I’ve learned if we listen for 10% we can agree with in all conversations, we have to be listening to hear their perspective.

High-quality listening is an underrated ability. How well and frequently you listen to others is a better predictor of your leadership potential than your actual intelligence or personality. As a recent review shows, good listeners tend to perform better at work, and to report higher level of wellbeing, as well as more meaningful and fulfilling relationships. We tend to trust them more, and they tend to be seen as curious, empathetic and emotionally intelligent.

To some degree, the power of listening can be explained by the fact that good listening is rare. We live in a world in which people are often rewarded for self-promoting, being the center of attention, and talking as much as they can, even when they have nothing to say. The fact that Susan Cain‘s rational defense of introversion is arguably counterintuitive to most people (especially in hyper-outgoing American culture) suggests that we are still not fully convinced about the virtues of listening, though most people are happy to recommend this activity to everyone else.

So, how can you become a better listener? The simplest formula or recipe I can think of is:

  1. Shut up
  2. Listen
  3. Repeat

However, this is easier said than done, and (if you are still listening) I suspect you may be looking for something meatier. Decades of scientific research suggest that if we want to become better listeners, we should consider working on these four key enablers of high quality listening:

FOCUS

A simple reason most people struggle with listening, even when they have the intention to doing so, is that they fail to provide their undivided attention. Distractions, stress, worries, and multitasking all interfere with high quality listening, as we all know from everyday experience. Contrary to popular belief, tasks that require active attention cannot be done simultaneously. Multitasking is a bit like intuition, sense of humor, or musical taste: just because we think we are good at it doesn’t mean we actually are. You may continue to multitask while you Zoom into crowded work meetings, but let’s not equate that to listening. If you truly intend to listen, you have to focus—period.

EMPATHY

The vast majority of people are capable of displaying basic empathy, the ability to see things from another person’s perspective—but we don’t always do. Stepping outside our ego cocoon, and making an effort to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, will significantly improve our listening skills. This is obviously easier when we care about the person, but humans are capable of being open and considerate towards others even in the absence of feelings towards them. In fact, if we truly want to create a more diverse and inclusive world then we cannot just rely on our empathy (whether we feel something for the other person) but must also exercise rational kindness and compassion.

SELF-CONTROL

Impulsive interruptions are a big threat to listening. Unless you can control your emotions, whether positive or negative, you will jump in too soon, without letting people make their point. This is why mindfulness is a consistent predictor of better listening. Waiting for the other person to finish, and even counting two or three seconds after they’ve gone quiet, is a simple exercise to keep your feelings and thoughts under control. Even if you feel you are right, or you don’t like what you are hearing, you will be much more likely to win the argument if you wait until the other person finishes unless you don’t want them to listen to you. And if you really don’t care about what the other person is saying, then don’t waste your energies interrupting them.

INCLUSION

Even if you managed to accomplish the first three things, it is still important that you convey to the other person that you’ve been listening. In other words, what you want is to harness a reputation for being a good listener. So, when your turn eventually arrives, and it is you who needs to speak, make sure you incorporate the other person’s perspective, reference what they said, and react to their narrative and arguments. Many people learn to wait for their turn, only to deliver a speech they had planned before, perhaps while successfully pretending to listen to the other person. In short, include the other person in your story, so you can make it easier for them to empathize… and listen to you.

Finally, it is worth remembering that listening is no different from any other skill. Some people have more potential than others, but in the end, we all need to practice in order to get better. Getting feedback from others—people who observe us during calls, meetings, discussions—is essential for improving, especially if they are able to call us out when we don’t listen, and if being told that we are a bad listener makes us feel guilty enough to want to change it. If it does, it is at least a sign that we were listening.

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I’m reading Adam Grant’s Think Again. This science reinforces what he says.

If you’ve ever wondered whether changing your mind is the best decision, then you should be reassured that your chances of success are better if you do, according to University of Queensland research.

Whether or not changes of mind are behaviorally beneficial has been the focus of a special review by cognitive neuroscientists, Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr. Dragan Rangelov, at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).

“It seems that people change their mind on occasions when they have made an error to begin with, so a change of mind gives you the opportunity to do better,” Dr. Rangelov said.

“But most people don’t like changing their mind.

“When given the opportunity to change their original decision, they won’t switch.”

In a paper published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, QBI researchers put a spotlight on metacognition—an important cognitive skill which is defined as “thinking about thinking.”

Dr. Rangelov said the review was part of a larger study on measuring a person’s readiness to change their mind as an index of their awareness of how well they are performing tasks.

“We were interested in this change of mind question, so we decided to look at the literature to see what studies have been done on that topic and what might prompt a change of mind,” he said.

“There must be something in the brain or something in human behavior that may help us predict when people are likely to change their mind in the future.”

This shows a man standing at a cross roads
Dr. Rangelov said he suspected many people don’t like changing their mind because of previous experiences. Image is in the public domain

Previous research identified a network of brain areas that are activated when people change their mind but are not activated when they are carrying out a task.

Dr. Rangelov said he suspected many people don’t like changing their mind because of previous experiences.

“It’s the same outcome both times but making the wrong decision after changing your mind brings stronger emotions than sticking with your original decision and failing,” he said.

“People tend to remember the occasions where they changed their mind and got it wrong, rather than the times when they didn’t change their mind and made a bad decision, which makes them think changing your mind is bad.

“The key takeaway here is that a change of mind can be good even though people don’t like doing it.”

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Want to be smarter tomorrow? Do these things today.

When Sanjay Gupta was a child, his family experienced a traumatic event: Gupta’s father was mugged.

A horrible experience, for sure. But years later, when Gupta related the story to a teacher, the teacher related a lesson that Gupta hadn’t previously considered:

Bad guys may be able to steal your possessions. But they can’t take your mind.

In the decades since, that lesson has resonated as Gupta has gone on to become an accomplished neurosurgeon and serve as CNN’s chief medical correspondent. But Gupta also drew another conclusion from his work: While others may not be able to steal your mind, that doesn’t mean you’ll use your mind to the full.

Enter Gupta’s new book, Keep Sharp: Build a Better Brain at Any Age. In it, Gupta shares his learnings and experience on how to make your brain “better, faster, fitter, and sharper.”

He does so by sharing the “five pillars of brain health,” actions that, according to existing scientific evidence, have been demonstrated as “fundamental to promoting good cognitive function across the lifespan.”

Here are the five recommended actions, along with some of Gupta’s recommendations on how to implement them in your life.

1. Move

“Exercise, both aerobic and nonaerobic (strength training), is not only good for the body; it’s even better for the brain,” writes Gupta. “The connection between physical fitness and brain fitness is clear, direct, and powerful.”

TIPS: If you already exercise regularly, says Gupta, try something different. For example, if you jog, try swimming or cycling.

If you aren’t exercising, Gupta recommends five to 10 minutes of burst exercise (30 seconds of high-effort movement and 90 seconds of recovery) upon approval from your doctor, with the goal of working up to 20 minutes at least three times a week.

Other simple tips include walking around when speaking on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and parking a bit further from the entrance of your destination.

Or, to simplify matters, you could follow the advice Gupta received from friend, actor, and fitness buff Matthew McConaughey: “Just try to break a sweat every day.”

2. Discover

Learning something new strengthens the brain, says the research. When you learn something new, you exercise your brain, so to speak. Doing so allows you to take your attention, focus, and concentration to new heights.

TIPS: To help accomplish this, Gupta recommends at least one of the following:

  • Read a book that’s outside of your professional interest
  • Take a painting or cooking class, or check out other adult education courses at your local university or rec center
  • Join a writing group
  • Try learning a new language

3. Relax

“Relaxing is not solely a physical thing for the body,” writes Gupta. “Your brain needs to chill out, too.”

Gupta continues: “Scores of well-designed studies … routinely show that poor sleep can lead to impaired memory and that chronic stress can impair your ability to learn and adapt to new situations.”

In other words, one of the most important things you can do for your brain is give it time to rest, or sleep.

TIPS: Gupta recommends getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, “the bare minimum if you want to have normal, healthy functioning physiology from your brain on down.”

Also make sure to:

  • leave about three hours between dinner and bedtime, which will allow your stomach time to settle
  • no more caffeine after 2:00 p.m.
  • keep regular sleep habits: try to go to bed and get up at about the same time, every day
  • take a warm bath or read a book before going to bed
  • keep the bedroom quiet, dark, and electronics free

4. Nourish

According to Gupta, recent evidence shows that by consuming certain foods and limiting others, you can help prevent memory and brain decline, protect the brain against sickness, and maximize brain performance.

TIPS: “Eat Sanjay-style,” says Gupta: breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a peasant.

Gupta also recommends the SHARP method:

S: Slash the sugar

H: Hydrate smartly

A: Add more omega-3s from natural sources

R: Reduce portions

P: Plan meals ahead

And one more simple tip: “Drink instead of eat,” says Gupta.

“We often mistake hunger for thirst,” says Gupta. But even moderate dehydration can sap energy and interrupt your brain rhythm.

5. Connect

Research has long indicated that good relationships contribute to healthier and happier lives. But according to Gupta, more recent research tells us that relationships can also improve the brain’s plasticity (its ability to change and adapt) and preserve its cognitive abilities.

TIPS: If you’re isolated, Gupta says to make it a goal to reconnect with someone you haven’t spoken with in a while, or try inviting a friend over for a meal.

You can also try:

  • Associating with people older and younger than you
  • Volunteer work
  • Writing a letter by hand to a younger loved one in the family, passing on a lesson you’ve learned in your life
  • To consider adopting a pet
  • If feeling isolated, to seek out professional help

Finally, Gupta recommends tailoring his tips to your own personality and schedule. Focus on doing one simple thing at a time.

You might be surprised at how much you can accomplish in just a short period.

“Never forget that the brain is exceptionally plastic,” says Gupta. “It can rewire and reshape itself through your experiences and habits, and a lot of this remolding can be achieved in a mere twelve weeks.”

“It’s like building any other muscle.”

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While some companies can’t do all. All companies could do some of these.

Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and rethinking what they want when it comes to work and work-life balance. Companies are responding, meeting their employees’ needs in areas such as remote work, flexible hours, four-day workweeks, compensation and more. This story is part of a series looking at the “Great Reshuffle” and the shift in workplace culture taking place right now.

The “Great Resignation” — also known as the “Great Reshuffle” — is showing no signs of slowing down.

The mass exodus of workers, which includes almost 48 million who walked away last year, has led some employers to rethink how they retain and attract employees.

The result has been more flexibility and remote work, as well as higher compensation. Some companies have instituted four-day workweeks, while others have moved to all-remote or hybrid work schedules.

In fact, 63% of jobseekers cite work-life balance as one of the top priorities when choosing a new job, according to LinkedIn’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report. In comparison, 60% said compensation and benefits.

Here’s how some companies have stood out with policies they say are helping them in the war for talent.

Four-day workweek

Shortly after the Covid pandemic hit, online children’s clothing retailer Primary realized employees were burned out.

“When folks were coming back in on Monday, people were just not refreshed and it was affecting productivity,” said Christina Carbonell, Primary’s co-founder and co-CEO.

The company responded with four-day workweeks.

More from Invest in You:
Want to make a career change? Here are 5 steps to make it happen
Deepak Chopra: Here’s how to land the right job during the ’Great Reshuffle’
A four-day workweek doesn’t mean less work. Here’s how to do it

Most of the 60 employees at the New York-based company work Monday through Thursday. Instead of lengthening the workday, they have become more efficient. Meetings have been trimmed — and some hours are blocked off as meeting-free. They didn’t have to change deadlines, goals or ambitions.

Employees show up to work rejuvenated and the attrition rate hasn’t picked up, which is a win during a time when millions of Americans are quitting their jobs, said Cap Watkins, the company’s chief experience officer.

It’s going so well that there are no plans to return to the five-day workweek.

Work from anywhere

Sevdha Thompson, digital producer of marketing for Coalition Technologies, spent a few weeks working in Costa Rica last year.
Sevdha Thompson, digital producer of marketing for Coalition Technologies, spent a few weeks working in Costa Rica last year.
Courtesy: Sevdha Thompson

Employees at Culver City, California-based digital marketing and website design company Coalition Technologies can work remotely from anywhere in the world.

For Sevdha Thompson, the company’s digital producer of marketing, that means she can spend time in Jamaica with her family, visit rainforests in Costa Rica and travel around the U.S. to see friends — all while working.

“I, for one, love traveling,” said Thompson, who’s in her early 30s.

“Having that flexibility to be able to spend time with people who are very important to me, in different parts of the globe, it’s of major importance.”

While some employees have used the policy to travel, others simply work from where they live. Today Coalition Technologies’ more than 250 workers are spread out across the globe — from the U.S., Canada and Mexico to India, Germany and South Africa.

‘Surprises and delights’

LinkedIn employees are treated to "surprise and delight" moments through the tech company's LiftUp program.
LinkedIn employees are treated to “surprise and delight” moments through the tech company’s LiftUp program.
LinkedIn

Even something as simple as an extra paid day off or a workday without meetings can boost employee well-being, according to LinkedIn.

When its workers were faced with burnout and exhaustion during the pandemic, the tech giant responded with an initiative called LiftUp. It’s a resource hub and a series of fun events, but most notably it also gives the gift of time in the form of well-being days off and meeting-free days.

“The surprises and delights were really meant to simply put the spark back in everyone, lift our heads up higher, and create some fun along the way,” Nina McQueen, LinkedIn’s vice president of benefits and employee experience at LinkedIn, said in the company’s 2022 Global Talent Trends report.

The program isn’t going away when the pandemic ends.

″[Employees] need support, they need to know the organization values them,” said Jennifer Shappley, LinkedIn’s global head of talent acquisition.

Paid sabbaticals

Sabbaticals aren’t a common workplace perk. Prior to the Covid pandemic, only 5% of organizations offered a paid sabbatical program, while 11% offered an unpaid one, the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2019 benefits report found.

Tech company Automattic is one of the 5%. For every five years worked, employees get a paid three-month sabbatical.

“It provides a really nice sort of reset point for people to reevaluate their role or their careers or what they want to come back doing,” said CEO Matt Mullenweg.

I stepped away completely disconnected, came back, was rejuvenated, was excited about my work again.
Lori McLeese
AUTOMATTIC’S GLOBAL HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES

It can also benefit those at work, since people take on new responsibilities to cover for the worker on sabbatical.

Lori McLeese, Automattic’s global head of human resources, took her first sabbatical in 2016 to travel to Europe. It was the best thing she could have done, she said.

“It helped reset my brain,” McLeese said. “I stepped away completely disconnected, came back, was rejuvenated, was excited about my work again.”

Contract work with benefits

Harriet Talbot quit her full-time job at Unilever to take part in its U-Work program in London.
Harriet Talbot quit her full-time job at Unilever to take part in its U-Work program in London.
Courtesy: Harriet Talbot

Unilever’s U-Work program gives contract workers the freedom and flexibility they desire, coupled with job security and benefits.

Workers commit to working a minimum number of weeks a year, receive a small monthly retainer and get paid for assignments. Benefits include a pension, health insurance and sick pay.

It was the perfect fit for 30-year-old Harriet Talbot. She quit her full-time job in the global consumer goods company’s London office in 2021 and has since worked two contract jobs at the company, in addition to a side gig at a local bike shop. She is now between assignments, traveling by bike through Europe to Australia.

“It’s such a kind of real relief and really progressive, I think, to be able to come back and join the Unilever community when I get back,” she said.

U-Work is now being piloted in several other global locations, although it hasn’t made it to the U.S. … yet.

Fit work around life

Allison Greenwald, senior product manager at The Alley Group, spent five weeks in Alaska while working a flexible schedule.
Allison Greenwald, senior product manager at The Alley Group, spent five weeks in Alaska while working a flexible schedule.
Courtesy: Allison Greenwald

Flexibility is the norm for employees at information technology and services company Alley. The company doesn’t set hours; instead, each team decides when to hold meetings. Other than those meetings, employees get their work done when it suits them.

For Allison Greenwald, 29, that means she works her remote job around other things that may pop up in her life — from errands and doctor’s appointments to exercising and traveling.

“I’ve gotten to do really incredible things,” said Greenwald, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and spent five weeks in Alaska last August.

Alley’s philosophy is that workers are adults and can govern themselves, said Bridget McNulty, partner and chief operating officer at the firm.

“We trust the people that we hire to join our team,” she said.

“There is a mutual agreement to work together and we take that very seriously.”

Would you benefit from CEO coaching?

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Can you take 2 minutes to improve your day? Be careful, it could become a habit!

In the early 2010s, I wrote a self-help book that catapulted me into a strange universe. I went from working an office job in the suburbs to walking onto TV show sets where I was often introduced as “Captain Awesome” or “The Happy Guy!” I was thrust into becoming a spokesperson for positivity, happiness, and intentional living.

But there was just one problem: My life was a mess.

I originally wrote the book as a series of blog posts to cope with the pain of my marriage falling apart and the heartbreak of losing my best friend to suicide. I moved to a bachelor apartment downtown and lived alone for the first time in my life. I began experiencing deep loneliness, chronic sleeplessness, and endless anxiety.

My solution to these deep emotional issues was to become a workaholic. I would work in the suburbs all day, pick up a burrito on my way downtown, and then set it on my desk while working until one or two in the morning before falling asleep exhausted and then waking up exhausted when my alarm buzzed the next morning at 6:00 a.m.

I started taking pills to help me fall asleep and pills to help me wake up. I lost 40 pounds due to stress. I had headaches and chest flutters and stomach bubbles all day. Black bags slowly expanded like puddles under my eyes. When coworkers began asking if I was getting enough sleep, I bought and started applying face makeup.

I didn’t have time to sleep more and I didn’t have time to be asked about it.

I knew I was spinning.

After reading the book Willpower by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, I became convinced my issue was decision fatigue. My to-do list was a mile high! So in an act of desperation, I began writing down a couple things I would focus on each day on a blank 4×6 index card. “I will focus on…” helped me carve some “will dos” out of the endless “could dos” and “should dos.”

The practice began providing ballast to my days because it blew away the endless fog of “what should I do next?” and helped break giant projects down into simple tasks. A looming book deadline became “write 500 words,” an all-hands meeting about a major redesign became “send invite to three execs for feedback,” and my nonexistent exercise regime became “go for a 10-minute walk at lunch.”

I will focus on…

I started buying index cards in packs of 100 at the dollar store and felt a sense of pride whenever I finished another pack.

The practice was wonderful for reducing decision fatigue, but I was still much too focused on the negative throughout the rest of my life. Over the next few months, I came across research that convinced me it wasn’t my fault.

What do I mean?

It turns out our brains contain an almond-sized amygdala that secretes fight-or-flight hormones all day. A couple hundred thousand years of evolutionary programming makes us want to stare at bad news, sad news, and controversial news — endlessly. This naturally ingrained tendency is why we rubberneck on the highway, scan for the one-star review, and immediately find the one question we got wrong on the math test. Our amygdalas are fantastic at looking for problems, finding problems, and solving problems, but they’re also ripe for exploitation. News media and social media sites have perfected that perfect sour-sweet-sour combo that grabs the greatest amount of our attention possible. So I decided it wasn’t my fault I was negative — it was the world’s fault!

But I live in the world. So what did I do? A study comparing people who wrote down gratitudes to people who wrote down hassles or events taught me that if I write down things I’m grateful for every week over a 10-week period, I’ll not only be happier, but physically healthier.

Each day, I added this to the back of my index card:

I am grateful for…

Do you do bicep curls? Hamstring curls? I started thinking of gratitudes as a brain curl. The key is that they really need to be specific. Writing down things like “my apartment, my mom, and my job” over and over doesn’t do anything. I had to write down things like, “the way the sunset looks over the hostel across the street,” or “when my mom dropped off leftover matter paneer,” or “having lunch in the cafeteria with Agostino today.”

I was proud of my new morning index card habit, but I still found myself holding too much stress. Then I came across a study in Science called “Don’t Look Back in Anger!” showing that minimizing regrets as we age increases contentment. In other words, the act of sharing what’s worrying you actually helps extricate it.

So I added one final line to my daily index card:

I will let go of…

I will let go of…the rude email I sent last night at 11 p.m. I will let go of…the meeting with the boss I completely missed. I will let go of…the fact that I haven’t called my parents in two weeks.

The difference this little practice made in my life has been incredible. Because the truth is, we’re only awake for around 1,000 minutes a day on average. If we can invest just two of them to prime our brains for positivity, then we’ll be helping ensure the other 998 minutes of our days are happier.

Over time, I switched the order around, turned it into a formal journal, and now leave it on my night table. When I wake up, it’s the first thing I see, and the fact that it’s so short helps me feel like I’m setting up my day for success before I even begin.

Am I completely cured? Am I always happy now? No! Of course not. But this two-minute, research-based morning practice has massively improved the quality of my days.

I will let go of…

I am grateful for…

I will focus on…

I hope it does the same for you.

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What are you planting this spring?

Plant a garden this Spring

It’s not too soon to plant a garden for Spring.
Plant three rows of Peas.
Peace of heart
Peace of mind
Peace of soul
Plant Four rows of squash
Squash Indifference
Squash Selfishness
Squash Grumbling
Squash Gossip
Plant Four kinds of lettuce
Let us be Faithful
Let us be Kind
Let us be Patient
Let us Love one another
Plant Thyme
Time for each other
Time for family
Time for friends
Time for things that matter
Plant Turnips
Turn up for service
Turn up to help others

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As the weekend approaches, do you need more excuse to play?

It’s official: Post-pandemic America is incredibly burned out. “According to Google Trends, which since 2004 has collected data on what the world is searching for, queries for ‘burnout’ –from work, life, and school–are at an all-time high in the US,” Quartz recently reported.

Which means there are a whole lot of entrepreneurs out there looking for ways to recover from exhaustion and lack of motivation after two years of Covid craziness. Psychologists have offered plenty of advice, but so too have geniuses.

In his 1985 book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! physicist and Nobel laureate Richard Feynman recounted his own case of burnout and explained what worked to cure him (hat tip to Kottke). His prescription is a whole lot more pleasant than a lot of advice you’ll get about rejiggering your work responsibilities or schedule: Play more.

How goofing off at lunch led to a Nobel prize

“Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics,” recalls Feynman in the book about one low point in his career. That can’t have been a pleasant feeling, but Feynman was clearly a guy who excelled at looking at reality from fresh perspectives. Eventually he started to see an upside to his burnout.

“I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I’ll never accomplish anything, I’ve got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever,” he recalls.

He started making seemingly trivial but fascinating observations about the world around him — say, the specific way a plate wobbled when a student goofing around in the cafeteria spun it in the air — and began noodling around with physics and math to explain them.

“I had nothing to do, so I start to figure out the motion of the rotating plate,” he remembers. When a colleague asked him about the importance of the work, he responded, “There’s no importance whatsoever. I’m just doing it for the fun of it.” But even though the work seemed trivial at first, Feynman found it soon led him down paths that weren’t trivial at all.

“I went on to work out equations of wobbles. Then I thought about how electron orbits start to move in relativity. Then there’s the Dirac equation in electrodynamics. And then quantum electrodynamics,” he writes.

“It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate,” he says.

Science (and Einstein) agree.

Certainly the rest of us non-geniuses are unlikely to unlock the secrets of quantum mechanics just by goofing around at lunch. But that doesn’t mean Feynman’s experience holds no lessons for everyday entrepreneurs.

A large body of research shows playing more can help beat stress, build up resilience, and unlock new creative possibilities. And coaches and recovering burnout sufferers alike suggest that reconnecting with things you do just for fun is one of the best ways to rekindle your excitement for life and work.

Even Feynman’s fellow genius Albert Einstein advised his young son, who was struggling with his piano lessons, to “mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those,” because “that is the way to learn the most.” When we enjoy what we do, we want to do more of it, and lo and behold, we end up accomplishing more.

As we’ve all been reminded over the past two years, there are times when you just have to white knuckle your way through challenges, but too much of that approach saps energy and motivation. The way back from burnout is personal and complex, but Feynman (and science and Einstein) reminds us that it generally involves re-energizing yourself with things you do for sheer joy. So if you desperately need to recharge your batteries, try following in the footsteps of geniuses and give yourself permission to play more.

Would you benefit from CEO coaching?

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