Any given day, we base about 40 percent of what we do on habits. Habits send us into routines where we don’t need active thinking. Some such habits save us from always thinking about to do each day. This way we don’ waste mental energy getting ready in the morning, having lunch at work, and more. But they can also, slowly but surely, send us in the wrong direction one...
Last week, I did something rewarding and simple. I booked two meetings with very knowledgeable and nice people, Hanna from TetraPak and Fredrik from IKEA. We sat down on two separate mornings, had our black coffee, and enjoyed the sheer pleasure of talking uninterrupted for an hour or two about our work challenges and potential roads ahead. It doesn't matter if our companies employ 2.000, 20.000, or 200.000 people -...
“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower The productivity paradox states that even if we give workers new tools from the rapidly developing IT sector, their productivity slows down instead of speeding up. Some argue that we are way past this today, or that we are moving towards a split between GDP and gains in human welfare, but Dan Nixon at...
Since I joined the fabulous Mental Model of the Month Club, we have started going through 12 major mental models. The first is 80/20, where the material helps us analyze how each area of our lives can improve. For example, which 20% of actions will give you 80% of the energy for the rest of the day? Or which 20% of the tasks at work deliver 80% of your most...
After I was recommended Ray Dalio’s book ‘Principles’ by many others, I decided to read it. After all, I should not miss an author that people refer to as having written a revolutionary book. One one hand I share the enthusiasm for Ray’s way of turning simple to-dos into principles and algorithms. Once you start doing this your life can change. On the other hand, I think we should complement...
We all want to make smart investments, and there are many ways of doing so. One, for many probably a surprising way, is by knowing your liberal arts too. Yes, of course, traders can make money without knowing the companies and just act at Buy and Sell. But to see your money grow big time thanks to compound interest, it can take more. An interesting perspective on this is presented...
On my quest to understand the world and the human nature, I just read ’Peak’ by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool. They describe the research behind the (in)famous 10,000-hour rule, and what experts do differently from others. It is a fascinating read that focuses on skills like memorizing long number chains, working as an expert surgeon, or becoming a chess master, violin virtuoso, or tennis pro. People who have achieved...
This week, I received the news telling me about LinkedIn’s Resume Assistant. At first, it didn’t bother me, but after a while, I returned to it. On one level I thought such a tool might be great for people starting their careers but then again not since you are basically copying what others have expressed. On another level, this makes me wonder about some bigger questions: If you want to...
Thanks to Clark Quinn’s article Two good books on learning, I decided to read one of his recommendations: Benedict Carey’s How We Learn. It turns out the book is quite focused on the way students learn in school, and on a brain focused cognitive science view of learning. Benedict divides his book into four sections: The cognitive basis of learning, based on how the brain works. Techniques to help us...
During several years, I have engaged in Harold Jarche’s Personal Knowledge Mastery (PKM), especially via his PKM workshop. It has helped me not only to revise my methods on how to understand the world. It has also placed me in the driver’s seat regarding how I seek information, make sense of it, and lastly share it. A clear example is my e-book “How to avoid information overload using social media...
