GRANTED: Going backwards toward success and my new favorite word

October 2017

Creative work doesn't happen at a steady pace. It comes in bursts—sprints that follow false starts, daydreams, and dead ends.

These were some of my favorite sources of inspiration this past month:

1. Facts Don't Change People's Minds. Here's What Does
To stay open-minded, separate your opinions from your identity. Who you are is about what you value, not what you believe.

2. Why Working from Home Should Be Standard Practice
Employees randomly assigned to work from home were 13.5% more productive—and half as likely to quit.

3. Trying to Get Ahead? Plan in Reverse, Study Suggests
Instead of planning steps from now to a difficult goal, plan backward from success. It makes the plan clearer and more motivating, and makes you more likely to achieve it.

4. Ikigai: A Japanese Concept to Improve Work and Life
My new favorite word: ikigai. Here's what it looks like at work:

From My Desk:

5. Kristen Wiig Is Not Afraid to Fail
If you want to keep learning, the moment you feel fully comfortable in a job is the moment it's time to find a new project. When I interviewed Kristen Wiig, she told me how to be funnier—and then told me not to try.

6. To Connect with Your Audience, Be Vulnerable
Good communicators make themselves look smart. Great communicators make their audiences feel smart.

Here are some of the questions you asked last month—click any question for my response, plus my favorite resources on 10 other topics you raised:

• How do you motivate people to become genuinely interested in learning and thinking?

• As parents and leaders, when should we praise inputs vs. outputs?

• What profession would you like to test out, and which ones would you want to avoid?

Submit your own questions to wondering@adamgrant.net. Include your first name and city, or ask to be anonymous, and I'll pick a few next month to answer here.
 

And for a laugh, check out these power tips for kindergartners. "Buy fidget spinners in bulk, and rent them to your peers. Your Lego pirate ship collapsed? It's not a failure, it's a pivot."

Cheers,
Adam

Adam Grant, Ph.D.
Author of ORIGINALS and GIVE AND TAKE,
coauthor of OPTION B, and Wharton professor.