How to Write Six Important Papers a Year without Breaking a Sweat: The Deep Immersion Approach to Deep Work March 24th, 2013 · 50 comments The Productive Professor I’m fascinated by people who produce a large volume of valuable output. Motivated by this interest, I recently setup a conversation with a hot shot young professor who rose quickly in his field. I asked him about his work habits. Though his answer was detailed — he had obviously put great thought into these issues — there was one strategy that caught my attention: he confines his deep work to long, uninterrupted bursts. On small time scales, this means each day is either completely dedicated to a single deep work task, or is left open to deal with all the e-mail and meetings and revisions that also define academic life. If he’s going to write a paper, for example, he puts aside two days, and does nothing else, emerging from his immersion with a completed first draft. If he’s going to instead deal with requests and logistics, he’ll spend the whole day doing so. On longer time scales, his schedule echoes this immersion strategy.
Implicit Learning: Researchers Uncover How to Learn Without Trying It’s rare that a computer science lab brings us a scenario worthy of a spy novel, but that’s what happened earlier this month when Hristo Bojinov, a researcher at Stanford University, divulged his latest project. Here’s the setup: Imagine an operative has been entrusted with top-secret computer files. He needs a password to enable him to access the information — but what if he falls into the hands of the enemy, and they force him to reveal the code? (MORE: Born to Be Bright: Is There a Gene for Learning?) As cloak-and-dagger as it sounds, the technique the Stanford scientists have developed takes advantage of a common phenomenon known as implicit learning. Although the rest of us don’t have access to Bojinov’s technology, there are ways to improve our implicit learning. (MORE: Can You Learn Everything “On the Job”?) Second, practice. And lastly, the easiest way of all to improve implicit learning: sleep. MORE: Want to Prevent Aging?
SA businesses urged to consider management coaching as part of 2013 strategy Women underestimate how much networking can help them in their careers, boosting their chances of promotion and climbing the career ladder, writes Kumeshnee West, Director of Executive Education at the UCT Graduate School of Business. Many professional women don’t like to network and readily admit to avoiding it – this despite the fact that networking is recognised as a foundational skill for career success. “Networking is a lot like nutrition and fitness,” says Professor Herminia Ibarra from the INSEAD Business School. “We know what to do, the hard part is making it a top priority.” “There are many misperceptions about networking – including that it is too self-promotional,” agrees Liz De Wet, a leadership development expert and convenor of the Executive Women In Leadership programme at the UCT Graduate School of Business in South Africa. “As a result, women will often tell me that they prefer working in their hotel room to going to the conference dinner,” says De Wet.
Identify a Lie with 6 Simple Questions post written by: Marc Chernoff Email We all fall victim to at least a few lies during the course of our lifetime. Some lies may be extremely troublesome to our personal wellbeing, while other “white lies” may be far more innocuous. Either way, a lie is meant to deceive. So how can we avoid falling victim to a lie in the future? A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.- Mark Twain How do you know this? If you enjoyed this article, check out our new best-selling book. And get inspiring life tips and quotes in your inbox (it's free)... How to Learn More and Study Less Photo by fatal Cleopatra Editor’s note: This is a guest post written by Scott Young. Every Monday is Productivity & Organization Day at Zen Habits.The title of this post sounds impossible right? My current GPA is a 4.2, which rests midway between an A and an A+. Place first in a three province wide chemistry test. I say all this not to boast about how great I am, because I feel my accomplishments are rather modest compared to many people I know. More studying time won’t help if the way you are studying is flawed to begin with. Holistic Learning Smart people don’t just learn better. Holistic learning is basically the opposite of rote memorization. Excessive studying shows you aren’t learning holistically. How to Boost Your Study Habits Holistic learning isn’t like a brainstorming technique or mind-mapping. But there are some tools that can help you shift your learning habits so they become more holistic: Visceralize – You’ve probably heard of visualizing, right? See also:
The Four Habits that Form Habits By Leo Babauta My daughter wants to work out more, but she has a hard time forming the habit (many of you might be familiar with this problem). From having to get dressed to go to the gym, to actually going to the gym, to the thought of a hard workout … our minds tend to put off the habit. The solution is exceedingly simple: just do 3 pushups. Make it so easy you can’t say no. Of course, most people will think that’s too easy, and tell themselves they have to do more than that. Learn the fundamentals of habits before you try to do the advanced skills. Today we’re going to go over the fundamentals of habit — four key habits to form habits. Habit 1: Start Exceedingly Small Another common habit that too few people actually do is flossing daily. Of course, that seems so ridiculous most people laugh. That’s the point. If you want to exercise, it’s more important that you actually do the exercise on a regular basis, rather than doing enough to get a benefit right away. One glass of water a day.
Can You Learn Everything “On The Job”? Earlier this month, officials from the University of Wisconsin announced the school’s plans for a “flexible degree” program, which would allow students to enroll when it suits them, study online at their own pace — and gain academic credit for knowledge they’ve acquired outside the classroom. Completion of the program is based on “competency,” not on “seat time,” meaning that if students can show they know their stuff, they can skip over introductory courses and other prerequisites to get their degree sooner. The announcement is good news for Wisconsin residents who can now transform their professional expertise into a college diploma. (MORE: How to Increase Your Powers of Observation) For centuries before the rise of educational institutions, everyone learned on the job, through formal or informal apprenticeships. (MORE: Couch Potatoes, Rejoice! As they describe it, the cognitive apprenticeship proceeds in three steps. (MORE: The Myth of “Practice Makes Perfect”)
Serious Games: Using Game-based learning for corporate training We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. -George Bernard Shaw Everyone is a player? The socio-cultural phenomenon of digital gaming has become pervasive. It is no longer just the preserve of slightly awkward and pimply teenagers. According to Fast Company it is estimated that 97% of 12-17 year olds play computer games. What is, however, more interesting, is the fact that so do almost 70% of the heads of American households. The age of the average gamer? One survey found that 35% of C-level executives are video game players and 47% of gamers are woman[i]. According to Jane McGonical, the director of game research and development at Palo Alto–based Institute for the Future, globally 350 million people spend a combined 3 billion hours per week playing computer games. The computer gaming sub-culture is about forty years old. The virality and stickiness of social networks is fueling this growth. Playing at work or working at play? About the Author:
Eye Direction and Lying - How to detect lies from the direction of an individual's gaze / visual accessing cues. Interesting Info -> Lying Index -> Eye Direction & Visual Accessing Cues Eye Movement and Direction & How it Can Reveal Truth or Lies This is a continuation of our previous article Detecting Lies. Can the direction a person's eyes reveal whether or not they are making a truthful statement? In these shows a detective will deduce if a person is being untruthful simply because they looked to the left or right while making a statement. In reality, it would be foolish to make such a snap judgment without further investigation... but the technique does have some merit. So, here it is... read, ponder and test it on your friends and family to see how reliable it is for yourself. Visual Accessing Cues - "Lying Eyes" The first time "Visual Accessing Cues" were discussed (at least to my knowledge), was by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in their book "Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) " From their experiments this is what they found. The Gist of it... Final Notes: Continue Reading: