Finishing a Book is Optional There is a cognitive bias called the sunk cost fallacy. We hesitate to abandon a strategy or a plan because we already have invested time, money, energy in it, even if dropping that specific action would be more helpful for us. With the sunk cost fallacy in mind, we would gain more if we do not finish a book we do not enjoy. Time is non-regenerable and is not worth spending our time on boring or bad books. Usually, after …
Why do you want to meditate? Numerous studies show links between meditation and neuroplasticity. Researchers from the University of Montreal found that the grey matter thickness of Zen meditators was significantly thicker than non-meditators. Another study found that meditation helps increase focus. A UCLA study shows that meditators might process information more quickly. Long-term meditators have more significant amounts of gyrification than people who do not meditate. The gyrification (“folding” of the cortex) might allow us to process information more quickly. Then, in his book 10% happier, Dan Harris says that …
Time blocking is a productivity method where we split each day into time blocks of variable length, from 20 – 30 minutes to 1 hour. In each block of time, we single-task and focus only on that specific task associated with the current time block, with no context-switching. Instead of managing to-do list items, we control the time when we can implement those specific items. Benjamin Franklin, one of the early adopters of time blocking, used this technique to distribute hours for deep work, …
Deferred imitation is an astonishing skill that develops rapidly. A 13-month-old child can remember an event a week after a single exposure. By the time she is almost a year and a half, she can imitate an event four months after a single exposure. John Medina – Brain Rules for Baby Deferred imitation can shed light on how we construct our mental models and long-term memory, by studying how information is perceived, encoded, stored, recalled or retrieved. Through deferred imitation (repeat and practice the actions of others, either immediately or …
Metaphorical Thinking – Introduction Metaphorical Thinking – the Cloud Metaphors Metaphorical Thinking – the Guest Metaphor Metaphorical Thinking – the Web Metaphors There are two instances that the metaphor of guest can explain or enhance: treat our children as guests in our life, and how our body is a guesthouse for our emotions. The first meaning is an idea coined by Haim Ginott, a mentor to John Gottman (Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child), Adele Faber (How to Talk so Kids will Listen…) or Laura …
I talked in Letters to my daughter: Build your “f*ck off” fund article about the importance of financial education from an early age. In this article, I will present our strategy to teach our four and a half-year-old daughter how to manage her money responsibly. Most of this strategy is based on The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money book written by David Owen. He introduced this strategy to his children, aged six and ten at the time. Once a child can …
“In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.” Zen master Shunryo Suzuki In Zen Buddhism, “shoshin” translates as the “beginner’s mind”, where “sho” means beginning or origin, and “shin” means spirit, soul, or attitude. A beginner’s mind is different from being a beginner. Shoshin is about having the attitude and mindset of a novice who learns a new practice for the first time, especially after reaching expert levels in our fields. In the beginner’s mind, there is a lack of preconceptions, a willingness to learn, to ask and try, …
In another article, I presented all the keto and low-carb baking tips I collected over the years. I tend to eat keto, with carbs coming from veggies or fruits. My family does not eat low-carb per se, more like “fewer-carbs” as I do not cook potatoes, pasta, beans, rice, etc. In this article, I included all the tried-and-tested recipes that my family would want on repeat, no questions asked. Breads and crackers Flaxmeal bread from Lalena.ro, with an English version below: Ingredients – 150g …