How to Have a Good Day Quotes

“You make the most of your brain’s talents if you adjust for the limitations of each system. That means creating the conditions for your deliberate system to function at its best, and recognizing when to slow down and come off autopilot.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. —STEPHEN COVEY”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“We know the reality we perceive is highly subjective; we might as well seek out the more interesting aspects of reality if we want to feel more energized by everyday life.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“As a result, studies have found we can reap immediate intellectual and emotional dividends from investing in exercise and sleep, or even from taking a moment to breathe deeply, smile broadly, and stand a little taller. In”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“psychologists have long observed something they call the Einstellung effect, where having an existing solution in mind makes it harder for us to see a radically different but better way to solve our problem.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Instead of racking your brain to come up with solutions and ideas, you create the best possible space for the other person to think effectively about the problem. The approach is called “extreme listening,” a term coined by educationalist Nancy Kline.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Sometimes I feel like throwing my hands up in the air and saying, ‘Enough!’ I immediately feel my brain seizing up when I do that. Then, instead of being smart in handling the workload, it’s easy to make bad decisions,” he says. “You can end up catastrophizing, worrying about worst-case scenarios like missing deadlines and even losing your job. None of which helps you think any more clearly.” It’s a good description of how stressful it feels when our brain’s deliberate system gets swamped with demands, and how the resulting tumble into defensive mode makes it hard to be our most sensible selves.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“One thing at a time. Most important thing first. Start now.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“having a sense of autonomy and personal competence is profoundly motivating.22 It turns out that we perform better, and feel better about ourselves, when we feel in charge of at least some aspects of what we’re doing—whether that’s in the goals we set for ourselves, the way we work, or the purpose behind our effort.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“To be at your most resourceful in handling workplace challenges, it helps to become adept at recognizing when you’re sliding into defensive mode. Refocusing attention on potential rewards in the situation at hand can also help to reengage your deliberate system and shift you back into discovery mode.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“kind”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“Resolve dilemmas with greater ease. Ask “What could I do?” rather than “What should I do?”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“I’ve seen one technique that generally succeeds in improving our average level of wisdom: adopting a go-to cross-check rule that’s simple enough to become part of your routine anytime you’re doing something important. Here are five cross-check rules that I’ve seen people deploy effectively: “Don’t Default,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “Mandate Dissent,” “Never Say Never,” and “Pre-mortem.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“So it’s important for us to know that when we’re making decisions, we—and others—will instinctively tend to overvalue the status quo compared with new options, unless we stop to think properly about how splendid the unfamiliar thing might really be.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Another shortcut we take is to assume that if something is easy to understand and remember, it’s probably correct.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“It’s why for every 20-degree increase in a day’s temperature, researchers found that car dealers sell 8.5 percent more convertibles.5 “It’s been sunny in the last few hours, so a convertible is the right investment for me,” goes the logic of your shortsighted automatic system.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“It’s just that little bit harder for our brains to think clearly about evidence that goes against our views—and the brain’s automatic system doesn’t like hard work.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“One of the surest ways to strike that balance is to ask a simple set of coaching questions that help the other person reach their own insights. By doing this, you leave the other person with the sense of autonomy and ownership that psychologists have found to be so important for high performance. You still get to guide and challenge their thinking, but in a way that gives you confidence that they’ll succeed. It’s the best of both worlds. So what are these magical coaching questions? They’re based on something known as the “GROW model”—because they walk people through steps called the goal, reality, options, and way forward: Goal. What does the ideal outcome look like? Reality. What’s the current situation—the good and the bad? Options. What are the options for moving forward? (Always start with the other person’s ideas. Tell them you’re happy to add yours, but that you want to start with theirs.) Way forward. What is their first step going to be? When will they take it? What help do they need?”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“By comparison, his positive no went something like this: “I was honored that you invited me to KL. The work you’re doing is fascinating and impressive [warmth]. As you might know, our side of the business has also grown enormously in the past few months. We’ve taken on three exciting new projects that will really change the way our clients think about marketing. I’ll be setting up the projects in the coming month, and it’s my responsibility to make them the success they deserve to be [his yes]. To do a good job, though, I’m having to let go of a lot of things. And sadly, one of them is the chance to come to KL. I’m disappointed, as I was looking forward to it [his no]. Please let me know if it would be helpful to connect you with people who might take my place and add value to the group—I have a few ideas. In the meantime, I wish you all the best for a fruitful trip [warmth].”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“you instead want to start with something positive, rather than something negative. Like this: Start with warmth. First, acknowledge and show appreciation for the person’s request. Your “yes.” Then, instead of starting with “I’m sorry…,” begin by enthusiastically highlighting whatever your positive priority is right now, and why it’s interesting, important, or meaningful to you. Consider picking out a reason that will also resonate with the person you’re talking to. Your “no.” Explain that this means, with regret, that you can’t do the thing they’ve asked you to do. End with warmth. Perhaps there’s a suggestion or offer you can make without detracting from your real priorities, such as an introduction to other people who could help. At the very least, offer some warm wishes for success in their project. It’s an important closing sentence that often gets dropped when we’re focused on our own discomfort at saying no.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“you instead want to start with something positive, rather than something negative. Like this: Start with warmth. First, acknowledge and show appreciation for the person’s request. Your “yes.” Then, instead of starting with “I’m sorry…,” begin by enthusiastically highlighting whatever your positive priority is right now, and why it’s interesting, important, or meaningful to you. Consider picking out a reason that will also resonate with the person you’re talking to. Your “no.” Explain that this means, with regret, that you can’t do the thing they’ve asked you to do.”
― Caroline Webb, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

“simply pausing and asking, “What’s the right way to solve this, ideally?” When I feel frustrated by a lack of progress, I often find that’s enough to put me in a more exploratory mindset.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“You can’t avoid the fact that decisions sometimes benefit certain people more than others. But you can demonstrate that the process behind the decisions is fair.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Ensuring that colleagues feel that workplace decisions are fair not only keeps their reward systems happy, but leaves people with more mental energy to focus on other things.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Avoid the joy-killing phrase “Yes, but . . .” when you spot a problem with someone’s suggestion. Instead, try “Yes, and . . . ,” to signal that you’re adding your perspective alongside that suggestion rather than in conflict with it.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“So what are these magical coaching questions? They’re based on something known as the “GROW model”—because they walk people through steps called the goal, reality, options, and way forward: Goal. What does the ideal outcome look like? Reality. What’s the current situation—the good and the bad? Options. What are the options for moving forward? (Always start with the other person’s ideas. Tell them you’re happy to add yours, but that you want to start with theirs.) Way forward. What is their first step going to be? When will they take it? What help do they need?”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“When we find ourselves labeling someone as dumb, lazy, or annoying, it should raise a red flag. How much of that person’s behavior is driven by circumstance, and how much is driven by character?”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Today, most of us don’t face such immediate pressure to survive, but we still find it hard to make a sacrifice now for a benefit later. We can do it, but only with significant effort; it taxes sophisticated neural networks in our brain’s deliberate system, those associated with self-regulation and planning. Meanwhile, plenty of immediate rewards tempt us, like chatting with colleagues, browsing websites, or crossing off the easy tasks on our to-do list. So our automatic system, always keen to expend the least amount of mental energy possible, reaches for those rewards instead.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“Normally Anthony would have written something like this: “I’m so sorry, but unfortunately I’m no longer going to be able to join you on the trip to KL. We’ve recently taken on three big projects and I’m finding myself swamped with all that entails. As a result, I just can’t carve out the time to make it possible, despite my best efforts. Huge apologies again.” By comparison, his positive no went something like this: “I was honored that you invited me to KL. The work you’re doing is fascinating and impressive [warmth]. As you might know, our side of the business has also grown enormously in the past few months. We’ve taken on three exciting new projects that will really change the way our clients think about marketing. I’ll be setting up the projects in the coming month, and it’s my responsibility to make them the success they deserve to be [his yes]. To do a good job, though, I’m having to let go of a lot of things. And sadly, one of them is the chance to come to KL. I’m disappointed, as I was looking forward to it [his no]. Please let me know if it would be helpful to connect you with people who might take my place and add value to the group—I have a few ideas. In the meantime, I wish you all the best for a fruitful trip [warmth].”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond

“We so often get pulled into tasks that we should, by rights, be asking others to help with. We tell ourselves that they’re not quite as experienced or knowledgeable as us, or that it will be quicker if we just do it ourselves. But there’s a massive cost to this way of thinking. By being unwilling to delegate tasks that others could reasonably help with, we fail to make progress on the important or tricky things that only we can do.”
― Caroline Webb, How To Have A Good Day: The Essential Toolkit for a Productive Day at Work and Beyond