How to Think

Managing brain resources in an age of complexity.

When I applied for my faculty job at the MIT Media Lab, I had to write a teaching statement. One of the things I proposed was to teach a class called "How to Think," which would focus on how to be creative, thoughtful, and powerful in a world where problems are extremely complex, targets are continuously moving, and our brains often seem like nodes of enormous networks that constantly reconfigure. In the process of thinking about this, I composed 10 rules, which I sometimes share with students. I've listed them here, followed by some practical advice on implementation.

1. Synthesize new ideas constantly. Never read passively. Annotate, model, think, and synthesize while you read, even when you're reading what you conceive to be introductory stuff. That way, you will always aim towards understanding things at a resolution fine enough for you to be creative.

2. Learn how to learn (rapidly). One of the most important talents for the 21st century is the ability to learn almost anything instantly, so cultivate this talent. Be able to rapidly prototype ideas. Know how your brain works. (I often need a 20-minute power nap after loading a lot into my brain, followed by half a cup of coffee. Knowing how my brain operates enables me to use it well.)

3. Work backward from your goal. Or else you may never get there. If you work forward, you may invent something profound--or you might not. If you work backward, then you have at least directed your efforts at something important to you.

4. Always have a long-term plan. Even if you change it every day. The act of making the plan alone is worth it. And even if you revise it often, you're guaranteed to be learning something.

5. Make contingency maps. Draw all the things you need to do on a big piece of paper, and find out which things depend on other things. Then, find the things that are not dependent on anything but have the most dependents, and finish them first.

6. Collaborate.

7. Make your mistakes quickly. You may mess things up on the first try, but do it fast, and then move on. Document what led to the error so that you learn what to recognize, and then move on. Get the mistakes out of the way. As Shakespeare put it, "Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."

8. As you develop skills, write up best-practices protocols. That way, when you return to something you've done, you can make it routine. Instinctualize conscious control.

9. Document everything obsessively. If you don't record it, it may never have an impact on the world. Much of creativity is learning how to see things properly. Most profound scientific discoveries are surprises. But if you don't document and digest every observation and learn to trust your eyes, then you will not know when you have seen a surprise.

10. Keep it simple. If it looks like something hard to engineer, it probably is. If you can spend two days thinking of ways to make it 10 times simpler, do it. It will work better, be more reliable, and have a bigger impact on the world. And learn, if only to know what has failed before. Remember the old saying, "Six months in the lab can save an afternoon in the library."

Two practical notes. The first is in the arena of time management. I really like what I calllogarithmic time planning, in which events that are close at hand are scheduled with finer resolution than events that are far off. For example, things that happen tomorrow should be scheduled down to the minute, things that happen next week should be scheduled down to the hour, and things that happen next year should be scheduled down to the day. Why do all calendar programs force you to pick the exact minute something happens when you are trying to schedule it a year out? I just use a word processor to schedule all my events, tasks, and commitments, with resolution fading away the farther I look into the future. (It would be nice, though, to have a software tool that would gently help you make the schedule higher-resolution as time passes...)

The second practical note: I find it really useful to write and draw while talking with someone, composing conversation summaries on pieces of paper or pages of notepads. I often use plenty of color annotation to highlight salient points. At the end of the conversation, I digitally photograph the piece of paper so that I capture the entire flow of the conversation and the thoughts that emerged. The person I've conversed with usually gets to keep the original piece of paper, and the digital photograph is uploaded to my computer for keyword tagging and archiving. This way I can call up all the images, sketches, ideas, references, and action items from a brief note that I took during a five-minute meeting at a coffee shop years ago--at a touch, on my laptop. With 10-megapixel cameras costing just over $100, you can easily capture a dozen full pages in a single shot, in just a second.

EDWARD BOYDEN 11/13/2007

holiays

its only after my accident that i realised, i needed some holidays.. 22 days after my accident, am much better now. I can walk, and most of wounds are healing quickly. I think i was really lucky to have such an escape from that accident. well, work will be resuming in 3 days, and i am ready to bring about the changes.. peace of mind, time to think, and understanding my present status was what i got from these holidays... i would say, a curse turning out to be a blessing in disguise :)

post exams period

11th of May: Exams OVER!!

last exams day party

adishas birthday party

partying at tamils

partying at kevinss

billan: perdi son ek zimaz..

no idea how I came on bed..

12th of May:

I start with a different kind of morning. without stress.. without revision.. without any worries for assignment, report, test, presentation or exams..

phewww!!!

Visit in the fields at Robinson

Friday 13th of May:

interview

2 interviews

N congrats I have already got a job..

well, friday the 13th proved to be lucky..

its jst that there is nothing boring in my life for the time being..

AND AM STILL ON THIS GREAT ADVENTURE :)

exams

some days are jst too gud to concentrate on the revision.. and some days are jst too bad, jst like nw, a few hours before exams, i jst dont wanna revise.. anyways, emerging crop technologies, be something like easy, so that i can overpass u.. mechanisation in mauritius, what are the contributions of government versus private sector.. we have the govt who has removed al duties when importing mechanical implements and tractors. spmpc provides hiring facilities to small farmers of sugarcane.. medine sugar state first started mechanisation, and is known as the pioneer of mechanisation. For potato mechanisation we have Freshlink Co ltd who provides mechanisation facilities in the region of Vacoas to potato planter.. but here we also have parastatal organisations... what then?? potato production--> mechanisation.. from start to chips.. lol... hmm, we have the tillage, furrowing, then windrowing, followed by planting with fertilisation at the same time.. then again, we have sort of windrowing which is also known as harvesting at that time. there is separating done, sorting followed bagging and storage.. this is basically what we have in potato mechanisation... i jst dont feel bored anymore about agriculture nowadays.. it jst seems to captivate more and more... I am loving it.. whats the special reason??

Lets come to GH, we have different types of GH, A frame, protected structures, gables, quonset, truss GH, sawtooth, lean to gh, gutter connected GH.. hmm, so am pretty good if i do remember these things.. lol... and then we have the mini tunnels mainly for strawberries, they are used to protect crops from high sunlight. people cannot enter in it and they need to remove the structure before accessing the crops.. the mini tunnels, generally dont have much characteristics. they are here to protect against wind and sunlight. people can walk in low tunnels. high tunnels are much higher in size 3 to 4m.. we have the greenhouses then, where we have several controlled conditions..

greenhouse construction, in terms of cladding materials, light control (sunlight and artificial light). Carbon dioxide enrichment, but we dont have CO2 enrichment in mauritius because, we are in a hot country where we require proper ventilation systems, which will drive away all the CO2 present.. thus causing unnecessary costs. and having adverse effect on profitability. irrigation system, either closed or open system.. normally all farmers use open system. open system is easier to use compared to without extra costs, but causes harm to the environment. we dont require to pay extra skilled workers for management of irrigation systems, no requirement of mixing and adjusting nutrient solutions. no extra costs in terms of electricity, less chances of contaminants and spread of diseases. and most important, it is much cheaper compared to closed water systems. some disadvantages, water is lost as leachate, loss of nutrient solution, where we need to buy fertilisers again, and water is a scarce resource. closed water sytems require use of skilled workers, we need to adjust nutrient solutions in terms of pH and electrical conductivity. closed water systems need electricity, and in case power failure, power generators should be readily available. pumps need to be bought together with additional pipes to connect used nutrient solution to the main tank supplying nutrient solution. farmers hesitate to go towards closed water system. one advantage is that, it is an automatic system. so this was about irrigation, we have the nutrient film technique, and substrate hydroponics: where nutrient film technique involves growing of crops using water and nutrients only, and the solution just keeps running through the system, during several cycles. the plants have to absorb the solution. basicallt, a pump is required, and also the pH and EC needs to be adjusted very often. There is better chances of contamination or spread of diseases and all the plants get contaminated, as the same solution runs throughout all the plants. water is an important resource, in a country like mauritius where we are suffering from droughts since a long time, we cannot waste water.. but one point is that, water is available easily and locally compared to substrates... substrates, need to be bought, in mauritius we mostly use cocopeat, coming from coconut.. but though having coconut in mru, we have to import them, because it contains resins.. this is a disadvantage such that we will be paying freight cost, and it wont be readily and locally available. the medias need to sanitsed and disinfected, before being used. sometimes medias dont have all the characteristics that we require, then we have to mix 2 medias together.. eg. we have perlite which has a good retention capacity, but allows no air to be present, this creates problem such as lack of oxygen to plants, which eventually kills the plants. then we have to add macadam, which can accomodate air. some medias jst get decomposed quickly such as wood shavings, and they are too light, they cannot hold the plant properly then. its difficult to pursuade people to go towards nutrient film technique, they tend to grow crops using substrate hydroponics as its easier.. but nft has its word to say as, it nft which has a world record of producing 500 tonnes of tomatoes from a tomato plant using water culture system. so basically without revising i can manage in half of the things in this module.. now i ve got to see a bit of cladding materials, cooling and aeration... light and temperature. the different crops grown, which are tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, melon, strawberry. et VOILA that is all.. In 6 hrs, its more than enough.. I just hope, i am able to write sense in the exams.. thats my only fear god....... plz help me out..

10 Healthy Reasons Why Beer is Good for your Health

1. Beer Reduces Stress
Alcohol in general has been shown to reduce stress. This one is obvious, and may be the best reason beer is good for your health.


2. Beer is Good for the Heart
A study was conducted from 1982 - 1996 on the elderly. It was found that those who drank at least 1.5 per day had a 20-50 percent less chance of having heart failure.


3. Beer Improves Blood Circulation
Beer increases your "good" cholesterol, or HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. Its basically a kind of blood fat, so it reduces blood's tendency to clot.


4. Beer is Chock Full o' Fiber
The fiber comes from the cell walls of the malted barley. A liter of beer can have as much as 60% of your daily recommended fiber. The extra fiber will keep you regular and can also lower the risk of heart disease.


5. Beer as a Multi-vitamin
Beer is a significant source of magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, folate, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12


6. Beer can Prevent Strokes
A study published in Stroke magazine in 2001 showed that alcohol drinkers have fewer strokes. Because it thins the blood, it increases the circulation in the brain, thereby protecting from silent strokes which are cause by tiny blood clots.


7. Beer keeps your Brain Young
A large study, published in the December 2001 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, was conducted on elderly italian men and women. It showed that moderate drinkers had a 40% lower risk of mental impairment.


8. Beer is Good for your Liver
Alcohol expands the small blood vessels in the liver. This speeds up metabolism so it can help clean all the toxins out of the liver. This is from Beer Net Publication, April 2001 Biological Institute.


9. Beer Cures Insomnia
Lactoflavin and nicotinic acid, both present in beer, can promote sleep. Also hops are a natural sedative.


10. Beer Fends off Gallstones
According to Professor Oliver James at the University of Newcastle, beer protects against gallstones and kidney stones.

Motivate urself by motivating the world

Never this word was so important in organization as it is on this XXI century. Motivation drives to ideas, drives to communication and drives to “getting things done”. I’ve seen many places ad many teams that it made a difference. It is better to have a motivated person that knows only half of a really non motivated one. While the motivation of this person will take her to do the extra mile, the non motivated will do less and try to drag others with them.

As a peer, team lead or manager it is important that you stick together. Be the point person, try to address the issues and motivate others (and get motivated by them).

Motivation is an interesting concept because it has no formula. Some people is just the money, some is just the colleagues, some is just the challenges and some require all the above to get motivated. Ever situation is a “one off” case. I believe that is worth to try to address singular issues with certain people. Sometimes you can’t solve the problem but the majority of the times, all it takes is just to say the right words and explain the correct things.

This attitude will bring your team close together and your ability to motivate others is often recognized as a great virtue.

(Rufino Joao, 2008)