For decades brainstorming has been our go-to method for ideation, yet it holds back our success when the environment doesn't encourage everyone to contribute. Instead, try brainwriting—writing ideas on paper and letting teammates iterate on them. It improves not only the quantity of ideas you get, but also the quality.

Merriam-Webster just added 640 new words to its dictionary, in addition to the more than 840 entries added in September. While you're learning new language, check out the Sideways Dictionary, a crowd-sourced collection of definitions. There are a lot of software terms there, so see how people define "agile" and "VPN."

If people at work pay you a compliment, do you say thanks? Or do you always seem to deflect the compliment or respond with something self-deprecating? If it's the latter, that's a habit you should break. Compliments are a great way to create a positive workplace culture. Here's how you can learn to accept them.