5 Things

Here are five things that caught my attention over this last week.

Is sugar the world’s most popular drug? by Gary Taubes, The Guardian. Like many people at the start of a new year, I'm trying to consume less sugar. "Sugar induces the same responses in the region of the brain known as the ‘reward centre’ as nicotine, cocaine, heroin and alcohol." Good grief.

Restoring Sanity to the Office by Jason Fried, Signal v. Noise. We've been thinking a lot about the purpose of our office. This article, which is a transcript from a HBR Ideacast Interview, has some helpful thoughts.

How I got my Attention Back by Craig Mod, Backchannel. "There is a qualitative and quantitative difference between a day that begins with a little exercise, a book, meditation, a good meal, a thoughtful walk, and the start of a day that begins with a smartphone in bed." Amen.

Exclusive Peek at SpaceX Data Shows Loss in 2015, Heavy Expectations for Nascent Internet Service by by Rolfe Winkler, WSJ. A must read on SpaceX's internal financials and a window into their deliberations. I have huge admiration for their focus and execution.

A Stanford University psychologist’s elegant three-step method for creating new habits by Lila MacLellan, qz.com.

...doing something you don’t enjoy and subsequently failing to make it habitual is actually more detrimental to a mission for change than doing nothing at all. To create a real lifelong habit, the focus should be on training your brain to succeed at a small adjustments, then gaining confidence from that success, he argues. To do that, one needs to design behavior changes that are both easy to do and can be seamlessly slipped into your existing routine. Aim for automaticity.

Header photo from David Cohen. Thanks!