The Best of Ness Labs
20+ most popular Ness Labs articles, as voted by our community.
The learning community for ambitious knowledge workers. Join us to think better, learn faster, and work happier: http://nesslabs.com/membership 🧠✨
Trending
These are currently making the rounds on Refind.
Digital detoxes don’t actually work
A digital detox is a period in which a person voluntarily refrains from using digital devices including smartphones, computers and social media platforms. However, recent research has shown that…
«The internet has made it possible to talk at length with strangers who share your passion for any subject—make the most of it»
The Paradox of Goals
Here lies the paradox of goals: Setting goals is a guarantee for disillusionment whether we reach the desired state or not, and yet working toward goals is an important part of evolving as a person.…
The Abilene paradox: When not rocking the boat may sink the boat
The Abilene paradox describes the unfortunately common situation where a group of people agree to an idea, despite most of them not fully believing that it is the best decision.
«The power of social conformity can persuade us to agree to the perceived general consensus and can lead to extremely poor group decisions.»
Talent archetypes: what is the shape of your skills?
In a world driven by rapid changes in technology, being a generalist is no longer enough. To support the fast-moving targets of global businesses, the versatilist now prevails.
Ness Labs on Anxiety
Anxious for no apparent reason? It may be time to press “reset”
Racing pulse, tense muscles, dry mouth, restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating… The symptoms of anxiety are many, but sometimes we can’t pinpoint why exactly we experience this panicky…
Status anxiety: when striving for success impacts our mental health
Status anxiety occurs when we fear that we are not meeting society’s standards for success. This leads to shame, which impacts our mental health.
«A person’s environment can intensify status anxiety. For instance, income inequality and social media both exacerbate status anxiety»
Ness Labs on Better Living
Self-Motivation: how to build a reward system for yourself
Building a reward system for self-motivation is a powerful way to boost your productivity, reducing the need to rely on intrinsic motivation to complete the work you need (and want) to do. However,…
«A reward does not need to be expensive. If it appeals to you, then you will be motivated to reach your goal so that you can treat yourself.»
Comparison anxiety: how to stop comparing yourself to others
Systematically comparing ourselves to others can make us feel less capable. To avoid comparison anxiety, it’s helpful to be aware of how assessing our success based on a subjective view of how we…
«growth.Partner with a goal buddy. Choose one person to buddy up with and support each other in your self-development journey.»
Ness Labs on Brain
Change fatigue: When our brain’s adaptive capacity is depleted
We are experiencing change fatigue at an unprecedented scale. The cognitive system that allows us to deal with acute stressful situations has been drained. Our “mental surge capacity” is depleted.
«Instead of resisting change, adding to the load we put on our adaptive systems, we can strive to accept, embrace, and even foster change in a way that leads to personal growth.»
Framing effect: how the way information is framed impacts our decisions
The framing effect is considered one of the largest biases in decision making. Many of our decisions are impacted by this cognitive bias.
«the framing effect: a cognitive bias where people decide on options based on whether they are presented in a positive or negative way.»
Ness Labs on Creativity
Reopening the mind: how cognitive closure kills creative thinking
The need for cognitive closure is the motivation to find an answer to ambiguous situations — any answer that aligns with our existing knowledge. Not only can it lead us to make mistakes based on…
«we should seek knowledge to resolve questions regardless of whether that new knowledge points to an answer that aligns with what we believe or what we want»
Liminal Creativity
What happens in liminal spaces? Doubt, discomfort, unfamiliarity, anxiety. But also growth, change, and discovery. Liminal spaces offer all of the ingredients for creativity.
«What happens in liminal spaces? Doubt, discomfort, unfamiliarity, anxiety. But also growth, change, and discovery. Liminal spaces offer all of the ingredients for creativity.»
Ness Labs on Goals
The arrival fallacy: why we should decouple our happiness from our goals
“When I achieve this goal, then I will be happy.” We often mistakenly believe that achieving our goals will make us happy. That tendency is called the arrival fallacy.
«Although completing a goal may lead to the arrival fallacy, Dr Tal Ben-Shahar maintains that having objectives is essential to personal growth.»
Ness Labs on Introspection
Fear setting: an exercise to define and conquer your fears
Fear setting involves identifying and defining your fears so that you can overcome them. It's a process of reflection to step away from the everyday grind to gain perspective on your fears.
«The good news is that if you can identify which fears are rational, and which are irrational, you can exert some level of control over them.»
The power of self-reflection at work
Self-reflection should not be reserved for our personal lives only. It can also be richly rewarding for our professional careers.
Ness Labs on Mental Models
Present bias: how instant gratification impacts your long-term goals
The present bias is our tendency to seize short-term opportunities, settling for a small present reward rather than waiting for a larger future reward.
«staying mindful of your long-term goals so you don’t fall prey to the dangers of instant gratification»
How to think better
Learn how to think better with a guide on decision-making frameworks, cognitive biases, mental models, and tools for thought.
«metacognitive skills allow people to bring their thought processes to the foreground, so they can be analysed, and potentially improved.»
Ness Labs on Problem Solving
Creative Problem Solving: from complex challenge to innovative solution
When facing a difficult dilemma, Creative Problem Solving offers a structured method to help you find an innovative and effective solution.
«With brainstorming, Osborn suggested that it’s better to bring every idea you have to the table, including the wildest ones, because with just a little modification, the outrageous ideas may later become the most plausible solutions. In his own words: “It is easier to tone down a wild idea than to think up a new one.”»
Systematic inventive thinking: the power of thinking inside the box
When talking about creativity, many people will tell you: “Think outside the box!” The catchphrase is so common in management consulting and business environments, it has become a bit of a cliché.…
«Thinking inside the box often provokes resistance as it runs counter to some of the most ubiquitous intuitions about innovation. However, it’s a formidable creative thinking tool which is actually fun to use.»
Ness Labs on Productivity
Temptation bundling: stop procrastinating by boosting your willpower
Temptation bundling is a productivity technique that involves combining an activity that gives you instant gratification, such as watching TV, with one that is beneficial but has a delayed reward,…
«trying to reply to important work emails while watching one of your favourite TV shows may not be the best combination, as your concentration levels are likely to be affected.»
The science of motivation: how to get and stay motivated
Motivation only starts to build again once we have taken the first steps and gained some momentum in our task. It's all about getting started and consistently taking action, making sure we get back on…
«three innate psychological needs which must be satisfied to enhance self-motivation and mental health: competence, autonomy and relatedness.»
Ness Labs on Self Esteem
The psychology of negative thinking
When negative thinking becomes the norm, it can contribute to mental health problems including social anxiety, low self-esteem, and even depression. To avoid falling into that pattern, let’s explore…
«when you’re already feeling anxious or depressed, succumbing to negative thought patterns is unfortunately likely to worsen the way you feel.»
The Praise Paradox: when well-intended words backfire
Most people would agree: praise is one of the most effective ways to build children’s self-esteem. We are told to be generous with our praise, and to find as many opportunities as possible to praise…
«Adults are inclined to give children with low self-esteem person praise (e.g., “You’re smart!”) and inflated praise»
Popular
These are some all-time favorites with Refind users.
How to make more time to read
Many of us would like to have more time to read, but life can get in the way of picking up a book. What are strategies that actually work?
«However, speed reading limits your comprehension of the novel, reducing the accuracy of what you read and hindering how much you retain of the story»
The Uncertain Mind: How the Brain Handles the Unknown
Our brain is wired to reduce uncertainty. The unknown is synonymous with threats that pose risks to our survival. The more we know, the more we can make accurate predictions and shape our future. The…
«Put simply, their results suggest that our brain redirects its energy towards resolving uncertainty, at the expense of other cognitive tasks.»
The power of introspection
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom,” once said Aristotle. Introspection is the act of looking inwards to examine one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings.
«Reflecting on past experiences may help us to recall similar situations in which we either solved an issue or found our attempts fell short.»
Single-tasking: the power of focusing on one task at a time
Trying to multitask can not only hurt our productivity, but also our ability to learn. Fortunately, there is an alternative way to boost your efficiency: single-tasking.
«That’s why multitasking leads to decrements in performance when compared to performing tasks one at a time.»
The psychology of prestige: why we play the social status game
The importance we confer to prestige makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. For our ancestors, being more popular was a survival advantage. Social status offered greater group protection and…
«However, now that status is not so closely linked to our survival, pursuing goals based on the assumed prestige our success will confer can be a bad idea.»
What is Refind?
Every day Refind picks 5 links from around the web that make you smarter, tailored to your interests. is one of more than 10k sources we monitor.
How does Refind curate?
It’s a mix of human and algorithmic curation, following a number of steps:
- We monitor 10k+ sources and 1k+ thought leaders on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
- In addition, our users save links from around the web using our Save buttons and our extensions.
- Our algorithm processes 100k+ new links every day and uses external signals to find the most relevant ones, focusing on timeless pieces.
- Our community of active users gets 5 links every day, tailored to their interests. They provide feedback via implicit and explicit signals: open, read, listen, share, add to reading list, save to «Made me smarter», «More/less like this», etc.
- Our algorithm uses these internal signals to refine the selection.
- In addition, we have expert curators who manually curate niche topics.
The result: lists of the best and most useful articles on hundreds of topics.
How does Refind detect «timeless» pieces?
We focus on pieces with long shelf-lives—not news. We determine «timelessness» via a number of metrics, for example, the consumption pattern of links over time.
How many sources does Refind monitor?
We monitor 10k+ content sources on hundreds of topics—publications, blogs, news sites, newsletters, Substack, Medium, Twitter, etc.
Can I submit a link?
Indirectly, by using Refind and saving links from outside (e.g., via our extensions).
How can I report a problem?
When you’re logged-in, you can flag any link via the «More» (...) menu. You can also report problems via email to hello@refind.com
Who uses Refind?
100k+ smart people start their day with Refind. To learn something new. To get inspired. To move forward. Our apps have a 4.9/5 rating.
Is Refind free?
Yes, it’s free!
How can I sign up?
Head over to our homepage and sign up by email or with your Twitter or Google account.