Tag: focus

Thoughts on addictive technology

October 4, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Some thoughts on why I have permanently altered my relationship with my smartphone and social media (which will henceforth be referred to collectively as “technology”). 

Technology is a slot machine

Gambling addictions are insidious and ruin people’s lives. While there is no immediately financial consequence from using your smartphone, the same mechanisms that empower gambling addictions from slot machines are at play in smartphones — instead of wasting away your money however, you are wasting away your time and attention.

A smartphone is a slot machine, but one that several billion people around the world play 150 times a day. Just like with casino slot machines, social media applications on your smartphone utilize intermittent variable rewards: the occasional “like” on a photo or the periodic notification from a text message. App designers, like casino engineers, know that addictiveness is maximized when the rate of reward is most variable.

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Extreme Ownership

September 23, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Extreme Ownership is a book written by two former Navy SEALs, Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, about their experiences and trials while serving in the Iraq War. The two propose a doctrine of “extreme ownership,” the idea that the leader is truly and ultimately responsible for everything in his or her world. While extreme ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility, it is an outlook that will propagate itself through the entire team and lead to success.

These lessons are not only applicable for the military world, but for regular people in their own lives — as Jocko says, “… combat is reflective of life, only amplified and intensified. Decisions have immediate consequences, and everything — absolutely everything — is at stake” (12).

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On continuous learning

July 5, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Why am I obsessed with continuous learning? Here are some reasons:

Sharpen the sword

The mind is like a sword. When meticulously maintained, the sharp blade is effective and efficient. But the sword — no matter how finely-crafted — dulls over time; this is just like how the mind’s abilities deteriorate with inactivity. Learning is the whetstone which sharpens the mind and restores it to its full potential.

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On focus

January 1, 2017 / / 0 Comments

One of my new priorities in life is to practice and train my focus. Focus is a skill, and like all skills, focus is strengthened through deliberate training; this also means that focus atrophies when you neglect to practice it. Recently, I’ve found that my ability to maintain focused concentration — and as such, my ability to produce my best work — has diminished from what it was in my prime. After taking the time to read Cal Newport’s Deep Work (yet again), I have re-dedicated myself to rediscovering my previous focus through a variety of deliberate changes.

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