Thursday 31 October 2013
The 20% Rule of Internet Browsing
Willpower consumes energy. Instead of resisting every single impulse, it could be more beneficial in overall output to give in on the occasion and take an unobtrusive break.
Atlantic contributor Rebecca Greenfield writes:
“People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration,” researcher Dr. Brent Coker told Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng. “Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a day’s work, and as a result, increased productivity.” The research found that those who spent less than 20 percent of their time perusing the Internet’s silly offerings were 9 percent more productive than those who resist going online.
Not only does a brain reset help you get through the day, but resisting the urge to go online negatively impacts your work, according a Harvard Business School study. The researchers suggested that energy spent resisting the Internet’s allure takes attention away from other tasks.
That’s not to say you should attempt to multi-task or take frequent breaks. As mentioned earlier, the key is to spend less than 20 percent of your time on the internet browsing “silly things.” As the piece goes on to explain what happens if that balance is not kept:
But for all the studies urging you to click over to Facebook, others have found that your leisure time is costing companies. “Internet misuse in the workplace costs American corporations more than $178 billion annually in lost productivity. This translates into a loss of more than $5,000 per employee per year,” reported Reuters in 2007. A 2002 BBC report found similar numbers. “A company that makes £700,000 profit on a turnover of £10-12m could be losing 15 percent of its profits because of abuse of net and e-mail abuse.”
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/4ogneoMSMg4/the-20-rule-of-internet-browsing
Wednesday 30 October 2013
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Monday 28 October 2013
Sunday 27 October 2013
Saturday 26 October 2013
Friday 25 October 2013
Thursday 24 October 2013
Wednesday 23 October 2013
Change 12 Habits One-by-One and Change Your Life
“Take it one step at a time” is good advice for most things in life, but particularly when it comes to habit change. Yet the typical approach is often to try to change all our bad habits at once. For example: We try to quit drinking and go to bed earlier and start exercising regularly. But rather than speeding the change process, this actually sabotages it.
Scott H. Young describes a significantly more effective (but counter-intuitive) approach in our new 99U book. Changing your habits serially, rather than simultaneously:
A smarter strategy is to implement each new habit successively, focusing on just one new habit a month. The first month you focus on waking up earlier. The second month on regular exercise. The third month on a new system for your work. Although thirty days may not be enough time to form a new default habit (one study suggests 66 days as a median time for habituation), it will at least mean the habit requires less effort to pick back up in case of a setback.
Some people might see this approach as being prohibitively slow, but in practice, doing habits one month at a time is fast. In one year you could:
- Wake up earlier
- Exercise regularly
- Eat properly
- Set up a productivity system
- Establish deliberate practice time for your craft
- Become more organized
- Read a book per month
- Cut out wasteful Internet surfing
- Keep your e-mail inbox empty
- Cut down on television
- Learn a new skill
- Maintain a journal or diary
Even if you only accomplished a quarter of this list, my guess is you could make significant gains in your life. The focus principle for habit change isn’t actually slow. In fact, it’s much faster than the alternative.
You can read the full essay from Scott, as well as contributions from Joshua Foer, Teresa Amabile, Scott Belsky, and more, in Maximize Your Potential , the latest addition to our 99U book series.
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/Qj3ViLbx3V4/change-12-habits-one-by-one-and-change-your-life
Tuesday 22 October 2013
Monday 21 October 2013
Sunday 20 October 2013
Saturday 19 October 2013
Friday 18 October 2013
Thursday 17 October 2013
Wednesday 16 October 2013
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Monday 14 October 2013
Jack Dorsey and the Themed Day
Jack Dorsey, speaking at the 2010 99U Conference.
At one point, entrepreneur Jack Dorsey was the full-time CEO of both Square and Twitter, with two 8-hour “shifts” each day. So how did he do it? He had themed days. From Buffer:
Jack’s trick in staying productive while putting in such long hours is to theme his days. Each weekday is dedicated to a particular area of the business at both companies. Here’s what his themed week looks like:
Monday: Management and running the company
Tuesday: Product
Wednesday: Marketing and communications, growth
Thursday: Developers and partnerships
Friday: Company culture and recruiting
See more routines from entrepreneurs over on Buffer’s blog. While we’re likely not running two fast-growing tech companies, there’s benefits for all of us in focusing on a single task.
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/1b3yzE6He5I/jack-dorsey-and-the-themed-day
Sunday 13 October 2013
Saturday 12 October 2013
Friday 11 October 2013
Thursday 10 October 2013
Wednesday 9 October 2013
Emotionally, We’re a Bunch of Seven-Year-Olds
Zen Pencils has illustrated a rant by comedian Marc Maron about our addiction to our phones and social media and the conclusion hits close to home. In short, we post to these networks because we’d crave acknowledgement by the outside world. As a result, with every like and retweet we feel a ping of happiness that keeps us coming back for more “connections” with the outside world. Next time you mindlessly reach for your phone, ask yourself: are you doing it to accomplish something or are you just seeking acknowledgment?
Read the entire comic here.
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/eW9LJlHr3Uo/emotionally-were-a-bunch-of-seven-year-olds
Tuesday 8 October 2013
Monday 7 October 2013
What’s Your Color Vision Deficiency? Take the Test.
X-Rite and Pantone came together to make The Color Test, a free, online color-perception test. It takes around five minutes and can be challenging, but offers insight well past if you’re simply color blind or not. You’re graded out of 100 and shown where (and to what extent) your color problem areas are.
Fair warning: for those working in, or with, designers, the competition as you pass this around the office can get a little fierce. Let us know your scores!
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/1pgQxVKyu8M/whats-your-color-vision-deficiency-take-the-test