<ul><li>Stores use sights, smells, sounds, and other stimuli in combination to produce particular atmospheres</li><li>In some cases, the place itself is more influential than the product itself in the purchase decision</li><li>For example, to create an upscale atmosphere, a manager might choose classical music, subdued colors, elegant perfumes, cool temperatures, sparsely displayed merchandise, and low lighting</li></ul>

Stores Are Using Music to Make You Spend More

<ul><li>Music on top of noise is just more noise.</li><li>Shoppers tend to spend less time in the store when the music is loud, and more when it is soft.</li><li>There was no statistically significant difference in the amount of money customers spent in each of these scenarios.</li><li>Music volume only affected the amount of time people spent in stores, not sales volume. So if you manage a store with limited floorspace, or run a restaurant with limited seating, the strategic use of loud(er) music might help you better manage your customer flow.</li></ul>

The Ideal Volume

<ul><li>The tempo of a store’s background music can influence both the pace of customer traffic flow and sales volume.</li><li>Fast (uptempo) music makes people move more quickly through a store, and they end up buying less.</li><li>Slow (downtempo), on the other hand, leads to slower shoppers, which in turn leads to shoppers having more time to discover and interact with more products.</li></ul>

The Tempo

<ul><li>You can fine-tune the background music of a store by paying attention to the modes of the songs you're playing.</li><li>The best tempo/mode combination for boosting sales at a supermarket: Downtempo and minor.</li><li>People buy more when there are slow sad songs playing in the background.</li></ul>

Play Slow And Sad Songs!

<ul><li>Music is not simply a generic sonic mass, but a complex chemistry of controllable elements.</li><li>What works in one store might not work in another.</li><li>The genre of music you play might end up trumping all of the quantifiable characteristics of your store's ambience.</li></ul>

The Music Genre

<ul><li>Retail soundscapes consist of more than just music.</li><li>Stores engage in audio atmospherics which go beyond songs.</li><li>White noise is perhaps the most well-known variety of this non-musical background sound.</li><li>In office settings, the sound of people talking can be heard as well.</li><li>Natural sounds like birdsong and wind can be just as effective as white noise.</li></ul>

White Noise

Come on feel the noise. Girls rock your boys. We’ll get wild, wild, wild. Wild, wild, wild!

When it comes to satisfying customer eardrums, WWB works best: Wind, water, and birdsong.Natural sounds can be just as effective as (if not more effective than) traditional options for providing ambient noise.

The End Note

The self-proclaimed wine connoisseur swaggers into the wine shop, his Italian shoes shuffling across the pristine marble floors. The ceilings are vaulted. The displays are large, immaculately clean…

Stashed ideas

<ul><li>It's difficult to study inner voices because people have what he calls "presuppositions" about what's going on in their minds.</li><li>Respondents will typically describe what they think researchers want to hear rather than their genuine thoughts.</li><li>People can learn to pay closer attention if they pay close attention.</li></ul>

Investigating Inner Speech

<ul><li>There is a huge amount of variation from person to person. Some people hear inner voices that may sound like recordings while others describe it as much more vague and fuzzy.</li><li>Research from Hurlburt and other scientists has indicated that some people do not hear inner speech at all, or not according to their definition of it.</li></ul>

Not All Minds Speak Alike

Our minds not only have soundtracks, but they also offer video entertainment by way of mental images.Those who can’t form mental images experience aphantasia, a term coined in 2015 by researchers who first identified the condition. It’s thought to affect between 2-5% of the population and affect about 1-2% of people with an inner voice.

The Mind as a Streaming Service

Most people experience conversations and see images in their minds, though the mechanics have proven difficult to nail down.

Scientists Aren't Sure How the Inner Voice Works

Wordle, the online game — a puzzle that tasks players with working out a mystery word — has quickly become a viral sensation, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/jan/11/wordle-creator-overwhelmed-by-global-success-of-hit-puzzle">with around 300,000 players</a> at the start of 2022. By late January, that number had surged to nearly <a href="https://theconversation.com/wordle-how-a-simple-game-of-letters-became-part-of-the-new-york-times-business-plan-176299">3 million</a>. It’s been deemed a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/01/13/wordle-word-game-pandemic/">“drug”</a> and an <a href="https://theconversation.com/codecracking-community-and-competition-why-the-word-puzzle-wordle-has-become-a-new-online-obsession-174878">“obsession,”</a> and was recently bought for at least $1 million by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/crosswords/nyt-wordle-purchase.html">New York Times</a>. Wordle’s now-iconic grid has been used in ads for <a href="https://twitter.com/dominos/status/1486853886489026560">Domino’s Pizza</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/MadOMarketing/status/1490534128743108610?s=20&t=Leyu_-sIU5bkmZis-7F46g">Guinness</a> beer alike. It’s even inspired imitators, like the cheekily-named <a href="https://brdl.glitch.me/">BRDL</a>, which asks players to guess the correct “banding code,” or four-letter nicknames for birds.

Wordle: The Game Everyone Is Playing

The game’s concept is simple enough: Once a day, players are given six chances to guess the correct five-letter mystery word. (If you guess a letter correctly, one of the tiles in the game’s grid turns yellow; if you guess the right letter in the right place, it turns green.) The same word appears for every player, anywhere in the world. And much like its game design, Wordle’s appeal might seem similarly straightforward — a dependable diversion for our <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.09.21.21263740v1">pandemic-addled brains</a>, releasing a rush of dopamine each time the game’s coveted green boxes pop up.

The Concept Of Wordle

As we get closer and closer to the answer with each new guess, we get a little bit more confident that we’re on the right track.Our brains are probably computing the likelihood that the next guess is right. Then, when those five green letters are revealed at the end of the puzzle — even if you didn’t guess them correctly — it gives players a boost that psychologists call a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721410388803">sudden influx of fluency</a>. In other words, that satisfying ‘aha!’ moment that feels so good, and that we’re hard-wired to chase.

The A-Ha Moment

Another of Wordle’s uniquely compelling aspects is that a new puzzle is only offered once a day. That helps keep the experience fresh and novel and allow players to really relish the experience. Because you know that there’s only one [puzzle a day], maybe there’s some scarcity involved.This may be the only fun little thing you’ll do today, so maybe people savour it.

Only One Word A Day: Creating Scarcity

Those grey, green and yellow boxes populating your social media feed aren’t just visual clutter — they’re a testament to the game’s built-in shareability. Since everyone is trying to guess the same answer, Wordle has quickly become a virtual water cooler, allowing players to share scores with colleagues, friends and family members with ease. In short, it creates a <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html">common in-group identity</a>, which helps us forge stronger bonds with others.

Social Comparison: Those Squares On Twitter Feeds

There’s another reason that sharing our Wordle grids with others — and seeing them shared back — feels so good. It’s a striking example of what psychologists call the <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-21802-010">shared reality theory</a>, or our need to align our own internal, subjective experiences with the experiences of others.  We want verification that our experience is similar to the experience of those we care about.

Sharing Reality

Unpacking the psychological science behind the popular puzzle game that's taken the internet by storm.  

Can't Stop Playing Wordle? Science Might Be Able to Explain Why

Your internal monologue shapes your mental wellbeing. The silent conversations people have with themselves influence how they live their lives. Every person sometimes finds themselves listening to an unhelpful voice in their head. While learning how to harness the voice in our head is not a happy pill, it is possible to dampen the noise and manage our experiences more effectively.

Internal monologue

According to research, engaging in introspection can do significantly more harm than good. Our thoughts don't save us from ourselves but can lead to grave consequences. It does not mean that we should avoid and repress our thoughts. Instead, we should take a step back and get some perspective to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Introspection can be harmful

According to one study, we talk to ourselves at 4,000 words per minute. (By comparison, 6,000 spoken words, such as the state of the Union Address, lasts more than an hour.) No wonder that listening to it can be exhausting! It can also be self-sabotaging. Ruminative thoughts take hold of us and overrun and ruin outer experiences. But those who are able to quieten their inner voice are happier.

Too much self talk

<ul><li>Venting to friends does more harm than good because it pushes away those you need most.</li><li>Distanced self-talk - speaking to yourself in the second or third person - helps to gain emotional perspective "Rachel, you should calm down, it is not the end of the world."</li><li>The power of touch - putting your arms around someone.</li><li>Activities that induce "awe", such as a walk in the mountains or looking at a great work of art, can help with a sense of perspective.</li><li>Writing a daily journal.</li><li>Creating exterior order can impact your interior order.</li><li>Temporal distancing. Try to see yourself one year from now.</li></ul>

Techniques to dial down chatter

Your internal monologue shapes mental wellbeing, says psychologist Ethan Kross. He has the tools to improve your mind’s backchat

Turn it down: how to silence your inner voice

The process of making ourselves better than who we were yesterday can be an exhaustive thing to do. In a world where we're constantly inundated with the cheer for self-improvement, we then become obsessed with the idea of improve, improve, improve!
When we become too addicted to looking inward and achieving our own ideals. our need to overperform has become pathological.Thus a solidified conclusion is never entirely possible because we insert ourselves in every situation that cannot be fixed by ourselves alone.

Self-Help is Making Us Less Happy

Can you admit to yourself that you're happy all of the time? I can't. I'm not happy with myself everyday and it's scary to think that I may be conditioned to feel like I can do better and be more positive and be more productive. Growing up, we learned that we have to "climb the ladder", to push harder than yesterday if I want a different tomorrow, and that we are the decision makers of our fate. However, the happiness imperative is vague and shallow because no one really knows what happiness is. It's more important to be interested in something beyond ourselves.

On The Obsession Of Happiness

Being ambitious is never a bad thing and being able to see ourselves progress on something that we love doing makes us elated and honestly, we should be proud of how far we've come. But it's important to keep in mind that self-improvement and happiness are not connected. To appreciate ourselves we have to step away from ourselves and be able to define what life means without the egotistical authenticity search.

Appreciating Ambitiousness with a Slower Process

People think that individual freedom is about removing limits so they can do whatever they want, but I think it's the opposite. Without limits, we cannot be free.

Brittany Chaffee is challenging the societal belief that encourages us to pursue self-improvement at all costs. Can we just ... stop?

The Problem with Constant Self-Improvement | Wit & Delight

Sumerian astronomers named the sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn after their gods. Ancient China named planets after things of nature, like water, fire, or wood. The English names for planets came from the Romans, who named them after their gods and goddesses.
More distant planets were generally titled by the people who found them. They continue with historical trends by naming planets after ancient Greek and Roman gods.

Where the names of the planets came from

These days, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has more creative rules for naming new planets. Broadly, planetary names mirror the identity of the planet: The features of Venus are named after women. The parts of the Martian moon Deimos get their names from authors who wrote about Mars. Some of the naming schemes are playful: Craters on the asteroid Gaspra are named after spas of the world.

Naming parameters

<ul><li>It's very uncommon to name a celestial body after people. Only prominent scientists who have passed away are given that honour.</li><li>Stars in named constellations and visible to the naked eye are given a letter of the Greek alphabet according to their position in the constellation. The brightest star in Cygnus is Alpha Cygni; the next is Beta Cygni, etc. </li><li>With the reported 2 trillion galaxies, the IAU has settled on giving every star a number.</li></ul>

Stars are not named after people

Self Improvement

Dear Science: How did the planets get their names?

English designer Charles Frederick Worth seems to be the first fashion designer that used models. From the mid-1860s, the house was hiring young women.
This development changed the relationship between the dressmaker and the client. Instead of the designer coming to the customer, the designer gave a simple presentation to clients.

When the dressmaker and client relationship changed

In 1901, Lady Duff Gordon presented her 'Gowns of Emotion' using models on a stage with scenery, lighting and music, while their entrances were choreographed with poses. This innovation introduced the idea of showing fashion to a larger audience.
The traditional catwalk took place in department stores where large spaces were available. These presentations for middle-class shoppers were vital in validating the fashionable styles set by designers.

The first catwalk

In the 1960s, fashion designers started to break away from hosting a catwalk show in department stores and salons. Balmain presented a 1965 collection in a wine cellar, and Piere Cardin held a show outdoors next to the Seine in Paris.
Once we headed into the nineties, the fashion show got bigger and cost millions to stage. But the visual spectacle didn't really add to the basic concept of the fashion show. The shows were mostly happening behind closed doors for fashion editors, buyers, celebrities and private clients.

Breaking away from the department stores

Fashion shows have always been about creating visibility and exposure for a designer's collection with the end goal of selling clothes. Technology placed fashion weeks within reach of everyone and changed it into a pop-culture phenomenon. As the fashion influencer emerged, the street style followed.
The rise of social media also led to brands choosing to livestream their shows to all. The change has expanded over the last year, causing designers to embrace a digital format over gatherings.

Social media and fashion shows

With social media being the better platform, many designers embraced the creative challenge this presented. They showcase their collections via fashion films or shoots and find other inventive ways to draw audiences.
The designers who had the most success on social media were those who scaled back the least. The pandemic has allowed time to reflect on the sustainability and role of the fashion industry.

Embracing creative challenges

Ever wondered how today’s runways came to be? We delve into fashion history and then consider where we may be heading next

The fascinating history of the catwalk show

The first scheduled passenger airline service took off on Jan 1, 1914. Thomas Benoist designed the "flying boat", the pilot was Tony Jannus, and Abram C. Pheil was the first paying passenger.
The 21-mile (34-kilometre) flight took 23 minutes, flying from St. Petersburg to Tampa, Fla. The plane flew no higher than 50 feet (15.2 m) over the water. Halfway, the engine misfired, and Jannus touched down in the bay, made adjustments and took off again. When the plane landed, they were swarmed by a cheering crowd of about 3,500.

The first scheduled passenger flight

Tony Jannus was an experienced test pilot for military planes and flew long-distance airplanes and airboats. By 1913, he became one of the principal stockholders in the Benoist Aircraft Company.
A Model 14 Benoist airboat weighed 1,250 lbs. (567 kilograms). It was 26 feet (8 meters) long and had a wingspan of 44 feet (13 m). The top speed of the airplane was 64 mph (103 km/h). The plane was built for one pilot and one passenger side-by-side on one wooden seat.

The Benoist Aircraft Company: The model 14 Benoist airboat

<ul>
<li>The airline made two flights daily, six days a week. The tickets sold out 16 weeks in advance. </li>
<li>Then a second Benoist airboat was added with Tony Jannus' brother, Roger, as the pilot. The airline operated for almost four months before interest declined rapidly because winter residents went back north.</li>
<li>The brothers continued to perform tests of aircraft and trained other pilots. Both brothers died while flying - Tony's plane crashed into the Black Sea in 1916 while training Russian pilots, and Roger crashed during air patrols over France in 1918.</li>
</ul>

World’s first commercial airline: The two flying brothers

The first scheduled passenger airline service took off from St. Petersburg, Fla.

World’s First Commercial Airline | The Greatest Moments in Flight

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

Across language learning, company building, and any kind of creative project, there is a dip. The Dip is the long stretch between beginner’s luck and real accomplishment. Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.

The Dip

In any goal that has to be accomplished, there is a Start. It usually gets overlooked, as it's always there. The Start is a much bigger problem since you can’t reach The Dip if you don’t get through The Start, and many more people fantasize about doing something than actually do it and give up.

The Start Before the Dip

The biggest problem we face with completing our projects isn’t productivity**or time management, but motivation management**.
When you’re sufficiently motivated to accomplish something, you’ll move heaven and earth to do it.

Motivation Management

Motivation is “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way,” or rephrased, “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”

Motivation Defined

“When you quit something that you had initially wanted to do, it’s because the reasons to stop eventually came to outweigh the reasons to continue. Thus, to maintain your motivation you can either strengthen the reasons to keep going or weaken the reasons to quit. Successful motivation efforts generally include both.”

<ul><li>Increase your reason to start a project, by increasing the value of starting it.</li><li>Increase your expectancy of succeeding at that project.</li><li>Decrease your reasons to delay, by increasing urgency, using a deadline.</li></ul>

Getting Motivated to Start a Project

It states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Parkinson's Law

Many people use a commitment device or game their surroundings to get and stay motivated.
You can physically help your goal by things like throwing away your junk food, only showering at the gym so that you go there, and similar activities aimed at focussing on your goal. People also use public commitments in social media to stay motivated by peer pressure.

A Commitment Device

Set small, incremental goals that are sufficiently exciting to be motivating and for which you have a reasonable expectation of completing.

Stay Motivated 

<ul>
<li>Maintain your sense of Expectancy in the project using small wins and accomplishments.</li>
<li>Reward yourself.</li>
<li>Maintain a sense of value by finding a way to remind yourself of the bigger picture of the small, everyday bouts of effort.</li>
<li>Build positive habits.</li>
<li>Find flow.</li>
<li>Set clear follow-on goals.</li>
<li>Maintain energy.</li>
</ul>

How To Keep Going

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about." - Einstein Stop me if you've heard this one before. Ryan has decided to learn Spanish.

The Motivation Machine: How to Get & Stay Motivated for Any Goal

The World Economic Forum released a report that gave an estimate of 85 million jobs will be displaced by the year 2025, between humans and machines. However, this is not to scare us.
Thanks to the advances in technology many business processes are able to be conducted with the less marginal error or human error. Varying industries now use chatbots that have NLP (Natural Language Processing) while others use RPA (Robotic Process Automation).

The Advancement of Technology in the Labor Division

<ol>
<li>Computers are being trained to conduct highly-repetitive tasks. This then fosters a work environment that will place more focus on complex tasks for those with competitive salaries and widen the range of interesting careers.</li>
<li>The competitive disadvantage will disappear. New roles will be offered and provided to those who want to enter the workforce. Younger workers are then more likely to be pioneers instead of trying to compete with their seniors.</li>
</ol>

The Two Reasons Behind Why Robots Won't Steal Your Job

<ol>
<li>Find out what you are interested in and do some research.</li>
<li>Follow people who are in roles you are interested in and try to connect with them after you've studied their work</li>
<li>Master the skills needed in the industry you are interested in and add them to your resume.</li>
<li>Keep learning and adapting to the times.</li>
<li>Find out your strengths and the uniqueness in you.</li>
</ol>

Future Proof Your Career

As technologies advance, products and services are only being driven sky-high. The demand for new jobs in the industries under care economy and green economy presents great opportunities to fall under the umbrellas of:
<ul>
<li>Cloud computing</li>
<li>Marketing</li>
<li>Content Production</li>
<li>People and Culture</li>
<li>Data and AI</li>
<li>Product Development</li>
<li>Engineering; and</li>
<li>Sales.</li>
</ul>

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Stephanie Denis
@stephanie_taylor

Stores Are Using Music to Make You Spend More

Scientists Aren't Sure How the Inner Voice Works

Can't Stop Playing Wordle? Science Might Be Able to Explain Why

Turn it down: how to silence your inner voice

The Problem with Constant Self-Improvement | Wit & Delight

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Stephanie Denis@stephanie_taylor

Stores Are Using Music to Make You Spend More

Scientists Aren't Sure How the Inner Voice Works

Can't Stop Playing Wordle? Science Might Be Able to Explain Why

Turn it down: how to silence your inner voice

The Problem with Constant Self-Improvement | Wit & Delight

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Stephanie Denis
@stephanie_taylor