Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin
Techniques to help you think better (google tech talk) (youtube.com)
4 points by dpatru on Dec 3, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 1 comment


Here's what I got out of the video:

_Principles_ 1. Stress hurts problem solving. So minimize stress. Best state is to be a little happy. 2. Creativity is the ability to notice faint connections/associations. It helps to be calm and to dampen first responses.

_Useful Techniques to Calm Down_ 1. Label your experiences and feelings. It helps to dampen the feelings and engage reasoning. 2. Reappraise stressful experiences. Ask how can I see this experience differently? Find something humorous.

_Useful Habits_ 1. Pay attention to how you're thinking. Practice for a few minutes a week being in the two modes of thinking (direct and narrative). Direct thinking: focus on sensory information without judging it. Narative thinking: Analyze, label, reason, narrate. 2. Social pain and pleasure is as real as physical pain and pleasure. Notice changes in Status, Certainty, Autonomy (availability of choices), Relatedness (are the two in the same group or different group?), and Fairness. Changes in these cause stress in people. When you experience changes in these practice labeling and reappraising to reduce the stress. Avoid stressing out others in these ways.

_Insight_ When the Dali Lama was asked, "Why are you so happy?" He answered, "Because it feels better."




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: