What We Value (the Neuroscience Of Choice And Change)

By (author) Falk, Emily
Short description/annotation:
“A captivating must-read for anyone who aspires to learn and grow.” —Katy Milkman, author of How to Change A neuroscientist reveals the hidden calculations that shape our daily decisions—and how to make more fulfilling, impactful choices in our work, relationships, and lives.
Description:
With so many competing priorities pulling us in different directions every day—family, friends, work, our health—it can feel difficult to make decisions that are aligned with what we care about most. Especially in the moment, we often default to the immediate demand, the path of least resistance, the worn old habit we wanted to change. In What We Value, pioneering scholar Emily Falk reveals how we can transform our relationship with the daily decisions that define our lives—opening pathways to make more purposeful, fulfilling choices; more successfully change our behavior; and influence others to see differently—by thinking like neuroscientists. Drawing on her own award-winning research, Falk introduces readers to a new paradigm for understanding why we, and those around us, do what we do. This is the value calculation: the often-subconscious mechanism by which the brain computes our everyday choices. By learning how it works, Falk shows, we can learn to work more strategically with it—whether we want to embrace new activities and behaviors, connect more meaningfully with others, or become more effective leaders in our organizations and communities. With captivating stories of star comedians, journalists, sports legends, and more, Falk demonstrates how we can change what we think just by changing what we think about; get less defensive by connecting with our core values; and seed innovation by seeking out different perspectives. Whether deciding on something as small as what to eat for lunch or as big as what career to pursue, we can have more agency and flexibility than we might think. What We Value is a groundbreaking guide to finding new possibilities in our choices—and the lives we ultimately make with them.
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"A compassionate framework for recognizing how we make choices and why change can be so challenging."
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"If you’ve ever wondered what happens in your head when you make decisions and change habits, Emily Falk offers a wealth of insight."
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"[What We Value] bridges the gap between complex neuroscience and everyday experience through compelling anecdotes, along with clear action steps readers can practice at home. In this way, neuroscience becomes less about circuitry and more about clarity—an avenue to make daily decisions a little more deliberate and much more meaningful."
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"In What We Value, Emily Falk, one of my favorite neuroscientists, explains in beautiful, personal, first-person prose how our brains make choices for us, what we can do to change those choices, and how we can tune our connections to other people. Falk meets ancient questions with modern neuroscience—and in her honest, humble, authoritative voice, engages us in a conversation that may well change the choices we make and, in turn, the people we are."
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"What We Value offers a rare glimpse into the mechanics of how our brains make decisions. Full of intriguing insights and captivating stories, it’s essential reading for anyone who wants to effect real change in their life, business, or community."
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"Emily Falk has given us an intellectually penetrating and beautifully written account of how what we value at any one moment influences our choices, which influence the choices of those around us, which redound to influence us in turn. Even better, she specifies practices we can employ to affect the brain processes responsible for these influences. It is the best blending I have seen of important behaviora