Living For Improvement

Success and failure: It’s all about goal structure

Jonathan — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:45:23 +0000

It’s funny how the tiniest tweak in the structure of an activity can completely influence your choices (and subsequently, your success rate). Don’t believe me? Check out this TED talk by behavioral economist Dan Ariely on irrational behavior. As I get busier, I notice that these small structural changes to my goals make all of [...]

You have to be crazy to be highly successful.

Jonathan — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:39:20 +0000

“Being realistic is the most common road to mediocrity. Why would you be realistic? What’s the point? It just puts up a barrier.” -Will Smith Is being a little crazy a good thing? Will Smith makes a good point (see the quote above). For many worthwhile endeavors, the odds of success are so low, [...]

The Sharp Pain of Rejection and the Dull Pain of Regret

Jonathan — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:59:48 +0000

This pain. It hurts. It hurts a lot. It’s the pain of failure we’ve all experienced at one point or another. Even as I write this, I wince every time I think back to a recent, miserable failure I experienced. Although this failure was weeks ago, I still feel the sting whenever my mind chooses to [...]

Keeping accountable for your goals is as easy as $10

Jonathan — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:30:44 +0000

I have great goal tracking software. It’s expensive stuff and has done wonders for helping me manage my goals. But you know what? For motivational purposes, it doesn’t even hold a candle to a simple, $10 wall calendar. Want to know why? When you use a wall calendar to track your daily goals, it stares [...]

How to Gamify Your Life: An Experiment – Part 4

Jonathan — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:22:31 +0000

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -Leonardo da Vinci At the start of this gamification experiment, I had a detailed system of time-tracking, progress standardization, a full list of “activated abilities”, and more. The system was fun at first, but quickly became difficult to track and manage. In it’s current form, my gamification set-up is much simpler, [...]

How to Gamify Your Life: An Experiment – Part 3

Jonathan — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:39:30 +0000

This post is Part 3 of an ongoing experiment in which I gamify my life. To catch up to speed, here’s Part 1 and Part 2. The log continues with my second and third week of the experiment. Week Two Wow, this week flew by! I stayed diligent with tracking my progress in my various skills, but [...]

How to Gamify Your Life: An Experiment – Part 2

Jonathan — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:48:45 +0000

This post is Part 2 of an ongoing experiment in which I seek to gamify my life and study the implications such gamification has on motivation and happiness. To catch up to speed, here’s Part 1. Week 1 – Days One & Two So far, I feel pretty much the same. I still wake up, [...]

How to Gamify Your Life: An Experiment – Part 1

Jonathan — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:38:33 +0000

Gamification. Just like social media and tablet devices, gamification is very hyped in the media these days. With the advent of Foursquare, Fitocracy, and Farmville, gamification has become a big deal for any company looking to increase loyalty amongst its customers; if customers have fun interacting with your company, engagement (and sales) are bound to go [...]

Using Expectations to Find Happiness: The Eight-Year Rule

Jonathan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 21:23:52 +0000

One of my best friends has been going through some tough times lately. He’s explored many career paths and none seemed to deliver the sense of fulfillment he’s been looking for in a career. After speaking with him about his situation, I wondered: What if my friend was suffering from the passion trap? In other words, [...]

Networking Made Easy? How to Be the Student Everyone Wants to Hire

Jonathan — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:00:51 +0000

Last weekend I attended my alma mater’s alumni homecoming weekend. As part of this weekend, I signed up for a mentoring event within the business school. I was told that I could give a small presentation on a topic that the participating students would find valuable, and I was told I could choose one of [...]