7 ideas from ancient thinkers that will improve your modern life

Loneliness is not a problem in traditional societies. People spend their lives in or near the place where they were born, and they remain surrounded by relatives and childhood companions… As one American friend who spends much time in Africa summed it up, "Life in Africa is materially poor and socially/ emotionally rich, while U.S. life is materially rich and socially/ emotionally poor." [The World Until Yesterday]

In one experiment, Cacioppo looked for a connection between the loneliness of subjects and the relative frequency of their interactions via Facebook, chat rooms, online games, dating sites, and face-to-face contact. The results were unequivocal. "The greater the proportion of face-to-face interactions, the less lonely you are," he says. "The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are." [The Atlantic]

When people's sense of social connectedness is threatened, their ability to self-regulate suffers; for instance their IQ performance drops (Baumeister, Twenge, & Nuss, 2002). Feeling lonely predicts early death as much as major health risk behaviors like smoking (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). ["Mere Belonging: The Power of Social Connections," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology]

"One of the prominent features of exercise, which is sometimes not appreciated in studies, is an improvement in the rate of learning, and I think that's a really cool take-home message," Cotman says. "Because it suggests that if you're in good shape, you may be able to learn and function more efficiently." [Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain]

In a landmark study affectionately called SMILE (Standard Medical Intervention and Long-term Exercise), James Blumenthal and his colleagues pitted exercise against the SSRI sertraline (Zoloft) in a sixteen-week trial… Blumenthal concluded that exercise was as effective as medication. [Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain]

When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically, people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. It's not completely clear why. But for many people, exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change. "Exercise spills over," said James Prochaska, a University of Rhode Island researcher. "There's something about it that makes other good habits easier." [The Power of Habit]

(This) enables people to say to an opportunity, to an offer, to an assignment: "Yes, I'll do that. But this is the way I should be doing it. This is the way it should be structured. This is the way my relationships should be. These are the kind of results you should expect from me, and in this time frame, because this is who I am." [Management Challenges for the 21st Century]

More than anything else, "Know thyself." Know what your type is. That if you are, both in the sense that you can use these coding rules to figure out okay, how would I score with the organization? But even more profoundly, think about your own personality… There are types, and I'm not saying be in the wings, I'm saying be who you are, and understand what the downfalls of that are so you can counteract that.

…we look to envision what could go wrong, what will go wrong, in advance, before we start. Far too many ambitious undertakings fail for preventable reasons. Far too many people don't have a backup plan because they refuse to consider something might not go exactly as they wish. [The Obstacle Is the Way]

…they spend the entire morning going over every possible mistake or disaster that could happen during the mission. Every possible screwup is mercilessly examined, and linked to an appropriate response: if the helicopter crash-lands, we'll do X. If we are dropped off at the wrong spot, we'll do Y. If we are outnumbered, we'll do Z.

An apprenticeship in the old days was about seven to 10 years, and that's pretty much how it is now, because that's how long it takes to become extremely skilled at what you do. [Mastery]

Focus is a function, first and foremost, of limiting the number of options you give yourself for procrastinating…Focus is thought of as this magical ability. It's not a magical ability. Put yourself in a padded room, with the problem that you need to work on, and shut the door. That's it. The degree to which you can replicate that, and systematize it, is the extent to which you will have focus.

Marshall and Robyn asked those questions of four dozen families in the summer of 2001, and also taped several of their dinner table conversations. They then compared the children's results to a battery of psychological tests and reached some overwhelming conclusions. The more children knew about their family's history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem, and the more successfully they believed their families functioned… Marshall says that children who have the most balance and self-confidence in their lives do so because of what he and Robyn call a strong "intergenerational self." They know they belong to something bigger than themselves. [The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More]

A recent survey found that only 14 percent of U.S. adults could recall all Ten Commandments; only 71 percent could name even one commandment. (The three best-remembered commandments were numbers six, eight, and 10 — murder, stealing, and coveting— while number forbidding false gods, was in last place.) [Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain]

1. They motivate us.2. They give life meaning.3. They relieve depression (and are more effective than medication.)4. They offer guidance for decision making.5. They increase learning in children.

The version of the Golden Rule that most of the experts learned in Sunday school comes from the King James Version of the Bible and goes like this: "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them." But one reason why the Golden Rule comes up so frequently is that every religious tradition has a version of it.

Hinduism: "Knowing how painful it is to himself, a person should never do to others what he dislikes when done to him by others."

Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor."

And Islam: "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." [30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans]

Then I looked at the other end of the spectrum and said if Givers are at the bottom, who's at the top? Actually, I was really surprised to discover, it's the Givers again. The people who consistently are looking for ways to help others are over-represented not only at the bottom, but also at the top of most success metrics.

1. Community is vital2. Sound mind in a healthy body3. Know thyself4. The premortem5. Focus6. A family legacy7. The golden rule