From productivity porn to mindful productivity
Our desire to be more productive can turn into a harmful addition to productivity content: a phenomenon known as productivity porn.
«When we don’t feel like working, planning and reading act as illusionary substitutes: they give us the illusion of productivity.»
More from Ness Labs
Building an antilibrary: the power of unread books
Unread books can be as powerful as the ones we have read, if we choose to consider them in the right light.
«the more you read, the more you will expand your perimeter of knowledge, and the more unread books will be added to your antilibrary. It is not a bad thing, it means you are progressively turning unknown unknowns into known unknowns.»
The psychology of unfinished tasks
Unfinished tasks can overwhelm us or motivate us. These contradictory experiences are due to the Zeigarnik and the Ovsiankina effects.
«compared to a task that has not yet been started, individuals have a stronger urge to complete interrupted or unfinished assignments.»
The science of curiosity: why we keep asking “why” July 24, 2019 In Creativity
Children have an incredibly inquisitive mind. “Why?” they keep asking. But it seems that as adults we tend to fall into fixed and convenient cognitive patterns.
Single-tasking: the power of focusing on one task at a time
Trying to multitask can not only hurt our productivity, but also our ability to learn. Fortunately, there is an alternative way to boost your efficiency: single-tasking.
«That’s why multitasking leads to decrements in performance when compared to performing tasks one at a time.»
False compromise fallacy: why the middle ground is not always the best
It can be tempting to seek the middle ground. But the false compromise fallacy can lead to misleading conclusions and poor decision making.
«“best of both worlds” instead.»
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