Quotes About Behavior

In one study, adolescents preparing for the PSAT who used this method chose to complete 60 percent more practice questions than the control group. In another, dieters consumed significantly fewer calories, were more physically active, and lost more weight.

So he banished that metric and replaced it with Personal Emotional Connections (PECs), or creating a bond outside the conversation about the product. It's impossible, of course, to measure PECs precisely, but the goal here is not precision; it is to create awareness and alignment and to direct behavior toward the group's mission.

Skunking is spraying negative energy into the workplace, as skunks do when they're frightened.

They demonstrated that a series of small, humble exchanges—Anybody have any ideas? Tell me what you want, and I'll help you—can unlock a group's ability to perform. The key, as we're about to learn, involves the willingness to perform a certain behavior that goes against our every instinct: sharing vulnerability.

Why do teenagers make bad decisions?" he asks, not waiting for an answer "Because all the neurons are there, but they are not fully insulated. Until the whole circuit is insulated, that circuit, although capable, will not be instantly available to alter impulsive behavior as it's happening. Teens understand right and wrong, but it takes them time to figure it out.

group's performance by 30 to 40 percent. The drop-off is consistent whether he plays the Jerk, the Slacker, or the Downer.

It's called mental contrasting, and it seems less like science than the kind of advice you might come across on a late-night infomercial: Envision a reachable goal, and envision the obstacles. The thing is, as Oettingen discovered, this method works, triggering significant changes in behavior and motivation.

Creating engagement around a clear, simple set of priorities can function as a lighthouse, orienting behavior and providing a path toward a goal.

Once a skill circuit is insulated, you can't un-insulate it (except through age or disease). That's why habits are hard to break. The only way to change them is to build new habits by repeating new behaviors—by myelinating new circuits.

Stories are not just stories; they are the best invention ever created for delivering mental models that drive behavior.

Among the aphorisms in Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: "Madness in individuals is something rare; but in groups, parties

This includes drugs, alcohol, environmental toxins, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, depression, negative thinking patterns, excessive stress, and a lack of exercise or new learning. 3. Consistently do good behaviors that help your brain. Adopt a great diet, learn new things, exercise, develop accurate thinking habits, work on stress management, and take some simple supplements to nourish your brain.

Consistent happiness is about making the right decisions again and again over time, which builds the neural pathways of feeling good.

people act badly, it is easy to just call them negative or derogatory names. But once you look at their scans and realize they might have a damaged or toxic scan, it gives you more understanding and empathy.

diet high in simple carbohydrates makes attentional problems worse, especially for people vulnerable to ADD. Most ADD children and adults simply do better on a high-protein, low–simple-carbohydrate diet (much more on this later). A lack of protein causes a tremendous problem with focus throughout the day. If a person is vulnerable to ADD, a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet typically makes their symptoms worse.

Clearly, your behavior matters beyond yourself and is an important reason to get healthy now.

Tiny habits are the smallest things you can do that will make the biggest difference in your life.

Our desire to control is so powerful, and the feeling of being in control so rewarding, that people often act as though they can control the uncontrollable.

Research suggests that people are typically unaware of the reasons why they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one.

The things we do when we expect our lives to continue are naturally and properly different than the things we might do if we expected them to end abruptly. We go easy on the lard and tobacco, smile dutifully at yet another of our supervisor's witless jokes, read books like this one when we could be wearing paper hats and eating pistachio macaroons in the bathtub, and we do each of these things in the charitable service of the people we will soon become.

out-of-control emotions can make smart people stupid.

When frustration is unchecked, Sam, it turns into rage, and rage triggers action.

Children don't learn from lessons or teaching. They learn from what we honestly have to say about our feelings, and they learn from our behavior.

People use rewards expecting to gain the benefit of increasing another person's motivation and behavior, but in so doing, they often incur the unintentional and hidden cost of undermining that person's intrinsic motivation toward the activity.