The Best Articles in Better Living
The most useful articles and videos in Better Living from around the web—beginners to advanced—curated by thought leaders and our community. We focus on timeless pieces and update the list whenever we discover new, must-read articles or videos—make sure to bookmark and revisit this page.
Top 5 Better Living Articles
At a glance: these are the articles that have been most read, shared, and saved in Better Living by Refind users in 2023 so far.
Videos
Watch a video to get a quick overview.
How to Get Ahead of 99% of People (Starting Today)
This is what nobody tells you about success.In this video, you’ll learn one trick that could make you more successful than 99% of people. It's not what you t...
Antifragility: How to use suffering to get stronger
Happiness is temporary, antifragility lasts forever, explains Jonathan Haidt and 5 other experts.Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/...
How to Be Miserable and Ruin Your Life
Do you complain constantly? Always feel like you’re under attack? Well, congratulations, these alone tell me that you’re already well on your way to becoming...
CLARITY Is POWER: Yuval Noah Harari
Ultra-athlete Rich Roll talks with bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari about the most pressing issues currently facing mankind. For more, go here👉🏾http://...
What is ...?
New to Better Living? These articles make an excellent introduction.
What is Your Ikigai?
Ikigai is really your reason for being, the thing that gives you direction and motivation, and it is at the heart of what we do at Learnlife.
«“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why” - Mark Twain»
What Is Self-Gaslighting?
How we pick up the torch from the gaslighter and turn it on ourselves.
«Most of us have heard of gaslighting. It’s a form of emotional abuse that uses manipulation and minimization to make someone question their reality.»
Philosophy of Happiness
INTRO Here’s a short introduction to some of the most fascinating philosophical issues about happiness. We are going to look at three...
How to ...?
How to figure out what you want out of life
What society expects of you and what you actually want in life can be different things.
«At any age, setting aside time and intentionality to decipher what motivates you and whether you’ve been living authentically can be enlightening»
How to break unhealthy habits: Stop obsessing over willpower and focus on routines
Understanding and changing the environment in which habits form is a critical step when it comes to breaking unwanted behaviors and forming healthy ones.
«Another path to habit change involves friction: in other words, making it difficult to act on undesirable habits and easy to act on desirable ones.»
How to Improve Your Self-Esteem in 5 Minutes or Less
There are no quick fixes for low self-esteem: There’s no profound insight your therapist can give you that will suddenly improve your self-esteem There’s no secret mantra that will unlock your inner…
«If you spend your entire childhood learning that you’re not good enough or not lovable, that’s not something that’s going to change overnight.»
How to conquer digital distractions
Digital distractions are all around us. Here's how to combat them so you can stay focused and productive at work.
«Users were gambling every time they shared a photo, web link, or status update,»
How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done
How do we get motivated? The latest research has secrets that can help us get going and get things done even when we don't feel like it...
Trending
These links are currently making the rounds in Better Living on Refind.
What It Takes to Grow: Pioneering Psychoanalyst Karen Horney on the Key to Self-Realization
“Self-knowledge… is not an aim in itself, but a means of liberating the forces of spontaneous growth. In this sense, to work at ourselves becomes not only the prime moral obligation, bu…
«under the forces of convention and compulsion; it requires living amicably with who we have been in order to fully live into who we can be.»
Embarrassment is an Integral Part of the Growth Process
By Leo Babauta A well-known climbing coach said that the biggest obstacle in the way of people’s growth as climbers is, basically, fear of embarrassment. When people want to get better at climbing,…
The Peak-End Effect: How To Make a Lasting Impression (Even After Failures)
In 2018, KFC ran out of chicken in the UK. But they managed to save their public image. Here's how to use the peak-end effect in business:
«The peak-end effect has a strong influence on our memories — hence future decisions.»
How To Be Resilient: 5 Steps To Success When Life Gets Hard
Want to know how to be resilient? We'd all love to have the secrets to perseverance in the face of struggle. Here's what the science says...
«studies show a 125% increase in three months by just doing five things. What are those things?»
What happens doesn’t matter all that much
A new mental framing to take forward.
«By default, nearly all our expectations are wrong. This should not come as a surprise: it’s impossible to predict the future and how events will unfold.»
Short Articles
Short on time? Check out these useful short articles in Better Living—all under 10 minutes.
The Priming Effect: How Expectations Become Reality
Can higher expectations actually create better outcomes? Here's what the priming effect is and how to use it to your benefit in business:
Happiness Is the Wrong Question
Happiness is not the point. And if you make it the point, then you’re not going to be happy.
«The problem with focusing on enhancing happiness is very similar to the problem with wanting to eliminate sadness or anxiety.»
9 easy ways to make your life a little better
Treat sleep like it’s a friend, make a single-item to-do list, and other unexpected ways to improve your life.
«Weekly, share one of your hopes, dreams, goals, or dating and relationship needs with a new person. This will increase the amount of people who are willing to help you reach your goals»
Psychological Paths of Least Resistance
When faced with a problem, rarely do people ask, “What is the best, perfect, answer to this question?” The more efficient question is often, “What answer to this question can I obtain with the least…
«“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”»
6 Habits That Are Secretly Making You Miserable
You wake up in the morning irritable and groggy but determined to be productive. Yesterday didn’t go well. You didn’t complete even the one big priority project that would have taken just a couple of…
«Exercising, sleeping, eating healthy meals, and spending time on a hobby, like reading, knitting, or gardening, are all ways to invest in ourselves.»
Long Articles
These are some of the most-read long-form articles in Better Living.
Think yourself better: 10 rules of philosophy to live by
From Aristotle to Iris Murdoch: what the greatest minds of the past 2,500 years have to tell us about the good life
«Till Lauer/The GuardianLivros de filosofiaPartilhar no FacebookPartilhar no TwitterPartilhar via e-mail»
One Question to Ask Yourself to Know Your Future
The German writer and philosopher Goethe believed he could predict someone’s future based on one simple fact. “If I know how you spend your time,” he wrote, “then I know what might become of you.”…
«But here’s the thing: Your life in the future isn’t going to look the way you want it to unless you take control of your time and attention.»
Building Habits Strategies To Try (After Failing To Build Habits In The Past)
Check these building habits strategies if you had problems with making habits stick in the past. They are especially useful for busy adults.
«Try to embrace the 2-day rule. That is, you never miss a habit you want in your life twice in a roll.»
This Is How To Have A Long Awesome Life: 5 Secrets From Research
What's it take to live longer? The science of longevity can be confusing. Here's what you need to know to have a lot more birthdays...
What the Longest Study on Human Happiness Found Is the Key to a Good Life
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. The question is, how does a person nurture those deep relationships?
«Loneliness has a physical effect on the body. It can render people more sensitive to pain, suppress their immune system, diminish brain function, and disrupt sleep»
Thought Leaders
We monitor hundreds of thought leaders, influencers, and newsletters in Better Living, including:
Mark Manson
3x #1 NYTimes bestselling author. Best known for F-Bombs and uncomfortable truths. Giving life advice that doesn't suck since 2008.
Tim Ferriss
Author of 5 #1 NYT/WSJ bestsellers, early-stage investor (http://angel.co/tim), Tim Ferriss Show podcast (900M+ downloads), founder of http://saiseifoundation.org
James Clear
Author of the #1 NYT bestseller Atomic Habits (http://atomichabits.com). I write about building better habits.
Elemental
Wellness, backed aggressively by science. A new publication from @Medium. Find us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/elemental
The Cut
Style. Self. Culture. Power. Subscribe to the Cut newsletter: http://thecut.io/3Fo5AaU Subscribe to New York for more: http://nymag.com/subscribe
Publications
We monitor hundreds of publications, blogs, newsletters, and news sources in Better Living, including:
Aeon+Psyche
Aeon is a magazine of ideas and culture. Psyche is our sister magazine focused on the human condition. Visit http://aeon.co and http://psyche.co for more.
Ness Labs
The learning community for ambitious knowledge workers. Join us to think better, learn faster, and work happier: http://nesslabs.com/membership 🧠✨
LifeHack
LifeHack helps busy people get the most out of their lives in the shortest amount of time, through actionable, step-by-step systems that multiply results.
Leo Babauta
Creator of Zen Habits. Training in uncertainty. Zen student, vegan, dad, husband.
Mark Manson
3x #1 NYTimes bestselling author. Best known for F-Bombs and uncomfortable truths. Giving life advice that doesn't suck since 2008.
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We follow dozens of thought leaders in Better Living, including Mark Manson, Tim Ferriss, James Clear, Elemental, The Cut.
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