How to Have a Good Day

Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life

by Caroline Webb

Number of pages: 368

Publisher: Crown Business , Apress

BBB Library: Personal Success

ISBN: ‎ 978-0553419634



About the Author

Caroline Webb is an economist, management consultant, and executive coach who has spent the last fifteen years showing her clients how to apply insights from behavioral science to boost their professional effectiveness and job satisfaction.

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Editorial Review

In How to Have a Good Day, Webb explains exactly how to apply science to our daily tasks and routines. She translates three big scientific ideas into step-by-step guidance that shows us how to set better priorities, make our time go further, ace every interaction, be our smartest selves, strengthen our personal impact, be resilient to setbacks, and boost our energy and enjoyment. Through it all, Webb teaches us how to navigate the typical challenges of modern workplaces—from conflict with colleagues to dull meetings and overflowing inboxes—with skill and ease.

Book Reviews

"One of the most thoroughly researched and practical personal management books I’ve read in a long time, Have a Good Day doesn’t just explain why we behave the way we do. Webb shows how small tweaks in your behavior can ensure that the good days will outnumber the bad.”

"How to Have a Good Dayis a smart, thorough, and eminently practical book. Just about every page offers a science-based tip to help you become better off — or, in many cases, just plain better.”

"Although she read hundreds of academic papers before writing this book, Webb’s purpose is practical, as captured by the understated title. She offers what she calls “science-based tweaks” in behavior and attitudes which could help you have a better day at work. Webb briskly summarises some of the findings made by psychologists and neuroscientists that are increasingly familiar. She returns constantly to the context of the workplace, citing practical examples rather than speculating about the psychological potential of humankind.”

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Wisdom to Share

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

We can exert more control and start to enjoy more “well-planned luck.” And as a result, we can all have many more good days.

It’s hard for any of us to walk away from all the time, effort, or money we’ve already sunk into a situation that has little prospect of improving.

The brain’s automatic spam filter tends to block information that people don’t agree with, but you can get through the filter with something novel or intriguing.

We all recognize the feeling of getting bogged down in a task. Our efficient brains have automatic routines for dealing with everything.

We all recognize the feeling of getting bogged down in a task. Our efficient brains have automatic routines for dealing with everything.

In all the empirical studies on psychological well-being, one thing emerges as a reliable foundation for happiness: the quality of our relationships.

Our goals are usually framed in one of two ways. They’re about doing either more of something good, or less of something bad.

Being sleep-deprived makes it difficult for our brain’s deliberate system to perform its daily miracles.