How Parents Can Instil Good Homework Habits in Children

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It’s not some kids are good, and some kids are bad. Some kids have good habits, and some kids have bad habits.   Angela Duckworth  In another article, I wrote about how we can create or break habits by taking advantage of a habit structure: the cue, the craving, the response and the reward. To recap that article, James Clear presents in his influential book Atomic Habits the following laws for habit-building processes:  How to adapt this framework to teach good homework habits to our children? The …

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A Practical Framework to Create and Break Habits

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Habits are behaviours we repeat regularly or automatically. The good side of habits is that they can act as energy savers. We don’t focus on them while performing them. Take, for example, brushing teeth: we have to remind ourselves to be mindful of this action. Change your hand, and suddenly, brushing teeth becomes something novel and no longer a habitual activity. Imagine the mental load of getting ready in the morning if we hadn’t encoded each step of the morning schedule as a habit. …

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Playing Stereotypes: How We Assign Gender Roles to Children

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Note: This article concentrates on male/female gender roles and not on the broad spectrum of gender identity. Gender expectations start before babies are born. It is not unusual for fathers to want a son to play sports together and mothers to want a daughter to doll up. While pregnant, I told a lady in the tram that I am expecting a baby girl. She told me to count myself lucky as daughters are more inclined to keep in touch with family after leaving the nest. …

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Colours and Gender Bias: The History Behind The Pink Versus Blue Debate

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More often than not, marketers rely on a simple concept to create products designed for women, “pink it and shrink it”. This strategy involves taking an everyday product, paint in pink and making it smaller: razors, clothing, earbuds, technical gear, toolsets, notebooks, pens, etc. Then we have the Pink Tax, gender-based price discrimination where identical products are priced differently based on the targeted gender.  Boots had to correct their prices on toiletries and charge men and women equally. A study compared different industries, such as toys, clothing, …

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Life Lessons from John Grisham’s Writing Habits

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While researching for my articles, I came across John Grisham‘s fascinating debut as a writer. Grisham became the master of legal thriller books, with many of his works adapted as movies: The Client, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Pelican Brief, A Time To Kill, The Firm, etc.  Grisham never developed an interest in writing until he was practising as a lawyer. One day in the courthouse, he heard a tormenting testimony of a twelve-year-old girl.  I seriously doubt I would ever have written the …

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Self-fulfilling Prophecies: Can Our Beliefs And Expectations Affect Reality?

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Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right. Henry Ford  Self-fulfilling prophecies describe predictions of a situation that can change our thoughts and behaviours, thus becoming real. Essentially, self-fulfilling prophecies are the concept that beliefs and expectations can create their reality. Our beliefs about ourselves affect our actions towards others.Our actions towards others influence other people’ beliefs about us. Their beliefs cause their actions towards us.  Their actions reinforce our beliefs about ourselves.  This feedback loop can become self-fulfilling. …

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The Exponential Art of Kaizen

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When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.  Jacob A. Riis How are post-war industries rebuilt? Can worldwide poverty be reduced? Can couples divorce rates be predicted?   The answer to such dramatic questions …

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The Subtle Psychology of Making the First Step

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The scariest moment is always just before you start.  Stephen King  A fascinating book about writing is Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. The title comes from a family story about her brother. He was assigned a school project about birds. As children do, he procrastinated and delayed starting the project until the very end. Now, with the project due the next day, the boy sat at the table and cried. Where should he start? Will he ever finish the project? Lamott describes their dad telling …

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