Susan Greenberg

No matter the field you work in, the practice of design offers you many tools to explore and interpret the world, develop a creative point of view, and experiment your way toward new approaches to the problems you want to solve. Using design well means that you embrace responsibility for both the positive and negative outcomes of your work, and its intended and unintended effects. You do your best to think about these implications long before you release your work into the world, and you consider them from diverse perspectives. Of course, this would be so much easier if only you could see into the future.

Countless studies support the benefits of a deliberate gratitude practice. But like other potent interventions for increasing well-being, the practice of gratitude is complicated. It does not induce sunshine and rainbows in every context, and—especially when there’s pressure to “be grateful”—it can even undermine happiness.

This time of year, we speak a lot about gratitude. In the workplace, gratitude is not only “nice to have” but also a critical way to retain and motivate your team. As a leadership skill, gratitude is considered among the most low-cost, high-impact mechanisms for making employees feel they are valued. But despite survey after survey indicating that employees respond well to appreciation, only one out of three US employees in 2016 Gallup survey reported receiving recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days.

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the US experience mental health challenges every year. More than half of individuals in middle‐ and high‐income countries will experience at least one psychological disorder in their lives. And depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

Of all America’s institutions, none is more despised than Congress. The legislative body came in dead last in a recent Gallup poll measuring Americans’ confidence in 17 national institutions—well behind banks, big business, and the media. A separate Gallup poll pinpointed the top reason for Congress’ rock-bottom approval rating: party gridlock. Yet incumbents keep getting re-elected, at a rate of 90%.

Almost everyone wants to be happy, but surprisingly few people know exactly how to make themselves so.

Americans have never been particularly good at saving money. In 2013, for example, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that Americans saved on average only 4.5% of their household income, while Europeans saved nearly 8% and Australians more than 11%. But according to a new study by Stanford Graduate School of Business researchers, there’s a way to change that: simply make people feel more powerful.

In the last 30 years, interracial marriage in the US has more than doubled, from 6.7% in 1980 to just over 15% in 2010, according to a 2012 Pew Research Center report. Yet given that minorities comprise 37% of the US population—and will exceed 50% by 2043, according to the US Census Bureau—mixed-race marriage remains relatively rare. The vast majority of Americans still settle down with someone who looks a lot like them. What’s more, a new study shows that a preponderance of the same-race marriages in America are the result of personal preference and not just environmental factors, like living in a homogenous neighborhood.

If you’re feeling pressed for time, you’re not alone. Surveys show most working Americans feel that way. But what if there were a way to expand those precious minutes and hours? Research suggests there may be one: Elicit a sense of awe.