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Originally posted in our November 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. When considering how to get into a state of flow or to use effectuation, perhaps the most important first step is to focus on what we individually have control over. Are you focusing on what others do to you, or are you looking at how your choices and behaviors guide you into the future? These types of questions are central to understanding one’s locus of control. …

Originally posted in our November 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Effectuation, or as we at ELI, like to say, “go in order to know,” is a crucial feature of an entrepreneurial mindset. For decades, MBA students and budding entrepreneurs have learned to analyze market research, create a business plan, and look for ways to predict all outcomes for a future endeavor. But for most entrepreneurs making a go of it on their own, the exact opposite…

Originally posted in our November 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Have you ever found yourself in a state of near effortless focus? Where you aren’t paying attention to your phone or other tasks and instead are hyper-concentrated on a particular project or job. This situation is what it is like to be in a state of flow.  Long-time followers of our work at ELI will know that the “Godfather of Flow Psychology,” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, has profoundly…

Originally posted in our October 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. To conclude this month’s Top of Mind newsletter, we visit an ecological experiment set in a desert called the biodome. In it are, seemingly, the perfect conditions for growing fruits, vegetables, and trees, and it was a place where humans could live happily for months at a time. “When the trees grew to a certain height, they would topple over. It baffled scientists until they realized…

Originally posted in our October 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. What’s the point of it all? This question has led to a range of discourses in psychology, philosophy, and religion. One philosopher from the turn of the 20th century spoke very openly about this in an 1895 lecture titled “Is Life Worth Living?” William James, often referred to as the father of American Psychology sought to understand this question to save himself. He framed this type…

Originally posted in our October 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. While few of us would wish for adversity, much can be learned from those who overcame it to achieve success. One study, referenced in this piece from the Wall Street Journal, sought to do just that. In the study turned book from 1962, Victor and Mildred Goertzel analyzed the lives of (at the time) 400 eminent figures around the world. What they found was that 75%,…

Originally posted in our October 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. If someone asked you if you feel anxious often, it’s a fair assumption that you would say, “yes, absolutely!” Anxiety, both the medical diagnosis and the general feeling, seems to have increased over the last two decades. In this piece from the BBC in October 2022, author Tracy Dennis-Tiwary discusses the role of strong emotions, namely anxiety, in how we interact with the world. “[E]motions are…

Originally posted in our September 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. To close out this month’s Top of Mind Newsletter, let’s apply some of what we’ve learned about our individual minds to collectives. In any established organization, workers will have seen any number of “change initiatives,” from reducing waste in a corporate setting, improving customer feedback, or developing new programs to improve employee morale. And we often hear about how these initiatives do not work or how…

Originally posted in our September 2022 Top of Mind Newsletter. Those who follow ELI and other mindset leaders have heard about the power of resilience many times, but it is another thing to hear from someone who has struggled against tough odds about how they do it. In this podcast interview, Dan Oosterhous of the Air Force Academy shares his story of recovery from two strokes that impacted his career as a pilot and as a…