Good Habits, Bad Habits, Fixing Job Interviews, and Hobbies to Pursue
Three stories that stood out for me last week:
Just finished reading Wendy Wood’s Good Habits, Bad Habits. This book is also about the science and methods of habit formulation, similar to Atomic Habits (that I wrote about earlier here). However, I found it to be less anchored in the actual practice of habit formation, i.e. the steps that one can take, and more in the science behind it. Every chapter has a multitude of studies that Wood refers to, which is good if you are interested to understand some of the underlying theories and concepts behind habits. Some of this science is mind-boggling. For instance, in one study that Wood cites, a number of participants’ food intake was studied over a period when the participants are quite active. However, later on, when these participants are homebound (like in the current times of pandemic), when these participants were getting minimal exercise, the portions that these participants ate were the same as before! Hypothesis is that our eating habits are so hard bound that they change little despite massive change in contexts. Wood also gave a formula in the book that I quite liked. She believes that behaviour is a function of the person P, and her environment/context E. Point being that either you can make massive improvement in P, for instance, by exerting significant willpower alone, or start playing with E, that is start playing with your environment to make habit adaption as easy as possible (for instance, start sleeping in gym clothes to nudge yourself to exercise first thing in the morning). Also, the best way to form habits — as studies have shown again and again — is through repetition. The ‘double law of habit formation’ is anchored in the following: 1) repetition strengthens behaviour, and 2) repetition also reduces sensitivity to the event or unpleasant feelings associated with the activity we are trying to inculcate. That way, the book is full of wisdom. However, if you are looking to read only one book on habits, then I would still recommend Atomic Habits. If you have already read it, and are searching for more science and case studies, then Wood’s book is a good add-on.
Everything that Adam Grant writes is good. Some are outstanding, like this essay on how broken job interviews are these days. Asking questions, such as 'what’s your greatest weakness?’, rarely elicit honest responses. Moreover, brainteasers are believed to reveal structured thinking, however, studies have shown that they are useless for predicting job performance. So what’s a better way to conduct job interviews? Situational cases (‘tell me a time when faced…’) work better. Real life inspired case studies could work better (this is my personal favourite technique). And nothing really beats the real life experience that the person you are interviewing has gathered over her life. Why not double click on that part by seeking more details about their output, through asking for some work samples? I was amused by this example that Grant cites to elaborate this point: ‘At General Electric, to identify aircraft engine mechanics who work well with others, managers dump a pile of LEGOs on the table and ask a half dozen candidates to work together to build a helicopter, and score their team-working skills.’ Read the article if you feel that the job interviewing process can be improved, for Grant has laid out some good thoughts.
And finally, here is a good roundup of all the new hobbies that you can pursue, if you have time during the lockdown and have taken care of other essentials (for example, catching up on sleep, and managing extended work hours that still tend to spill into the weekends). Watercoloring and reading are my favourite, and I continue to invest time in learning Swedish (though as little as 20 minutes). Trail running makes it to the list too! Learning a new language is perhaps a worthwhile investment and NYTimes also came out with a comprehensive list of all tools available to the new language learner.
A quote that I read recently:
Knowledge is not enough, we must apply
Willing is not enough, we must do.
— Goethe
