Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketballer of all time.

But despite his success on the court, he had remained passionate about baseball his entire life and was motivated to pursue the sport after the murder of his baseball-loving late dad, James Jordan, in July of 1993.

Jordan first retired from basketball in October of 1993, shortly after closing out a three-peat with the Chicago Bulls against my beloved Phoenix Suns.

He went on to play baseball in the minor leagues for the Birmingham Bruins, the Chicago White Sox’s affiliate, where his batting average was .202, batted in 51 runs…

Follow your passion.

Do what you love.

If you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.

These are the catch cries of the cult of passion.

It stands to reason that if you are passionate about what you do, you’re likely to wake up with a spring in your step and invest a high amount of energy and enthusiasm into your work.

But what if you’re passionate about sneakers, or early 90s NBA trading cards? Sure, you still might be able to cultivate a living in or around this space, but your chances are going…

At the core of the psychology of human behavior is the idea that we are incentivized to do things to pursue pleasure (carrots) and to avoid pain (sticks).

But what role do material incentives such as cash, vouchers, and awards play at a time when intrinsic motivators like purpose and growth are influencing the kinds of work people choose to do and the companies they choose to work for?

Incentive Programs Boost Performance

A 2010 meta-analysis conducted the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) found that properly constructed incentive programs increase performance by anywhere between 25 and 44 percent. …

Many moons ago, the Roman philosopher-king, Marcus Aurelius, wrote that nothing should be done without purpose.

Nowadays, purpose in the workplace is in vogue, buoyed on by the influence of books like Simon Sinek’s Start With Why, as well as the relative 21st Century comforts we enjoy, prompting us to ask the deeper question about the meaning of work.

Once we’ve satisfied the lower rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we pursue self-actualization and transcendence. …

The shift to remote work has left us divided. Some of us want to remain remote forever, others can’t wait to get back to the office, and some are calling for a hybrid model. There are pros and cons of each, but one downside of working from home has consistently been overlooked — morning sunlight.

For millions of people around the world, their daily commute has been reduced to a short stroll from the bedroom to the study (or the kitchen table). While convenient, this can come at a significant cost to our mood, sleep, and focus.

The Benefits of Direct Sunlight Exposure

Sunlight has long…

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk about what you should eat and the supplements you should take to boost your cognitive performance.

But on the contrary, consuming absolutely nothing at all has been found to hold many brain-boosting benefits — and best of all, it costs you nothing!

Your Caveman Brain

You see, from an evolutionary perspective, when we don’t eat for extended periods of time our brain’s survival mechanisms kick in and make us more alert. …

Let’s be clear. Before you even think about supplements to boost your focus and productivity, you’ve got to have the foundations in place.

First, do work that aligns with your strengths, you find meaningful, you’re somewhat passionate about, and rewards you sufficiently.

Second, sleep well, eat well, and incorporate movement throughout your day.

You can think of the above mentioned as the proverbial cake, with supplements being the icing on top — the one-percenters that might give you an edge.

Otherwise, all of the supplements in the world won’t make one iota of difference if you’re doing work you suck…

The move towards open-plan offices was said to make us more collaborative and productive.

But as Sue Shellenbarger wrote in The Wall Street Journal, it has had the opposite effect. “All of this social engineering has created endless distractions that draw employees’ eyes away from their own screens”, she said.

Visual Noise

Visual noise — the activity or movement around the edges of an employee’s field of vision, competes for cognitive resources, erodes concentration and disrupts analytical thinking or creativity.

Sabine Kastner, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Princeton University, has for over 20 years, studied how the brain pays attention…