Category: Learning & Creativity Wins

Walk through your main living area and reset all the surfaces. Put pillows back on the couch, stack magazines, wipe the coffee table. Your win is creating an instant sense of order and calm in…

Pick a genre you rarely consume (e.g., horror, romance, classical music, documentaries). Spend 20 minutes immersing yourself in it. Your win is stretching your cultural and emotional muscles by exposing yourself to a different style…

Choose a creative project and impose a silly constraint on it. Write a poem without using the letter e, or sketch a scene using only circles. Constraints force your brain to solve problems in novel…

Take a problem you are facing and reframe it as an opportunity. The problem is I have too much work. The opportunity is I have a chance to practice my prioritization skills. Your win is…

Take a problem you are facing and reframe it as an opportunity. The problem is I have too much work. The opportunity is I have a chance to practice my prioritization skills. Your win is…

Pick a skill you want to learn and spend just 15 minutes on it. Watch one tutorial, practice one chord, learn three new words. Your win is proving that consistency, not intensity, is the key…

Open a book to a random page and point to a word. For two minutes, write down every other word that comes to mind. This free-association exercise is like a warm-up for your brain, loosening…

Go to Wikipedia and click on the Random Article link. Read the entire entry, even if it is about a topic you find boring like a historical battle or a specific species of beetle. Your…

Pick a topic you are curious about and force yourself to ask three questions about it that you cannot answer off the top of your head. Your win is moving from passive curiosity to active…

Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a circle in the middle with a problem or a topic you are studying. Draw lines out to related ideas and concepts. Your win is visually organizing…

Choose a creative project and impose a silly constraint on it. Write a poem without using the letter e, or sketch a scene using only circles. Constraints force your brain to solve problems in novel…

Open a physical dictionary or a dictionary app and learn one new word. Try to use it in a sentence or just think about its etymology. Your win is expanding your vocabulary and your ability…

If you usually read fiction, pick up a non-fiction book, and vice versa. Read just one chapter. Your win is exposing your brain to a different style of thinking and narrative, which can spark new…

The next time you are at a restaurant with food from another culture, pick one dish name on the menu and look up what the words literally mean. Your win is learning a tiny piece…

Go to YouTube and learn one simple, self-working magic trick. It doesn’t have to be amazing, just something you can do with a coin or a deck of cards. Your win is acquiring a new…

Think of one small annoyance in your life. Now, reframe it as a feature, not a bug. My car is old, so it has fewer distractions. My apartment is small, so it forces me to…

Pick a field you know nothing about (e.g., astrophysics, knitting, quantitative trading). Look up the definition of one piece of its jargon. Your win is learning the precise meaning of a word that unlocks a…