From Your Brain Outdoors To Buying Happiness: This Week’s Top Leadership Stories

This week we learned why the great outdoors are so good for us, how certain material purchases can make us happy, and a few techniques to avoid falling into the skills gap.

These are the stories you loved in Leadership for the week of July 4:

1. This Is What Happened To My Brain When I Spent More Time In Nature

“Go play outside” wasn’t just a command to get you out of your parents’ hair as a kid. It turns out there may be real physical, psychological, and emotional benefits to spending time outdoors. Writer Michael Grothaus put the latest science to the test and shares what he discovered.

2. Scientific Proof That Buying Things Can Actually Lead To Happiness (Sometimes)

You may have heard that investing in experiences rather than material possessions is the better route to long-term satisfaction and emotional well-being, and that’s largely true. But new research suggests that there may be some exceptions. Buying certain things actually can make us happy. Here’s a look at which ones and why.

3. 6 Ways To Check That Your Career Skills Are Still Competitive

Worried that you’ve fallen into the knowledge economy’s oft-touted skills gap? If so, then you’re in the minority: One study found that 61% of U.S. workers think they’re safe from that problem. This week we picked up a few concrete steps to test that assumption.

4. More People Work From Home Now Than Ever Before

For all the flexibility that remote work affords, there may be a downside. Working from home could be a big culprit in our ballooning workweeks, further blurring an already fuzzy line between work and home. Here’s a close look at the latest research, which shows more people working from home than ever.

5. How I’ve Built My Own Business While Traveling The World

Arianna O’Dell quit her job in New York City to travel Europe, but she decided to use that time for more than just sightseeing. In the five months since hitting the road, she’s saved thousands of dollars that she’d otherwise have handed over to her landlord—and poured it into her new company instead. This week O’Dell explains how she’s pulled it off.