Dr. Antonio Damasio talks about why emotions are critical to the decision-making process. (We talked about that recently.)
You can watch the whole interview (just over an hour long) at Fora.tv.
Tag: decisions
You’re Not Doing it Right
In his Monday Morning Memo for December 11, 2017, Roy H. Williams said that some people’s creative efforts were stifled because “every time they’ve done it in the past, a prune-faced martinet weaned on a pickle rapped them on the knuckles with a ruler, rolled his eyes and said, ‘You’re not doing it right.'”
Here are some things you believe:
- Your conscious brain makes decisions
- Those decisions are based on reason
- Emotions prevent good decision-making
- Your unconscious manages systems (breathing, circulation, digestion) but stays in the background, except maybe when you’re dreaming
- Memory is the act of accessing recordings of sights and sounds stored in your brain
- Memories are accurate, because they’re recordings
- While things can be forgotten, you can’t remember things that never happened
- Memory is a purely mental function, happening only in your brain
- If you don’t remember something it doesn’t affect you
- Willpower is how things get done
Guess how many of those are true?
Did you guess zero?
How an Orderly Life Benefits Your Art
You’ve seen the common perception of “artists” — disorganized, flighty, not always entirely in touch with reality. Mess and disorder, partying ’til all hours and sleeping in, drink and drugs and bad behavior of all kinds. Artists aren’t expected to behave like “normal” people because, y’know, they’re artists.
Truth is the more habits you institute in your life the better it is for your art. Here’s why.
Using Up Willpower
Exercise strengthens muscles. It also strengthens willpower.
Muscles get tired and have to rest.
So does willpower.
If the Box Doesn’t Fit, Don’t Wear It
Most new authors dream of getting a book deal; having a publisher contact them and say, hey, we want your book. I’ll reserve comment on the value of getting a book deal for another conversation.
Some time back a client turned down not one, but two book deals. Two publishing houses approached them and said, hey, we want your book, just sign on the dotted line.
And they thought and they thought and they said, I don’t fit in the box you’d like to put me in.
And then they said the hardest word in the language of business: Continue reading “If the Box Doesn’t Fit, Don’t Wear It”
Why Doing the Right Thing is Hard
My column on why I’m losing weight struck an unpleasant chord with some folks when I first published it. It’s common to hear stories of people trying unsuccessfully, sometimes for years, to lose weight.
Another angle on the same issue: When your income gets an unexpected and temporary boost, through a bonus at work or a project you hadn’t expected, do you bank the money, or reward yourself with a new toy or dinner out?
We experience it every single day of our lives: even though we know what’s good for us, day after day we do what’s fun, what’s easy, instead of what’s healthy and rational and good for our future self.
Do you ever stop to wonder why?
When You’re All at Sea is No Time to Remember the Anchor
The first characteristic of an excellent company, according to Tom Peters and Bob Waterman (In Search of Excellence) is a bias for action. Those companies which lean toward doing something were in better shape than those which gave the appearance they were afraid of action unless it was guaranteed safe.
That’s not to say that a bias for action can’t be married to careful planning.
Continue reading “When You’re All at Sea is No Time to Remember the Anchor”
The Balancing Act in Your Brain
Your brain is a battlefield. Two warring forces wage a constant struggle for dominance.
Okay, they’re more like a couple teenagers fighting over who gets the window seat on a long drive. Chances are, you keep giving the same kid the window seat.
And putting the other kid in the trunk.
A Second Chance for First Impressions
We all know the cliché: “You don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.” Opinions formed during the first moments of a relationship are usually long-lasting. This leads to all sorts of social manipulation to make a good impression: dressing your best, smiling a lot, leaning forward in your chair, all that stuff the job-hunting websites write about.
Recent science teaches us that’s less effective than the advice your mom always used to give you: “Just relax and be yourself!”
Why do first impressions matter? Do we have any control over them?
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