Sharing what I have learned from what I have read: A blog by Joe Abittan
Daniel Kahneman presents research from University of Pennsylvania economists Devin Pope and Maurice Schweitzer to demonstrate the power of loss aversion in his book Thinking Fast and Slow. Pope and Schweitzer specifically look at golf, and how professional golfers perform when putting to demonstrate that loss aversion factors into the golfers' performance, a conclusion that … Continue reading Loss Aversion & Golf
Regression to the mean is seriously underrated. In sports, stock market funds, and biological trends like generational height differences, regression to the mean is a powerful, yet misunderstood phenomenon. A rookie athlete may have a standout first year, only to perform less spectacularly the following year. An index fund may outperform all others one year, … Continue reading Praise, Punishment, & Regression to the Mean
We are in the middle of a global health pandemic, but it comes at a time when companies are starting to radically re-think the work environments they set up for their employees. I worked for a time for a tech company based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and saw first hand the changing … Continue reading Performance and Mood
I grew up playing basketball and one thing coaches always tell players is that they have to have confidence when they shoot the ball. If you shoot while thinking I hope I don't miss, then you are going to miss. If you are worried about being yelled at for missing a shot and if you … Continue reading Ideomotor Effect
In the world of sports, I have always enjoyed the saying that someone is so good at something they make it look easy. While I usually hear the saying in relation to physical activity, it also extends to other generally challenging activities – Kobe made the fadeaway jumper look easy, Tyler Cowen makes blogging look … Continue reading Skill Versus Effort
The big problem with multitasking is that our brains literally cannot do it. Our brains don't work on multiple problems at the same time, instead, our brains switch between tasks rapidly to make it seem like we are multitasking. What we are really doing, however, is inconsistently working on one task for short bursts. … Continue reading Switching Tasks
My last two posts have been about deep work and shallow work, with one post looking at what deep work really entails, and one post considering when you should plan your shallow work relative to your deep work. Today's post is more directly on the costs of shallow work. Yesterday's post discussed the importance of … Continue reading Shallow Work and the Permanent Cost of Distraction
"The Inspiration Paradox – the idea that innovation and creativity are greatest when we are not at our best, at least with respect to our circadian rhythms," is an idea that Daniel Pink writes about in his book When. Time is important for us human beings. We all have experienced first hand how frustrating it … Continue reading Afternoon Creativity – The Inspiration Paradox
Dan Pink looks at earnings calls for major companies in his book When. It turns out, for major companies reporting earnings on conference calls, scheduling for the early morning is best. Pink writes, "afternoon calls were more negative, irritable, and combative than morning calls." In the book, Pink explores how we react to the day and … Continue reading Economics Suggests We Should Change Our Routines
Much of our life, especially if we spend a good amount of time engaging with social media, can feel like a performance of some kind. We have performance evaluations at work, we want to get that photo just right before we post it, and there are mirrors and people everywhere at the gym so it … Continue reading Performances