In chemistry, there’s the idea of an activation cost. This is the threshold of energy you need to surpass to start a chemical reaction. Dynamite, for example, contains a lot of energy. But unless a spark or lit fuse pays the activation cost it won’t explode. Life also has activation costs. There are many pursuits […]
When You Should Fix Your Weaknesses
“Focus on your strengths,” is now standard advice. Along with “be yourself” and “follow your passions”, it is one of those snippets of wisdom we rarely question. Unfortunately, it’s also wrong in enough cases to be worth questioning. A better question to ask would be: when should you focus on your strengths? If you understand […]
Society’s Attention Deficit – Praise for Deep Thinking in the Era of Shallowness
Could the internet be making us stupider? Cal Newport suggests it might. He shares recent research that shows electronic multitasking results in poorer performance on cognitive tasks. No surprise there: being on Facebook or Twitter won’t help you concentrate. The interesting finding however, was that chronic multitaskers perform significantly worse on tasks even when they […]
If You’re So Smart, Why is Your Life Still a Mess?
Normally, more intelligence is a good thing. Yes, we all know examples of the anxious overthinker or the scholastic introvert who can’t get a date. But, for the most part, being smarter helps in life. However, I’ve noticed one problem that mostly strikes really smart people. The smarter you are, the more likely you are […]