The Happy Homunculus

Active vs. Passive Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:04:00 +0000

Elaborate. Monkey.
(source)

Thinking about our thinking is an important step to maximizing our potential for learning. Metacognition during learning allows us to evaluate our own learning to determine if it is being effective. Am I really learning the material? Do I really understand the material? Thinking about our own comprehension is an important part of any learning process.

I recently read an article by Kathrin Stanger-Hall, a biology professor at UGA who has an interest in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching strategies. This article points out the difference between active and passive learning strategies. For example, passive learning may be limited to the following mindless study habits:

Reading the material
Going to class
Making index cards
Highlighting
Looking up information
Reviewing notes

On the surface, these behaviors seem like learning. However, while these activities may be parts of a successful learning process, they do not include an active awareness where the student is working to connect the information within a larger context or to evaluate self-understanding of the material.

Active approaches to learning would augment these activities with the following sort of thinking:

Asking "How does it work?"
Drawing the process or system
Writing study questions to evaluate self-understanding
Reorganizing information into new categories
Comparing and contrasting information

This type of approach to learning leverages the concept of elaboration that we've discussed before: somewhat non-intuitively, our brains seem to encode information better with more details and comparisons, rather than less.

As we learn, metacognition should be simmering in the background. Are we learning? How can we connect this with other information we understand? How could we distill the essential elements? This self-awareness is essential for learning to remain productive and efficient.

Is Introspection Useful?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 01:37:00 +0000

Look within.

I have this intuitive sense that it's useful to think about our thinking, a.k.a to engage in introspection or metacognition. For me, this intuition has swollen to become even more, a bit of an obsession. Practical introspection could be considered the founding principle of this blog. But is my intuitive sense correct? Is introspection useful? Or, is it a narcissistic drain on our cognitive resources?

At the core of my personal philosophy toward introspection is an inherent skepticism. Essentially, I propose that the goal of introspection is to adopt a stance of skepticism toward our own thinking with the objective of tuning our decision making to improve our mental lives and get better at life.

Skepticism truly is at the heart of this process. I propose that improvement requires a continuous process of asking "Is this bullshit?" even (or especially) about our own thoughts. By calling bullshit on our own habitual modes of thinking, we can reach a new understanding about the cognitive traps we might be falling into on a daily basis that cause us stress or hold us back from our goals. We can then slowly work to discard these destructive patterns of thought with healthier ones.

As I've mentioned, this just makes sense to me. But I could imagine a scenario where this might get out of hand. The term "analysis paralysis" comes to mind. One could introspect his life away, questioning each layer of decision making until he is frozen in inaction.

Of course, nothing in life is inherently good or bad, it's all how something is applied. Exercise is a great example. If done responsibly, exercise is beneficial. You can get healthier and more physically fit. However if one were to exercise to the point of excess, injury or illness may result. Introspection must be the same way. There must be a self-analyzing sweet spot. But what is that balance?

Ironically, my excessive introspection has led me to believe that the sweet spot is far on the side of less thinking. As I have skeptically analyzed my thoughts as they have floated by over the years, I have come to realize that most of them can be binned as useless "worrying". I have come to loathe thinking that does not perform a useful service to me and I have found that most thinking is useless thinking.

This line of thinking has led my to another principle. I propose that thinking is useless unless it results in a decision and, typically, an action. In other words, thinking is just energy-sapping wheel-spinning unless it actually cause you to do something in the real world that has consequences. Furthermore, by taking action we are essentially performing a mini-experiment about how our actions impact reality. We can then learn from our actions and plan our next actions based on evidence. This mode of thinking-while-acting is very close to my personal interpretation of flow and is the default state that I try to achieve.

Here's how it's playing out right now in my dome...

Me: Well, Homunculus, is introspection useful?

Homunculus: I think the answer is yes if the objective is to squash negative thinking that impairs our ability to make shit happen. In other words, I propose that we should be skeptical that all of our thinking is useful and be ruthless in turning those thoughts off that get in our way.

Me: How do I know if it's negative thinking and not a rational weighing of risks? I shouldn't always charge head first into a situation. That's risky!

Homunculus: It's hard to know for sure what will happen but start taking some actions in the direction that seems the best and see what happens. You'll learn more by experimenting in this way then by worrying about abstractions.

Me: But I'm worried about this, that, and the other thing... What if they happen?

Homunculus: Again, it's all theoretical. Take some small actions in the direction that looks most promising (test the waters, if you must) and learn/think with some new information at hand.

Me: Homunculus, you're the man.

Homunculus: No, you're the man. Stay happy!

Don't Don't Break the Chain... Make the Chain!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 May 2015 16:30:00 +0000

Make the chain!
(source: Wikipedia)

One of the worst productivity tips I've ever heard came from Jerry Seinfeld. Here's the "tip": never skip a day of work. Specifically, as a comedian-writer Seinfeld's goal was to write as much as possible. To this end, he marked a calendar with a big red "X" for every day he worked. After a few days of this, a chain of X's would form. Then came the productivity goal: "Don't break the chain."

I've tried this trick for some activities and I've found it to be a terrible piece of advice. Here's why: I always failed. Eventually, I broke the chain. Eventually, life reared up and made it impossible to stick with a habit. Something always comes up: illness, events, deadlines, fatigue. And guess what? Failing sucks!

The problem with "Don't Break the Chain" is that it is an avoidance goal: it frames a goal or habit as something not to do. The problem with this is that doesn't describe the behavior that one should be doing and leaves too much room for failure, as I've described.

Instead, I propose the following counter to Seinfeld's tip: "Make a chain." Track every time you do something. Make a check mark. Stick a sticker. Put a coin in a jar. Whatever. Just give yourself credit for every time you do it right and keep track of how many times you did it. In this case, it doesn't matter if you skip a day. Pick up the next day, or the next. Or the next week. Small failures don't matter if your goal is to make a huge chain; just pick up where you left off.

This has worked great for me while I've taken up running. At first, I got all bummed out when I missed a day of my running plan: I broke the chain. But then I reframed the goal as "make the chain" and now I can never fail. If I miss a day, I just pick up where I left off. Each workout I complete, I cross it off. I see a permanent record of my progress that cannot be taken away.

Stay happy :)

The Psychology of Anthropomorphism

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 May 2015 15:37:00 +0000

Today's Guest Post is authored by Mowaffak Allaham. Mowaffak is a graduate student at GMU and a research assistant at the GMU Social Robotics Lab. Follow him on twitter at @mowaffakallaham.

Author: Mowaffak Allaham

Psychologists have identified the ability to perceive the minds of others as necessary for meaningful social interactions. Ongoing research is trying to determine factors that underpin mind perception, as this ability not only allows us to perceive the mind of a fellow human, but also to perceive it in nonhuman objects or agents. This tendency to imbue the real, or imagined, behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions [1] is called anthropomorphism.

A critical prerequisite to understanding the minds of other humans is to attribute the presence of mental states to their minds in the first place – intentions, desires, and beliefs. During the process of anthropomorphism, the attribution of mental states can even be applied to non-human objects or agents (e.g: 3D avatars or robots). In a classic experiment exploring this phenomenon, Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel [2] presented participants with a video of two animated triangles either chasing or hiding from one another.

This study demonstrated our innate tendency to attribute personality traits, and therefore a mind, even for simple, geometric shapes! Since then, anthropomorphism has intrigued many psychologists, and more recently neuroscientists, as a window into the cognitive mechanisms that drive our perceptions of the mental states in others.

Interestingly, one study found that an absence of social connections increased the tendency to anthropomorphize, presumably to satisfy our motivation for social connection. In contrast, people with a strong sense of social connection were less likely to anthropomorphize non-human agents.

Research on anthropomorphism has expanded beyond the confines of psychology, reaching newly emerging fields like human-robot interaction. Computer scientists and roboticists are actively exploring the factors that influence our perception of robots.

Along these lines, scientists at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have proposed six design suggestions for a humanoid robotic head [1] to support the perception of humanness in robots. Further, these researchers have isolated some facial features in particular, such as eyes, nose, and eyebrows, as major contributors to a robot’s humanness. However, even robots that do not include all of these features, like Kismet at MIT [3], are sufficient for our minds to anthropomorphize and treat them in a very human-like way.

There is no doubt that robots are becoming more present in our lives, but what are the psychological implications of this new technology? Earlier this year Boston Dynamics revealed a video demonstrating their new robot “Spot”. This autonomous robot has four hydraulic legs and a sensor head to help it move across rough terrain. Although Spot’s appearance was quite robotic, many people condemned the act of kicking it during the recorded video demonstration. Some took it further to initiate a campaign to stop robot abuse. Interestingly, such reactions can inform us how people perceived Spot to have a mind similar to that of humans, therefore a feeling of pain, despite its obvious animalistic embodiment.

But what role does one’s belief, or knowledge, of a specific agent play in anthropomorphizing it? Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, UK, has told CNN that for him, as a roboticist, kicking Spot was “quite an impressive test” since usually kicking a robot will knock it over. Was his prior knowledge of artificial intelligence sufficient to allow Sharkey to perceive Spot as a mindless agent? His attitude was in contrast with those who perceived Spot, a robot without a head, as a mindful robot that feels pain despite lacking even the basic characteristics of an animal. Nuances like these are essential to our understanding of how we anthropomorphize others and require greater understanding if we are to improve human-robot interactions. Knowing more about the cognitive, or neurological, process of anthropomorphism could assist computer scientists and roboticists to reverse engineer and implement the underlying principles in future caregiver robots, for example, improving interactions with patients. In other words, cracking the mechanism that underlies anthropomorphism could bring us closer to having robots that read, and help, the minds of others.

References:

[1] DiSalvo, Carl F., et al. "All robots are not created equal: the design and perception of humanoid robot heads." Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques. ACM, 2002.

[2] Animating Anthropomorphism: Giving Minds To Geometric Shapes Scientific American.

[3] Breazeal, Cynthia. "Toward sociable robots." Robotics and autonomous systems 42.3 (2003): 167-175.

Further Readings:

Epley, Nicholas, et al. "When we need a human: Motivational determinants of anthropomorphism." Social Cognition 26.2 (2008): 143-155.

Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, and John T. Cacioppo. "On seeing human: a three-factor theory of anthropomorphism." Psychological review 114.4 (2007): 864.

Is Meditation Self-Help Bullshit?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 19:23:00 +0000

Are you wasting your time,
meditating monkey?

A recent article by Virginia Heffernan in the New York Time Magazine is excoriating the gradual westernization of mindfulness meditation, demonizing this trend as somehow running counter to the essence of this ancient practice. I think at the heart of this article is a desire to protect people from self-help snake oil but there is a palpable vibe in the article of an anti-self-help bias that is unfortunate.

As I've discussed before, our attitudes about change influence our ability to change. So, while I agree with Ms. Heffernan that self-help advice should be evaluated critically, binning the entire self-help movement as bullshit isn't helping anyone either.

In this context, I can't help but reevaluate the purpose of mindfulness meditation (and mindfulness, in general). Is mindfulness mediation useful?

As someone who has practiced mindfulness meditation as an attempt to manage stress, I have concluded that meditation is simply a concerted effort to implement a reappraisal of bad thoughts. Specifically, it has been suggested that rumination, or the endless replay of negative thinking, may contribute to depression. Cognitive reappraisal is a well-known approach for dealing with a number of negative or disruptive thoughts and meditation is just a practiced form of this. In the mindfulness meditation style I have tried, namely Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, one reappraises negative thoughts as "thoughts", taking a meta-level view of them and partitioning them as something distinct from our experiencing mind.

Personally, this makes sense to me. Just as I wouldn't accept the self-help advice of some rando, I am not going to trust that my automatic catastrophizing about the world is based on fact. During mindfulness meditation, I am taking a skeptical stance toward my own worries and recognizing them for what they are: worries, not reality. Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the value of mindfulness meditation. If it helps someone cope with the challenges of life, then great. We should all be active participants in our own mental health, experimenting with approaches until we get results.

In this way, stress management is like exercise. Is one form of exercise better than another? Is meditation better than a book club? The answer is: it depends. It depends on who is doing it, whether they enjoy it and whether they stick with it. If the answer to these questions is "yes", then the long term outcome is likely to be positive.

My Stress Portfolio

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 17:00:00 +0000

What's your stress tolerance? (Credit: Mike Richey)

I'm no investor. Far from it. I've bought maybe 10 stocks in my lifetime and I recall the best performer losing half it's value. I'm also no sucker, so I learned from my mistakes and quickly outsourced my meager investment portfolio to the professionals and haven't looked back.

Now, when I talk about "investment professionals", I should clarify. I really don't trust the stock-picking ability of anyone since the financial markets are complicated and I doubt that anyone can predict how anything that complicated will behave. Fortunately, I'm not alone in this opinion and a subset of the investment community relies on the principle of diversification of risk as a bedrock strategy for coping with the uncertainty of the markets. Through diversification, an investor can rely on historical information about the best performing investment types without putting all her eggs in a single proverbial basket.

Now let's shift gears to stress. Life activities and events are like investments. We are investing our time and attention in activities that may bring us happiness, pleasure, grief, or stress. The payouts or losses may be on the timescales of days, to weeks, to years. As an investor of our time and attention, we must weigh the probabilities of gains with the risks of losses: driving hard at work could bring promotions at the cost of personal relationships, for example.

I propose the concept of a Stress Portfolio as a strategy to balance our activities to allow both personal growth while managing the risks that come with stress, like poor health or burnout. My Stress Portfolio is a introspective sense of the balance of five components of my reaction to daily life: distress, eustress, flow, relaxation, and boredom. I think of each of these as representing a decreasing level of stress one might experience. As events happen in life both within or outside my control, I can reevaluate the distribution of my stress portfolio and "rebalance" my intensity to compensate.

What is the right distribution of stress? I think the answer to that question will vary by the individual. For example, some people are more resilient than others and may benefit from a greater allocation of activities in the distress or eustress categories. This is an interesting area for research as proper allocation of stress will determine the degree of success an individual can achieve. To much stress and a person may crumble and give up. Too little stress and a person is not challenged and may not rise to their full potential.

As a general rule, I think most of our time should be spent in a state of relaxation or flow with a decent amount of time in a state of eustress (exciting or exhilarating situations). I also don't advocate total avoidance of stressful situations or boredom (the extremes). These act as high and low intensity activities that can permit personal growth and recovery, respectively.

Until more research is done to determine the right allocation, all we can do is look within and ask ourselves what our portfolio should look like. Just like an investor must evaluate her risk tolerance, an individual must evaluate her stress tolerance to find the right allocation and maximize performance over time.

Stay happy!

Useful Data

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 19:46:00 +0000

But is the information useful, monkey? Is it?!
(source)

In a recent attempt to "cheat" with science while creating a March Madness bracket, I rediscovered the online data-geek candy store FiveThirtyEighty.com, brain child of renowned statistician Nate Silver. In another incredible display of sexy stats, Silver and Company have assembled a robust statistical model of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, adding evidence to the thesis that the geeks shall inherit the earth.

While the information on FiveThiryEight is beautifully presented and likely as accurate as one will get, I began to wonder: is this useful? More broadly, what makes information useful?

I don't want to get too hung up on what "useful" means, but for my purposes I'd like to define useful as enabling better performance: greater accuracy, greater speed, or higher success rates in some activity. What feature of data would make it useful?

Here's my opinion: for information to be useful, it must be actionable. In other words, for information to enable better performance or higher success rates it must inform what actions should, or should not be performed to improve accuracy.

A great example of this type of information for me has been heart rate data during exercise. When I run according to my heart rate training plan, I know that I'm working too hard on my easy day when my heart rate goes above some threshold. This is actionable information. My heart rate is too high so I change my behavior and slow down.

For the FiveThirtyEighty March Madness predictions, the information is sort of actionable. The FiveThirtyEight bracket is structured as probabilities of a team winning at each stage of the tournament. This information is useful if I'm betting on a game (i.e. which team is likely to win) but isn't useful if I'm trying to make a bracket (i.e. which teams are most likely to be in each slot of the bracket).

The lesson here is that the structure of the information should match the decision to be made. In the example of my hear rate data, my current heart rate is only useful in the context of a threshold. I must know how my current data point relates to some useful scale. Only then can I take action to bring my individual measure back into range.

However, generating actionable data is incredibly complicated because it requires a solid understanding of the mechanisms that explain a phenomenon. In the case of heart rate training, heart rate is a well-established proxy for intensity and systematically modulating intensity is important to balance improvements in fitness against risk for injury. Creating actionable data is also complicated by the need to understand how it will be used (i.e. betting on a game vs. making a bracket). For these reasons, generating data without a solid theory to back up action is no better than rock collecting.

A related piece on FiveThirtyEight highlights an interview with White House Chief Data Scientist, Dr. D.J. Patel. A topic of discussion that caught my attention was that of "Data Products" which Dr. Patel explains as "How do you use data to do something really beneficial?" The true obstacle to creating powerful data products (the dream of Big Data) isn't access to data or data processing tools as these are now as ubiquitous as the internet and the personal computer, respectively. Instead, the obstacle to data products, or "useful data" as I'm calling it, is creating a solid theory about the mechanism driving a phenomenon. Without this understanding, data remains noise.

For these reasons, while I am as enamored by sexy data as much as the next dork, I am reminded about the need for good scientific theories that allow us to interpret and structure sexy data in a way that makes it useful. That is the real challenge for data scientists in the age of big data.

The Axiom of Awesomeness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:05:00 +0000

Everything is a skill.

Is intelligence something we are born with? Or, can we become more intelligent with hard work? The answer is certainly a bit of both but a critical variable is our personal opinion on the matter: if you don't think you can get smarter, you won't.

In classroom settings, if students think intelligence is malleable, they are more motivated, exert greater effort, and outperform students who think intelligence is fixed trait (I'm not compensated for that link, BTW).

Unfortunately, I think the broad implications of these observations are not always appreciated. Often, the message is that a growth mindset - an attitude that self-improvement is possible - is critical for performance by kids and in school. However, a growth mindset is really about performance by anyone doing anything. The real take-home message from studies like these is that a general growth mindset is a critical first step before we can become better at life.

To counter this poor messaging, I propose the following Axiom of Awesomeness. The Axiom outlines a philosophy of growth that we must accept before we can improve. I'll enumerate the axiom first and then will expand on each tenet.

The Axiom of Awesomeness

1. Everything we do is a skill.
2. Every skill can be improved by deliberate practice.
3. Skill improvement through deliberate practice takes time and effort.
4. Every moment is an opportunity to practice a life skill.

OK, so that's the Axiom. Hopefully I will be able to convince you that the axiom is on-target and that it's an important cognitive framework to support becoming a rockstar.

1. Everything we do is a skill.

While most research studying a growth mindset were focused on school performance, school performance is only one part of life. As I've discussed before, being good at life goes way beyond an SAT score. However, everything else we do can be considered as much a skill as test taking. For example, staying focused on a task is a skill. Controlling our emotions during stress is a skill. Managing relationships is a skill. Speaking is a skill. Writing is a skill (one I'm struggling with right now). Skills aren't only limited to those things we traditionally might consider skills, like playing the guitar, drawing, or taking tests.

2. Every skill can be improved by deliberate practice.

No one is born playing the guitar or knowing math or being a great public speaker or being a leader. Even the masters in fields like these spent countless hours focused on getting better: they practiced (for an in depth analysis of this, check out Mastery by Robert Greene). Dedicated, focused practice is essential for improvement and success. For more on the focused part of this tenet, see this article by Cal Newport.

However, let's keep in mind the first tenet of the Axiom: everything we do is a skill. For example, let's say I'm bad at following through on projects (something most people struggle with, I'm sure). Well, following-through-on-projects is a skill. That's the first tenet of the Axiom. The second tenet of the axiom is that practice improves skills. Thus, I need to come up with some way to practice this skill. In my example of "following through on projects", I might select one, small project as a "fail at no cost" test-case which will allow me to work on my issue without getting discouraged. Once I succeed at the test-case, I can set my sights on something more challenging.

3. Skill improvement through practice takes time and effort.

Ahh, but here is the tricky part: getting better takes real work! Sorry, I know we all want someone to tell us the secret to being amazing (like this book claims). But that's not reality and we all know it. Improvement takes focused effort over long periods of time. Until one has practiced something for decades one can't assume it's an impossible task. My homunculus likes to say to me: "Stop whining like a little baby, put your big boy pants on, and get to work".

4. Every moment is an opportunity to practice a life skill.

The good news is that getting smarter, more intelligent, or better at life can happen at any moment. We don't need to concoct some arbitrary self-improvement program that goes on our calendar. Every moment of living is a practice opportunity. Why? Because life isn't easy and we aren't perfect which is a guarantee that we will always screw something up. With the Axiom of Awesomeness in mind, these challenges morph from "this sucks and I suck" to chances to get better at life.

Here is a perfect example: preparing for a presentation. Making and giving a presentation is an opportunity to resist the urge to procrastinate (a skill), focus on a single task (a skill), manage our anxiety (a skill), communicate to a group (a skill), and bounce back if it doesn't go well (a skill). Every step of preparing for this presentation is a practice opportunity. My favorites in the list are: managing our anxiety and bouncing back if it doesn't go well. These are skills that most often trip us up because they are so hard to define and aren't viewed as skills at all. Frequently, these skills are chalked up to "that's just the way I am." Wrong. We must remember the first tenet: everything is a skill. Next time can be better but we have to keep practicing.

In Summary

Perhaps this is obvious, but a belief that improvement is possible will determine if we improve. However, a growth mindset is only part of the equation. As I argue with the above Axiom, a growth mindset must be supplemented by three additional elements: 1) a broad definition of skill to include anything humans do, 2) a willingness to put focused effort into improvement, and 3) an attitude that life's challenges are opportunities to get better at living. In combination, these four assumptions will not only permit improvement but will also be motivating during periods of difficulty when our resolve is tested.

Stay happy!

Intelligence in the information age

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Nov 2014 22:11:00 +0000

I know kung fu.

"I know kung fu." And with that, the download is complete: a martial art has been converted to tacit knowledge with little more than a USB cord connected to the cerebellum. Although a fanciful concept portrayed in the movie The Matrix and one that, as depicted, is far from reality, the information age is certainly changing the landscape of knowledge and expertise. While an instant download to the brain isn't possible, anyone with a smart phone or cheap laptop has instant access to all of humanity's knowledge.

What are the implications of this access for our concepts of intelligence and education? For one, the goal of education can no longer be viewed as acquiring information. Information is free and easily obtained. Instead, from my humble perspective, the speed at which one can process this information is one critical skill needed. A second is an ability to distill larger patterns from the information available.

The Matrix offers additional useful analogies here. The protagonist, Neo, quickly learns that his enemies have access to all the same knowledge as he does: everyone knows kung fu. It's only when Neo transcends this knowledge and begins to manipulate the matrix itself that he is able to conquer his enemies. In other words, he goes meta. Instead of mastering specific knowledge, Neo identifies that nature of knowledge itself and can manipulate it as he needs.

The same may be said of us in the information age. Everyone knows kung fu because we all have access to all the same information. In this situation the ability to process that information at a higher level becomes essential. Meta-knowledge skills will separate the effective from the ineffective. Examples of these skills include finding, filtering, creating, and communicating knowledge. When everyone has access to the same facts, effectiveness will be measured at this higher level of abstraction.

The Matrix has another sobering lesson to offer us in this time of the information age. Even after Neo masters the matrix, transcending it, the Matrix isn't the real world. The Matrix is a construct that clouds the mind of humanity, preventing access to reality. The same could be said for the internet and information technology. At the end of the day, knowledge workers and information technology must create real world value. People must eat and sleep, be sheltered and clothed. Information can do none of those things but can enable them if applied well. Like Neo, none of us can be considered effective (and by extension, intelligent) if we are unable to apply the information available to us to problems in the real world. In this way, applying information to reality is the ultimate transcendent skill and, simultaneously, the hardest to master.

Resilience commercialized

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:36:00 +0000

While watching the Winter Olympics, I was pleasantly surprised by this commercial from Proctor and Gamble. You can view it in-line below too:

Although I don't know how successful the commercial will be for P&G (I couldn't name a P&G product and the commercial doesn't describe any), I think the commercial is an incredible public service announcement. By promoting resilience, grit, determination, P&G may be really helping people, as is summarized in this excellent New York Times piece on resilience by the appropriately named Paul Tough.

My Child's Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 20:54:00 +0000

My brain is growing.

I recently reread the excellent book Welcome to Your Child's Brain by Sam Wang and Sandra Aamodt. This book is an impressive compendium of information and evidence-based tips about child brain development. As I watch my son grow up (now 16 months old), it's fascinating to read about the underlying processes that make it all possible. It's also nice to hear what science has to say about child development, which mostly had the effect of reducing anxiety.

Also, I'm reminded about how rare it is to find a resource for parents that is based on science and evidence rather than the opinion of some random "expert". My wife and I experienced this first hand when friends suggested that we read On Becoming Baby Wise for information about how to get our son to sleep through the night, which we started to implement until we learned that the lead author didn't hold a college degree and had never conducted a study of the effects of the proposed program. Of course, it's impractical to wait to try anything until a study has been done to validate but if evidence does exist then that should be the place to start.

My one critique of Welcome to Your Child's Brain is that it is a bit technical. I was fine with that but I spent 6 years of my life reading neuro-jargon - for the uninitiated the book is weighed down by terminology.

In the end, parents need more resources like Welcome to Your Child's Brain that are based on facts, not speculation. As far as I know, no organizations exist that serves as watch dogs for bad parenting advice... Perhaps, we need one? What do you think?

Big, beautiful, bouncing... Brains.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Bounce monkey brain, bounce!

As I mentioned last time, I've become intrigued by the relationship between brain function and diet: does the brain run best on a particular set of fuels? Does peak mental performance require some specific type of foods? Or, can we stuff our faces with garbage and expect to have tip-top noggins?

I've started my research by examining the evolutionary context for our big brains. Specifically, what type of dietary environment supported the evolution of our minds? Can we learn anything from examining the paleontological record of our ancestors?

I've learned a few interesting things so far, all related to the coincident timing of certain events during the rapid encephalization, or brain growth, that culminated with the human brain. The first that jumps out is the earliest evidence of stone tools, which roughly coincides with the appearance of the species Homo habilis around 2.3 million years ago (mya). At the point that tool use became evident, the brains of H. habilis were roughly "the same size as that of a chimpanzee."

It was over the next ~1 million years that brain growth was most dramatic, where the 600 cc Homo brain case nearly doubled in size to ~1,100 cc in H. erectus. Although the exact timing is still controversial, H. erectus was the first species to demonstrate the controlled use of fire, with evidence taking the form of obvious ovens by around 200 thousand years ago (kya) although some argue that cooking existed as a technology for much longer. If we assume cooking really took off at the more recent end of the possible range, this very closely aligns with the emergence of anatomically modern humans - the oldest fossilized remains that closely resemble modern humans - and represents the other, major coincident event that seems to correspond with a major advance in the human lineage.

These examples of critical cultural advances - tool use and control of fire - both indicate that our ancestors relied heavily on hunted or scavenged animals as a source of nutrient-dense food as animal bones marred by both tool marks and burn marks have been observed. These facts, combined with analyses of both current and inferred hunter-gatherer diets, suggest that the eating of animals was an important factor in the development of the human brain (sorry, vegetarians).

That being said, the evidence also seems to suggest an important role for the consumption of significant plant-based food in our ancestors' diets as well: fruit, tubers, nuts, and vegetation. Supporting an energy-hungry organ like the human brain takes a lot of raw material and energy, so it's reasonable to assume that our ancestor's ate anything they could hunt... or gather. However, the caveat to applying this "eat what you can" or omnivore approach to our modern diets is the relatively recent emergence of agriculture on the scene ~10 kya. The explosive growth in the availability of carbohydrates allowed by agriculture is the cause, hypothesized by Gary Taubes and others, of many of the modern maladies of civilization, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. For the most part, I buy the argument that too many carbohydrates is likely driving the rapid rise in obesity and related comorbidities, but that is for another day.

Regarding brain function, the open question for me is this: if our brains are hungry organs and we evolved to eat anything we can, shouldn't more of everything (including carbohydrates) be better for peak brain function? Isn't it possible that the best diet for brain function may not be the best diet for long term health? I don't feel confident with the range of possible answers to this question, but my rough analysis of our brain evolution would seem to suggest that an emphasis on animal protein and the "gatherable" fruits, nuts, and vegetables may represent a sweet spot for brain function as well as overall health. In future posts I hope to explore the mechanisms of brain metabolism in the context of different levels of nutrients with the hope to learn more about how the brain prefers to get it's fuel. Perhaps the hunter-gather diet is best of brains, but I will wait for more evidence before I make the call.

Brain Food?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Brain food.

Having recently read Gary Taubes' excellent book on the obesity epidemic "Good Calories, Bad Calories", I was inspired to revisit my old habit of eating a "paleo" diet. Although this sounds like something exotic, at the core of this nutritional approach is a low-carb, high-fat/protein philosophy that is inspired by interpretations of how our evolutionary, paleolithic ancestors may have dined: hunting meat in large quantities, supported by gathering of fruit, nuts and tubers. I don't have the energy to go into to detail about the diet, but feel free to see Mark Sisson's introduction to the subject.

During the course of eating this way, I've become curious about the nature of the "ideal" diet for brain function. Does the brain require certain types of fuel to function, as has been reported. Or, can the brain operate on a number of energetic substrates (ketone bodies, lactate, glucose)? Beyond function, does the brain function optimally in the presence of particular nutrients? Furthermore, does optimal function translate to long term health or are these outcome mutually exclusive?

These questions of nutrition and brain function will be a recurring theme here on the Happy Homunculus moving forward. I hope to explore the evolutionary roots of our big brains and the food that may have supported our modern intelligence. I also hope to explore the effects of food on the brain with the hope to figure out the "ideal" approach to feeding that hungry hunk of meat.

From a personal perspective, I've been eating very low carb for a few months now and have confirmed that I've been in ketosis using KetoStix testing strips (I'm a nerd). During this time I've been as productive, if not more so, than before I started eating paleo again. This one-subject mini-experiment certainly calls into question the need for excessive carbohydrates for normal brain function, but I'm hardly the first to question this philosophy. Moving forward, I'm excited to learn more about how the engines of the brain function, and how to keep them running smoothly.

On the Superiority of Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 Nov 2013 01:47:00 +0000

And a search for "monkey eating turkey" results in....

While I'm moments away from solving a number of the great mysteries of consciousness, I feel it is timely that a thorough analysis of holiday strengths and weaknesses was performed.

Via this process (which was thorough indeed, but I won't bore you with the details) I have concluded that Thanksgiving is unquestionably the superior holiday, especially as it relates to brain function. This conclusion stems from the characteristics of the Thanksgiving holiday that I refer to as the three F's: frugality, football, and food. Each F significantly reduces cognitive load. In this way, Thanksgiving has the unique ability to literally rebuild the brain (that's my professional opinion).

Frugality: Oh, presents. Christmas and similar holidays have a central element of gift-giving. But this activity is too emotionally demanding. How much money? Who got what? To regift or not to regift? When one is in a state of leisure, these stressful decisions are to be eschewed. In this regard, Thanksgiving takes the lead over all gift-focused holidays.

Football: Oh, mindless aggression. Football has a direct hotline to the primal, "reptilian" regions of the brain. In this way, it spares the higher cognitive brain regions, like my favorite the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, from excessive effort. By doing so, football provides the brain with the vacation it deserves.

Food: The brain is an organ. It is made of protein, fat, PUFAs, MUFAs, cholesterol, etc. Also, it is a hungry hunk of meat, consuming a reported ~20% of the body's energy (although, I haven't confirmed the calculations...). Thus, Thanksgiving scratches the brain right where it itches. Turkey? Boom. Tubers? Pow. The brain needs fuel and raw materials. Thanksgiving gets er' done.

QED. I think the case is closed, don't you think? When it comes to brain happiness, and my happiness, Thanksgiving wins the ribbon. So, I send out a thanks for Thanksgiving... A meta-thanks, if you will? Thank you, Thanksgiving. Thank you for making my brain happy.

The Three Brain Virtues

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:30:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin: A balding ape.

As I mentioned last time, I've been reading the incredibly engaging and inspiring biography of Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson - "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life". In the context of this blog's founding concept of self-improvement via self-awareness, I took note of Franklin's famous "virtues" and related tracking system that he devised to improve in each area. Of course, I am hardly the first person to be drawn to Franklin's virtues: there is an entire website dedicated to virtue tracking for the sake of Pete!

Despite the worn ground around the thirteen virtues of Franklin, as a self-satisfied brain philosopher, I can't help but take a crack at my own set or cognitive/neuro-science inspired set of virtues. Before doing so, however, here are Franklin's virtues, as reported by the Wikipedia article describing Franklin's life:

"Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation."
"Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
"Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."
"Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
"Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing."
"Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
"Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
"Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
"Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve."
"Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation."
"Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable."
"Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation."
"Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates."

Upon review of these virtues, I can't help but notice that successful practice of each relies on a central capacity for impulse control. I've pontificated on this concept to nausea and beyond, but the fact remains that implementing the virtues requires the ability to have an impulse to do something but also having the cognitive self-control necessary to quash that impulse and redirect attention to a more "virtuous" activity.

So, I draft my own virtues with an eye toward the "fundamental" cognitive characteristics that would support any other set of virtues, Franklin's or otherwise. I like to think that these are somehow the foundation for doing anything based on a plan rather than based on a whim:

1. Self-awareness - the ability to think about your own thoughts, to analyze those thoughts, and to compare how you are thinking to the way you would rather be thinking.

2. Focus - the ability to attend to something of choice and hold attention despite distractions. The ability to maintain a line of thought.

3. Resilience - the ability to try again even when you fail. The ability to get back on the horse.

And... That's it! Wait, what? How can that be it? When I think about virtues, they have to be very personal and specific things. We all put value on different ways of living. However, to actually stick to any set of resolved virtues takes a short list of cognitive skills, and I think that list is simply: metacognition, focus, and resilience.

Why? Because a virtue is like walking on a tightrope. First, you need to know if you're even on the tightrope or on the ground. You need to also know if you're on the right tightrope, or if you even want to walk any tight rope. This set of decisions require metacognitive self-awareness: we need to recognize our own thinking and behaviors and be able to compare these to some alternative.

Second, you need to stay focused while on the tightrope. Eyes on the rope, careful foot placement, move, stay centered, etc. If you're mind is frequently wandering to topics like monkey poop, then you'll be falling off the rope a lot. The same goes for a virtue: we need to focus on the task of being virtuous without letting distraction or temptation creep in.

Lastly, you need to get back on the rope! Tightrope walking is hard, as is sticking to any goal of personal change. You will fail. Again. And again. We all do. If you're committed to being a good tightrope walker, you're going to have to get used to the idea of falling and getting back on the rope.

I'm convinced. If you're not, let me know in the comments or with an email. I look forward to convincing you that these are the "simple" characteristics we all need to do anything we need to do, virtuous or otherwise. I'm definitely right on this one....

Missing Monkeys

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 21:08:00 +0000

Free-range monkey.

I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for the ol' Happy Homunculus recently. I'm blown away that almost a year has passed since my last post and I'm starting to feel the itch again to write.

I am also a bit embarrassed that my last post was about barriers to writing and creativity. Although I am inclined to give myself a pass on this lapse: I did have a son and earn a Ph.D. in the last year (thanks). But, those excuses are only good for so long. It's about time to get back on the wagon and start writing.

Moving forward, I am resolving to make the Happy Homunculus a bit more of a cage-free monkey, roaming where the siren song pulls me.

I wish this increase in motivation was from some deep, inner well-spring of mental drive. Alas, my desire to write again has been inspired by two books I've recently read: "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life" by Walter Isaacson and "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" by Atul Gawande. Both books extol the virtues of writing as a means to refine a thought-process and demonstrate the power of the written word for exchanging lasting, important ideas. I extend my thanks to both Mr. Isaacson and Dr. Gawande for the much needed dissolution of my writer's block.

My Creative Anxiety

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000

What if no one likes it?

For me, the number one barrier to producing anything new or working on new projects that excite me is creative anxiety. For some reason, the act of trying to create something can be extremely anxiety-producing.

This blog has been a perfect example of this phenomenon in action. I started off extremely motivated, pumping out post after post, but the entire time there was a nagging uncertainty in the back of my mind. This version of my Homunculus was fond of terrifying questions like: "Is this really a good idea?", "What if no one likes the blog?", "What if friends, family, or coworkers think you're strange for writing about this stuff?", and on and on.

After time, the initial excitement faded but this nasty, pessimistic voice inside remained. The inertia waned, and writing ground to a halt. My last post on the blog was two months ago. And I begin to weep.

However, I take some solace in knowing that I'm not the only one with this issue. For example, in this great TED talk, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert describes one strategy for dealing with creative anxiety: take the pressure off yourself by ascribing creativity to a Muse. Perhaps a Homunculus would be a better metaphor? I digress.

Another perspective on this issue comes from Seth Godin in this series on starting a new venture. I was struck by how Seth kept reinforcing that the essential step in starting a business is to become comfortable putting your idea out in the open. Fear of judgement or fear of failure are the primary obstacles to starting a business. In this context, creative anxiety shifts from being a problem of the artists and writers to a real-world problem that gets in the way of our success.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any cure for this issue. Rather, I fear we must simply become numb to the difficult emotions and soldier on, working despite the discomfort that comes with being truly creative. I will try to remind myself that, while the process of creating can be very unnerving, the finished product often makes it all worth it.

What is real-world intelligence?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:54:00 +0000

Get your hands dirty Mr. Genius.

Let's cut the bullshit. Intelligence isn't about word puzzles, soduku, IQ tests, or SATs.

High performance on these "measures" indicates high intelligence in a subset of domains, but high performance in these domains does not translate to peak performance in the "real world".

The real world can throw a lot of shit at us: job losses, job interviews, working with people, learning new software, staying motivated, paying attention, being creative.

Essentially, intelligence is about performing well at as many things as possible, because you never know what life will throw at you. I like to call this "cognitive fitness", a name that was inspired by the definition of fitness proposed by the Crossfit people: do lots of stuff well.

So, what are the components of cognitive fitness? Here is my brain-dump of stuff I factor into real-world intelligence:

1. A healthy body - Your brain is an organ. If it's unhealthy, you will be more stupid.
2. Focus - If you can't keep your mind from wandering, you won't complete anything.
3. Creativity - As Einstein said, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
4. Decisiveness - Analysis paralysis means nothing happens. If nothing happens, no one knows how "smart" you are.
5. People skills - Making real things happen requires working in a team.
6. Feedback-seeking - Unless we look for ways to improve, we will not improve.
7. Resilience - If things go wrong and you quit, then you aren't an effective person.
8. Motivation - Success takes work. Work takes motivation. Motivation takes... I actually don't know.
9. Pain tolerance - Related to resilience: being effective requires putting up with some discomfort.
10. Action - Procrastination means you're standing still. Action is required to turn fake intelligence into real-world intelligence.

That's good for now. If you have suggestions for other components of real-world intelligence, post them in the comments!

On Sabbatical

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:56:00 +0000

Turning my back on the Happy Homunculus

Hi Homunculi-Fans! Maybe one or two of you have noticed that the Happy Homunculus hasn't been pumping out the articles recently... It's true. I, your humble author, have been pulled in too many directions recently and the Happy Homunculus was too much of a lark to win my time and attention. So, I'm calling it like it is and going on an officially approved sabbatical: the Homunculus posts will be on hold for the time-being.

Hopefully, I will return to the world of blogging one day. Until then, thanks for your attention and support. I hope the Happy Homunculus has been as much fun for you to read as it has been for me to write!

Meta-metacognition: The cure for the analysis-paralysis issue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 20:19:00 +0000

In Eric-Wubbo Lameijer's nice article Metacognition: the third way of thinking, there is a nice discussion of the potential power that can come from thinking about our thinking. By approaching our thinking habits with the attitude of the expert - in other words, deliberately seeking better strategies for tackling our problems - we can become better thinkers, even expert thinkers. In most cases, thinking better is good for business.

But Eric points out a possible pitfall with metacognition: too much metacognition and we fall victim to paralysis by meta-analysis. I've discussed the importance of translating thoughts to action before, but still the question "how do we achieve the balance between thinking and doing?" I actually can't believe I'm saying it, but with more metacognition, thank you very much! The "default state" for many is to be a planner and a thinker, but we should remain dedicated to thinking well and thinking in a way that promotes performance. To that end, I am downright meta-metacognitive, and am always on the look out for excessive metacognition. When I think I'm thinking too much, I take action to stop thinking and make shit happen.

But what does that entail? How can we think our way out of thinking? My opinion: we can't. Instead, the thinking will continue, but we can consciously start to act by doing things with our bodies like typing, cleaning, dialing, walking, etc, Eventually, these actions will lead to a shift in mind-set from the analysis mode, to a flow mode where the details of the task are sufficiently engaging to prevent metacognition.

The one time when I find this most important is when trying to sleep - if I'm not careful and I hit the hay in an analytic mode, Mr. Sandman will never arrive. However, reading before bed gets my mind out of the meta and into flow... Greetings Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod!

A Guide to a Happy Life

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:26:00 +0000

Eat some fruit every day.

Note: This is the first-ever guest post on The Happy Homunculus. It comes to us from an anonymous philosopher who figured it all out and never told anyone.... Until now!

No one can make you happy (or unhappy for that matter). That choice is totally up to you. All some of us can do is point the way, and hope that you take a look. Learning about yourself and living life well is a process that we ALL go through. It’s about making mistakes…lots of them…every day. The only way to learn is through our mistakes. Did I mention that WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES?

Here’s the important piece-try not to make the same mistakes over and over again. It’s hard, I know. The first step toward that end is to THINK very highly of yourself. You’ve probably noticed that the word think is in big letters. That’s because it’s important. Thinking rather than just feeling. It’s a huge concept. Not one that most people can wrap their minds around. But it’s worth THINKING about. (Sorry, I just love caps) Try not to act on feelings…most feelings mean very little, no matter how passionately you feel them. Rather, act only after thinking those feelings through, and deciding whether it would be in your best interest to do something about them. Most feelings just need to be acknowledged and then let go of. Too much?

Speaking of feelings, it’s worth noting that we all carry around some emotional baggage from our childhood. Those are feelings we were never allowed to feel or express at the time or never quite understood or were traumatized by. The bad news is that those feelings can become repressed, hidden just under the surface. They come out as anger or some equally disconnected painful emotion at the wrong time and usually targeted at the wrong person. Often times they are self- destructive. Many people live their lives completely disconnected from themselves or their true feelings. VERY UNHEALTHY for all of us! The good news is through therapy or self introspection we can remember those less than happy times, relive those feelings and connect them to the appropriate person, place or thing, living or dead. Once you confront those emotions and deal with them by connecting them to their original origin, then you can let them go and begin to heal. Just remember, ALL FEELINGS HAVE TO BE RECOGNIZED AND EITHER LET GO OR DEALT WITH. NEVER IGNORED! Now you are free to begin to lead a much healthier, happier life and deal with emotions as they happen, without going through the much more complicated process of storing them for later, inappropriate use against an innocent bank teller, co-worker or poor hapless spouse. It’s NEVER too late to treat your child within really, really well, especially if you weren’t treated well when you actually were a child. Take responsibility for the care and feeding of that child and move on whistling a happy tune.

Your life has purpose and meaning. If you were not born, those whose lives you’ve interacted with would not be the same. We are all inter-connected. We all share the same purpose. It’s OK that you have no idea what that purpose is-that’s part of the process. I can tell two very general reasons we are here (on earth) Ready?

LOVE and KNOWLEDGE. There you have it. Let’s keep it simple.

Love yourself first and when you’re in a really good place, then help others along.

The more you learn about yourself and others and life and, well, everything, the more advanced you become. The more you grow. The further along in the PROCESS you go. Easy!

Be positive rather than negative. You cannot be both. They are opposites and cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Choose to be positive. Trust me on this.

The more positive energy you put out there, the more will come back to you. It’s a good thing. The same is true with negativity.

Believe in yourself. You are all you have. Recognize all your successes and build on them. They weren’t accidents. Give yourself all the credit you deserve. If you don’t, you’ll be constantly filled with fear and self-doubt and always starting from scratch.

Don’t confuse STUFF with success. Clothes don’t make the man…or woman. Success comes from the inside out, not the other way around. If you feel empty inside, you will NEVER have enough clothes, drugs, cool friends, cars, shoes, beer, wine, money(you get the idea) to make you feel the way you want to feel. NEVER EVER!!

Fill that void with self-love. Positive actions… A strong work ethic… Trust the PROCESS.

Keep doing the right things the best way you can, not perfectly, but the best you can and you will be successful. I promise.

Here’s another important piece – if you do all this good, positive stuff and put yourself first and think before you act on feelings alone…if you do all this, you may still FEEL like crap. It’s ok. You can’t make a change after so many years and expect it to feel right. If you stop smoking after 20 years, you will feel miserable for a while. But keep with it and you will start to feel better. It’s a process. It takes time. Oh yeah, don’t smoke.

Develop a support system. Talk to people you can trust. Don’t keep secrets. They’re destructive. Know who you can trust and let them help you through tough times. Remember, we are all connected, and we’ve all gone through the same or much worse situations than you. (Sorry, you don’t win the prize for terrible life stories)

DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOURSELF EVERY DAY. (Again, note the big letters)

It can be as simple as getting some ice cream or walking in the park. It’s not what you do but why you’re doing it. You’re doing it because you’re worth it. (put those last words in big letters in your mind) You can create a positive mood with not much effort, as I have stated in my opening sentence!

(Admit it…I’m good!)

If you don’t know what to do, just do something positive. As long as you move in a positive direction, you will find your way. Believe in yourself. Did I already say that? It’s worth repeating.

Eat some fruit every day.

We all have stuff to deal with. Know what is yours to handle and what is everyone else’s. You are not responsible for anyone but you. Not your mother or father or friends. Just deal with YOUR STUFF. Let them deal with theirs.

Big finish…Treat yourself well. Believe in your abilities. Be Positive. Live life from the inside out. Life is about one decision after the other. Again and again… over and over. If you don’t like a decision you’ve made – make another one! Try to make better and better decisions for yourself. You have a lifetime to practice. Remember you are special. Never forget that.

My gut tells me to trust my gut

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:04:00 +0000

My gut says: trust your gut!

Is there an optimal strategy for making a big decision? Should we trust our intuition (our "gut") or should we engage in some methodical, step-wise approach? You know, writing out the pros and cons.

I care right now because I'm trying to make a big decision: what do I want to do with my life? Yikes. So, yeah, I'm interested in learning a bit about how to tackle this.

I stumbled upon research suggesting conscious thought is better in some contexts while intuitive decision-making is better in others. For example, check out this tidbit on decision-making. In that example, the conclusion was that experts performed best when they relied on unconscious thinking. Also, it sounds like expertise became less useful to expert decision-makers when they engaged in a conscious decision making process.

Hmm. So what does that mean for me? Here's what my gut tells me to do... When making this very complex decision I will engage in four steps:

1. Collect shit-loads of information - In essence, my goal is to actually become an expert on the topic that relates to the decision. What are all the variables? Pros, cons? List 'em out and learn them all. Gather as much information as possible about the decision and feed it to my brain like some giant super-computer (which is sort of is). But don't decide immediately.

2. Sleep on it - Next, I let all that information percolate through my nervous system. It will create new connections and recognize patterns. I will not be consciously aware of most of this. Also, getting more sleep will speed the process along and help with fidelity.

3. Repeat as long as possible - Every decision has a timeline. I will repeat the info-gathering and sleeping steps for as long as possible. How long can I reasonably delay making the decision? That may be a decision too, so fold that into the larger decision-making process and keep repeating for as long as is reasonable.

4. Trust my gut - Finally, once I've spent as much time as possible considering all the variables, I will trust my gut. At the end of that time, my super-computer-like brain will print out a small slip of paper (essentially a fortune cookie) and I will do what it says.

Why does this make sense? Here's my philosophy: the "conscious" part of our brain is a very tiny part of our brain. Also, it's evolutionarily new and isn't very good at multitasking. However, our brain has a lot of processing power that goes on behind the scenes and which contributes to all our decisions and actions. We ignore all that parallel processing at great risk.

Also, big decisions are very complicated and require an understanding of a lot of moving parts. While our conscious mind is a shitty multitasker, our brain at-large is great at multitasking (think driving and talking on the phone). Why not exploit that?

So, that's the plan. Hopefully it's a good decision...

The Mental Reboot Script

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Time to reboot.

There's no way around it - the grind has been grinding you down. You're tired, you're stressed, your motivation is low. Sometimes life can be really tough and, lately, life has been really tough.

But bad times ebb and flow, come and go. Sometimes things are tough, other times things are great. Perhaps the tough times seem to happen more than the good times, but it's hard to know for sure. When you're stressed it's difficult to keep perspective.

Situations can change though, and situations change faster if you make an effort to move forward, to make progress. Who cares if you only make a little change today for the better? At least it's a step in the right direction. One small change to make life better is all you need to feel some hope. Who knows? Maybe this is the beginning of a period of incredible success. Until you get started, you'll never know.

So get focused. Don't let all the nagging stressors creep into your mind all at once. You can only do one thing at a time. Just pick something to do that would make a difference in your life and start working on it. Pick something small, manageable and doable and just get it done. No more worrying about picking the perfect thing to do, just trust your instincts and make progress. Block out all other intruding worries and attack that one thing that will make you feel the most accomplished.

Oh, and please? Give yourself a break when you're done? In order to make real, lasting progress you're going to want to stick to your goals. Most things that need to be done take some time to happen, so let's not burn out. After a full day of focused effort, you deserve to relax, rest and recover. Your brain is an organ and a day of hard work is like a mental workout: you need some recovery time to be ready for the next day.

And while we're on the topic, don't lose sight of all the good stuff you have going on. There are things that bring you joy even if they are little, simple things like McDonald's breakfast sandwiches. Look around and remind yourself about a few things that make life fun and enjoyable.

Feeling better? Good. But, don't beat yourself up about getting down in the dumps from time to time. It happens to everyone. The important thing is to keep an eye on those nasty thoughts and be sure to reboot when things get out of hand.

7 Free Guided Relaxation Sessions

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:40:00 +0000

Just relax.

When work and life stress increases, I tend to get into a state of feeling like I always have to be "on". It's at these times, when things get really complicated, that I find it hard to know when it's O.K. to relax, unwind and let go of all the worries.

When I'm "on", the last thing I can do is relax. I'm just too jacked up on an adrenaline-laced need to get shit done that when I sit down and try to unwind, I end up getting more frustrated because I just can't come down. More frustration and I'm even less likely to relax: the stress goes through the roof.

For me, I've found that relying on guided meditations increases the likelihood that I'll be able to relax successfully, because it takes the pressure off of me to think about how to relax: someone has done all the work for me. I highly recommend using guided relaxation sessions, especially when you're really having a hard time calming down.

I've personally listened to the following free, guided meditations and can vouch for the quality. I also selected the following because they promote many of the concepts outlined in The Relaxation Response, a classic in the science of relaxation, especially passiveness and a focus on breathing.

Try them out! I always feel so relaxed after doing any of these. Hopefully you'll find they work for you.

From Diana Winston of the UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center:
1. 19 minutes - Mindful meditation with instructions
2. 12 minutes - Body, breath and sound mindfulness
3. 7 minutes - Meditation for working with difficulties
4. 10 minutes - Empathy and compassion

From Duke University's Student Health Resources:
1. 19 minutes - Progressive deep muscle relaxation
2. 20 minutes - Basic meditation exercise
3. 10 minutes - Quick, relaxing meditation

Pessimism now, optimism later

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:28:00 +0000

Optimism and pessimism aren't
exclusive: it's all about timing.

My homunculus admitted to me that I've been confusing him.

On the one hand, I've been saying that optimism is critical for performance: if we get all pessimistic, we give up prematurely and don't invest the time to achieve our goals.

On the other hand, it's also critical to acknowledge our failures. If we don't embrace our weak points and bury our head in the sand, we won't get any better at life.

Vexing isn't it? The optimism thing was particularly hard for the rational part of my brain to embrace: I didn't like the idea of externalizing too many of the bad things that happened to me. That felt like I was avoiding responsibility for my actions. Also, as a total control freak, it didn't sit well to think that I couldn't influence most things in my life for the better.

But, luckily, I had a real a-ha moment. Accepting our failures and being optimistic are not mutually exclusive. Instead, it's all about timing.

Specifically, it is a fact that no one is perfect. Life isn't perfect. Actually, sometimes life can really suck. Furthermore, none of us and none of our lives will ever be perfect. Debby-downer.

However, this doesn't mean that we can't get better and that our lives can't get better. Just because we have aspects of our lives that are imperfect doesn't mean that, with time, we can't improve.

This is the way to reconcile our weak points with the need to remain optimistic. Right now, in the present, we should be realistic about where we stand and acknowledge what sucks. At the same time, we can remember that the bad doesn't have to last forever. In the future, things can get better. Combining these two attitudes - pessimism for now, optimism for later - is the formula for lasting, long-term progress.