Quote of the day
After seven experiments with hundreds of children, we had some of the clearest findings I’ve ever seen: Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance. How can that be? Don’t children love to be praised? Yes, children love praise. And they especially love to be praised for their intelligence and talent. It really does give them a boost, a special glow—but only for the moment. The minute they hit a snag, their confidence goes out the window and their motivation hits rock bottom. If success means they’re smart, then failure means they’re dumb. That’s the fixed mindset.
~CAROL S. DWECK, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
PSYCHOLOGY
The secret to raising smart kids [Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
], Scientific American | Tweet
HINT: Don’t tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on “process”—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life.
CREATIVITY
Creatives are the ones who explore outside their heads, Creative Something | Tweet
When we talk about van Gogh, we talk about him as a painter. But van Gogh was also an avid writer. Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist, is known primarily for his paintings and sculptures, but he too was known for writing often and doodling imaginary inventions in the notes of his books.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
7 Questions to find out if you’re ready to be an entrepreneur in 2015 [Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months
], Forbes | Tweet
A lot more people fantasize about starting a successful business than actually do it. And there’s good reason for that: the numbers. While they vary from one expert to another, the underlying figures tell us that a lot of small businesses fail – many within the first 18 months. So before you set yourself up for failure, what advice do you need to determine whether becoming an entrepreneur is what you really want in 2015?
BUSINESS
How A Former Wall Street Trader Solved The Restaurant Industry’s Biggest Problem, BI | Tweet
The restaurant industry pays notoriously low wages. Restaurant owners have argued for decades that raising wages would require an increase in menu prices, resulting in fewer customers and ultimately fewer jobs.
HEALTH
Minifasting: How occasionally skipping meals may boost health [The FastDiet
], NPR | Tweet
If you’ve ever gone to sleep hungry and then dreamed of chocolate croissants, the idea of fasting may seem completely unappealing. But what if the payoff for a 16-hour fast — which might involve skipping dinner, save a bowl of broth — is a boost in energy and a decreased appetite?
Too many people take aspirin to prevent heart attacks, stroke, study says, LA Times | Tweet
Aspirin is a popular drug for people who’ve never had a heart attack or stroke and would like to keep it that way. But for more than one in 10 people who do so, aspirin could do more harm than good, a new study suggests.
BOOKS
The future of books looks a lot like the past, Quartz | Tweet
The future of books is more books—books on Kindles
, books on iPads, books on laptops, books made of paper (still), books as podcasts, books as apps, books as blogs, books as books.
ENTERTAINMENT
At Oscars, they coulda been contenders, WSJ | Tweet
The films of the past that should have been invited to the best picture party.
WRITING
Missed connections: How characterization creates chemistry by Harrison Demchick, RU | Tweet
This is true whether we’re talking about a romance novel or a romantic subplot, and for that matter whether we’re talking about someone else’s novel or your own. You have a guy, and you have a girl (or a guy and a guy, or a girl and a girl), and they’re going out on dates, and the words on the page say they’re attracted to each other, but for some reason it just doesn’t work.
Talents and Skills entry: Farming [The Positive Trait Thesaurus]
, Writers Helping Writers| Tweet
When choosing a talent or skill, think about the personality of your character, his range of experiences and who his role models might have been. Some talents might be genetically imparted while others are created through exposure (such as a character talented at fixing watches from growing up in his father’s watch shop) or grow out of interest (archery, wakeboarding, or magic). Don’t be afraid to be creative and make sure the skill or talent is something that works with the scope of the story.