Elevate summary

If you want to learn something new, you have to listen to others – after all, when you’re the one doing the talking, you inevitably end up saying what you already know. Whether you’re with your friends and family or in a business meeting, listening is the best way of getting information and finding out what you can improve on. 

Taking feedback on board can be tricky, though, especially when it’s critical. The author witnessed just how hard this can be a couple of years back, when he attended a seminar in which participants received feedback from their colleagues. 

Every night before bed, the author told his son Matt that he was an excellent sleeper who could always drop off whatever the situation. Amazingly, this worked and Matt has never had a problem getting a good night’s sleep. What’s going on here – how does this work? 

The answer might surprise you. How we think and talk about things actually affects our lives. Think of the human brain as a computer. Like a PC, it can be programmed. Rather than using code, however, it’s programmed using regular, everyday language. 

Have you had a boss who inspired you to go the extra mile and produce the best work of your career? If so, you’ve probably wondered what it was that made them such a great motivator. Surprisingly, it’s a lot less complicated than you might think – in fact, it all comes down to a couple of straightforward rules. 

Here’s the most important point: if you want to get the best out of others, you need to give them positive, immediate and certain motivation. Let’s break that down.

Life has a way of throwing us curveballs. When that happens, we’re quick to adapt. If a close friend or family member gets seriously ill, for example, we often discover previously unknown resources to structure our time and get a huge number of things done.

But what if there was a way of doing that every day, not just in times of crisis? Here’s the good news – there is. Let’s see how.

Professional success and personal fulfillment are both built on the same foundation stones. One of the most important and often overlooked parts of this structure? Sleep. If you’re struggling to get a proper night’s rest, don’t worry – in this blink, we’ll explore hacks for quality rest. 

Let’s start with power naps. When you’re tired, there’s often little point trying to press ahead with your work. You’re guaranteed to be working inefficiently and wind up with something that falls below your usual standards. So here’s the alternative: take a short nap and refuel before returning to the task at hand. 

It takes a huge amount of energy to get an airplane off the ground, but once it reaches altitude it can cruise while burning minimal amounts of fuel. The momentum achieved by that initial spurt, in other words, is enough to keep it in the air. 

What does this have to do with your personal and professional life? Quite a lot, actually. Like an airplane, you need to expend a lot of energy when you launch new projects. Start half-heartedly, by contrast, and you’ll soon find yourself out of runway. That’s when you hit a wall and give up. 

As the famous Beatles song has it, “All you need is love.” On some level, we all know that love makes our lives happier and fuller. Unfortunately, we often overlook this basic insight and neglect this vital matter. That has to change. 

Love is contagious. Spend time around a loving person and you’ll find yourself feeling much more connected and mellow. That’s why it’s so important to surround yourself with loving influences. This can be as simple as spending more time with the folks who love you and make you feel good.