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kittiwakeThe next time you are trying to be creative in a meeting, gently lean forward and pull against the table. When the going gets tough, cross your arms to help perseverance in the face of failure, and if that doesn't work. lie down. If anyone accuses you of being lazy, quietly explain that you are employing your locus coeruleus in the war against rigid thinking.
This book was written by a scientist who decided to look into the scientific basis for the techniques recommended by the self-help industry.
There are some interesting findings from the cited scientific studies, and a lot of the techniques mentioned in this book really do seem to provide a big reward for not too much effort. I really should try some of the techniques from the chapter on happiness, as it seems as though it is easy to increase your happiness even though a large proportion of how happy you are is innate.
Another thing I have problems with is procrastination and the studies apparently show that if you force yourself to do spend just a few minutes on the task you have been putting off, a kind of subconscious 'must finish this task anxiety' takes over, so that even if you stop part-way through the task you are less likely to procrastinate when it is time to get back to it. So it seems that I should listen to my usual thoughts telling me to 'just do something' when overwhelmed by the number of tasks on my to do list at work.
I was looking forward to finding out how a pet frog could help you to convince anyone of anything, but more interesting in the end was the discovery that you can make charity boxes up to 200 percent more effective by painting them red, labelling them 'every penny helps' and placing them anywhere except Birmingham. As for motivation, the often recommended technique of visualising your desired outcome has actually been shown to be counter-productive. It seems that by visualising yourself having succeeded, you convince your subconscious that you are half-way to your goal already, so you end up making less effort.
Having watched the Derren Brown series in which he primed people over the course of a few weeks to do certain things without them even knowing that they had been selected for the show, I know how much people can be affected by things they don't even consciously notice. When it comes to creativity, something as seemingly unconnected to the task in hand as the subject of a picture on the wall can drastically increase the creativity of the ideas generated.
Many of the items in this book make a lot of sense, but I was surprised to read that people would generally rather take a £50k job where they would earn more than their colleagues over a £60k job where they would earn less than their colleagues. Surely the second job would give you more scope for pay rises as well as a higher starting salary? I guess a lot of people must be more concerned with status than I am.
The final section on Personality includes a quick and easy personality test.
My results are:
Openness - HIGH
Conscientiousness - LOW
Extroversion - LOW
Agreeableness - HIGH
Neuroticism - HIGH
I borrowed this book from the library to read for a book club, but I have already bought my own copy for future reference. The subjects covered are so wide-ranging that you may well be able to donate all your other self-help books to a charity shop and never buy another one.
Review of Book 6 cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
50bookchallenge.
This book was written by a scientist who decided to look into the scientific basis for the techniques recommended by the self-help industry.
There are some interesting findings from the cited scientific studies, and a lot of the techniques mentioned in this book really do seem to provide a big reward for not too much effort. I really should try some of the techniques from the chapter on happiness, as it seems as though it is easy to increase your happiness even though a large proportion of how happy you are is innate.
Another thing I have problems with is procrastination and the studies apparently show that if you force yourself to do spend just a few minutes on the task you have been putting off, a kind of subconscious 'must finish this task anxiety' takes over, so that even if you stop part-way through the task you are less likely to procrastinate when it is time to get back to it. So it seems that I should listen to my usual thoughts telling me to 'just do something' when overwhelmed by the number of tasks on my to do list at work.
I was looking forward to finding out how a pet frog could help you to convince anyone of anything, but more interesting in the end was the discovery that you can make charity boxes up to 200 percent more effective by painting them red, labelling them 'every penny helps' and placing them anywhere except Birmingham. As for motivation, the often recommended technique of visualising your desired outcome has actually been shown to be counter-productive. It seems that by visualising yourself having succeeded, you convince your subconscious that you are half-way to your goal already, so you end up making less effort.
Having watched the Derren Brown series in which he primed people over the course of a few weeks to do certain things without them even knowing that they had been selected for the show, I know how much people can be affected by things they don't even consciously notice. When it comes to creativity, something as seemingly unconnected to the task in hand as the subject of a picture on the wall can drastically increase the creativity of the ideas generated.
Many of the items in this book make a lot of sense, but I was surprised to read that people would generally rather take a £50k job where they would earn more than their colleagues over a £60k job where they would earn less than their colleagues. Surely the second job would give you more scope for pay rises as well as a higher starting salary? I guess a lot of people must be more concerned with status than I am.
The final section on Personality includes a quick and easy personality test.
My results are:
Openness - HIGH
Conscientiousness - LOW
Extroversion - LOW
Agreeableness - HIGH
Neuroticism - HIGH
I borrowed this book from the library to read for a book club, but I have already bought my own copy for future reference. The subjects covered are so wide-ranging that you may well be able to donate all your other self-help books to a charity shop and never buy another one.
Review of Book 6 cross-posted to
50bookchallenge.
