Negotiation
How to Negotiate: A Research-Backed Guide for Everyday Life
How to negotiate rent, prices, fees and deadlines in 7 steps, from knowing your walk-away point to opening offers, fair trades and when to just pay.
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Digital Safety & Privacy
Security Words Explained: Malware, Phishing, Encryption and More
Cybersecurity terms explained in plain English: 29 terms from malware and phishing to passkeys and zero-days, in five families with everyday examples.
Habits & Routines
How Long Does It Really Take to Form a Habit? (It's Not 21 Days)
Two studies that timed habit formation found medians of about two months, with individuals taking 4 to 335 days. Where 21 days came from, and what helps.
Digital Safety & Privacy
How to Create Passwords You Can Remember and Attackers Can't Guess
How to create a strong password: join 3 or more random words, skip personal details and tricks, keep it until there is a reason to change it.
Goal Setting & Planning
How to Set Career Goals (With Examples)
How to set career goals in 4 steps, with examples for early career, mid-career, career changers and freelancers, checked against goal research.
Digital Safety & Privacy
How to Back Up Your Phone and Computer So Nothing Is Lost
How to back up your phone and computer with the 3-2-1 rule: iCloud, Google, Time Machine and File History, plus chats, 2FA codes and a restore test.
Leadership & Management Skills
How to Manage an Underperforming Employee: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to manage an underperforming employee in 5 steps: check expectations were clear, diagnose the cause, agree a plan, review it, and know when HR takes over.
AI for Personal Productivity
ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Gemini: How to Choose an AI Assistant
ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini compared on 5 things that matter: writing, files, Google and Microsoft apps, privacy settings and countries.
Learning How to Learn
Metacognition Explained: How to Think About Your Own Learning
What is metacognition? Its 2 parts: judging what you know and changing how you study. Judging later, with the answer hidden, makes the first far sharper.
Goal Setting & Planning
The Wheel of Life: A Balanced Approach to Goal Setting
How to draw and score a wheel of life in 5 steps, turn the lowest areas that matter into goals, and what research on life areas does and does not support.
Note-Taking & Knowledge Management
The Commonplace Book: What It Is and How to Start One
A commonplace book keeps quotes, facts and ideas with their source under subject headings. Where it came from, and 6 steps to start your own.
Leadership & Management Skills
Situational Leadership Explained: Matching Your Style to the Person
Situational leadership matches 4 styles, from directing to delegating, to a person's readiness for one task. Both versions, an example and the evidence.
Purpose, Happiness & Life Design
Character Strengths: Using the VIA Survey to Do More of What Fits You
The free VIA character strengths survey ranks 24 strengths in 10-15 minutes. How to read your results, what trials found, and how it differs from Gallup's.
Work-Life Balance & Boundaries
Workaholism Explained: How It Differs From Working Hard
Workaholism is working excessively and compulsively, not just long hours. How the 7-item Bergen scale measures it and how it differs from engagement.
Time Management
How to Prioritize Tasks When Everything Feels Urgent
How to prioritize tasks when everything feels urgent: why a heavy load pulls you to easy wins, and a 6-step triage by cost of delay and payoff per hour.
Team Productivity & Collaboration
What Is the Ideal Team Size? What the Research Says
There is no single ideal team size: a 2023 review of 208 team results found no overall link. Here is when size matters more, when it matters less, and why.
Productivity Apps & Tools
Best To-Do List Apps Compared: How to Choose
The best to-do list apps for 6 situations, checked on price, devices and sharing, plus a 3-step trial to run before you move your tasks in.
Hiring, Onboarding & Talent Development
How to Run Performance Reviews: A Step-by-Step Guide for Managers
How to run performance reviews in 4 steps, and why a 2000 study found that ratings say more about the rater than about the person being rated.
Stress & Anxiety Management
How to Calm Down Quickly: Short Techniques and the Evidence Behind Them
How to calm down quickly: 5 short techniques graded by evidence, from slow breathing (12 trials pooled) to grounding, and who each may not suit.
Remote & Hybrid Work
Proximity Bias Explained: Why Out of Sight Can Mean Out of Mind
Proximity bias favors the people a manager sees. In a Chinese trial published in 2015, home workers were promoted less for equal performance. Here is why.
Productivity Apps & Tools
Best Time Tracking Apps Compared: Manual, Automatic, or Hybrid?
The best time tracking apps compared for 3 jobs (seeing where your week goes, billing clients, team reports) and the rules on tracking staff.