The Secret To Beating Procrastination, According To Research
procrastinate the most when we're in a bad mood and think we can improve it with something fun. When we're in a good mood or when we don't think we can improve how we feel we screw around a lot less. Via Temptation: Finding Self-Control in an Age of Excess: So procrastination is a mood-management technique, albeit (like eating or taking drugs) a shortsighted one. But we’re most prone to it when we think it will actually help. In…
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How much does jet lag affect performance?
amatically. By betting on west coast teams in every Monday Night Football game where they played east coast teams you'd beat the point spread 70% of the time. NFL teams that crossed three time zones for a game "were twice as likely to be beaten by a lower-ranked opponent in the tournament’s first round." On the flip side, competing while their body is at the peak of its circadian rhythm increased performance of long jumpers by 4%. "...in sports as…
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What’s a fun way to be more creative and more productive?
ke more breaks. Via the NYT: A growing body of evidence shows that taking regular breaks from mental tasks improves productivity and creativity — and that skipping breaks can lead to stress and exhaustion. And: Management should encourage employees to devise individually effective break routines, Dr. Levine says. But he also has some general guidelines: try working in intense 15-minute bursts, punctuated by breaks, in cycles that are repeated throughout the day. This works because “the thought process is not…
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5 Easy Tricks For Beating Procrastination, Backed By Research
ke more specific plans. Just setting a date and a time when you're going to do something makes you more likely to follow through. Or just write down the steps necessary to do the work. Use short, painless dashes of effort. Just have at it for five minutes and feel free to watch the clock. Chances are you'll realize it's not so bad. Forgive yourself when you do procrastinate. It will help you get productive. Hey, even procrastination researchers have…
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Can you turn stress into excitement?
ny studies have shown we easily confuse our feelings: Ariely thinks it might have something to do with "misattribution of emotions": "Sometimes we have an emotion and we don't know where it's coming from, so we kind of stick it on something that seems sensible." The rush from a Red Bull and a roller coaster can make us believe we're in love with the person next to us. We can even fall in love with someone trying to kill us…
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Here’s The Secret To Persistence, According To Research
en challenged, focus on "getting better" -- not doing well or looking good. Get-better goals increase motivation, make tasks more interesting and replenish energy. This effect even carries over to subsequent tasks. Via Nine Things Successful People Do Differently: Get-better goals, on the other hand, are practically bulletproof. When we think about what we are doing in terms of learning and mastering, accepting that we may make some mistakes along the way, we stay motivated despite the setbacks that might…
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How does Chris Rock create such brilliant comedy?
's relentlessly tested and tweaked onstage over a period of months. Via Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries: When beginning to work on a new show, Rock picks venues where he can experiment with new material in very rough fashion. In gearing up for his latest global tour, he made between forty and fifty appearances at a small comedy club, called Stress Factory, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, not far from where he lives. In front of…
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Does quantity lead to quality?
can. Making mistakes can be vital to improvement. Via Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation: “The errors of the great mind exceed in number those of the less vigorous one.” This is not merely statistics. It is not that the pioneering thinkers are simply more productive than less “vigorous” ones, generating more ideas overall, both good and bad. Some historical studies of patent records have in fact shown that overall productivity correlates with radical breakthroughs…
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