Work Smarter - Karla Starr

Systems Thinking

How to Think Like a Thought Leader: The Magic of Frameworks (And Why You Need One)

Picture this: You’re at a conference. Someone steps on stage and starts rambling about innovation and synergy and leveraging ecosystems,

February 20, 2025 No Comments

Communicating and Relating

Use Real Numbers

I need to create a series of steps that will help writers make their data easier to understand. I am

February 19, 2025 No Comments

Psychology Insights

The Actionable Advice Paradox: Why the most specific advice is the least helpful

Table of Contents Most Advice is Useless Consider the Authors At best, advice is always incomplete Most Advice is Useless

July 12, 2023 No Comments

Business

Find Your Fathom: Explain Sizes Through Simple, Familiar Comparisons

Need to explain a size as quickly as possible? Define it in terms of something your audience already knows. Cultures

March 25, 2023 No Comments

Thought-Provoking

The Life-Changing Magic of Letting Yourself Take Breaks

Table of Contents Why We’re Obsessed With Consistency The Flipside of Consistency: You Can’t Simultaneously Be in the Middle of

November 28, 2022 No Comments

Business

Big-ism: An Epidemic of Bad Communication

While speaking to Congress in February 1981, Ronald Reagan used this example to explain the national debt, $14.3 trillion: “If

June 15, 2022 No Comments

Business

The Intelligence of Simplicity

Table of Contents Steve Jobs: Not a Simpleton The Intelligence of Simplicity Why We Like Other People: The Art of

June 15, 2022 No Comments

Business

Slow Productivity is Already Here

To prevent burnout, we need to care less and have a life Table of Contents Cal Newport, Super Genius There

February 22, 2022 No Comments

A view of a beach through a distorted fisheye lens

Psychology Insights

The Relativity Theory of Everything

In 2020, I was living in an apartment that was two blocks away from a hospital. In Queens. New York.

January 7, 2022 No Comments

Psychology Insights

The Slow Suffocation of Unsolicited Advice

Table of Contents The Power of a Lack of Mental Chatter This is Your Brain on Status The Other Marshmallow

January 6, 2022 No Comments

Cultural History

Why today’s self-help advice is making us miserable

Table of Contents The Bible or Nothing Character Building: Ben Franklin and Beyond How to Sell Yourself The Industrial Revolution:

December 14, 2021 No Comments

Psychology Insights

40 Years of Stanford Research Found That Being Able to Delay Gratification Depends on Your Past Experiences

Table of Contents Selection Bias The Marshmallow Test The Other Marshmallow Test When an Entire Generation Doesn’t Get the Marshmallow

December 1, 2021 No Comments

What You Don't Know

Everyone With a Superpower Has a Part-Time Job

Years ago when I started getting serious about my health, a group of top-level CrossFit athletes decided to join my

November 18, 2021 No Comments

Psychology Insights

Why “There” is No Better Than “Here”: How Your Attention Creates Your Happiness

Table of Contents Everything in life is a good news/bad news story How you pay attention to anything is how

November 2, 2021 No Comments

What You Don't Know

The Relativity Theory of Motivation

This interview with Devon Price is the best that I’ve read in a while. Price, the author of Laziness Does

September 30, 2021 No Comments

Psychology Insights

Huberman: Bro Science with a Ph.D.

Table of Contents My Insomnia Huberman Podcast: Bro Science with a Ph.D. How Bro Science Usually Starts The Funny Thing

March 7, 2021 No Comments

The Mind

Why it’s so hard to change our beliefs

Table of Contents Where Our Hunches Actually Come From The Mere Exposure Effect Fluency Change is Harder Than We Realize

November 19, 2020 No Comments

AI & Tech

ChatGPT Case Study: How I Saved $125k on My House

A few years ago, I fell in love with a house, but there was just one problem: not only did

December 7, 2024 No Comments

Uncategorized

The Mental Load at Work: What I Learned Working with Chip Heath for 3 Years

A lack of mental chatter Working with Chip Heath was the most eye-opening work experience of my life. Period. Why?

July 14, 2024 No Comments

Psychology Insights

Dopamine is Not Destiny

It’s hard not to talk about complexity or systems without sounding like you just came back from Burning Man: “Everything

July 13, 2024 No Comments

Psychology Insights

Why “Just Do It” Doesn’t Work When You’re Depressed

Table of Contents You Can’t Self-Discipline Your Way Out of Depression Depression for Non-depressed Weirdos The Mental Health Pandemic is

June 11, 2024 No Comments

Let's Be Clear