Research to practice for human capability
The Pursuit of Mastery Can Be Grueling. I’m Here to Help.
I translate research on learning, leadership, human performance, mindset, focus, and flow states for individuals and organizations doing difficult work under impossible conditions.
No hacks. No universal system. Evidence, context, tools, and resources you can adapt for your life and circumstances.
Why this exists
Mastery is not a finish line.
It’s the lifelong pursuit of greater capability in something that matters, built through sustained practice, honest feedback, and adaptation. There is no point at which it’s finished.
I read the research on how that actually works and write about what it supports and where it stops. What you build from it is yours to assemble.
What you’ll find here
I analyze and present the research and evidence on leadership, human performance, learning, practice, motivation, attention, and recovery. I translate it into things you can actually use — courses, short books, a podcast, and evidence briefs built to help you work out how it applies to your own life. Where the evidence is thin, I say so, even when that runs against conventional wisdom and popular opinion.
The books
The Mastery Series.
Five short books. Each takes the research in one area and turns it into ideas, tools, and approaches you can put to use. Four are in final editing; the fifth is still being written. Subscribers hear first when each one releases.
The podcast
The Mastery Project Podcast
The science of learning and performance, in pursuit of mastery.
Two formats. Long-form episodes take up a theme — how we learn, practice, hold attention, perform under pressure, lead, or keep going — and work through it from several angles: the questions worth asking, what researchers actually found, and where the evidence stops. Mastery Briefs run three to five minutes and take up a single idea from a longer episode, grounded in one study or one author’s work.
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Who Decides Where Your Attention Goes?
We usually treat phone distraction as a failure of self-control. This episode examines a broader explanation. Choices about attention happen inside environments that change how easy an action is, which cues prompt it, and whether anything marks an activity as finished. The phone is the clearest case, but the larger question is agency over attention.
Show notes
KEY IDEAS
- Distraction is not always a conscious decision. Stable cues and familiar contexts support habitual behavior with less conscious guidance.
- Making a behavior easier changes how often it occurs. Friction and prompts matter alongside motivation.
- Infinite scrolling removes the boundaries that create a decision point. Continuing stops requiring a decision, while stopping starts to.
- A notification can disrupt performance on an attention-demanding task even when the phone is never touched.
- Screen time is a coarse measure. What you were doing, why you began, and whether use stayed aligned with intent matter more.
- The question is not how much time you spend on a device, but whether you are the one deciding where your attention goes.
The goal is not abstinence: fewer interruptions, restored decision points, friction on automatic behaviors, and periods where attention isn't renegotiated constantly.
WHAT THE RESEARCH DOES AND DOES NOT SHOW
Sources differ in what they support. Stothart tests notification cost; Fitz tests batching; Kaye and Lukoff address screen-time measurement. Geier's food study is an analogy about boundaries, not evidence about scrolling. Habit and task-switching work supplies mechanism, not smartphone-specific proof. Practical suggestions combine research with design logic; not every setting named was tested.
SOURCES
Fitz, N., Kushlev, K., Jagannathan, R., Lewis, T., Paliwal, D., & Ariely, D. (2019). Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 101, 84-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.016
Geier, A. B., Rozin, P., & Doros, G. (2006). Unit bias. Psychological Science, 17(6), 521-525. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01738.x
Kaye, L. K., Orben, A., Ellis, D. A., Hunter, S. C., & Houghton, S. (2020). The conceptual and methodological mayhem of "screen time." IJERPH, 17(10), 3661. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103661
Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002 Lukoff, K., Yu, C., Kientz, J., & Hiniker, A. (2018). What makes smartphone use meaningful or meaningless? PACM IMWUT, 2(1), Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1145/3191754
Rixen, J. O., Meinhardt, L.-M., Glöckler, M., Ziegenbein, M.-L., Schlothauer, A., Colley, M., Rukzio, E., & Gugenheimer, J. (2023). The loop and reasons to break it. PACM HCI, 7(MHCI), Article 228. https://doi.org/10.1145/3604275
Stothart, C., Mitchum, A., & Yehnert, C. (2015). The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notification. JEP:HPP, 41(4), 893-897. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000100
Courses
Self-paced courses you can start today.
Courses you can pick from as they fit — professional development, personal development, or whatever you’re working on at the moment. They’re offered here as a way to learn these things in a format that holds your attention. Each is self-paced, yours for a year, and ends with a Certificate of Completion.
Leadership & management
Health & wellbeing
Professional development
Free sample course
Take one at no cost first
The 5-Day Challenge to Improve Your Mental Health is free. Five days, about fifteen minutes each, with a short exercise every day. It runs exactly like the paid courses, so you can see how they work before spending anything.
Hear about new work first.
Book releases, new episodes, new courses, and the occasional essay — sent only when there’s something worth your time.
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