Friday 31 January 2014
Thursday 30 January 2014
Wednesday 29 January 2014
Tuesday 28 January 2014
Monday 27 January 2014
John Cleese: “Creativity Isn’t a Talent, It’s a Way of Operating.”
In this classic talk on creativity, John Cleese talks about finding your “open” and “closed” modes of creativity (viewing time = 36 mins, 10 secs.):
via 99U http://ift.tt/1cmeWQt
Sunday 26 January 2014
Saturday 25 January 2014
Friday 24 January 2014
Thursday 23 January 2014
Wednesday 22 January 2014
Tuesday 21 January 2014
“The Boss” On Learning to Delegate
Springsteen recently sat down for an interview with NPR’s Ann Powers (listening time = 1 hour, 18 minutes). In one of our favorite moments, he discusses how he used to work on music, the moment it got to be too much, and how he learned to let go of control — for the better.
[AP:] Do you have to let go at some point? I mean do you have to step back? Your own ego has to retreat and allow for these collaborations …
[BS:] I never let that happen. [Laughs] But what I have gotten used to doing is I do delegate a lot more in the studio than I used to, which is nice because I don’t think I could work the way I did in my 20s when I, we had a little bit of the half-blind leading the blind in that we all went in and just recorded until a record happened.
I remember reading you would be sleeping in the studio in your coat.
Oh, yeah. It was terrible, you know. In truth, it was awful, an awful way to make records but it was the only way we knew how. Everybody simply suffered through it and the endless, endless, endless hours I can’t begin to explain.
We thank you for those hours.
But it was just what it took at the time, you know, I was just very, very much more controlling at the time so I was always there and I always had my hand in everything. Where today, now, you know it’s very similar even with the live show, where I, over the years, have gathered a team of people, where you find people who, when you leave, will advance your thought processes and then come up with things you would not have thought of and you can come back then and you can edit what you feel is great and what you feel might not work.
He goes onto say that after a certain number of times, he just couldn’t work like that anymore. It’s a good example of how many careers may be started by, and go far on, sheer grit at first, but it’s ultimately unsustainable in the long run. At some point, you’re gonna need to find those you can lean on.
Read (or listen) to the rest of the interview here.
via 99U http://ift.tt/1mBGoNU
Monday 20 January 2014
Sunday 19 January 2014
Saturday 18 January 2014
Friday 17 January 2014
Scribe Lets You Copy and Paste Between Your iPhone and Mac
Scribe ($2.99 for mac, free on mobile), a new app for both desktop and mobile, creates a “master clipboard” where you can copy and paste things between the two devices. Just install the app on both devices and use a special shortcut every time you want to send text directly to your phone for easy cutting and pasting.
Great for writer types and for excerpting passages for text messages and emails.
via 99U http://ift.tt/1j7AIII
Thursday 16 January 2014
Wednesday 15 January 2014
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Monday 13 January 2014
Sunday 12 January 2014
Saturday 11 January 2014
Friday 10 January 2014
Thursday 9 January 2014
#labrat: Do Power Naps Improve Creativity?
According to your natural circadian rhythm, you’re at your sleepiest between 2 to 4:00 a.m. and 1 to 3:00 p.m. Sounds like a cruel trick with the way the workday was set up, doesn’t it?
For years I’ve combated the “afternoon slump” with coffee, but studies show that you’re better off giving into the call of sleep for a few minutes than fighting it. In fact, napping has much bigger rewards than caffeine; just 20 minutes is said to provide an alertness boost, with 30 to 60 minutes good for cognitive memory and creativity, and 60 to 90 minutes enough for problem solving.
So we’ve decided to test out 20-minute power naps in the real world of open office plans and 9 to 5’s. Starting on Monday, the 13th, I’ll be power napping (or trying to, anyways) every day and reporting back on what it’s really like to declare it nap time in the middle of your work day. Join us with your own week of afternoon power naps! Follow this post for daily updates and to add yours in the comments, or on Twitter and Instagram using #labrat.
Good luck, and the experiment starts on Monday!
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/2PXCgQkGBhw/labrat-do-power-naps-improve-creativity
Wednesday 8 January 2014
Take This Character Strengths Survey
We take for granted that psychology can diagnose mental illness but what about “diagnosing” strengths? A group of psychologists undertook the project to do just that and the result was the VIA Inventory of Strengths Survey. The survey is the basis of copious amounts of sophisticated research aimed at better understanding job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and how the two can be brought closer together.
One of the research’s biggest findings is the simple conclusion that people who use their character strengths at work generally have greater job satisfaction than those who don’t. The survey is free and takes about 15 minutes to complete. You can complete it here.
Be on the lookout for opportunities where you can harness your strengths in any project or endeavor, even if it’s outside of your normal tasks. If you’re judicious about what you volunteer for and ensure it aligns well with your strengths, you’re likely to make a positive impression, thus setting you up for more opportunities to use your strengths in the future.
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/J6dRh-dS8aM/take-this-character-strengths-survey
Tuesday 7 January 2014
Monday 6 January 2014
Should We All Have A 4-Day Work Week?
Does an extra day at the computer really produce that much more work? Treehouse CEO Ryan Carson thinks the answer is “no” and has structured his company to prove it. From a 2012 post on his blog:
There are so many benefits to working less it’s hard to list them all, but here are the major ones:
- Recruiting is easy (we still pay full salaries and offer a very generous benefits package).
- Retention is easier. One of the Team told me he regularly gets emails from Facebook trying to win him over and his answer is always the same: “Do you work a 4-day week yet?”
- Morale is boosted. On Mondays everyone is fresh and excited – not jaded from working over the weekend.
- I get to spend 50% more time with my kids then almost all other dads (three days versus two). Fifty percent. It’s insane. For those on the Team without kids, they get to spend this extra 50% on their hobbies or loved ones.
Read his entire post here.
via Hacker News.
via 99U http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/The99Percent/~3/PkNyhxcYmJo/should-we-all-have-a-4-day-work-week