⏱️ The 13-minute guide to better motivation

What if the way we motivate people is mostly wrong?

That was the argument at the heart of Drive. But fifteen years later, too many companies, schools, and families stubbornly cling to the old ways.

So, I made a video revisiting the book and highlighting the seven ideas that still matter most.

The core lesson: You don’t install motivation in people. You create the conditions for it.

Watch it below ⬇️

A few things worth your attention this week.

Here’s a smart way to clean up your media diet. In Time, former Buddhist monk Michael Becka suggests examining what you read, watch, listen to, and follow — and then asking: “Does this expand me or shrink me?” Avoid — and unfollow — what makes you feel smaller, numb, or more anxious. Keep what widens “your clarity, kindness, and courage.”

The most thought-provoking book I’ve read this summer is The Score: How to Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game (Amazon | BN.com| Bookshop | Public library) by University of Utah philosopher C. Thi Nguyen. Nguyen explains why metrics infuse games with vitality and meaning — but often drain enjoyment and flatten values at work and school. He doesn’t offer easy answers. Just one sharp question: Are you playing a game you actually want to win?

A new Wall Street Journal poll opens a window into American anxiety in 2026: two-thirds of upper-class and upper-middle-class Americans — the people faring the best economically! — think the system is stacked against them. More sobering: Seven out of eight U.S. parents at every income level don’t believe their kids’ lives will be better than their own.

The only thing better than a good list is two good lists. So, download this one-pager from The Moon Lists. In the left column, list the things you want to move away from. (Ex: complaining, brain-dead social media, crappy food.) In the right column, list the things you want to move toward (Ex: deep work, real conversations, whole foods.) It’s like a To-Do and a To-Don’t list for the soul.

Let’s try the Away/Toward exercise as a group — focusing on that first list. Answer this edition’s Pink Poll below. I’ll report the results in the next edition.

Our previous Pink Poll revealed that your secret to developing good taste is asking “Why?”