Mindset
About this category
Content whose primary subject is how an individual manages their own psychology, focus, habits, or relationship with work. The unit of change is the *person themselves*, not their business or team.
Showing 2363 articles for Mindset.
Identity & self-belief
YouTube
Should you start a startup? Honest self-assessment over hype
Y Combinator
November 28, 2018
Identity & self-belief
9
Vision & mission
5
Only ~2% of people are genuinely suited to the founder path
Being a craftsman does not make you a founder — the opposite, usually
Everyone advising you on this has a hidden agenda; discount accordingly
Deep work & focus
YouTube
Mindfulness and meditation as leadership tools for entrepreneurs
Bill Gallagher
November 14, 2018
Deep work & focus
8
Culture building
7
Resilience & grit
6
The gap between stimulus and response is where better decisions live
Aetna's mindfulness programme cut stress 28% and saved $3k per employee
Most stressors resolve without intervention — reacting to everything is costly
Sam Altman on focus, risk, and choosing what to work on
Y Combinator
November 8, 2018
Goal setting
9
Productivity & habits
7
Resilience & grit
5
Why feeling busy for a decade can mean zero real progress
The deferred life plan almost never works — pick one thing now
Long-term wasted potential is the real risk, not short-term failure
Why you should (or should not) work at a startup
Y Combinator
November 2, 2018
Goal setting
8
Case studies
7
Getting rich from startup equity is statistically unlikely — don't join for that.
Startups hand you roles you're unqualified for, compressing years of learning into months.
Slope matters more than starting point — failing startups teach as much as winning ones.
Productivity & habits
YouTube
Seven principles of individual high performance at work
Bill Gallagher
October 17, 2018
Productivity & habits
9
Processes & SOPs
6
Management
5
Working beyond 50 hours a week actually decreases performance.
Obsessing over fewer priorities beats spreading effort across many.
Passion and purpose together — not separately — drive top performance.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Amanda Palmer on songwriting, creative solitude, and her TED Talk process
How I Work
October 17, 2018
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
7
Public speaking
6
Why she needs everyone out of earshot before she can write
From a 50-minute draft to a 12-minute talk: two months of brutal cutting
Public deadlines and financial stakes as a forcing function for creativity
Work-life balance
Podcast
Why a weekly hard break drives more productivity than grinding
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
September 28, 2018
Work-life balance
9
Productivity & habits
7
Working past 55 hours a week actively harms output quality
The brain's default mode network generates creativity only during genuine rest
Chick-fil-A closes Sundays and outsells rivals fourfold — rest scales
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Amanda Palmer on songwriting, creative solitude, and her TED talk process
How I Work
August 1, 2018
Deep work & focus
10
Productivity & habits
8
Relationships & family
6
Why songwriting demands complete solitude — even one room away kills it
A 50-minute ramble became a 12-minute TED talk through two months of brutal cutting
Public deadlines and Patreon payments replaced daily routines as creative discipline
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Adam Grant on productivity, motivation, and giving wisely
How I Work
July 24, 2018
Productivity & habits
10
Deep work & focus
9
Motivation
7
Jumping from exciting to boring tasks tanks performance — taper instead.
Meetings on your calendar make you 22% less productive beforehand.
Saying yes to everyone burns you out — help only where you add unique value.
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Building a morning routine that actually sticks
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
June 13, 2018
Productivity & habits
9
Physical & cognitive performance
8
Physical health & longevity
6
Your evening routine determines whether your morning routine works.
Start with two minutes, not thirty — small habits compound.
Missing a day isn't failure; just start the next chain tomorrow.
Identity & self-belief
Podcast
Creativity is a skill, not a gift: how to develop it deliberately
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
May 31, 2018
Identity & self-belief
9
Business models
6
Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule omits the one word that matters: deliberate.
Great creative work sits at the sweet spot between familiar and novel.
Consumption, imitation, community, and feedback — not inspiration — drive creative success.
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Batch processing in kitchen and business: Allison Schaaf on PrepDish
Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life
March 5, 2018
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Prepping food in batches eliminates decision fatigue at the worst moment
Quarterly planning catches repetition and gaps that weekly planning misses
A mid-afternoon walk at your low-energy hour beats skipping it every evening
Five career resolutions to set and act on every year
Cameron Herold
February 5, 2018
Goal setting
9
Communication
6
A written three-year vivid vision beats vague career intentions every time.
Sharing your goals publicly creates accountability and unlocks help from others.
Showing up early and solution-first signals the professionalism most people skip.
Life coaching works when it's rooted in the real world
Noah Kagan
December 13, 2017
Goal setting
8
Productivity & habits
6
Coaches who stay practical make money; woo-woo ones struggle.
Accountability — not inspiration — is what changes behaviour.
A painful public stake beats a life coach for most people.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Leonardo da Vinci: lessons in curiosity, creativity, and cross-disciplinary thinking
Founders
November 17, 2017
Deep work & focus
8
Case studies
7
Productivity & habits
6
Self-taught outsiders often outrun formally trained experts in originality.
Procrastination is a creative tool — ideas need time to marinate.
7,200 surviving notebook pages are only a quarter of what he wrote.