"Ellen Langer is a social psychologist who some have dubbed 'the mother of mindfulness.' But she defines mindfulness with counterintuitive simplicity: the simple act of actively noticing things — with a result of increased health, competence, and happiness. Her take on mindfulness has never involved contemplation or meditation or yoga. It comes straight out of her provocative, unconventional studies, which have been suggesting for decades what neuroscience is pointing at now: our experience of everything is formed by the words and ideas we attach to them. "

In this episode from On Being, learn about the science behind mindless and mindful living.

In this brief but illuminating video from the Harvard Business Review, Fredrick Herzberg's hygiene motivation theory is broken down into an easy to use concept for any manager or leader. What is it that motivates a person in their work? It turns out that the answer is more complex than money or their work environment.

In a recent Farnam Street Blog article, Richard Hamming's  book The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn is distilled to answer some fundamental questions about how we do great things. How do we view ourselves, can we achieve what we set out to do, and how do we prepare ourselves for life?

"...[W]hen the measure becomes the goal, and when people are punished or rewarded for meeting or not meeting the goal, the measure is corrupted."

As standardized test scores become the goal of education, rather than the measure of basic competencies to inform how we educate, we can see a general shift in behavior to produce students and schools without meaningful, real-world skills. 

This fascinating piece illuminates the failings of the last few decades of American schooling, putting into perspective the political and social influences and implications around this over emphasis on testing.