How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life Hardcover – February 2, 2016

This book should suck. Really. The title clearly over-promises (“How To Have a Good Day,” indeed) and the text attempts three of the most difficult non-fiction high-wire acts: popularizing science without making stupid errors, presenting business advice that doesn’t trigger your bulls*** detector, and giving self-help tips that don’t fall off into either banality or featherbrained woo.Nearly impossible. And yet, somehow, Caroline Webb has pulled it off.“How to Have a Good Day” is a meticulously documented, step-by-step approach to leveraging contemporary research in cognitive science and behavioral economics to solve the real problems that keep us from being effective — and happy — in our day-to-day jobs and lives. And it’s not aimed at helping you “feel” better, but, rather, outlines a rigorously pragmatic approach to actually *doing* better: analyzing situations more effectively, making better decisions, and communicating with others with empathy and impact.Every piece of advice comes with a footnoted scientific study — often more than one — buttressing its claims. And Webb, a former partner at a management consulting firm, peppers the text with mini-case studies, anecdotes from business leaders across a wide spectrum of industries that reinforce each of the learnings. Taken together, these present a compelling argument that the advice doesn’t just work in the lab, but in the rubber-meets-the-road environments of the shop floor and the conference room.Webb opens the book with a section on the science. There are some familiar big ideas (the brain’s two-systems of deliberate thought and automatic or pre-conscious process; the fight-flight-freeze response which can keep us open to discovery or shut us down in defensive threat reaction; and the mind-body loop in which influence can go both ways) which Webb will weave throughout the book. If there is a core theme, it would be that by better understanding how our brain processes the world, we can become aware of and avoid the shortcuts and pitfalls of our unconscious biases and blind spots — and in so doing, increase the odds of our having successful interactions. (And that, often, it can be as simple an act as setting intentions that alerts the brain to the salient features it should be picking out.)If you’re familiar with cognitive science (or phenomenology) some of this may be sound obvious, but Webb’s skill is in taking these insights and showing how they lead to dysfunction in our everyday lives. We do not directly experience the world, but rather offload much of our administrative processing to sub-conscious systems — and therein lies the problem: we make snap judgements, improperly weight data, and can miss things that are literally right in front of our eyes.One example Webb uses to demonstrate this kind of inattentional blindness is the famous “gorilla in the basketball game” video (if you’re not familiar, here’s a helpful NPR backgrounder: [...] ). Webb offers a variety of tested methods for re-focusing our brain’s attention, keeping us in a creative, open state, and engaging the teams around us in ways that help keep them working at their full potential. Hint: It can be as simple as using the “yes…and” familiar to anyone who’s done improv comedy to keep other team members from going into the “amygdala hijack” of defensive mode.One weird trick I found particularly compelling was harnessing our social brain to solve abstract logic puzzles. Webb uses the example of the Wason selection task (see Wikipedia: [...]), in which you have four cards, showing D, F, 3, and 7, and are asked which cards you would need to turn over to test the truth of the assertion that any card with a “D” on one side must have a “3” on the other. A majority of people get this wrong. But then Webb suggests reframing it in social terms:“You’re a bartender. You have to make sure that anyone drinking beer in your bar is over twenty-one, or you could lose your license. Each of the cards below represents information about four of your patrons. One side of the card shows what they’re drinking, and the other side of the card shows their (real) age. Which card or cards to you need to turn over to see if the twenty-one-and-over rule is being violated?” The cards are: Beer, Coke, 25, and 16.Three times as many people get this right, because they’re leveraging their social knowledge. And as Webb points out, we can easily apply this framing to everyday conceptual challenges to provide extra processing power. And that’s just one cherry-picked example. The 300 pages of this book are packed with equally powerful bits of advice.Webb conveys this all with style and wit, in prose that is at once warm and unpretentious and yet totally at home with the complexities of the evidence she marshals to support her arguments. It is well-written down to the footnotes, and contains two helpful appendices on applying the book’s insights to the two main productivity killers of the business world, meetings and e-mail. I came away with half-a-dozen ideas for things to do differently (some as simple as single-tasking and batching the times I respond to e-mails) and I can virtually guarantee that you’ll find things that will make your days more productive and, yes, happier.Full disclosure: I used to work at the same company as Ms. Webb’s husband, but I have never met her.

This kindlebook that is How To Have A Good Day: Harness The Power of Behavioral Science To Transform Your Working Life by Caroline Webb appealed to me even with my intuitive awareness that I am blessed/lucky in both my personal and working life. This is because I’m logically aware that there is always abundant/plenty of room for me to learn more information/grow my knowledge when it comes to continue to make the best andor boost my knowledge of professionally evolving in my work/career/professional/employment life. On an additional beneficial note I also spotted some ideas that I can utilize in other areas of my life. Some of the ideas that are shared in this uplifting kindlebook: why it is at times important to take in that certain situations are more about the other person and/or other people even when it seems otherwise, I’m definitely going to need to give myself more time to process the devil’s advocate section in this kindlebook even though I’m intuitively aware that I’m far from an angel that I wish that I was, positive framing, imagining the ideal outcome of the task andor project, draw a subject tree, and more. I’m also in the process of learning that it is important for me to speak andor write what I am thinking with courageous/braver intent provided that my communications of this fashion are done with civil intent even if some people I admire in my personal andor professional life far from agree on some of my viewpoints. Coming across this kindlebook is timely for me because it gives me ideas on ways to reframe my communications/writings regardless if my views are popular in a wiser and/or more thoughtful manner.

So, what is this book about?It’s a practical guide to getting the most out of your work day—the end goal is not only better productivity, but also a personal sense of fulfillment. Don’t worry—this isn’t just feel-good fluff. What’s different about How to Have a Good Day is that author Caroline Webb supports her advice with a strong foundation of research from three behavioral science disciplines: psychology, behavioral economics, and neuroscience.How difficult is the subject matter?If the phrase “behavioral science” in the book’s subtitle makes your eyes glaze over with boredom or intimidation, again, not to worry. The entire book is written in a friendly, conversational tone. Its introduction contains a “Science Essentials” section that explains in plain language each of the three science disciplines from which Webb draws her research. The rest of the book is organized around seven topics the author identifies as “building blocks” for a good day: priorities, productivity, relationships, thinking, influence, resilience, and energy. Webb does a good job balancing scientific evidence with practical advice and testimonies from real-life people working in a variety of industries. There are no graphs, charts, or equations to bore you to tears. Instead, you can expect to learn interesting tidbits such as the following: in one study, participants who looked at a picture of a black-and-white banana perceived it as “slightly yellow” even though it was completely gray. This is an example of confirmation bias, the tendency to focus on information that confirms our assumptions and to filter out information that counters our assumptions.How can this book help me in my daily work?Think of How to Have a Good Day as a Swiss army knife of behavior hacks. You’ll get a lot of methods to try out with examples of how these have worked for the author and her clients. While you may not find all of the advice appealing, I believe this book is worth reading even if you just come across a few hacks to try. Those few hacks could make a significant impact on the quality of your work day. And who doesn’t want a better work day?What’s the main takeaway?I’ll let Webb tell you in her own words: “We miss a big opportunity if we simply let the day happen to us.”What are some key nuggets?Here are a few that stood out to me:• “Multitasking can feel like a stimulating and efficient way to deal with having lots to do, but we’re actually far more productive if we singletask—that is, if we do one thing at a time.”• “People hear criticism far more vividly than praise—so be more vocal in showing appreciation for the things they’re doing.”• “…the best small goals are those that help us take baby steps toward big goals that really mean something to us.”If you read this book you’ll also learn how to respond to requests with the “positive no,” the benefits of “extreme listening,” and why “smartphone daycare” is a great idea.Any caveats?While the testimonies in this book span a wide variety of industries, the majority of profiled individuals are in high-level managerial or executive positions. My educated guess is that this apparent bias is just a reflection of the author’s typical clientele. I think it’s also likely that Webb has gleaned the most effective methods from these individuals because their keen insights are the result of much experience.If you’re not in a managerial/executive position, you may wonder, “Can this book still apply to my work?” In my opinion as a non-managerial worker, yes, absolutely! For example, Webb points out researchers’ findings that a sense of autonomy is important for motivation and that when we set our own goals, we’re more likely to achieve them. But how is this helpful when we must complete tasks that others have delegated to us? Webb advises that we can still “find a way to link an assigned task to things that matter to us, even if it’s a tangential connection.” She suggests asking questions such as, “What bigger aspiration or value of mine does this task speak to?” or “How does this request support something that matters to me?” If detail is important to you, for example, you can use this value to create a masterfully organized spreadsheet and take pride in your thoroughness.You can also reverse-engineer Webb’s tips for managing a team by applying them to your perspective as a team member. Ask your supervisor if you can have a discussion with him or her—not about how you think they could do a better job of managing you, but about ways they can help you do your best work.