Have you been feeling stressed lately, perhaps due to an impending work deadline, conflict with a colleague or family member, or the Fit for Future restructure?

Have you ever designed programs or activities with the goal of changing behavior?  Did you wonder what really works?

Do you ever wish you had more influence?

When was the last time you were rejected?  Was it painful?  Did you dwell on it?

Think back to the last time you took the train, bus, or a flight – did you strike up a conversation with the person next to you?

Do you ever tell yourself, “I’ll just check Instagram/Tik Tok/Facebook for five minutes, then I’ll go to bed”?

As behavioral science often teaches, when our actions change first, our attitudes and beliefs may follow.

Do you ever long for your younger days, when you could work harder and stay out later, you faced fewer aches and pains, and . . . um . . . where was I . . . you could remember everything?

Have you ever traveled to a country where people were a different race than you?  Did you have any trouble distinguishing people there?

Are you a parent worried about your teenager’s ability to study and stay on task? Or perhaps you yourself find it difficult to concentrate on “deep work”?

When we hear something frequently, we are more likely to believe it’s true, because we spend less time processing the information. 

Do you ever feel frustrated by a lack of response to your email requests?

Think back to your first days at university – do you remembering wondering if you fit in?

Have you ever judged someone by their appearance, and later realized you were wrong?

When was the last time you tried to change someone’s mind?  How did it go?

Do you ever struggle to get through your daily to-do list, silently berating yourself, “If only I could stay focused!”

Regardless of whether you’re longing for a new car or home, wishing to relocate or get a promotion, or hoping to improve your health or a relationship, it turns out there’s a flaw in this logic:  in general, neither positive nor negative events actually make significant, long-term changes to our happiness.

The initial weeks in ANY job can be confusing, in part because of the curse of knowledge, a cognitive bias in which experts – and seasoned professionals – unconsciously assume others understand a topic 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰.