Book Summaries & Big Ideas
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker: What It Gets Right and Wrong
The Why We Sleep book, claim by claim: what a 2019 critique, Walker's own replies and later reviews show about short sleep, cancer, death and one chart.
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Procrastination & Motivation
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Which Lasts Longer?
Rewards get people moving; interest and personal value keep them going. What 4 decades of research on intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation found.
Financial Independence & Retirement
How to Calculate Your FI Number: The 25x Rule and Its Limits
An FI number is often estimated as the yearly spending gap times 25. Where that comes from, and why US estimates for a 40-year retirement point nearer 30.
Employee Engagement & Company Culture
What Does Employee Turnover Really Cost? How to Estimate It
The popular claim is half to twice a salary. Published case studies point lower for most jobs. How to estimate turnover costs for your own team in 5 steps.
Book Summaries & Big Ideas
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: Key Ideas and Whether They Hold Up
A Thinking, Fast and Slow summary checked against later replications: its research on choices holds up, while chapter 4's priming studies did not.
Job Search, Resume & Interviews
The STAR Method Explained: How to Structure Behavioral Answers
STAR, which DDI says it introduced in 1974, mirrors how structured interviews are rated. What each letter means and how to build an answer a rater can score.
Financial Independence & Retirement
Employer Match Explained: How Workplace Retirement Contributions Work
How an employer match works: a rate and a cap (50 cents per dollar on the first 6% of pay is one common US formula), vesting, true-ups and the UK minimum.
Job Search, Resume & Interviews
How to Prepare for a Job Interview: A Complete Checklist
A 5-step job interview preparation checklist drawn from coaching studies, US federal hiring guidance and US and British rules on interview questions.
Book Summaries & Big Ideas
Deep Work by Cal Newport: Summary, Key Ideas, and Critique
A Deep Work summary and critique: Cal Newport's 4 rules, what field studies of protected work time support, and where the book's evidence runs thin.
Habits & Routines
How to Build a Morning Routine You'll Actually Keep
How to build a morning routine you'll keep: 5 steps from habit research, and why the kind of cue you pick matters less than meeting it every day.
Energy, Nutrition & Exercise
Do You Need 10,000 Steps a Day? Where the Number Came From
The 10,000-step goal began as a 1965 Japanese pedometer's name. A 2025 review of 57 studies found the steepest gains up to about 5,000 to 7,000 steps.
Habits & Routines
Habit Trackers: Do They Work, and Which Kind Should You Use?
A habit tracker helps you repeat an action, yet use fades: in one French study, 16% still used a tracker after 320 days. What works, and which kind to pick.
Automation & No-Code Workflows
Spreadsheet Automation for Beginners: Formulas, Macros, and Scripts
Formulas, macros and scripts explained, with 5 steps to automate a spreadsheet safely, and why close audits find errors in most working sheets.
Habits & Routines
How to Build an Exercise Habit That Lasts
How to build an exercise habit: the WHO target is 150 minutes a week, but start far below it, make starting automatic and plan how you come back after a miss.
Energy, Nutrition & Exercise
How Much Caffeine Is Too Much? What Health Agencies Say
The FDA, EFSA and Health Canada set 400 mg of caffeine a day as a ceiling for healthy adults, not a target. Pregnancy, teens and some conditions call for less.
Goal Setting & Planning
SMART Goals Explained With 20 Examples
SMART goals explained letter by letter, with 20 examples, where the 1981 acronym came from, and why goal research says aim higher than realistic.
Automation & No-Code Workflows
Robotic Process Automation Explained: What RPA Is and Where It Fits
What robotic process automation is, how attended and unattended bots differ, where RPA fits, and where the 30-50% failure figure comes from.
Goal Setting & Planning
New Year's Resolutions: Why They Fail and How to Fix Them
The claim that 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by February traces to no study. What follow-ups of real resolvers found, and what helps.
Energy, Nutrition & Exercise
Does Exercise Give You More Energy? What the Research Says
Does exercise give you energy? Randomized trials say yes on average, by a modest amount that builds over 6 weeks or more, with one key exception.
Goal Setting & Planning
How to Create a Five-Year Plan Without Pretending to Predict the Future
How to create a five-year plan in 5 steps that expect you to change: set a direction, test it against several futures and detail only the first year.
Automation & No-Code Workflows
Email Filters and Rules: How to Make Your Inbox Sort Itself
How Gmail filters and Outlook rules work, why a few routing rules beat deep folder trees, and 5 steps to set them up and test them safely.