Intelligence is not measured by how much you know, but by how much you have the capacity to learn. — Francesca Zappia — What does intelligence mean to you? Does it mean knowing a lot of things? Being able to figure things out quickly? Being great at math? Intelligence isn’t really any of those things. …

Multiple regression can be abused to “prove” that nothing really matters — Multiple regression is a key tool for data scientists. In fact, it’s fair to say that much of a data scientist’s work would simply not be possible without this technique. On the other hand…well, you know that old saying about how there are lies, damned lies, and statistics? …

The more active you are, the more important sleep gets — You spend about a third of your life asleep– or at least you should. New Yorkers, I’m looking at you. Sleep is easy to treat as an afterthought, but really you should think of sleep as accounting for about one third of your health. The weight of evidence now shows…

A thoroughly-debunked theory has gained near-universal acceptance among educators. — I first encountered learning styles theory when I was taking a psychology class in college. We all took a quiz to determine our learning style; I was informed that, because I fidgeted a lot, liked to play sports, and favored learning through active participation, I was a kinesthetic learner. As…

Grease The Groove (GTG) is anti-conventional — but is the go-to training method in the U.S. Special Forces, SEALS, and Marine Corps — In the 1980s, the Spetsnaz– Russian special forces– developed a revolutionary new resistance training method that flew in the face of decades of strength training dogma. Yes, I know “Russian special forces” doesn’t exactly carry the gravitas that it did two years ago. Just bear with me.

#1: Don’t confuse pleasure with happiness — It is, by this point, a thoroughly worn-out cliche that the purpose of life is to find happiness. It is also true– tautologically so– that one cannot be happy with one’s life unless one is happy. That is to say, happiness is important and well worth pursuing. …

It’s somewhat variable, and timing might matter more than temperature. — If you do a little research on sleep temperature, you’ll find that experts generally recommend a room temperature of 66–70 degrees (for non-Americans: we’re talking Fahrenheit here) as being optimal for sleep. This is a generalization of course, but it tends to be close to the mark for most people. …

Bilateral vs. unilateral vs. isolateral exercises — and how to optimally incorporate them into your training — Here’s a simple experiment you should try next time you’re in the gym. First thing when you walk in, take a seat at the leg extension machine and find your five-rep max– the heaviest weight you can perform five repetitions with. Try a weight. If you can do six reps…

Like most things, it’s about habits — I think most of us can agree that happiness should be a high priority in life. You may even view it as the main goal, and this is worth examining. Most people aren’t in the habit of asking themselves how important happiness is to them, but if pressed, I think…