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Better Habits
Twyla Tharp is a choreographer who lives in Manhattan.
Every morning she gets out of bed, puts on her workout clothes and goes downstairs to hail a cab to go to the gym.
Her “workout ritual” is hailing the cab.
Once she’s in the cab, the cab takes her to the gym and she works out.
Habits are cues -> actions -> outcomes. The cues can be completely unrelated to the outcome you’re trying to achieve.
Twyla’s habit is actually a series:
Alarm -> Get Dressed -> Hail a cab
By the time she’s awake, the choice of whether or not she should go work out has already been made and acted on.
Not everyone can just hail a cab to take them to the gym, but the approach to the ritual can be the same.
The more consistent the cue and the less effort required for the initial actions, the easier it is to establish a habit.
Here’s an outstanding 3 minute animated version of the concept from: epipheo.
H/T:
I learned about Twyla Tharp’s workout habit from: James Clear.
Perception Augmentation
Start Here
“Uh oh”
It took less than a second to realize I had made a bad decision based on a bad plan.
I was at least seven hours from the nearest phone and I had just jumped off a cliff. Literally.
There was water at the bottom, shallow up against the base of the cliff, plenty deep out past a prominent rock shelf. The shelf was about six feet deep and my plan was to jump past it…
I hit the water traveling just under 30 miles per hour. It happened thirty years ago but I still have four distinct memories of the fall. I remember stepping off, the “uh oh”, hitting the water and lying on the rock shelf.
When I hit the water, I was looking straight ahead and sitting down with my arms to the side. Kind of like I was sitting in a lazy-boy watching TV. My landing position wasn’t a conscious choice and it wasn’t something I had practiced, but it saved my life. My brain knew what had to happen and did what it needed to do.
After lying on the shelf for a couple seconds I pushed off the bottom, swam to the shore and got out of the water without a scratch.
The jump was an irrational decision, based on inaccurate perception, to obtain an emotional experience.
The only thing that saved me was a skill I didn’t know I had. The skill consisted of very real ‘If, Then’ links in my brain which saved me from a brief ‘what if?…’.
The jump also generated a few questions I’ve been thinking about ever since:
What are decisions? What drives behavior? What does the brain actually do?
Website Organization
People. I’m not alone in the search for answers. The “People” page has a list of some very smart people who have both informed and inspired me.
Notes. I’m posting notes on what I’m learning on the “Notes” page. The notes are the sausage making, they are far from finished products but offer a peek behind the curtain of some of the things I’m working on.
Notes on the Brain
Happiness
How Do I Change My Brain To Increase Happiness?
Definition
Happiness is an emotion. Assessments of stress, interest and social signals are made when new input activates stored memories. The assessments trigger hormone releases and I experience the hormone releases as emotions.
Goals To Increase My Happiness
Awareness. I have thousands (if not millions) of triggers stored for stress, interest and social signals. There is a delay between the trigger and my awareness of the emotion and there is also an awareness threshold which some triggers may not cross. The awareness threshold limitation and time delay can often cause confusion about the true cause of the emotions I experience. By spending time identifying emotional triggers I can shape future responses and increase happiness.
Focus. The disconnect between how things are and my personal desire of how things should be is the primary obstacle to my happiness. By focusing on an understanding of how things are and focusing on the execution of systems to achieve goals as opposed to focusing on my desires and expectations, I can significantly reduce the signals which block happiness.
Sensitization. Information pathways in my brain get stronger the more I use them. Conscious acknowledgement and gratitude for the gifts in my life keeps my brain sensitized to their presence and strengthens the link between the gifts and happiness.
Expectation Management
I’m going to need help. I’m human and humans are social animals. I can be content spending time by myself but unless I am isolated in the wilderness I will be interacting with other people. My interactions with other people are an undeniable component of my happiness.
Happiness is personal. While there are some basic, universal human emotional needs such as purpose, significance, contribution, growth and connection, my specific needs are personal. We all have different triggers for stress, interest and social signals.
Happiness is a habit. While I cannot habitually tell myself “I’m happy” and be happy, happiness itself is a habit. To increase the amount of time I am happy, I need to increase the amount of time I’m releasing the hormones which generate happiness. My body will develop a tolerance to any repeated exposures, so the challenge of happiness is a mix of gratitude (continued thankfulness for what I have) and consistent, positive variety. I choose goals which provide the challenges which create variety and I work to develop habits which support the goal. Writing daily is a habit which promotes happiness by exposing me to daily variety (the constant challenge of clarifying and expressing thoughts).
Leverage Points
Appreciation. Dependence on the approval of others for happiness is a recipe for misery. Happiness without the ability to experience positive interactions with others is impossible. Appreciation for the challenges and insights of others provides endless opportunities to discover treasures others will enjoy sharing. People are extremely sensitive to micro-cues and the intent micro-cues reveal. People recognize the differences between generosity, appreciation and exploitation.
Contribution. I’m human and humans need purpose. Positive social contributions which require me to grow provide tremendous leverage for generating happiness. Overcoming challenges to help others generates positive signals in all three categories required for happiness (positive stress, interest and social signals).
Growth & Improvement. Growth is an increase in capability – the ability to perform across a wider spectrum. Improvement is better execution of the things I’m already doing. Both growth (learning new things) and improvement (doing the things I already know better) are essential elements of happiness.
Credit
Please visit the People page to see the people who have increased my understanding of what’s going on in my head.
Decisions
How do I change my brain to make better decisions?
Definition
A decision is a prioritization choice of how I will use limited resources (time, attention, actions, money, etc.). When I compare options to make a choice, the physical action happening in my brain is the equivalent of plugging and unplugging different strings of Christmas lights. My brain stores strings of associations and when I compare different options I’m working to identify a string of events which will narrow the gap between the indicators I’m paying attention to and the result I am trying to achieve.
Goals to Improve My Decisions
Improve the quality of my memories. My memories are stored as physical links between information. The quality of my memories is measured by the accuracy of the associations I make and the accuracy of my context based value assessments.
Improve access to my memories. Everything I have memorized is stored in a network of associations. The human brain has an amazing capability to bundle a group of associations together and represent a vast amount of information with a simple concept or even a symbol ($ is a good example). Grouping information together and giving it a category or label provides an easy handle to grab for accessing strings of associated information. My goal is to reduce any complex issue to no more than three concepts. I then only have to remember three words linked to an issue to access underlying concepts. Limiting myself to three concepts forces me to work through associations and context based value to find the three concepts with the most leverage (i.e. highest likelihood of success and most byproducts).
Expectation Management
Good decisions require a solid knowledge base and the ability to pull from both the knowledge base and available indicators to make priority choices for attention, effort and resources. Decision skill can be classified into three levels:
Understanding. With understanding I can follow a conversation. I can follow what you are saying and possibly link it to other information. Understanding is the start of a solid knowledge base, it sets the stage for more learning.
Application. There is a jump I have to make to move from understanding a subject to applying what I’ve learned. Understanding provides enough information for me to visualize what the result or goal should look like. I won’t really see the holes in my understanding until I start to apply the knowledge by making choices of what to pay attention to and where to apply effort based on available information. With successful application it feels like I have a solid grasp of a subject, but I still have growing to do.
Wisdom. Wisdom is defined as the combination of experience, knowledge and good judgement. My goal for decision making is to develop wisdom in the environment I’m studying. With wisdom comes the ability to understand the implications of the available information and quickly and accurately identify what information is important and what actions are a priority. Whenever I find someone who can apply a concept, they can provide a list of 10 or 12 things to do to be successful. Whenever I find someone who is truly wise in a subject area, they can provide a single focus point to move me from where I am to where I am trying to go.
Leverage Points
Prep Work. If I’m going to make good decisions, I need to do as much work as possible ahead of time. My goal for prep work is not to get bogged down in analysis or trying to predict the future. My goal for prep work is to be conscious of the information I am using to prioritize allocation of scarce resources – it’s a iterative process of starting with what’s on the top of my head and continuously improving a list, rather than banging my head against a wall and coming up with a perfect list in one sitting. Preparation for decisions involves consciously identifying:
* The result I’m trying to achieve.
* Factors and driving forces that will lead to success or failure.
* Probability, uncertainty and impact of variations in the driving forces.
* Indicators of change in the driving forces.
* Available actions I can use to influence the driving forces.
* Risk, downside, downside indicators and protection from the downside if I’m wrong.
Focus. When I choose a goal, I significantly influence all of my future decisions (my priority choices for attention, effort and resources). I can only have one goal, one priority. My goal will produce byproducts. If I choose the right goal, the byproducts are a bonus (shareholder value is a byproduct of effective business decisions, focusing on shareholder value (a short term goal) leads to poor business decisions).
Filters. Filters develop automatically. My location is a filter, my position is a filter, my culture, by experiences, the news I watch, the books I read, the people I spend time with are all filters. Filters limit the information available to make decisions. I have a finite capacity for processing information so filters are essential. Consciously identifying and frequently reviewing my filters can significantly increase the effectiveness of my decisions.
Pre-Mortems. I’m going to be wrong. “Pre-mortems” (role playing a wrong decision) help illuminate pitfalls and sensitize my brain to signs my plan is going South. Going through a pre-mortem is also a useful way to pre-identify exit points before getting caught up in the emotions involved with execution.
Credit
Please visit the People page to see the people who have increased my understanding of what’s going on in my head.
Skills
What’s the best way to use my brain to develop physical skills?
Definition
Physical skills are the use of my body only (like climbing or playing soccer) or the use of a combination of my body and tools (like playing guitar or surfing) to generate results.
Goals for Developing Skills
My goals for developing skills are to build memories and identify the best control points for practice and performance.
Memories store relationships between sensations. Muscle memories are movements directly linked to cues that don’t require conscious energy to initiate. Muscle memories link together the sensations between cues, movements and results. With muscle memories, the movements can be initiated from either direction – movement can be triggered by a cue or the need for a required result.
Control points are focus points for the conscious. Control points to enhance development are different than control points to enhance performance. During practice, I’m using conscious control to emphasize the sensations of specific cues for the movements I’m working on. During performance, I’m using my conscious control to focus my attention where it provides the most useful information for the habits I’ve already developed. Focus points will change over time. As my proficiency increases, different moves will be required and I’ll handle information differently (I’ll be aware of more sensations and have a better understanding of which sensations are significant). As I learn more, I’ll need to adjust where I am using conscious control to direct attention. The only time I am using conscious control to direct movement is in the very early stages of learning a new move.
Expectation Management
Building skills take time. Progress from beginner to advanced happens in three overlapping phases:
Overload. As a beginner I don’t know what information to pay attention to and I don’t have the cognitive capacity to consciously control all the body movements necessary to perform the required tasks at the required speed.
Awareness. As I gain exposure to a new skill, I begin to develop an understanding of what information is important and I begin to develop enough coordination to perform the fundamental movements in the time required.
Habit. As I become proficient, the fundamental movements become habits. My focus is on the goal and dynamics of the activity. Increased proficiency comes from performance under increasingly complex conditions.
Leverage Points
Opportunities to build skills better and faster.
Expanded understanding of human perception. I have more than the basic five senses of taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing. Proprioception (body awareness) and balance are two examples that are critical to physical skills. All of my sense are broken down into components determined by the capabilities of my sensory cells. Proprioception is broken down into sensations of contraction and tension. Touch is a combination of pressure and vibration sensors. Vision is a combination of color, brightness, motion and edge detection – and even these subcomponents of vision have different degrees of accuracy in different parts of the visual field. Understanding human perception provides a deeper understanding of the inputs available for sensing cues, actions and results.
Precise definition of what success feels like. My ultimate goal for developing physical skills is to develop links between cues, movement and results. I measure all three things (cues, movements and results) by sensations. A deeper understanding of human perception helps me choose sensations as cues and sensations associated with results. Proficiency lies in the nuances of experience – the spacing and variation of notes that convey emotion in music or the distribution of weight during a soccer kick or baseball swing. A baseball flying over the outfield fence does not provide enough relevant information to consistently replicate the desired result. The feel of the distribution of weight and the feel of power transfer from the body, to the bat, to the ball are sensations which can be consistently replicated with enough practice.
Focus. Focus works as a sensory amplifier. All of my senses are on all the time but there is a limited amount of energy available to amplify signals. Vision usually dominates awareness but is often only a gross indicator for performance. Most of the movement cues for physical skills will be combinations of proprioception, balance and touch. For music it’s a balance of hearing, proprioception and touch. Focusing on the sensations providing the cues and the sensations tied to results will accelerate the learning process by amplifying those signals. Stronger signals = stronger memories.
Credit
Please visit the People page to see the people who have increased my understanding of what’s going on in my head.
Knowledge & Wisdom
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things everyday.”
Lao Tzu
Knowledge is the number of facts you know.
Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Wisdom is about priorities. Wisdom is recognizing what is important and, more importantly, recognizing what is not important.
“Getting smarter” is typically focused on attaining knowledge. If I’m not getting the results I want, I need to gather more information. If the people I’m working with aren’t doing what I expect them to do, I need to give them more information.
Attaining wisdom is the opposite of more. Attaining wisdom is a process of acknowledging limited time, attention and energy and consciously choosing what to focus on and what distractions to remove.
Go to:Notes On The Brain
Neurons
“The brain puts things together, then it puts those things together.” – Dan Coyle
In a nutshell:
Neurons form the foundation of the brain and nervous system. Neurons store information and link information to action. The capabilities and limitations of neurons provide the baseline capabilities and limitations of the brain.
Memories are stored in the connections between neurons. All knowledge is stored and accessed through associations.
“To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things everyday.” – Lao Tzu
Neurons provide the capability to develop both knowledge and wisdom. Connections between neurons store associations (penguins associated with Antartica, lions associated with Africa). The strength of individual connections stores context based information priorities (my winter jacket is important in Pennsylvania in December, my winter jacket is not important in Pennsylvania in July).
Neurons provide the human brain with the ability to both store a broad range of information related to any given topic or situation and also prioritize selected bits of information.
The tendency for “learning” is to increase knowledge, or the amount of stored associations.
Wisdom, the effective use of knowledge, is dependent on removing distractions and focusing only on relative information for the current context.
One Purpose:
Consolidate information to generate action.
Two functions:
1) Link information.
2) Prioritize information.
Three Parts:
1) Inputs (dendrites)
2) Body (soma)
3) Output (axon)
Links:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
– Associations are stored in links between neurons (usually synapses, sometimes direct connections).
– Synapses have a gap. Information is transmitted across the gap using proteins (neurotransmitters are released by axons and detected with receptors on dendrites).
Priorities:
The best description I have found on the dynamics and complexity of the neuron can be found here: The Non-Science of Transcendence
– Myelination, receptor density, neurotransmitter concentrations and hormones all produce context specific prioritization of information.
Information sources:
– Principles of Neural Science
– The Non-Science of Transcendence (excellent article on the complexity of the neuron)