Maybe paying attention isn’t such a big deal afterall

June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
S U M M E R <3!*
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This post is going to be short and sweet but your mind will still wander off while you’re reading. And that’s okay it seems.

Here’s the scoop on a new study that says that a certain amount of zoning out while you’re trying to concentrate is not just natural, it’s probably pretty good.  It seems when your mind wanders what it may doing is the important work of problem solving and looking at the big picture for the future.

Experiments detailed in Discover Magazine by Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at UC Santa Barbara and one of the leading researchers on mind wandering.  His experiments found that when a group of undergraduates attempted to read the beginning of War and Peace, their minds wandered 5.4 times in a 45-period.

When they did further research they found there were two kinds of mind wandering: mind wandering when you are aware that you’re thinking about something else and mind wandering without awareness. He calls this second kind “zoning out.”

He found that two areas of the brain became active during mind wandering, one is the executive control system which exerts a top-down influence on our conscious and unconscious thought directing the brain to important goals.  The 2d region is called the default network and becomes active during self-referential things such recounting personal experiences and picturing yourself in the future.

The fact that both of these important brain networks become active together suggests that mind wandering is not useless mental static. Instead, Schooler proposes, mind wandering allows us to work through some important thinking. Our brains process information to reach goals, but some of those goals are immediate while others are distant. Somehow we have evolved a way to switch between handling the here and now and contemplating long-term objectives.

That would seem to account for the phenomenon of solving a problem just when you’ve stopped thinking about it, but it also seems to be at conflict with some of the principles of meditation practice that has one always trying to bring back a wandering mind to the present and a state “mindlefullness”.

Did you wander off or are you still here?  The entire web experience is one of mind wandering.

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The Science of Happiness

June 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Happiness as a concept is universally pursued, the US Declaration of Independence calls the pursuit, an “inalienable right”, Freud didn’t think it was possible. I follow Gretchen Rubin and her Happiness Project as she tries to figure out how to achieve happiness, because I find the studying happiness to be fascinating.

There is a new talk on TED by Nancy Etcoff, a cognitive researcher, on the Surprising Science of Happiness.

In her 20-minute talk, Nancy Etcoff discusses our pursuit of happiness and how it’s not the same as just reducing unhappiness, our quest through the use of pharmaceuticals, like Prozac and the effects measurable effects of happiness and unhappiness on our bodies.

Worth watching.


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Suddenly I want to Know about Physics

May 7, 2009 By 1 Comment

Some mornings I need a little inspiration. This was one of them.  You know the drill, you get up, walk the dog and start to dig through email while drinking coffee.  Not very inspiring, though I do enjoy the time with the dog.

My special way of feeling good and getting inspired is to watch videos on TED.

If you’re not very familiar with TED, you should be.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.  The annual conference now brings together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).
Their site makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free. More than 400 TEDTalks are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

Today I watched Mae Jemison, the astronaut, make a case for teaching arts and sciences together. Too long, she says, has there been the belief that scientists are not creative and artists are not analytic.  Arts and sciences are both manifestations of the same thing.

One of her best lines is “science provides an understanding of a universal experience and art provides a universal understanding of a person experience.” One her funniest was in quoting the microbiologist, Sydney Brenner, “It’s always important to distinguish between chasity and impotence.”

She makes the case for me of integrating the intuitive and the analytic. Time for me to supplement my very deficient science education.

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On How to Do Your Best Work

April 25, 2009 By 2 Comments

I spent today watching the corgi and Sandra run dog agility, my job is to keep the boy happy.  While pushing Jake around the agility course I listen to recorded books and podcasts on an iPod.

I listened to a talk given at the recent  SouthbySouthwest Conference in Austin by Merlin Mann and John Gruber called “HOWTO: 149 Surprising Ways to Turbocharge Your Blog With Credibility!“  The topic could have been How to Turbocharge Anything-You-Really-Want-to-Do with Credibility.   I found the podcast inspiring enough to listen to twice.  It’s good weekend listening, especially since you’ll need the time, it’s about 60 minutes.

John Gruber writes a well-read, well-written blog called Daring Fireball, certainly worth reading if you’re not already.  Merlin Mann is one of the 5 Web Folk I Admire – Something I don’t do easily. He’s interesting, funny, smart and very annoying. I once wrote to The Bloggess, who is the funniest person on Twitter, that I like reading her very much but was okay not being married to her.  I like reading Merlin Mann very much, but am okay not being married to him, either.

Listen to the podcast.

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It’s the weekend, time to sharpen the saw

April 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment


Thinking more about Stephen Covey and his 7 Habits for Highly Effective People, the weekend gives a chance to work on Habit 7, Sharpening the Saw, which might be the most important habit since it’s pure “Quadrant 2″.

Covey sets the stage this way.

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.

“What are you doing?” you ask.

“Can’t you see?” comes the impatient reply. “I’m sawing down this tree.”

“You look exhausted!” you exclaim. “How long have you been at it?”

“Over five hours,” he returns, “and I’m beat! This is hard work.”

“Well why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?” you inquire.  “I’m sure it would go a lot faster.”

“I don’t have time to sharpen the saw,” the man says emphatically. “I’m too busy sawing!”

Maybe that reminds you of the business cliche, “too busy to plan”.

So, Covey is saying,  the way to make your work easier is to improve the quality of the tools you use.  He’s not just suggesting the guy take a break and then go back to sawing with the same dull saw.  He says improve the tool and then the work will be easier.

Covey suggests that working in these four areas will make the work of life easier.

  • Physical
    Taking care of your body, staying healthy, focused on vitality
  • Spiritual
    This is at the core, your life’s direction, your inner journey
  • Mental
    Taking care of your brain and your acuity
  • Social / emotional
    Investing in relationships and interdependence

So what better time than this weekend to take a walk, do a little exercise, meditate or go to your church/synagogue (remember, one of the positives of organized religion is the sense of community as well as the spiritual), read a book, spend time with friends?

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