The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done (9780470372258): Dave Crenshaw Study Hacks On Sam Harris and Stephen Fry’s Meditation Debate February 19th, 2019 · 44 comments A few weeks ago, on his podcast, Sam Harris interviewed the actor and comedian Stephen Fry. Early in the episode, the conversation took a long detour into the topic of mindfulness meditation. Harris, of course, is a longtime proponent of this practice. What sparked the diversion in the first place is when, early in the conversation, Fry expressed skepticism about meditation. Typically when we find ourselves in a chronic state of ill health it’s because we’ve moved away from something natural that our bodies have evolved to expect.Paleolithic man didn’t need gyms and diets because he naturally exercised and didn’t have access to an overabundance of bad food.Mindfulness mediation, by contrast, doesn’t seem to be replicating something natural that we’ve lost, but is instead itself a relatively contrived and complicated activity. Harris’s response was to compare meditation to reading. Read more » Myth Confirmed
The Multitasking Myth (Ashgate Studies in Human Factors for Flight Operations) (9780754679974): Loukia D. Loukopoulos, R. Key Dismukes, Immanuel Barshi Act One Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Does Creativity Make You Happy? Pin It One of my favourite writers on creativity is the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In this video of his TED talk, he explains the concept of flow for which he is famous. Flow is his answer to the question ‘What makes human beings happy?’ – ‘An almost automatic, effortless, yet highly focused state of consciousness’ that we can experience when devoting ourselves to a meaningful challenge. In one of the slides in his TED presentation, Csikszentmihalyi outlines the main characteristics of flow, which you may relate to from your own experience: How Does It Feel to Be in Flow? Bandwidth Nirvana Early in the talk, Csikszentmihalyi presents us with the following description by a leading composer, of his experience while composing music: You are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t exist. This sounds like a mystical experience, yet Csikszentmihalyi offers a scientific explanation. Spontaneity Takes Practice Takeaway: Practice, practice, practice!
3×5 Challenging Authority Since 1978 I am a writer, traveler, and entrepreneur with the goal of visiting every country in the world while connecting with other world-changers. Continue reading about Chris Mission Accomplished! Tyler Durden’s 8 Rules of Innovation We all want to do remarkable things, and lead remarkable lives. No one wants to spend the day engaged in mundane productivity in pursuit of a meaningless consumer existence. Certainly not you, right? So why do we find it so hard to break out of our rut and do truly innovative things? Because it’s hard. It’s almost like becoming another person. I Know This Because Tyler Knows This… If you haven’t seen the movie Fight Club (or read Chuck Palahniuk’s excellent novel), I won’t spoil the fantastic plot twist where we come to understand who Tyler Durden really is. At its core, Fight Club is about living the life you truly want to live, and the hard path to getting there. Luckily, Tyler says a lot of things that apply directly to innovative action. Tyler’s First Rule of Innovation: “No fear. This is the most important lesson, and it’s the one people struggle with and resist. But believe it or not, this is how I’ve been running my businesses for the last 10 years. Tyler’s Second Rule of Innovation:
Listen to What Innovators Don't Talk About - Michael Schrage by Michael Schrage | 4:54 PM January 25, 2012 While working away on my laptop at a hotel breakfast, I couldn’t help but overhear the four gentlemen poring over an iPad two tables way. Their intense discussion revolved around rolling out their high-tech prototypes in a medical care complex. Forgive me. The foursome represented a mix of medical care complex personnel and what was clearly an entrepreneurial innovator with a potentially high-impact idea. These questions are classic and it’s always fascinating to hear how — and what — decides them. That’s why the more passionately they spoke, the more nervous I got. When something isn’t explicitly discussed, that doesn’t mean it’s not important or being ignored. Any innovator deploying any prototypes in the field can’t possibly assess the economics and costs of staggered roll-outs, staggered builds and optimization trade-offs independent of the people who will actually be using those prototypes. This design/prototyping conversation wasn’t.
Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work You wouldn’t drink and drive. But would you drink and write? Maybe a glass of wine could be just the thing to get you started on that poem to your sweetheart. But how about a few beers before writing an important e-mail? Could you do with a shot of whisky before taking a phone call from a client? It sounds absurd when I put it like that. Here’s molecular biologist John Medina on the subject of multitasking while driving: Until researchers started measuring the effects of cell phone distractions under controlled conditions, nobody had any idea how profoundly they can impair a driver. That may sound like an extreme example, but by attempting two tasks simultaneously (driving and talking on the phone) these drivers were essentially doing the same thing as an office worker who is simultaneously writing a document, checking and responding to e-mail, fielding phone calls, surfing the web and/or engaging in conversations via social networking sites. There’s No Such Thing As Multitasking
Wanted: Idea Fusers - Bronwyn Fryer - Our Editors by Bronwyn Fryer | 9:40 AM February 7, 2012 It’s become pretty much common knowledge that great innovation springs from the ability to pull two unlike things together to create a beautiful third. Steve Jobs famously shifted a paradigm when he fused calligraphy with technology to create the Mac’s graphical user interface. Many great inventions fuse something very simple, cheap and widely accessible — say, a small piece of paper — with something expensive and complex — say, a medical laboratory test — to come up with a marvelous solution, such as George Whitesides’ postage-stamp sized diagnostic tool. And though not always disruptive, many innovations spring from the fusion of business models. I find this strange. Back in 1997, HBR authors Dorothy Leonard and Susaan Straus identified part of the problem in an article called “Putting Your Company’s Whole Brain to Work.” Our society values specialists. Now, take a good look at the people your company hires.