That flutter of excitement when someone likes your post. The warm glow after your boss praises your presentation. The slight panic when your work receives criticism instead of praise. Sound familiar?

We've all been conditioned to seek approval from our families, friends, and bosses before taking action. But here's the uncomfortable truth: we'll never live on our own terms if we live by external validation.

"For those with high need for approval, their self-esteem is correlated with how positively they believe others perceive them," concluded researchers in one study. This dependency creates a psychological trap where your sense of worth becomes hostage to others' opinions—opinions that are fickle, subjective, and completely beyond your control.

• You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Why Seeking Approval is Killing Your Potential here.

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Timeboxing is the most powerful time-management technique. However, there is no one way to timebox. Some people keep the same schedule every week and review it on Sundays. Others change their timeboxed calendar daily and review it the night before.

Some people use a spreadsheet in 30 or 15-minute increments, others use Google Calendar, and others use one of the many timeboxing apps available.

This step-by-step guide, plus timeboxing examples from real people, will help you figure out what timeboxing looks like for you.

Remember: No productivity technique is effective and easy. It’s going to be effective and hard. Nothing will magically solve time management without some effort.

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: How Successful People Timebox here.

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

Have you ever cringed while showering, suddenly remembering something embarrassing you said years ago? That memory still feels so fresh, so real—but what if I told you it might be entirely distorted?

We navigate life believing our memories are faithful recordings of the past. We replay conversations with crystal-clear certainty, convinced that what we remember is exactly what happened. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: our brains are unreliable narrators.

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Stop Gaslighting Yourself: Why Your Memory Isn’t as Reliable as You Think here.

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

This guest post is by Jenny Wood, a former Google executive who led one of the company’s biggest career programs, helping thousands take charge of their professional growth. Her new book, Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It, is a bold guide to standing out and getting ahead by embracing 9 unexpected traits.

Most professionals don’t struggle with time management. They struggle with people-pleasing.

From an early age, we’re conditioned to say “yes.” Yes to additional responsibilities. Yes to impromptu meetings. Yes to anything that signals we’re cooperative team players. But this automatic response creates a significant dilemma: every time we say yes to something inessential, we’re implicitly saying no to work that actually matters.

As Nir Eyal points out in Indistractable, if you don’t take control of your time, someone else will.

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: https://www.nirandfar.com/protect-your-focus/

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

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Kids are suffering. In the United States, 13 percent of three- to 17-year-olds had a mental or behavioral health diagnosis. That number climbs to 20.3 percent among teens aged 12 to 17 (as of 2023). Globally, 15 percent of 10- to 19-year-olds have a mental health disorder.

You’re right in thinking it hasn’t always been like this. There’s been a sharp spike in recent years—even before the COVID-19 pandemic’s contribution. Between 2012 and 2018, there was a 34.6 percent increase in child mental illness. ADHD, anxiety, depression, and behavior/conduct problems are the most common conditions afflicting youth. Diagnoses of depression in children aged 3 to 17 grew 27 percent from 2016 to 2020.

Parents and teachers often blame social media for rising teen depression rates. But many studies show only a correlation between the two (and a low one at that), not causation. It’s just as or more likely that kids experiencing poor family dynamics, a lack of autonomy, academic pressures, or other issues find solace and distraction in excessive social media use. Too much tech use is a symptom of a deeper problem, not the sole cause.

As mental health diagnoses surge, so does the reliance on therapy and medication. While these interventions can be helpful, they are reactive rather than preventive. To support children’s mental health, we need to focus on one of the root causes.

But what exactly about modern childhood environments is making kids so unhappy? The answer lies in understanding the stark gap between what children need psychologically and what their daily lives actually provide.

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: https://www.nirandfar.com/kids-mental-health-crisis/

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

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Nir’s Note: This guest post is by Will Storr, an acclaimed author and journalist known for his deep exploration into human behavior, storytelling, and psychology. His newest book, “A Story is a Deal: How to Use the Science of Storytelling to Lead, Motivate, and Persuade,” reveals how powerful storytelling techniques can be harnessed in business, leadership, and communication to drive impactful results.

Every successful leader, marketer, or entrepreneur is, at heart, a great storyteller. Storytelling is not just an art—it’s a science, grounded in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral design. Here are four science-backed principles for crafting persuasive narratives, adapted from my new book, A Story is a Deal.

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on:

https://www.nirandfar.com/storytelling-for-business/

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

I’ll never forget the day I learned about Facebook’s $19 billion WhatsApp acquisition. Instead of celebrating my own recent success as an author, I found myself spiraling into a pit of self-doubt. “Why hadn’t I created a simple messaging app?” I wondered, mentally berating myself for missing out on what seemed like an obvious opportunity.

Sound familiar?

We’ve all been told that comparing ourselves to others is toxic. It’s the ultimate happiness killer, the thief of joy, the fast track to misery—or so conventional wisdom tells us. But here’s the thing: If comparison is so destructive, why do our minds keep returning to it? What if there’s more to this story than meets the eye?

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: https://www.nirandfar.com/social-comparison/

• Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/

The iatrogenic effects of psychiatry.

Something is deeply wrong with the mental health system. Instead of leading to recovery, it often perpetuates cycles of dependency on therapy, medication, and diagnoses.

Psychiatric diagnoses, which are unreliable to begin with, have become our identities rather than tools for recovery. While more people are going to therapy than ever before, our collective mental health isn’t improving. For some disorders, such as ADHD and PTSD, medication is prioritized over education or therapy that teaches people how to cope; thus, we see medication as a cure-all and don’t learn tools that can help us heal.

As mental health awareness and interventions become increasingly common, we have to be aware of the iatrogenic effects—unintended, harmful consequences—of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment.

Is psychiatry keeping us sick?

You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Is Psychiatry Keeping Us Sick? https://www.nirandfar.com/psychiatry-keeping-us-sick/

Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/