Action Figure Daniel

Author: Daniel

  • “Imagine” by Jonah Lehrer

    Lehrer complied all of the latest research about creativity. There were many surprising and interesting insights. Many of which go against the current line of thinking about boosting creativity. For example, employees are more creative and productive when they have offices to work in as opposed to the current open floor plan many work spaces are implementing.

    Interesting tidbit: The notion the no idea should be criticized during a brainstorming session is entirely contrary to the related research. Instead of simply accepting every idea, ideas should be criticized. Criticism tends to cause defensive which spurs refinements of the original idea which are usually superior to the original idea. The key is to challenge the idea, not the person, and then offer a an improvement.

  • Daniel Amen: The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans

    Amen makes an impassioned plea to change they way we consider deviant behavior. He shows his work in brain spectrometry which shows that most antisocial issues (including criminal behavior and mental disorders) can be tied to abnormal brain function. Amen argues that we should be using this technology to make diagnosis and to guide treatment.

    Daniel Amen: The most important lesson from 83,000 brain scans

  • Allan Pease: Body language, the power is in the palm of your hands

    It is amazing how small gestures can dramatically change the reception of your message. Pease talks about, and demonstrates, several basic gestures and explains their effects.

    Allan Pease: Body language, the power is in the palm of your hands

  • Laura Sicola: Want to sound like a leader? Start by saying your name right

    In an interesting twist, Sicola does some coaching on verbal communication on how to sound like a leader.

    Laura Sicola: Want to sound like a leader? Start by saying your name right

  • Chris Sauve: The habits of highly boring people

    Sauve makes an interesting point: most of the really exciting people in life are also the most boring. We often think of the two as opposites but really, when done right, boring people are exciting because they are boring in the structured parts of their lives so they could be exciting in the unstructured parts. Sauve suggests:

    1. Write everything down. This will free up your memory and let you work on a vast variety of things while not losing track of them. This includes using a calendar or agenda for everything. Calendars are amazing at remembering everything that you need to do and when you need to do it. And, you probably carry one in your pocket with you everywhere. It is called your phone. For that matter, you can have a fantastic note app too*.
    2. Simplify wherever you can. This helps reduce decision fatigue and avoid decision paralysis.
    3. Remember to review your tasks. What was really valuable and useful last year or month may not be so today. It is easy to just keep doing the same things every day and this is generally good but those things should reviewed from time to time to make sure those things are still relevant.

    Chris Sauve: The habits of highly boring people

    *What kind of note taking do you you use Daniel? Great question. I use Microsoft’s OneNote for three reasons:

    1. It is free.
    2. It syncs everywhere. A note I write on my phone is nearly instantly available on my phone, my non-phones, my computers and the web. This is really amazing because I can easily switch between whichever device is most convenient for the note taking task at hand.
    3. It is multimedia enabled. I can sync text notes, images and probably videos (I have never tried). I can carry around my favorite recipes, essays and a small art gallery.