How To Become a Freethinker Taken from: Albert Einstein's Autobiographical Notes Open Court Publishing Company, LaSalle and Chicago, Illinois, 1979. pp 3-5. When I was a fairly precocious young man I became thoroughly impressed with the futility of the hopes and strivings that chase most men restlessly through life. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. As the first way out there was religion, which is implanted into every child by way of the traditional education-machine. It is quite clear to me that the religious paradise of youth, which was thus lost, was a first attempt to free myself from the chains of the "merely personal," from an existence dominated by wishes, hopes, and primitive feelings.
How To Eat Smart to Get Smart A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning -- and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition. "Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain. Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid sweetener.
How To Keep Your Doritos as Fresh as Your Skills Learn this chip bag fold and you will never need a clamp ever again! Have you ever had a bag of unfinished potato chips which you want to keep fresh? These simple steps will allow you to close the potato chip bag without using a clip or clamp. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. How To be so Productive You Can't Stand it You might think that creatives as diverse as Internet entrepreneur Jack Dorsey, industrial design firm Studio 7.5, and bestselling Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami would have little in common. In fact, the tenets that guide how they – and exceptionally productive creatives across the board – make ideas happen are incredibly similar. Here are 10 laws of productivity we’ve consistently observed among serial idea executors: 1. Break the seal of hesitation. A bias toward action is the most common trait we’ve found across the hundreds of creative professionals and entrepreneurs we’ve interviewed. 2. When our ideas are still in our head, we tend to think big, blue sky concepts. 3. Trial and error is an essential part of any creative’s life. To avoid ‘blue sky paralysis,’ pare your idea down to a small, immediately executable concept. 4. When working on in-depth projects, we generate lots of new ideas along the way. 5. 6. 7. 8. Few activities are more of a productivity drain than meetings. 9.
How to Become a Productivity Ninja Believe it or not, productivity can be learned, grasshopper. Yeah, I didn’t believe it either..until I transformed myself into a productivity ninja. Today, I’m going to teach you to maximize your time at your computer, dominate your email in-box, and spend less time on unimportant tasks to focus on what really matters. Like Neo learning Kung Fu, today I shall teach you the skill of productivity. My story I am the world’s best procrastinator. For the past three years: Every single article you’ve read on Nerd Fitness was either written very late the night before or the morning of its publication.I would spend 10-15+ hours a week on just Nerd Fitness emails.I usually slept somewhere between five and seven hours a night.I would freak out before traveling, work WHILE traveling (instead of enjoying my trip), and then spend weeks afterward catching up.I always felt like I was behind and overwhelmed. I finally came to the harsh realization that I was lying to myself. The issue with multi-tasking -Steve
How to Respond to Criticism – Learning from Dr. King Total read time (bolded sections) = 5 minutes Total read time (all) = 40 minutes I am embarrassed to tell you that, up until three weeks ago, I had never read Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham City Jail. It is, without a doubt, one of the best case studies in how to deal with criticism I’ve ever come across. Much like the historic Declaration of Independence (4-minute read time) and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (30-second read time), not much happened immediately following publication. The direct action that it helped catalyze, however, prompted police abuse that became front-page news around the world. The news created pressure on the US government for a response, and when Martin Luther later spoke with President John F. Reverend King’s response was purportedly a simple statement of fact. JFK’s then sighed and changed his tune: “OK. Check mate… This was not accidental. I have included the bolded highlights I made upon my first reading. April 12, 1963 Signed by:
How To Reveal Your Deepest Gifts Through Your Insecurities In my decades of practice as a psychotherapist, this is the insight that has inspired me most: Our deepest wounds surround our greatest gifts. I've found that the very qualities we're most ashamed of, the ones we keep trying to reshape or hide, are in fact the key to finding real love. I call them core gifts. It's so easy to get lost in the quest for self-improvement. Over the years, I realized that the characteristics of my clients which I found most inspiring, most essentially them, were the ones which frequently caused them the most suffering. Some clients would complain of feeling like they were "too much"; too intense, too angry, or too demanding. Other clients said they felt that they felt like they were "not enough"; too weak, too quiet, too ineffective. Clients would describe lives devastated by codependency, and I would see an immense generosity with no healthy limits. Again and again, where my clients saw their greatest wounds, I also saw their most defining gifts!
How To Make Conversation Most conversation advice doesn’t help you make conversation. It’s easy to find tips like “Look your partner in the eye” or “Think of conversation topics ahead of time.” These tips are helpful, but they don’t explain how conversation actually works–it’s like saying “Keep your eye on the ball” instead of explaining the rules of baseball. Of course, you can still enjoy baseball even if you don’t understand the rules. But when you struggle during small talk, it’s incredibly frustrating – especially if you don’t know how to improve. The good news? You don’t need to be frustrated anymore. Improve Your Social Skills is a practical, step-by-step guide to social success – and that means it teaches you how conversation actually works. You’ll learn the bedrock principles of conversation, and how to apply those principles to make smooth, engaging conversation. Guess what? The Secret Of Conversation Flow What makes some conversations flow smoothly, and others sputter or feel awkward?
How To Overcome Serious Indecisiveness Opportunity or Problem Recognition: A person discovers that a new opportunity exists or a problem needs resolution. Thirty-five years ago an entrepreneurial leader, Robert Cowan, recognized a new opportunity and asked, "Why do business meetings have to be conducted in person? Why can't they connect through television images?" Immersion: The individual concentrates on the problem and becomes immersed in it. Incubation: The person keeps the assembled information in mind for: a while. Insight: The problem-conquering solution flashes into the person's mind at an unexpected time, such as on the verge of sleep, during a shower, or while running. Verification and Application: The individual sets out to prove that the creative solution has merit. Overcoming traditional sequential thinking is so important to creative thinking that the process has been characterized in several different ways. A basic principle of learning is that practice is necessary to develop and improve skills.