Smarts

How to become smarter and more effective

Tad Waddington, Ph.D. is the author of Lasting Contribution: How to Think, Plan, and Act to Accomplish Meaningful Work, a book that has won five prestigious awards. See full bio

May 22, 2009

Smarts: Four things worth learning about learning

Read. Recall. Write.
Experiments show that the way most of us try to learn new material is inefficient. We read and reread a passage until we think we understand it. Then we are done. In fact, we learn much more effectively if we read, try to recall what we just read, and then write it down or say it in our own words.

May 7, 2009

Defined: Understanding. What it can teach us about where meaning comes from

What to do when you can't understand the whole until you understand the parts and you can't understand the parts until you understand the whole. Read More

April 27, 2009

Smarts: It's not how much you learn that matters. It's how much you remember.

Six steps to making memories stick. Read More

January 21, 2009

You tell me

We are what we think. With what do you want to fill your mind? Read More

January 19, 2009

That's all well and good in practice, but how does it work in theory?

Two-finger typing, an on-coming train, men's nipples, and what it all tells you about scientific theory. Read More

January 17, 2009

Defined: Expertise. It's not how smart you are, but how much you know that matters

When scientists began to study expertise, they first assumed that experts must be smarter or more talented than novices, but they quickly learned that the key difference between experts and novices is not mental power, but knowledge. Read More

January 16, 2009

On the value of mythologizing yourself

What Odysseus and Frodo Baggins can teach us about moxie, civilization, being chased by a fury, and the sacralization of the ordinary. Read More

January 15, 2009

On the science of goal-orientation

If you apply to med school to become a doctor, then is the future (your becoming a doctor) causing something in its past (your applying to med school)? Read More

January 14, 2009

Defined: PhD, and what the pursuit of reveals about goal-pursuit

Tricycle, Bicycle, Car, Race Car. What's Next? Read More

January 13, 2009

On Mastery

Quite correctly, many people will argue that progress involves moving from religion through art and on to science, but here is an example where progress is made by moving from science through art and on to religion. Read More

Books by Tad Waddington, Ph.D.

Lasting Contribution: How to Think, Plan, and Act to Accomplish Meaningful Work

Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture

Dejar huella (Spanish Edition)

Self-Help Basics

Most of us have things about ourselves we wish we could improve. Lasting change is difficult—many of our habits are deeply ingrained, and certain aspects of ourselves, such as core personality attributes, may be immutable. But many more things can be changed.

Go to the Self-Help Basics page for more on Self-Help including:

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Books by Tad Waddington, Ph.D.

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