The World's Best Book Summaries
How can we understand how dopamine affects behavior? Can the amount of dopamine you have influence your relationships and beliefs? Dopamine affects behavior by making us look forward to the future and anticipate future happiness. A look at how this works can tell you a lot about where certain behaviors come from. Read here to see how dopamine levels can affect everything from romantic relationships to political beliefs.
What’s the origin of morning pages? What purpose do they serve? Have you tried this practice? In Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way, morning pages are presented as a method to unleash the creative force. They do this by establishing a close connection with your inner artist—the reservoir of unconventional ideas, raw emotions, dreams, and desires inside you. Read more to learn what morning pages are and how you can harness them to declutter your mind and set your artistry free.
Do you have a fear of failure? Do you strive to be a perfectionist? The thought of failure is so terrible that it sometimes prevents people from working towards their goals. The only solution to overcoming the fear of failure is to accept that failure is normal. Continue reading to learn how to address this fear.
What are the consequences of emotional suppression? What are some ways to accept your emotions, even if they’re negative? The act of suppressing your emotions happens when you avoid or distract yourself from uncomfortable feelings. When you don’t let yourself experience negative emotions—such as guilt, frustration, and grief—you might channel those emotions into unhealthy habits. Below we’ll explore the consequences of emotional suppression and how to allow yourself to feel uneasy emotions.
How skilled are you at objectively assessing the negative feedback you get? Do you know how to use it to your advantage? Or, does negative feedback just make you want to crawl into a hole? Negative feedback is hard. Perhaps you’ve experienced the shame that can accompany performance appraisals, customer reviews, captive audiences, or frank conversations with loved ones. But, there’s a way to find value in what people think of you, even when it stings. Continue reading to get advice on how to accept negative feedback from Dr. Julie Smith, Brené Brown, and Dale Carnegie.
Are some of your coworkers jerks? At what point should you address their behavior? The first step to confronting toxic behavior in the workplace is determining the full context of the situation. Sometimes, it’s not worth it or necessary to take any action. But, sometimes it’s critical. If the situation meets certain characteristics, you need to address the behavior. Continue reading for tips from organizational psychologist Robert I. Sutton.
How are dopamine levels and schizophrenia connected? What happens when you have too much dopamine? Dopamine levels and schizophrenia are connected because higher dopamine increases creativity, and when taken to the extreme this can mean making creative associations between things that aren’t really related, feeding delusions. To understand how this happens, you need to take a look at how dopamine works. Let’s investigate the role of dopamine in schizophrenia and when too much creativity is a bad thing.
What’s Brené Brown’s advice on empathy and shame? In her words, how does empathy help you overcome shame? Brené Brown is a world-renowned author who’s known for her work on shame, wholeheartedness, and leadership. In most of her books, she discusses the concept of empathy, and where it falls in human nature. Read below for more about Brené Brown on empathy.
How well do you really know yourself? How do you regard the parts of yourself that you don’t like? We all have parts of our personality, character, body, or background that bother us. What we do in response makes a difference. Dr. Julie Smith advises that we accept who we are, warts and all. Read more to learn how to practice self-acceptance with Smith’s suggestions.
Do any of your coworkers disrespect you? Do they make you dread going to work? In The Asshole Survival Guide, organizational psychologist Robert I. Sutton explains how to identify assholes at work. He also discusses three research-backed ways their behavior hurts the people around them. Continue reading for Sutton’s valuable insights.