This adage surfaced on a Quora thread about simple statements that have changed people's lives for the better, and it's not unsurprising it rose to the top. It's easy to go through your life believing that there are people out to get you, but the reality is that their motivation rarely has anything to do with you. They just want what they want, and sometimes that may affect you negatively.

I think this is important. Even deliberate actions taken against you aren't necessarily against you. For example, an employer may fire you for being too good because s/he is threatened you'll take his/her job, but that's still a stupid action for the purpose of self preservation. It really doesn't have much to do with you. It can be easy to get upset with others who make choices that affect you negatively, and sometimes that's warranted, but ultimately they're just looking out for themselves. If you can remember that, it can be easier to let go of the little things and choose your battles wisely.

What are one or two sentences that someone has told you that changed your life (for the better)? | Quora

Photo from Game of Thrones.

Your cellphone is vibrating in your pocket—but when you check, it really isn't. The good news is you're not going crazy. This phenomenon, called phantom cellphone vibration syndrome, is increasingly common. The bad news is you might have a tech addiction.

Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University and author of a book on technology, iDisorder, says lots of people are patting their pockets all day, feeling phantom vibrations that may be a sign of tech anxiety:

Our body is always in waiting to anticipate any kind of technological interaction, which usually comes from a smartphone. With that anticipatory anxiety, if we get any neurological stimulation, our pants rubbing against our leg for example, you might interpret that through the veil of anxiety, as "Oh, my phone is vibrating."

In this increasingly connected world, the syndrome is fairly common. Here's how to tell if imaginary cellphone vibrations is a cause for concern: Ask yourself if you feel anxious about being connected and whether that anxiety is interfering with anything else in your life.

To counter the anxiety, Rosen suggests not carrying your device 24/7 and taking 10 to 15 minute tech breaks every couple of hours to reset your brain. Good advice, whether you've got phantom cellphone vibration syndrome or not. Also, learn to live without push notifications and turn on only the actionable alerts to preserve your sanity and make you more productive.

Cellphone vibration syndrome and other signs of tech addiction | Computerworld

Photo remixed from an original by dukibu (Shutterstock)

We've all had a few genius ideas strike at random times, like when you're in the shower or making lunch. A new study from the University of California explains why this happens, and how you can make it happen more often.

The study consisted of 145 college students who were asked to perform two creative tasks and then take a break. Some took a break involving another demanding activity, some took a break in which they merely rested, and the last group took a break in which they performed an undemanding activity known to promote mind wandering. After their break, they performed a creative task again—and the latter group outperformed the others by 41%. However, they only outperformed the other groups when performing the same creative tasks they worked on before their break:

"The implication is that mind-wandering was only helpful for problems that were already being mentally chewed on. It didn't seem to lead to a general increase in creative problem-solving ability," says [researcher Benjamin ]Baird.

So, while we know that breaks can be good for your productivity, this shows that there's a perfect time to schedule those breaks: after you've already done a little bit of work on a project. If you take a break that promotes a bit of mind wandering, you're more likely to get struck by that great idea you've been waiting for. Hit the link for more details about the study.

Why Great Ideas Come When You Aren't Trying | Nature.com

Photo by Ben Chau.

By nature, we're optimistic. We think we're better than most people at virtually everything we do. We believe we'll beat the odds of getting cancer even when we smoke a pack of cigarettes a week. This is the result of our optimism bias, and it both helps us succeed and make some of the dumbest decisions of our lives. Here's how it works, and how you can make it work for you.

In the video above, scientist Tali Sharot gives a brilliant TED talk on our optimism bias. It's the phenomenon that causes us to look on the upside of just about everything, whether that's to our benefit or not. There are many upsides, such as believing you will succeed against all odds. It's the part of our brains that helps us take important chances and risks in the face of adversity so we can achieve something great. It's something we'd barely be human without. It's also responsible for convincing us that smoking is going to kill someone else rather than us. It keeps us from buying health insurance because we'll never get hurt. It makes us believe we could actually win the lottery, and that winning the lottery could make us happy. If you've ever been excited about the possibility of anything, you have an idea about how it works.

Anticipation Makes Us Happier Than the Result

Often times the main event—whatever it may be—isn't all that great. Instead, it's the months leading up to that event that we love. Think about your favorite days of the week. If you picked Saturday first, then Friday, you're among the majority. Saturday is our first day off from work, so we look forward to it all week. Friday is our first late night option, since we don't have to get up on Saturday. But what about Sunday? We have the entire day off. Why isn't it better than Friday? Because on Sunday there's no anticipation of the weekend. We know we're going back to work. It doesn't matter if we love or hate our jobs, but just that we're not anticipating the fun things we'll do over the weekend. It's the imaginative quality of anticipation—one that's often uniquely optimistic—that makes us happy. While the result may be good, it's everything leading up to that result that matters more.

This is good because it makes us do things. We get excited about the prospects of anything we think we'll enjoy, and that provides us with the necessary motivation to actually do it. This points to one good trick: if you want to motivate yourself to get started on anything, just think about how great it will be when you've finished. Whether it will actually be great or not is another story in itself, but even if the optimism is misplaced it'll be enough to get you started. And getting started is everything.

When Making Important Decisions, Your Optimism Bias Can Hurt You

The downside to the optimism bias is that it can cause you to make some decisions that will seem pretty dumb in hindsight. You might think health insurance is a waste of money because you've rarely been sick and then find yourself stuck with a $5,000 emergency room bill and no way to pay it. You'll justify all the chocolate cake you eat as a harmless indulgence despite your family's history of heart problems. You just won't take risks seriously because your brain has a bias for looking on the bright side.

This can be intensely problematic, but the alternative is just as bad. Constant paranoia might help you live longer, but it certainly doesn't improve your quality of life. That said, you don't have to pick one extreme over the other. Through Sharot's research, she's learned that although we don't know our biases inherently, knowledge that they exist is just about enough to keep us from making stupid decisions. If you simply keep in mind that your optimism bias exists, when you think highly of yourself you'll be able to question whether or not that mode of thought is beneficial or hurtful. If it helps you move forward, let it be. If not, consider the possible major downsides. Request advice from other people in your life before you buy a home in a supposedly up-and-coming neighborhood. Play devil's advocate with yourself. None of these suggestions are new, but research hadn't indicated how much we needed it until recently. Remember your bias and use it wisely. It can save your life and make it great or cause you harm. It's your choice.

Tali Sharot: The optimism bias | TED via Swissmiss

Photos by billdayone (Shutterstock), IkazNarsis (Shutterstock), Blend Images, Ondine Goldswain, and Sergiy Kuzmin.