The Atlantic’s Post

Common Sense or Uncommon Sense - Which is better? Common Sense: sound, practical judgement concerning everyday matters, or a basic ability to perceive, understand, and judge any matter that is shared by nearly all people. Uncommon Sense: a reexamination of any conventional wisdom and coming to a new conclusion that was not previously thought or expressed by others. If you agree with these definitions, you begin to see that they are juxtapositioned rather than opposites. There are connections. They exist side by side. Common sense seems more stable. If you know and understand what everyone else knows and understands then you know how to react, behave, perform, proceed, in pretty much every possible situation you come across in life - right? This is largely true, but common sense does not question. It does not ask why? It assumes that you and everyone else is right because this is the way it is. What common sense does right is it creates stability and predictability. In an unpredictable world that can be a great comfort. What it gets wrong is assuming that things won't/shouldn't change. Everything changes. Uncommon sense sounds smart or weird or even dangerous and it can be all of those things. Uncommon sense is no closer to 'good' sense than common sense is. It's just different from whatever conventional wisdom is. Uncommon sense is disruptive. Even where uncommon sense is 'right' about how to view the world, it may take many, many attempts before it is accepted as the new common sense. This is because something that many people were comfortable with will be taken away. In this way uncommon sense is simultaneously constructive and destructive. Which is better? It depends. If everything is going great in your life, then common sense is awesome! Common sense works to preserve the current status quo. If you need to improve your circumstances, then common sense sucks. You want uncommon sense because you need to drive change to make things better. This sounds like common sense is best for some and uncommon sense is best for others, but I don't think this is true. Here's where I believe common sense falls down and may even be dangerous. Common sense appears stable, but it never actually is. Note in the definition common sense is shared by NEARLY ALL people. There is always a group (often sizable) that has moved on to a new version of common sense. More conservative folks get left behind. They end up living according to obsolete versions of common sense that fewer and fewer people actually agree with. This can get dangerous fast because what these people believe is increasingly under threat and it is very unlikely to ever become 'common' again. What do people do when threatened? They fight. I'll take uncommon sense every time. It will be wrong often, but hopefully wrong fast and when it's right it represents growth. Common sense brings stagnation and sometimes violence. Growth without violence is better.

Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She's famous for her work in radioactivity. Lin-Manual Miranda is a songwriter, producer and director who won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2016, as well as several Tony awards. What do they have in common? They lived a century apart. They innovated in disparate fields. But they shared a similar productivity practice. Both achieved greatness by embracing the practice of slow productivity, says Georgetown computer science professor Cal Newport. Slow productivity is a three-part practice, Newport explains: (1) do fewer things; (2) work at a natural pace; (3) obsess over quality. We're used to thinking of productivity as doing more in a short amount of time. This flips that idea on its head, focusing on doing less, but excelling. Slow productivity is the practice of doing fewer tasks better. In this episode, Newport explains how the practice of slow productivity diverges from the normal ways that people in modern society tend to work. Life can be stressful. Your to-do list might feel never-ending. This episode can help you focus on the few things that matter most. It can help you feel less stressed, less busy, and yet -- paradoxically -- more productive, at the same time. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gDhhzUbd

How The "GAF Pie Chart" Helped Me Foster A Calmer Cognitive Environment In Business. We were blessed to give birth to our daughter in the early days of owning The Barracks Gym. Adding parenthood into the mix was something I needed to prepare for, especially the added cognitive load. Whilst I loved to coach, I didn't love the added fluff that came with starting your own business, especially dealing with people who only wanted your service for free. I would have instead preferred to save that energy for my daughter. That's when I came up with the idea of setting energy boundaries for aspects of business and personal life. I decided then and there that I would only give 1% of my day to those who wish to syphon my energy. I needed to stay energetic for my daughter, and I needed to stay calm for innovation. So, I created a visual tool called the GAF Pie Chart. I named this concept when I still owned the gym and swore a lot, so if you prefer the less explicit version, it is known as the Care Factor Pie Chart instead of the Give A F*** Pie Chart. This concept helps you to visualise your energy. Monitor your energy output for differing tasks and responsibilities, ensuring you have the right balance to fuel your creative spark. Of course, a schedule is great for productivity, and you can delegate tasks and systemise processes, but if you want to cultivate that innovative mind, then you must create space and manage your cognitive load. Think about who deserves no more than 1% of your energy and set those boundaries!

The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin presents a roadmap for navigating this cognitive overload, showing us how to reclaim focus, clarity, and control in our daily lives. Seven lessons I learned from The Organized Mind: 1. The Power of Externalizing Information: Offloading information onto external systems—like to-do lists or digital tools—frees up mental resources for more critical thinking, reducing stress and enhancing productivity. 2. Categorization as a Cognitive Tool: Our brains thrive on categorization. By organizing tasks, ideas, and information into categories, we make it easier to process and retrieve when needed. 3. The Importance of Focused Attention: Multitasking is a myth. The book emphasizes the importance of single-tasking, focusing on one task at a time to increase efficiency and reduce errors. 4. Managing Decision Fatigue: The book reveals how our brains can get overwhelmed by too many decisions. Learning to streamline choices and automate simple decisions can conserve mental energy for more significant tasks. 5. Harnessing the Power of Routines: Establishing routines can minimize the cognitive load associated with decision-making, freeing up mental space for creativity and problem-solving. 6. The Role of Memory Aids: Levitin underscores the importance of memory aids like mnemonics and visualization techniques to enhance recall and reduce the mental strain of trying to remember everything. 7. Mindful Consumption of Information: The book teaches us to be selective about the information we consume, encouraging a mindful approach that prioritizes quality over quantity.

Have you heard about Napoleon’s ‘Mental Cupboard’? One of Napoleons lesser-known traits was his extraordinary focus, explain brilliantly in this piece by Jeff Haden. Inc. editor and erstwhile historian, Jeff Haden, says parallel processing is impossible. Trying to multitask is ineffective. The key is to embrace serial processing, or what Napoleon called ‘opening and closing one cupboard at a time’. Many studies have demonstrated that multitasking can make you less efficient, or even less intelligent, coming from one study published in New Atlantic explaining that multitasking lowers your IQ by about 10 points. As the researchers write, “It’s really not that amusing that the most common ‘productivity tools’ can make one as dumb as a stoner.” That’s why productive people focus on doing one thing at a time: They do that one thing incredibly well, and then they move on. They don’t parallel process: working on — or, more to the point, thinking about — more than one thing at a time. Partly that’s because it is impossible, much as we like to think we can. As Adam Gazzaley and Larry Rosen write in their book ‘The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a high-tech world’, “When we simultaneously pursue multiple goals that compete for cognitive control resources, our brains switch between tasks — they do not parallel process.” (So yeah, you may be working on two things at once, but not really. You’re doing a whole lot of switching back and forth, and that switching comes at a cost.) But mostly that is because productive people embrace — in fact, rely upon — the power of focus. Napoleon himself compared his ability to compartmentalise and focus to a mental cupboard: “Different subjects and different affairs are arranged in my head as in a cupboard. When I wish to interrupt one train of thought, I shut that drawer and open another. Do I wish to sleep? I simply close all the drawers”. I know what you’re thinking. One, there’s no way Napoleon just shut some mental cupboards and instantly nodded off to sleep, and two, it is possible to do more than one thing at one time. But that depends on the types of things you do. As Gazzeley and Rosen write, if one or more tasks are capable of being automated as reflexes, then they can easily be engaged simultaneously with another task.” That’s why you can organize and weigh the pros and cons of launching a new product line while you tidy up your workspace. If you’re doing something that requires thought, something that is important, something that matters? Open that cupboard, and that cupboard alone. And don’t open another until you’ve closed the first. For Jeff’s original article: https://lnkd.in/g8zSBKGK DM me if you need assistance from an expert in leadership and mindset. #MentalToughness #SelfAwareness #Mindset #Napoleon #MentalSkills

In the midst of researching college education options for a family member, I realised something: we love to have options. The more, the better. Accumulating options is one thing, but how do we make a final choice? We’ve coined so many terms for choice-making: data-driven, informed, tactical, strategic, etc. Often, we bring in our intuition and associated feelings for an option, which adds more weight to the decision-making process than rational aspects. Sound decisions depend on the goal we’re trying to achieve. Here’s a set of steps that will help us make rational decisions (Credit: Barry Schwartz): 1️⃣ Arrive at your goal.  2️⃣ Determine its value.  3️⃣ Sort and look through the options available to reach it.  4️⃣ Evaluate the likelihood of each option meeting your goal.  5️⃣ Select the option with the highest likelihood of meeting it.  6️⃣ Use the outcome of this experience to adjust your future goals and the way in which you make future decisions. ❄️ Rationally, the most important factor here is the value. The more time we spend obsessing over simple goals in life, the less time we will have for life-altering decisions. Think shoes versus the company you want to keep, brand of chips versus career development courses you wish to enrol in. ❄️ The second factor is the number of options we have lined up. According to a study published in Psychological Science, when people participated in a small group speed dating service, they narrowed down potential partners based on religion, education, smoking status, etc. But in a large group setting, the factors changed to external determinants - height, weight, age, and so on. If we can reduce our cognitive overload by not worrying too much about every simple decision we make and stop seeking out more options, we might make better decisions. Do you have any sound decision-making tips to add? 🙂 #optionality #decisionmaking ************************ Harini Sudersan and I are building ZEN~It, an easy, mindful productivity app. Explore more here - https://zenitapp.in

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Overview: "Blink" explores the fascinating world of rapid cognition, also known as "thin-slicing." It delves into how we make instant decisions, judgments, and first impressions - often in the blink of an eye - and the science behind these seemingly instinctive choices. Gladwell examines both the power and pitfalls of "blink" decisions, drawing on diverse fields like psychology, neuroscience, and economics. Key Points: > Thin-slicing: The ability to make accurate judgments based on limited information, developed through experience and expertise. > Adaptive unconscious: The part of the brain that processes information unconsciously, influencing our conscious decisions. > The power of first impressions: How quickly we form judgments based on appearance, gestures, and other subtle cues. > The expert advantage: How trained professionals use thin-slicing to make rapid, accurate decisions in their fields. > The dangers of bias: How unconscious prejudices can distort our thin-slicing abilities. > The power of intuition: When to trust your gut feeling and when to be cautious. Why Read This Book: > Gain a deeper understanding of the psychology of decision-making. > Learn how to improve your "blink" decisions and be more mindful of bias. > Appreciate the complex interplay between conscious and unconscious thought. > Discover the fascinating world of rapid cognition and its impact on our lives.

Here are my thoughts on this excellent article and how to build self-awareness: 1. The importance of self-awareness goes back to the ancient Greeks and Chinese. Two phrases were inscribed on the steps leading to the Oracle at Delphi: Know Thyself and Seek Mortal Thoughts. These correspond to the internal and external aspects of self-awareness. Know Thyself: your goals, values, talents, triggers, etc. Seek Mortal Thoughts: everyone notices when you have hubris (getting high on your own supply) and lack humility, making the backlash and fall inevitable. 2. For leaders, external self-awareness has two dimensions instead of one. You need to know how others perceive you (your goals, values, talents, triggers) so you can gain cooperation and buy-in. You also need to know what others need from you so you can help them contribute their best. 3. Simone, in this article, was challenged in both aspects of external self-awareness. She did not see how her employees perceived her actions, AND she did not understand what they needed from her to contribute their best. 4. In terms of what others need from you, there's an interesting example from military history. A commander was given an objective to take. As he broke down the tasks to his three subordinate commanders, he gave the first one the objective and broad boundaries. To the second, he gave very detailed guidance. He told the third that the objective was probably impossible, and the third described how he would achieve it. According to the story, all three attacked splendidly. 5. Some people only need broad guidance; they'll see detailed guidance as micromanagement. Those who need detailed guidance will perceive broad guidance as setting them up for failure. Some need you to challenge them, others to know you have their backs. Thank you to the authors for this thought-provoking article, and I hope the above ideas can help you develop triple self-awareness. https://lnkd.in/e_Ss6Ed3

We all know the struggle - those ambitious New Year's resolutions that start strong but quickly fizzle out by mid-March. Whether it's hitting the gym, learning a new skill, or cutting back on unhealthy habits, sticking to our goals is tough. But what if there was a simple yet powerful approach to make lasting positive changes? This insightful article by the head of the Behavior Design Consultant Program of the METU discusses the "Tiny Habits" method pioneered by Dr. BJ Fogg at Stanford University. Instead of overwhelming yourself with lofty resolutions, Fogg recommends starting small with behaviors that easily integrate into your existing routines. Over time, these tiny habits can compound into significant life improvements. At Metropolitan University's Behavior Design Consultant postgraduate program, we teach Fogg's Behavior Model and Tiny Habits technique to help people achieve sustainable change. Whether you want to boost productivity, build healthier habits, or unlock personal growth, starting tiny is often the path to big results. The article: https://lnkd.in/dv8BK4na The Program: https://lnkd.in/dgvPJNfy Magyarul: első kommentben #viselkedéstervezés Gergely Németh PhD, Krisztina Szittné Csányi Anna Magos Viktoria Barcsi Kisházy Gergely