It turns out that taking just five minutes a day to document your work progress and feelings can have a powerful impact. After analyzing over 238 diaries from happy workers, Teresa Amabile shares key takeaways for staying motivated at work, including the importance of measuring progress, documenting challenges, and taking time to reflect.

Teresa Amabile, Professor, Harvard Business School

Teresa Amabile is a professor and director of research at Harvard Business School, and coauthor of The Progress Principle. A psychologist, Teresa studies how everyday work life can influence people and their performance. Her research encompasses creativity, productivity, innovation, and inner work life—the confluence of emotions, perceptions, and motivation that people experience as they react to events at work.

Based on research into nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from over 200 professionals inside organizations, The Progress Principle illuminates how everyday events at work can impact employee well-being and performance. Published in 2011 by Harvard Business Review Press, the book is co-authored with Amabile’s husband and collaborator, Steven Kramer, Ph.D.