Goals and motivation
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8c61b923-7c5e-479f-9e8c-7d1642fe825e/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Civic life
idea
You want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip
If you want to inspire people to do the right thing, don’t guilt-trip them. Positive emotions are a more powerful motivator
by Claudia R Schneider
![Running shoes, a rolled-up red yoga mat, a water bottle, and a portable speaker on a carpeted floor.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/a5faa34c-df32-42e2-aa4f-ed85aa96b93d/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Goals and motivation
idea
To meet your goals, forget willpower and fill your toolbox
Achieving your goals has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with using the right mix of psychological tools
by Marina Milyavskaya
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/c12ad0c1-ea70-4ac6-9da0-dc1848c21914/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Focus and attention
guide
How to be indistractable
Stop blaming technology – distraction starts within. Manage your inner triggers to enjoy greater focus and a fuller life
by Nir Eyal
![Two men in suits and white trainers crouch on a sandy beach, appearing to sprint forward with intense expressions.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/23267caa-c141-48eb-a100-02c3dfc97eba/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Dance
film
Bent out of shape by the surreal corporate dance towards success
Directed by Bear Damen
![Person sitting cross-legged on the floor with instructions book to assemble flat-pack furniture with a cat getting in the way.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/1aba4b6b-3c85-4a43-bfb9-e16bca707434/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Thinking and intelligence
idea
When a tricky task makes your brain hurt, here’s what to do
Although thinking hard is a daily experience, psychologists are only just beginning to understand how aversive it can be
by Todd Vogel
![Forearm tattoo in cursive script reads “Remember to fall in love” in black ink.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/010f3e08-f0c8-4b53-975e-6e22975b4672/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Emotion regulation
idea
Wish you had more self-control? You should hear the downsides
Many people wish they had the advantages of more self-control. But fewer know that the trait can be costly, too
by Samantha Lapka & Franki Kung
![A woman leans against a red column on a train platform, with a moving train blurred in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/ffd18bb8-e4c0-447b-8da9-33f81c34946b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Goals and motivation
guide
How to know what you really want
From career choices to new purchases, use René Girard’s mimetic theory to resist the herd and forge your own path in life
by Luke Burgis
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/535ee4ec-4b42-4264-a3b5-b40d5c903e5b/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sports and games
film
How an elite surfer followed the wave of his dreams back home to the Baltic Sea
A film by Maceo Frost, Henning Sandström & Freddie Meadows
![A woman looking anxious on a subway train](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/5a687a55-b672-4e7b-a698-e34f62f6f3ac/rt-panos_00196551.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Goals and motivation
idea
Eight ways to give yourself a pep talk when you feel stuck
All of us could do with more words of encouragement and perspective, and they don’t need to come from another person
by Rachel Goldsmith Turow
![A person raises their fist holding a megaphone, facing a building with shutters and balconies displaying banners.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/4a9d0270-d803-498f-a7ed-bea549ebc3f5/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Emotion regulation
idea
Hope is the antidote to helplessness. Here’s how to cultivate it
If hopelessness is learned, then it can be unlearned: how groundbreaking studies paved the way to help cultivate hope
by Emily Esfahani Smith
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/ca065f28-3f28-49bc-97dc-a31d7ea4f413/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Learning and education
guide
How to learn a language (and stick at it)
Forget about fluency and how languages are taught at school: as an adult learner you can take a whole new approach
by John Gallagher
![Two sumo wrestlers and a referee on a sumo ring during a match, with spectators in the background at the 2019 World Sumo Championships.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/4fc1ff7d-30ca-4567-94da-9159f785a5c6/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sports and games
film
With a hushed intensity, Tuvsho finds her place in the sumo ring
Directed by George Thomson and Lukas Schrank