Erdos: 3 Key Life Lessons You Can Learn From A Very Odd Mathematician
all accounts, Paul Erdos was a very odd guy... If you were a friend he might show up at your house in the middle of the night wanting to do math and announce, "My brain is open." He wouldn't do laundry. If he was staying with you, you had to do it for him. If he wanted to work on a theorem at 5AM he'd bang pots and pans until you came downstairs. He is also one of the…
6 minutes
“Keep it simple stupid” is great advice. Here’s the best way to do it.
at's the best way to keep things simple? John Maeda is a computer scientist -- and an artist. He's the President of the Rhode Island School of Design and founder of the SIMPLICITY consortium at the MIT Media Lab. His book, The Laws of Simplicity, is a short set of meditations on simplicity, and how we can use it to better our lives and work. The Kiss Principle ("Keep it simple stupid") is an old design idea from the Navy.…
2 minutes
How to reduce the number of bad decisions you make in today’s world
bsp; Do you make bad decisions due to lack of info -- or too much? In the past 20 years we went from a world where information was difficult to come by to a world where we can't get away from the stuff. Data is now like sand at the beach. Or maybe quicksand is a better metaphor. The phrase "TMI" is now more true than ever. Just as we always love options -- even when they aren't good for us -- we seem…
3 minutes
Chronic Procrastination: 5 Weird (But Effective) Ways You Can Conquer It
w to beat chronic procrastination I've posted a fair amount of research related to procrastination in the past, let's round it up so we have a useful list to refer to when willpower gets low. 1) "Positive" Procrastination Yes, that’s right, procrastination can be a good thing. Dr. John Perry, author of The Art of Procrastination, explains a good method for leveraging your laziness: The key to productivity, he argues in “The Art of Procrastination,” is to make more commitments — but to be…
4 minutes
Strokes of genius: Here’s how the most creative people get their ideas
ere do strokes of genius come from? Keith Sawyer tells an interesting story about breakthrough ideas in his book, Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity. Researcher Vera John-Steiner wanted to know "What nourishes sustained productivity in the lives of creative individuals?" She interviewed over 70 living creative geniuses and analyzed the notebooks of 50 dead ones (including Tolstoy, Einstein, etc.) to look at their work habits. She assumed this was going to end up as a review of Eureka! moments in the…
3 minutes
5 Ways You Can Make Your Ideas Spread And Get More Clicks
at gets you more clicks? Ideas are great. But how do you make your ideas spread? Why did that other guy's post get so many Facebook likes? What will get you more clicks? I asked Jonah Berger, professor at The Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On. Taking lessons from Borat, Apple's iPod and Hump Day, Jonah offered five tips for making your ideas spread like wildfire: 1) Make People Look Good…
4 minutes
10 Research-Backed Steps To Building A Great Team
w do you build a great team? A great team is not just a group of great individuals. Research studies have shown the elements that go into making a productive group aren't always obvious and often defy conventional wisdom. 1) Don't just look for smarts, look for social skills What makes for smart teams? It’s not average IQ; it’s team social skills: The three factors are: the average social sensitivity of the members of the group, the extent to which the…
5 minutes
How To Make Your Life Better By Sending Five Simple Emails
w to make your life better? All you need is email. I've covered a lot of research on how to make your life better but many people struggle with implementing changes because it seems like a major undertaking. It doesn't have to be. You can make strides in 5 fundamental areas by just sending 5 emails. HAPPINESS Every morning send a friend, family member or co-worker an email to say thanks for something. Might sound silly but it's actually…
4 minutes
