Is Attention the Secret to Emotional Intelligence? New research suggests—is that your phone? Go ahead and reply. It’s OK, I’ll wait. Back? Daniel Goleman You’re not alone. It is this dilemma that animates Daniel Goleman’s new book, Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. Goleman, the former New York Times science journalist turned best-selling author, is perhaps still best known for his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, which was followed by Social Intelligence more than a decade later. But at first glance, the book’s subject matter might feel like a departure from Goleman’s previous work—until one actually starts to read it. “When I set out to write this book, I knew I was going to explore the explosion of new important research about attention,” says Goleman. I recently spoke with Goleman about these connections between Emotional Intelligence and Focus, along the way exploring the contemporary challenges to focus and considering how—or whether—we’ll be able to meet them. JM: I wonder if you could elaborate on that last part.
14 Ways to Fix Your Out-of-Control Schedule and Maximize Productivity From smart calendar apps to some obvious (but often overlooked) scheduling hacks, you can bend your daily calendar to your will -- and still leave time for play and family. But it does require that you focus, commit to a process and set aside real time for yourself. We asked 14 founders from Young Entrepreneur Council to share their best tips for getting a handle on that never-ending to-do list. 1. Find ways to actually divide your day and week into zones. -- Arjun Arora, ReTargeter 2. The app EasilyDo is like a personal assistant. -- Brittany Hodak, ZinePak 3. I've found that if I don't block out time for personal things like working out, eating clean food, etc., my days gets filled up with other "last minute" things. -- Patrick Conley, Automation Heroes 4. Even if a task doesn't have a deadline (but you need to get it done), tackle it in one to two sessions rather than returning repeatedly. -- Andrew Fayad, eLearning Mind 5. Use your calendar daily. -- Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME 6. 7.
5 Perspectives on Procrastination by Maria Popova We meant to publish this last Friday. What exactly is procrastination, this seemingly universal source of everyday vexation? And what can we really do about it? A long, long time ago we raved about this fantastic animated exploration of the nature of procratination by artist Johnny Kelly, created as his Royal College of Art graduation film in 2007 — an investigative study of putting things off that is as thoughtful as it is creatively outstanding. (You may recall more of Kelly’s work from pickings past.) Behaviroal economist Dan Ariely, author of the excellent Predictably Irrational and its fantastic sequel, The Upside of Irrationality, is easily the world’s most compelling researcher on the relationship between emotionality, rationality, morality and decision-making. We say we’re not designed to care about the future. We heart Ellen. From the morality of it (is procrastination a vice?) Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr
5 Habits of People With Remarkable Willpower Willpower is not something you either have or you don't. Sure, some people may be more self-disciplined than you. Some people may be better at resisting temptation than you. But that's probably not because they were born with some certain special something inside them--instead, they've found ways to store up their willpower and use it when it really matters. They have remarkable willpower not because they have more of it, but because they've learned how to best use what they have. Here's how you can, too: 1. The more choices we make during the day, the harder each one is on our brain--and the more we start to look for shortcuts. In fact, we can't help ourselves: We've run out of the mental energy we need to make smart choices. That's why the fewer choices we have to make, the smarter choices we can make when we do need to make a decision. Say you want to drink more water and less soda. Or say you struggle to keep from constantly checking your email. Choices are the enemy of willpower. 2. 3.
Driven to distraction: Giles Colborne A Free Self-Management System to Stay on Track Superhero designed by Moriah Rich from the Noun Project Being in the zone means that you’ve become so absorbed in the activity at hand that it’s impossible to concentrate on anything else. It’s when code seems to flow from your fingertips, when words seem to fly out of your pen, and when your stylus seems to take on a life of its own. But a common misconception about the zone is that it’s some some elusive, magical place. It is not. 1) Give a shit about what you’re doing. There are several factors that influence our ability to get into the zone, chief among which are focus, energy, no distractions and music. Read the rest of Rue’s blog post on how to remain in the zone here. Related: Not Too Hard, Not Too Easy: Finding Flow In Your Work
Vitamin-R for Mac OS X: Rediscover the Lost Art of Joyful Concentration Vitamin-R creates the optimal conditions for your brain by structuring your work into short bursts of distraction-free, highly focused activity alternating with opportunities for renewal, reflection and intuition. The built-in task logging and analysis features create positive momentum towards productivity by providing you with visible feedback on your progress and achievements. Your Personal Productivity Sidekick Always with you. Vitamin-R is never more than a click or a keyboard shortcut away and yet it knows when to get out of your way. Vitamin-R is your faithful sidekick and after helping you set up the optimal work conditions for your task, it sticks around to keep you focused and motivated. Everything in Vitamin-R is built for speed and ease of use. Hitting the global keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-R) in any application will instantly bring up Vitamin-R. The Value of Clear Objectives Cut through the mind fog. How can you work effectively if you are not sure what you are trying to achieve?
10 Foolproof Tips for Overcoming Procrastination …and the very best tip is the easiest (hint: it’s the first one). Procrastination has been extensively studied by psychologists, probably because they have some world-class procrastinators close at hand: students. Students don’t have a monopoly on wasting time, though, almost everyone procrastinates now and then. The difference is that some people learn effective strategies for dealing with it and get some stuff done; others never do. Here are ten tips for overcoming procrastination, based on science: 1. The first tip is simply to start with whatever is easy, manageable and doesn’t fill your mind with a nameless dread. Have a look at your project, whatever it is, and decide to do the easy bit first. The great thing is that after getting going, you start to build momentum and the harder bits are more likely to flow. The tip relies partly on the Zeigarnik effect: the finding that unfinished tasks get stuck in the memory. 2. Planning can help with this, but planning is also a trap. 3. 4. 5. 6. Hmm.
20 Ways To Wake Up With Motivation Lets face it, feeling motivated is perhaps one of the most difficult things you could ever do. If it were so easy, everyone would be making progress and achieving their goals they’ve set out to achieve. Even worse is when we read countless articles from around the web that make it seem straightforward. As a result, it often becomes frustrating due to it seeming easy to apply on paper. It does little to improve your self-esteem and confidence, especially when you face difficulties in applying the advice you know and understand so well. But all of this should feel encouraging, because one of the main things I personally found with regards to motivation is that it takes very little of it when doing the things you truly love. In setting up the following points to help you wake up motivated, we need to firstly get the following basic point out of the way in order to establish good fundamentals and a strong foundation: Find out what you truly enjoy doing in your life. 5) Take regular breaks.
10 one-minute time hacks that will make you more productive You’re busy, and while reading about powerful time management techniques can be productive, many of the ones out there are simply too complex, complicated or involved to think about. These 10 time hacks are as simple as they come. Every single thing in this list will take you less than one minute to implement into your life, but the results of each can be incredible. Here are 10 one-minute time hacks that will make you more productive. Say “no” to three things Here’s a challenge for you: this week say “no” to three commitments that might zap you of your energy, time, or motivation. Turn off all of your email alerts New email alerts don’t cost you much time, but they cost you a ton of attention. While you’re in there tinkering with your email settings, I think it’s also useful to reduce the frequency of how often your mail client checks for new messages (plus, having your phone check for new email less often will save you battery life). Start keeping a list of everything you’re waiting on