How to make your kid good at anything, according to Anders Ericsson, an expert on peak performance and originator of the 10,000-hour rule K. Anders Ericsson has spent 30 years studying people who are exceptional at what they do, and trying to figure out how they got to be so good. His conclusion: in most cases, talent doesn’t matter—practice does. The practice he advocates is not hitting 100,000 golf balls or spending 10,000 hours doing scales on the cello, even though it was his work that Malcolm Gladwell used to popularize the 10,000-hour benchmark in Outliers (incorrectly, Ericsson argues). Deliberate practice involves the pursuit of personal improvement via well-defined, specific goals and targeted areas of expertise. In other words, it’s not how much you practice, but how you do it. Reuters/Gil Cohen Ericsson’s formula (pdf) is appealing: “practice makes perfect” is inherently preferable to genetic determinism. Ericsson, who has two kids, argues this is not necessarily the message parents should take away from Peak, nor his 30 years of research. Not so fast Imagine if you could help your child study 1% better. Practice
Riding Around Baltimore With the Repo Man From Bill Shaw at American Consequences: An alarm sounded… It was different from the last one. “Live hit!” the driver gasped. He sped around the corner and killed the headlights. “Stay here. × Subscribe to Crux I reached over and locked the doors. The driver returned with a grin and pumped his fist. Last year on a Sunday evening, I spent four hours riding shotgun with a repo man in Baltimore, Maryland. Continue reading at American Consequences.
Daily Rituals to Steal From Successful Creatives and Innovators Walk in the door. Hang up jacket and put on cozy, hand-knit cardigan. Swap loafers for canvas sneakers. Ever since we were children, our brains have thrived on ritual and routine. From mid-day ice baths to counting out exactly 60 beans for a morning cup of coffee, read on for the fascinating daily routines of history’s famous minds — plus the most common practices to steal for your own daily habits. Daily Routines of Famous Artists, Authors, and Entrepreneurs Victor Hugo “A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. 6 AM: Wake up to coffee and two raw eggs 6:30-11 AM: Writing 11 AM-Noon: Ice bath on the roof Noon-1 PM: Lunch and socializing with guests 1-3 PM: Vigorous exercise 3-4 PM: Go to the barber 4-6 PM: Spend time with mistress 6-8 PM: Writing 8-10 PM: Dinner, cards, out with friends 10 PM: Go to sleep Stephen King “It’s not any different than a bedtime routine. 8 AM: Wake up, make a cup of tea, and take a daily vitamin Pablo Picasso “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”
Le "deep work", la méthode pour travailler de manière efficace au bureau Bombardé de distractions physiques ou virtuelles – bavardages d’open-space, notifications des réseaux sociaux, smartphone qui clignote sur le bureau – l’esprit du travailleur moderne est constamment absorbé par une distraction massive. À l’heure de l’hyper-connectivité, l’humanité est en train d’oublier la qualité intrinsèque à toute forme de travail réussi : la concentration. Qu’il soit salarié, indépendant ou chef d’entreprise, chaque personne a déjà vécu les affres de ce scénario catastrophe. La journée commence pavée de bonnes intentions. La distraction massive nuit gravement aux capacités cognitives C’est un lien de cause à effet relativement logique : les réseaux sociaux et les smartphones ont un effet nocif sur notre concentration et donc la qualité de notre travail. Cela paraît anodin, mais cela a pour effet de diviser constamment notre capacité d’attention. Pour maximiser sa performance sur une tâche, il faut s’y consacrer exclusivement pendant un long moment. Conseil 1.
How to work with galleries and collectors as an emerging artist Showing work in a gallery exhibition. A gallery has offered to include your work in a group or solo exhibition—what can you expect? What do you need to make sure everything is in order before the exhibition opens? Use a consignment agreement First things first, never send a gallery your work without receiving a consignment agreement. A standard agreement sets out the terms for the sale of the work, your payment (should the work sell), how the work will be shipped, how the work will be photographed/documented, and the length of time that the gallery will have exclusive access to sell the work. Pricing your work You should work with the gallery to decide the right price point for your work. Typically you can expect a 50/50 split on all sales. Some agreements will also ask for the discretion of a shared 20% discount to be offered to museums, since selling a work to a museum ensures the long-term care for your piece and the potential for exhibition, making the discount worth it. Payment terms
6 Reasons Creative Minds are Ideal for Entrepreneurship “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” made an estimated $220 million opening weekend. Lines of children, teens and adults — many of them dressed as Jedi and Sith — lined up to see the film. Seemingly every kind of person, from general watchers to next-level enthusiasts, attended opening night. Even before its release, the frenzy surrounding the upcoming movie was extreme. Fan theories ran rampant, and online communities debated over potential plots. Now that it’s been showing for a few days, many have praised “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” for its creativity. There’s a group that thinks the film should be removed from the canon because it’s unoriginal and a departure from the series. As “Star Wars” exhibits, people commonly debate creativity. 1) They have a specific disposition. Some of the biggest business innovations of all time are the result of creativity. When speaking of a creative personality, there’s no better case study than Steve Jobs. 2) Good things come in … fours. 4) They ‘connect the dots.’
Peak Performance: Exercise science shows why we should never feel guilty about taking a break By the age of three, wealthy children hear 30 million more words than their poor counterparts, according to a landmark 1995 study (pdf) by researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley. The “30 million word gap” has since become shorthand for the gaping inequalities between high and low-income children. Hart and Risley also showed that the number of words kids heard by their third birthday strongly predicted kids’ academic success when they were nine. Clearly, it was important to talk to children—a lot. But a new study from researchers at MIT, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania shows that it may not be the sheer accumulation of words that builds children’s brains and their verbal and non-verbal skills. By using brain scanners, natural language processing systems, and a raft of standardized tests on four-, five-, and six-year-olds, the researchers found that conversational turns strongly correlated with both more brain activation and stronger scores on tests.
Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you | Dylan Curran Want to freak yourself out? I’m going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it. Google knows where you’ve been Google stores your location (if you have location tracking turned on) every time you turn on your phone. You can see a timeline of where you’ve been from the very first day you started using Google on your phone. Click on this link to see your own data: google.com/maps/timeline? Here is every place I have been in the last 12 months in Ireland. Google knows everything you’ve ever searched – and deleted Google stores search history across all your devices. Click on this link to see your own data: myactivity.google.com/myactivity Google has an advertisement profile of you Google creates an advertisement profile based on your information, including your location, gender, age, hobbies, career, interests, relationship status, possible weight (need to lose 10lb in one day?) Google knows all the apps you use