of big swings in the markets by selling what has gone up in value and buying more of what's gone down.Don't panic and sell everything just because the stock market crashes and you see other people panicking and getting rid of their stocks. That can do irreparable harm to your portfolio. Buying high and selling low is not a good way to make money.

Rebalance your investments for stability

Investing in a smart way can get you set up for whatever the future may bring. But where to begin? Here are a few tips for those who are just entering the world of investing.

New To Investing? Here Are Some Common Mistakes To Avoid And Tips To Follow 

When you're navigating through a major blizzard or hurricane, or another kind of event, prepping for potential power outages can relieve you of much anxiety. <ul><li>Keep your mobile phone changed, your gas tank filled, and carbon monoxide detectors with a battery backup on each level of your home.</li><li>Keep a three-day supply of no-perishable food on hand and at least one gallon of water per person per day.</li><li>Have a Plan B for family members who need electricity for medical reasons.</li></ul>

Prepping for power outages

<ul><li>Collect flashlights. Candles are a potential fire hazard and should be avoided.</li><li>Preserve perishables. Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed. A half-full freezer should keep the required temperature for a day and a full freezer for two days.</li><li>Pack a cooler with ice if the power outage may last longer than the fridge or freezer limits.</li><li>Keep track of food temps. Throw food away that seems questionable.</li><li>Eat non-perishables last.</li><li>Unplug electrical appliances to protect them from potential power surges.</li><li>Practice generator safety. Never use generators indoors.</li></ul>

What to do when the power goes out

<ul><li>Find the coolest spot, usually the lowest level of a house.</li><li>Dress to keep cool with lightweight, loose-fitting clothing.</li><li>Stay hydrated. Drink water and try to avoid caffeinated drinks and alcohol.</li><li>Close curtains in sunny areas to block out heat from the sun.</li><li>Encourage airflow. Open windows or use a battery-powered fan.</li><li>Cook outside.</li></ul>

Power outages in summer

<ul><li>Layer up to maintain body heat.</li><li>Gather in one room with blankets, ideally a smaller one with few windows.</li><li>Minimize drafts. Use rolled-up towels to lessen drafts around windows and exterior doors.</li><li>Never use an oven or stove to heat your home.</li><li>To help prevent pipes from freezing, open cabinet and bathroom vanity doors to expose pipes.</li><li>Let water trickle from a faucet that is supplied by exposed pipes.</li><li>Know when to go to a local emergency warming shelter or heated location.</li></ul>

Power outages in winter

What to Do When the Power Goes Out

Math is often seen as something you get or you don't. Most of us sit in class feeling like we don't. The fault is not with the subject itself but rather with the way we teach it. Mathematician Paul Lockhart wrote a 25-page essay titled "A Mathematician's Lament", wherein he states that students who feel that their mathematics classes are boring are right.
The true nature of math is art. Unfortunately, we wrongly teach it in a way that would just as easily ruin any other art.

Why math classes are dull

Consider what music or painting would look like if we treat it like the typical math curriculum. <ul><li>What if music education was all about theory, dots and lines that make up the language of music? What if playing and listening to music was put off until college?</li><li>Or, what if art students had to spend years only studying paints and brushes? Then they do pre-paint-by numbers to prepare them for the main paint-by number sequence. From there, only the students who know their colours and brushes get to actually paint.</li></ul>

The harm of the typical math curriculum

Like art, the purpose of math is the creation of patterns. And the material we use to create patterns is ideas. Math then belongs to the realm of fiction. For example, we can imagine a geometric shape with perfect edges, knowing that it could never exist in the real world. Then we can ask questions about it and create explanations. Yet, when we teach math, we aim to repeat the steps of someone else's creation without asking how they got there, or why.

Math is about creating ideas

An education in the art of mathematics is all about discovery. It means solving a problem that speaks to us at that point in time. It is a slow and thoughtful process. But, of course, it is much simpler to post a set of rules than to guide an artist.  Mathematics should be something we do because it is an interesting and challenging way of teaching ourselves new ways of thinking and expressing ourselves.

How to improve math education

There are two types of people in the world: those who enjoyed mathematics class in school, and the other 98% of the population. According to mathematician Paul Lockhart, that's because we fail to treat math as an art.

Why Math Class Is Boring—and What to Do About It

"Every choice we make in life is an experiment. Every day offers fresh opportunities to find better decision-making frames. We live in a time when data is more plentiful, cheaper to analyze, and easier to translate into action than ever before. Smartphones, websites, digital databases, and apps put information at our fingertips. But it only becomes useful if we know how to make sense of it."

Motivation is a skill that can be learned. People can get better at self-motivation if they practice the right way. The trick is realizing that a condition for motivation to develop is believing we have authority over our actions and surroundings.
To motivate ourselves, we must feel like we are in control. One way to prove to ourselves that we are in control is by making decisions.

Self-Motivation: Feeling In Control By Making Decisions

<ul>
<li>Internal locus of control translates into our belief that we can influence our destiny through the choices we make; it has been linked with academic success, higher self-motivation and social maturity, lower incidences of stress and depression, and a longer life span. This is a skill that can be learned.</li>
<li>Having an external locus means believing that our life is primarily influenced by events outside our control; it is correlated with higher levels of stress because an individual perceives the situation as beyond his or her coping abilities.</li>
</ul>

Internal Vs External Locus Of Control

The choices that are most powerful in generating motivation convince us we’re in control and endow our actions with larger meaning.
An internal locus of control emerges when we develop a mental habit of transforming chores into meaningful choices, when we assert that we have authority over our lives.

Choices That Influence Our Motivation

Google spent 2 years and enormous amounts of resources studying over 180 teams to figure out the answer to their question: What makes a team effective?
Their findings - five key norms: Teams need to believe that their work is important. Teams need to feel their work is personally meaningful. Teams need clear goals and defined roles. Team members need to know they can depend on one another. But, most important, teams need psychological safety.

Understand Team Effectiveness: Google's Project Aristotle

Psychological safety is a "shared belief, held by members of a team, that a group is a safe place for taking risks. It is a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up.”(Amy Edmondson, 1999)
This characterizes a working environment filled with trust and mutual respect in which people are comfortable being themselves.

Psychological Safety

Cognitive tunneling can cause people to become overly focused on whatever is directly in front of their eyes or become preoccupied with immediate tasks. It’s what keeps someone glued to their smartphone as the kids wail or pedestrians swerve around them on the sidewalk.
Once in a cognitive tunnel, we lose our ability to direct our focus. Instead, we latch on to the easiest and most obvious stimulus, often at the cost of common sense.

Cognitive Tunneling

Reactive thinking is how we build habits, and it’s why to-do lists and calendar alerts are so helpful: Rather than needing to decide what to do next, we can take advantage of our reactive instincts and automatically proceed.
But the downside of reactive thinking is that habits and reactions can become so automatic they overpower our judgment. Once our motivation is outsourced, we simply react.

Reactive Thinking: How We Allocate Our Attention

The need for cognitive closure, in many settings, can be a great strength. An instinct to make a judgment and then stick with it stops the needless second-guessing and prolonged debate. It feels productive. It feels like progress.
But there are risks associated with a high need for closure: when people begin craving the emotional satisfaction that comes from making a decision, they are more likely to make hasty decisions and less likely to reconsider an unwise choice.

Our Need For Cognitive Closure

Here is an example of a flowchart to use when setting a goal:
WHAT IS YOUR STRETCH GOAL? To run a marathon
WHAT IS A SPECIFIC SUB-GOAL? Run seven miles without stopping
HOW WILL YOU MEASURE SUCCESS? Twice around the park, no walking
IS THIS ACHIEVABLE? Yes, if I run three miles a week.
IS THIS REALISTIC? Yes, if I wake up early on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
WHAT IS YOUR TIMELINE? Run three miles this week, four miles next week, five miles…

The Goal-Setting Flow Chart

<ul>
<li>The “star” model: executives hire from elite universities or other successful companies and give employees huge amounts of autonomy.</li>
<li>The “engineering” model: engineers, as a group, hold the most sway.</li>
<li>The “bureaucracies”: Executives write extensive job descriptions, organizational charts, and employee handbooks.</li>
<li>The “autocracies”: the rules, job descriptions, and organizational charts ultimately point to the desires and goals of one person, usually the founder or CEO.</li>
<li>The “commitment” model: a throwback to an age when people happily worked for one company their entire life.</li>
</ul>

Five Types Of Company Cultures

At the core of Bayes’ rule is a principle: Even if we have very little data, we can still forecast the future by making assumptions and then skewing them based on what we observe about the world.
Humans are astoundingly good Bayesian predictors, even if we’re unaware of it. Humans can make these kinds of calculations without having to think about them very hard. Sometimes, however, we make mistakes.

Bayesian Thinking

Make sure you are exposed to a full spectrum of experiences.
We all have a natural tendency to be optimistic, to ignore our mistakes and forget others’ tiny errors. But making good predictions relies on realistic assumptions, and those are based on our experiences. If we pay attention only to good news, we’re handicapping ourselves

How To Get The Right Assumptions

We’re more likely to recognize discoveries hidden in our own experiences when necessity pushes us, when panic or frustrations cause us to throw old ideas into new settings.
<ul>
<li>The Post-it note was invented by a chemical engineer who, frustrated by bookmarks falling out of his church hymnal, decided to use a new adhesive to make them stay put.</li>
<li>Cellophane was developed by an exasperated chemist looking for a way to protect tablecloths from wine spills.</li>
<li>Infant formula was created, in part, by an exhausted father who suspended vegetable nutrients in powder so he could feed his crying child in the middle of the night.</li>
</ul>

The Concept of "Creative Desperation"

In the past two decades, the amount of information present in our daily lives has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, however, our ability to learn from information hasn’t necessarily kept pace with its proliferation.
In theory, the ongoing explosion in information should make the right answers more obvious. In practice, though, being surrounded by data often makes it harder to decide. This inability to take advantage of data as it becomes more plentiful is called “information blindness.”

Information Blindness

“Our brains crave reducing things to two or three options. So when we’re faced with a lot of information, we start automatically arranging it into mental folders and subfolders and sub subfolders. This ability to digest large amounts of information by breaking it into smaller pieces is how our brains turn information into knowledge. We learn which facts or lessons to apply in a given situation by learning which folders to consult."

This system for making decisions allows us to define our dilemmas, collect data, brainstorm solutions, debate alternative approaches, and conduct iterative experiments.
This approach to problem-solving removes the emotion so we can view our problems more objectively.

Decision-Making Systems: The Engineering Design Process

"The people who are most successful at learning—those who are able to digest the data surrounding them, who absorb insights embedded in their experiences and take advantage of information flowing past—are the ones who know how to use disfluency to their advantage. They transform what life throws at them, rather than just taking it as it comes. They know the best lessons are those that force us to do something and to manipulate information. They take data and transform it into experiments whenever they can. "

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Power of Habit comes a fascinating book that explores the science of productivity, and why managing how you think is more important than what you think—with an appendix of real-world lessons to apply to your life. At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making—that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently. They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways. A young woman drops out of a PhD program and starts playing poker. By training herself to envision contradictory futures, she learns to anticipate her opponents’ missteps—and becomes one of the most successful players in the world. A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year study of how the best teams function, and find that how a group interacts is more important than who is in the group—a principle, it turns out, that also helps explain why Saturday Night Live became a hit. A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among recruits, reimagines boot camp—and discovers that instilling a “bias toward action” can turn even the most directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers. The filmmakers behind Disney’s Frozen are nearly out of time and on the brink of catastrophe—until they shake up their team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. What do these people have in common? They know that productivity relies on making certain choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation; the way we interact with data: These are the things that separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive. In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. In Smarter Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity, deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can improve at the things we do. It’s a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle, and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about most—to become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.

Problem Solving

Smarter Faster Better

It's easier to spend time picturing our goal or what a project is going to be like than to actually do the project. We tend to value the thinking mindset more than the doing mindset.
Results come to those who act. Just being willing to sit down and apply yourself, however tiny, will give you greater returns.

Moving from thinking to doing

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

"Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you."

Don't over-plan and under-act. Thinking and planning are vital to your success, but action is even more important.
You can't get real progress if you don't take action. When you read a book or article on taking action, immediately apply something from it, even if it is small.

Inaction will cost you

Committing to action means you never stop pushing.
Think of something you can do right now to take even the smallest step towards achieving your most important goal. The answer should be something simple that can be done in the next 30 minutes. Then act on it immediately. Once you commit to getting started, momentum will carry you.

Limit your planning time and take action

The Overthinker’s Guide to Taking Action

Many people are afraid to live their dreams for fear of what others may think and say about them.Making decisions based on what people think will debilitate you for the rest of your life.

Fear of criticism

Many people are stuck in “survival mode.” Too many people settle for mediocrity because they think they must “survive” instead of “thrive.”Never let the fear of poverty hold you back from your dreams.

Fear of poverty

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Most people die at 25 and are buried at 75." This metaphorical death comes when people figure they can't make it happen, so they end up quitting in advance.Fear of old age can also be harmful when a person has to go through a major career transition. In the end, age is far less important than your belief in yourself.

Fear of old age (and death)

“What if it doesn't work? What if no one likes it? What if it fails?"These are the wrong questions. Instead, concentrate on all the ways you may succeed. Even if you fail, it can give you a chance to reflect, correct and succeed.

Fear of failure or "what if"

People must be audacious in their actions if they are going to achieve their dreams. Many people are afraid of offending others with their self-promotion. However, no one will recognize your talents unless you show them.

Fear of offending others

We need to have more faith in our decision-making ability.Find out who you are and what fits your style. Often, you'll have to start by finding out who you aren't. Trust your gut and know that you're making the right decision.

Fear of looking foolish

Many people are afraid of their true “self-expression,” which is what real success is all about.Many families operate on the belief system that becoming successful is unrealistic, so they never push their kids. Instead of adopting this mindset, believe that you will achieve success.

Fear of success

If you want to succeed live in life, you must overcome your biggest fears. Some fears hold us back more than others. The nasty ones are like straight-jackets that restrain our abilities, making our dreams an impossibility. To be successful, you need to confront them head on.

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