Human ecology as a formula for success. Formula for success from successful people. It's all about prioritization
How to stop missing deadlines and procrastination, learn to make important decisions and love yourself with the help of mathematics? T&P learned the answer from the author of the recently published book “Think Like a Mathematician” and the popular Coursera course “Learning How to Learn,” Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., consulting engineer and brain stem cell researcher.
If you're good at math, it's much harder to fool you
I have been studying the peculiarities of human thinking for a long time. I'm currently working on a book, Mindshift: How Ordinary and Extraordinary People Have Transformed Their Lives Through Learning - And You Can Too. It focuses on amazing stories of people who have changed their lives and careers through new approaches to learning.
There are many ways to overcome your fear of science and science. Outstanding scientists and brilliant minds tend to learn effective learning techniques early because they begin training almost from infancy. In fact, these learning techniques can be mastered by anyone at any age. If I had not studied a foreign language before, I would not have thought that there were specially structured practical techniques.
When you go to the gym, you use machines to develop your muscles. You don't think you can get killer abs by sitting on the sidewalk every day. The same principle can be applied to mathematics. It helps you develop invisible thinking muscles that can help you in unexpected ways. For example, if I need to hire a store manager or develop an online course, I am more likely to give preference to a candidate with developed analytical thinking. The world is changing, and the ability to cope with technical and mathematical challenges is becoming increasingly important.
Knowledge of natural sciences warns people against “magical thinking”
Mathematics and other sciences can help you make important decisions that will affect your life; they will also help you cope with everyday difficulties. Knowledge of mathematics and science warns people against “magical thinking.” When it comes to salary, sometimes I feel like money will just appear out of thin air and I'll get everything I want without putting in any effort. But this doesn't happen. Money will also not magically appear in the state budget, although, of course, the state often makes us believe otherwise. A natural science background simply makes us smarter and allows us to observe things from a detached perspective. For example, we all know how important good ecology is, and we understand that we should fight to make the world clean and green. However, some green initiatives, such as e-cars, are actually bad for the environment. Simply put, people who have no knowledge of mathematics and science are much easier to fool because they do not know how to look at things with skepticism.
Mathematicians love to teach abstract mathematics, which seems detached from reality, but in fact helps to master skills that can be easily transferred to different professional fields. Studying mathematics in relation to one field, such as accounting, is ineffective because it limits the flexibility of your thinking and prevents you from applying new knowledge and skills in a different context. It's the same as refusing to learn a foreign language - then you artificially forever limit your thinking within the framework of one language. If you're afraid of equations and formulas and don't know how to apply your imagination to them, try thinking of them as poetry. Equations are just a set of coded concepts; in them, as in poetry, there is a deep meaning. Einstein was able to describe the photon using imagination rather than mathematics. It is known that he was not very strong in mathematics and often turned to other mathematicians for help to continue his research. But he had plenty of imagination: he imagined himself as a flying photon and thought about how another photon would perceive him. People's imaginations are much more developed than they think. If you don't think this is for you, then think about this: if you have the imagination to love and raise your child, then you will have the imagination to create a wonderful new world.
There are many books to help you understand mathematics. My favorites are Calculus Made Easy by Sylvanus Thompson and The World According to Wavelets: The Story of a Mathematical Technique in the Making by Barbara Burke. Hubbard and a three-volume edition of Richard Feynman's lectures on physics. All these works help to get acquainted with mathematics from different sides and explain how it relates to reality.
Your success has nothing to do with your level of genius
I decided to get an engineering degree only at 26 years old. This caused me a lot of hatred and caused me a lot of suffering in my first year; Only rare insights encouraged me. It took about a year and a half before I felt like I “could do this.” Before that, I studied Russian, received a scholarship from the service for non-military training of reserve officers and a bachelor's degree in Slavic languages and literature. I had a chance to become an expert in the signal corps, but I hated mathematics and was afraid of it.
If you too are afraid of math and science, you should know that your brain is constantly performing complex calculations, you just don't know it. Thanks to this, you can catch the ball and avoid road potholes in your car. We solve equations and make complex calculations unconsciously and have no idea that we already know the solution because we all have a knack for math and science. We think that mathematics is more complex than the humanities only because it is encoded in formulas and abstract concepts.
I believe there are thousands of “right” ways to educate children, so I don’t gravitate towards any particular school or system. We too often stress that children should approach learning with passion, when in fact learning itself should be something that makes them passionate. Education should cultivate creativity, curiosity and a desire for discovery in students. However, creativity must be supported by solid knowledge of a particular subject. If you don't have a large set of facts in your mind, you're unlikely to make a creative discovery. Although children attend the same school for many years, their achievements do not level out because people's achievements are highly dependent on their social environment and biological predisposition. But in reality, persistence means much more than intelligence. Many "average" people have gone much further than very gifted people.
Your brain is constantly performing complex calculations, you just don't know it.
Talented people also face many challenges: in childhood they are bullied by their classmates, they begin to suppress their abilities and look for problems where there really are none. Talented people are much more likely to fall into procrastination, because in their youth this approach was effective and, as adults, they simply cannot adapt. Students are constantly competing with their more gifted classmates and trying to catch up with them, as a result, they severely limit themselves in the time they can spend on mastering the material, and fall even further behind. You need to accept yourself and your characteristics. If you feel that you are at a dead end, it is better to ask competent people for advice. Before doing this, try to solve the problem yourself, then you will better accept the other person’s explanations. At university, I was angry with my teachers because I didn’t understand anything, although I only needed to take a few independent steps.
I'm sure stupid people exist! I know this for sure, because I myself have been stupid from time to time. Everyone is different: some students are introduced to useful study techniques and still choose not to use them. This doesn't mean they are stupid, but I feel sorry for them because they often deceive themselves about what they are really capable of. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman liked to talk about his IQ of 125 to prove that success is not just a matter of innate genius. He achieved success precisely through persistent study of physics and mathematics for many years.
Rebuilding your brain is not as difficult as it seems
We think in two different modes: focused and diffuse. There is a hypothesis that this is due to the fact that vertebrates had to solve two important tasks simultaneously: monitor the movement of enemies (dispersed mode) and search for food (focused mode). If each hemisphere is focused on a specific type of perception, the chances of survival increase.
In humans, the left hemisphere is associated with focused attention and specializes in logical thinking; the right is responsible for processing emotions, divided attention and social communication. It is impossible to gain a broad understanding of the world without the participation of the right hemisphere. Successful study of the arts and sciences requires alternating two types of thinking. All the insights known in the history of science, as if whispered by someone from above, are associated precisely with the inclusion of a scattered mode of thinking after a long period of concentrated work. The idea that some people are right-brain dominant and others are left-brain dominant is wrong. The brain is very complex. We deceive ourselves when we try to simplify its work. Michael Anderson's wonderful book After Phrenology explains very clearly why a modular approach to understanding brain function is problematic.
I can't believe that students spend nearly 16 years in college before getting a bachelor's degree and yet they don't have a single course on effective teaching. On the other hand, a course on effective teaching in a traditional educational system would look something like this: three weeks would be spent on the history of education, another three on various educational theories, and another three on a course of lectures on how young children learn. It may be only in the last one or two weeks that students will be able to gain some practical skills. Since most teachers are not familiar with neuroscience, they will not be able to teach you anything about such vital things as focused and distracted thinking modes or the pain centers of the brain that make us procrastinate. I think today's students are very lucky to have access to books like Think Like a Mathematician and courses like Learning How to Learn on Coursera. The information that is given there will be useful for any person who is learning something. It would be great if all these approaches were naturally integrated into school and university education. Fortunately, this is already starting to happen.
All insights, as if whispered by someone from above, are associated with the inclusion of a scattered mode of thinking after a long period of concentrated work
Changing university approaches to teaching is like moving a cemetery to another location. We cannot expect this from the dead themselves. I am confident that universities will only be able to change as a result of external pressure. This is why the disruption of mass online learning is so important. This also applies to my course “Learning How to Learn”, which partially duplicates the content of the book “Think Like a Mathematician”. This is the most popular course in the world, with over a million students signing up for it in the last year alone. And for good reason: it contains powerful, useful, and effective ideas that are scientifically proven. So now all changes depend on the people themselves.
Many students still do not know that taking notes in the margins is more effective than simply underlining in a textbook, and simply rereading cannot replace retrieving data from memory. Constantly re-reading notes or a textbook gives the illusion of competence, although if you close the book or notebook, you will realize that there is nothing left in your mind. Instead, test yourself regularly and mentally review the material you've learned.
It is important to clarify that children do not necessarily learn “wrong” in school. Another thing is that some teaching methods are more effective than others, and specialized courses help you become familiar with them. All people are different from each other, the main thing is to independently integrate these approaches into your own life. The first and most important step is to simply stop procrastinating to reduce your stress levels, improve your learning efficiency, and free up plenty of time for fun and relaxation. We procrastinate when we feel uncomfortable doing something. If you are afraid of mathematics, then the very thought of it is painful for you. If you need to start doing math, the pain centers in your brain become active. It is important to clarify here that after you start exercising, the pain disappears. Changes need to be introduced gradually. If your main problem is procrastination, try the Pomodoro method: set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on your work. This will help you focus your attention for a short period of time. During this time, you cannot check social networks, talk on the phone or search for something on the Internet. The secret is that 25 minutes is a short period of time, so you can console yourself with the fact that soon it will all be over and you can get some rest. It is useful to support this method with lists of key tasks for the day (5-10 items) and for the week (up to 20 items) in order to track your progress and not miss important things. Remember to “eat your frogs in the morning,” that is, do your most important and unpleasant work early in the day. Associated with learning mathematics and science is a concept called the “attitude effect.” It refers to moments when an initial idea or thought gets in the way of finding a better idea or solution. Very often this initial impulse leads to the wrong result. When you struggle with a task for a long time, it is this barrier in your thinking that prevents you from finding the right solution. I myself regularly use the methods described in the book - for example, I constantly use the “Pomodoro principle”. Also, when I read non-fiction, I constantly look away and see what I can remember. I think these methods can also help in learning complex abstract concepts, such as philosophy.
Formula for success - advice from successful people!
Lately, I have been carried away by the question “how can I become loved, happy and, in short, a successful person, and so that I have everything, and I don’t get anything for it)))..." I collected advice from famous people who have achieved success and tried to draw up an action plan. This is what happened.
1. Desire
The key to success is desire. And it constantly burns inside me (Al Pacino, theater and film actor, world-famous director)
There is a desire - a thousand ways; no desire - a thousand reasons!
(Peter I, Russian Emperor)
2. Ultimate goal
The road will be mastered by the one going... there (write where) (Lissy Moussa, psychologist, writer)
“Formulate your life credo. - I would formulate it with a phrase from a movie: the main thing is to see the goal and not notice the obstacles. - Does this mean walking over corpses? - This means you can walk through walls. (from an interview with Arkady Kolodkin, President of the National Reserve Bank)
3. Believe in yourself
Never let someone tell you you can't do something. Even me... Okay?! If you have a dream, protect it! People who can't do something will tell you that you can't do it either. If you want something, go and get it! And period! (Will Smith, American actor, musician, Oscar nominee)
You can’t go wrong in any case: say “I can’t” and you won’t be able to, say “I can” and you can (Henry Ford, American industrialist, owner of car factories around the world, inventor)
What one person in the world can do, everyone can do (one of the presuppositions of NLP)
4. Take action!
If there is no wind, take to the oars (Latin proverb)
Anyone can have a good thought while they are taking a shower. But only an active person is able to get out of the shower, dry off and begin to implement it (Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari)
The success of training is determined by changes in behavior. You can't think you've learned anything until you put it into practice (from the book "Everyone's Coach" by Don Shula and Ken Blanchard, global management experts and writers)
A reasonable approach is to use a method and try it out. If it doesn't bring results, admit it frankly and try another method. But in any case - act! (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the most prominent US politicians of the 20th century)
5. Visualization of the goal
Mentally create an image of “a successful yourself who has already achieved your goal” and imagine this “picture” in your mind (one of the presuppositions of NLP)
6. High self-esteem
We would not strive for universal respect so much if we firmly knew that we deserve it (Luc de Vauvenargues, famous French philosopher, moralist, writer)
Confidence is half the victory (V. Korban, Belarusian satirist, translator, fabulist)
It is dangerous to underestimate a person who overestimates himself (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of the most prominent US politicians of the 20th century)
Never get upset if something goes wrong. List all your achievements for the day/week/year. Praise yourself every day. Learn to appreciate your victories and be proud of them! Give yourself gifts (Itzhak Pintosevich, business trainer, coach, writer)
The inevitable must be accepted with dignity (Marlene Dietrich, German and American actress and singer)
Feeling bad about yourself leads to the belief “I don’t deserve.” And with such a conviction, you will never achieve anything.
7. Do what you love (examples: Steve Jobs, William Boeing, Michael Dell, Mark Zuckenberger, Robert Kiyosaki, Al Pacino, Daniel Radcliffe, etc.)
There are no lazy people. There are bad goals - those that don't inspire (Anthony Robbins, writer, entrepreneur, professional speaker, actor, coach, psychologist)
Ideally, a business owner would be well aware of what his strengths are, what gives him entrepreneurial passion. I don’t understand anything about the product, but I understand sales and enjoy organizing them (Evgeny Chichvarkin, Russian millionaire, entrepreneur, co-founder and former co-owner of the Euroset network of cellular communication stores)
Success is the ability to wake up in the morning and fall asleep in the evening, having time to do what you really like in between these two events (Bob Dylan, American songwriter, poet, artist, film actor)
Never do anything for money that you don't enjoy (Bodo Schaefer, multimillionaire businessman, author and financial advisor)
8. Thank yourself for your mistakes!
Failure is the first sign of success. A new enterprise can begin with it. When a child learns to walk, he has to fall many times before he masters this skill. Failure can also be a sign that you are on the path to success. When a pole vaulter fails to reach the winning height, his failure becomes the starting point for a new attempt and shows that no failure is final (Dave Anderson, President of Anderson's LeamToLead)
Victory is the absence of fear of defeat (Robert Kiyosaki, American entrepreneur, investor, writer, teacher)
People, as a rule, blame circumstances that they allegedly cannot control for their troubles. I do not believe in this. People who achieve success look for the circumstances they need, and if they cannot find them, they create them themselves. (George Bernard Shaw, British writer, novelist, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate in literature)
A different scenario does not mean a "worst" scenario. What is death for a caterpillar is birth for a butterfly.
9. Constantly improve your level
Talent is inherent in you by nature; skills can only be developed by devoting many hours to your craft (Will Smith, American actor, musician, Oscar nominee)
Books and plays helped me understand myself and the world around me, some kind of shift occurred, I became more serious (Al Pacino, theater and film actor, world-famous director)
If you want to achieve success, expand your comfort zone - play sports, expand your social circle (Itzhak Pintosevich, business trainer, coach, writer)
10. Think and act globally (examples - Henry Ford and his cars, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright - the invention and adjustment of the world's first airplane, Thomas Edison and his ventilation pipe, Bill Gates - the founding of Microsoft, Jeffrey Ward - Director of Development Strategy SAP technologies, etc.)
We think too narrowly, like a frog at the bottom of a well. She thinks that the sky is as big as the opening of a well. If she comes up, she has a completely different point of view. (Mao Tse-Tung, Chinese statesman and politician)
One sees only a puddle in a puddle, and the other, looking into a puddle, sees stars.
11. If you want to receive, give first
Most people understand success as an acquisition. However, in reality, success begins with the ability to give (Henry Ford, American industrialist, owner of automobile factories around the world, inventor)
Only those who always strive to help others achieve success (Brian Tracy, renowned lecturer and writer on business issues, head of Brian Tracy International / Will Smith, American actor, musician, Oscar nominee)
Tell your loved ones, friends and acquaintances about what you have decided to do to make your life better. Invite them to join you, teach them the positive changes that you have decided to apply in your life. Thus, you will be even better able to master this yourself and acquire useful skills and habits that will change your destiny and help you become successful (Itzhak Pintosevich, business trainer, coach, writer).
At the same time, you will share with the people around you information that may be useful to them - you will “give”!
Success in life has nothing to do with your acquisitions or selfish achievements. The measure of success is what you do for others (Danny Thomas, show business personality)
The only thing a competitor can't steal from you is the relationship between your people and your customers (Ken Blanchard, global management expert, writer)
12. Surround yourself with successful people
Surround yourself with people who have bigger plans and goals than you have.
Where there is no community of interests, there cannot be unity of goals, not to mention unity of actions (Friedrich Engels, German philosopher, social and political figure, one of the founders of Marxism)
You should not discuss your problems with people who cannot help solve them.
Communicate with those who have the qualities you want to possess. In the club “Magic, self-development, the path of the magician, self-improvement”
I wish you all success!
Alain Souchon - Foule Sentimentale
Formula for success in the life of every person lies in his continuous development, revealing his potential, learning new skills and using new opportunities.
From the perspective of development, metaphorically, a person can be represented as a seed, which over time will develop into a powerful and incredibly beautiful tree. For a tree to grow healthy and strong, it needs fertile soil.
Continuing the analogy, we can say that fertile soil for a person is his life situations. The seed in this case is the person himself with his potential capabilities. Whether a person will reveal his potential or not depends entirely on him.
Each of us is already placed in the fertile soil called life. All our surroundings, people, situations, work, and the like contribute to our development. Only the person himself, of his own free will, can strengthen the process of his own development or slow it down.
Since a person cannot fail to develop at all, humanity can be divided into actively and passively developing people.
Active and passive development
For those who are reluctant to embrace their own development, life is perceived as a series of problematic situations that force a person to suffer largely quietly, and in some cases even very loudly.
They struggle with life, it is difficult for them to accept anything new. The philosophy of such people implies the immutability and static nature of their personality. For them, it seems easier to change the world around them than to change themselves.
These people resemble children who dream of driving a car, but do not understand that in order to do this, in addition to the car itself, they need to know the rules of driving, the structure of the car and learn much more.
Likewise, we can want and dream a lot, but by and large we are not ready to have it, because we do not want to change.
This position is unnatural. If we want something new in life, we need to update ourselves.
The shortest way to change a situation is to change yourself
For actively developing people, they are also called successful people, life is perceived as a stream of continuous opportunities where they can realize themselves. For them, life is presented as something interesting, mysterious and beautiful.
The perception of such people allows you to meet every situation with a smile. Luck itself comes their way. These people achieve their goals by changing themselves, their lives and the lives of others, thereby introducing harmony and prosperity into it.
These people recognize and do not resist the law of development - all living things are continuously developing and improving themselves.
The formula for success consists of the following components:
Development
All living things are in continuous development. It is necessary to accept this fact, this is the law of nature. The less a person resists his own development, the better his life.
Responsibility
Take responsibility for your life. If you don't have something, then for some reason it doesn't exist. Every action has its consequences. All our decisions and actions lead us to certain results. If you are not satisfied with the results of your life, do not blame others for this, look at your actions or your own inaction, and you will understand why you have such results.
Thinking
Think positively. Perceive every situation not as another difficulty or mockery of fate, but as an opportunity to improve your life and become stronger, to attract more favorable circumstances to yourself.
Attitude
Treat yourself as a constantly evolving being. See life circumstances as a learning factor. Find new opportunities for yourself in your own development.
Acceptance
Accept every situation in your life, don't fight it. Acceptance does not mean agreement. If you find yourself in a situation where you are insulted and humiliated, then accepting this situation does not at all mean agreeing with such an attitude towards yourself.
Acceptance means stating a fact, it is, it happened. Often we do not accept the very fact of what happened. Rejection makes it impossible to adequately respond to the situation.
This is similar to how a person complains about the heat at noon and experiences resentment and stress about it. Why fight the forces of nature, stand in the sun and complain about fate; isn’t it easier to step into the shade of a branchy tree and enjoy the coolness?
Everyone wants success! Everyone wants to be rich, happy and healthy, so that everything goes smoothly, so that they can achieve any goals they set. But most people, even those who have dreams and even written goals, do not always achieve them. Why? Because they don’t know something important, they don’t take it into account, they don’t do anything so that their goals can be achieved!
There are always mandatory conditions - what you need to do to achieve Success, something without which it is simply impossible! Any Success has its own algorithm, a universal formula that includes the implementation of the laws of Success!
Of course, we are not talking about primitive “success”, such as earning 500 rubles and buying sausages. We consider significant long-term goals that qualitatively change a person’s destiny and the life of society, goals that a person can work towards for more than one year and for the achievement of which he can respect himself. Although, in principle, this algorithm will be valid for achieving absolutely any goals: building a career or your own business, marriage (choosing a soul mate) and starting a family, any goals in sports, creativity, etc.
Let's consider the universal algorithm of Success, something that is always true for every person, something on which any significant result in life directly depends - whether it is the goal of becoming a millionaire, or an Olympic champion.
Formula for Success – “I Want-I Can-Do”
1. “I want” – a clearly formulated Goal and the desire for it!
The first component of the success formula is "Want". It includes setting a goal and turning on the strength of striving for it.
Target- must be formulated as clearly and completely as possible (necessarily on paper), so that the final result is clearly revealed in your mind - what exactly you want to achieve. To work effectively with goals, read:
Striving for the Goal- strength, internal energy, thanks to which a person achieves his goal. The stronger the desire, the faster a person achieves his goal and the greater the obstacles on the way to it he is ready and able to overcome. And vice versa, if the desire is weak, stunted, the very first small obstacle stops the person and he no longer goes anywhere.
The aspiration is intensified - by the formation of powerful motivation for the Goal and technically (there are techniques for igniting aspirations in meditation). How to maximize motivation - read.
2. “I can” – a huge, or better yet, all-consuming Faith in Yourself and your strengths (Power of Confidence)!
If a person has weak, low or simply inadequate self-esteem, if he does not believe in himself or, for example, considers himself, he will not even try to set a significant Goal, because he is obviously sure that he will not achieve it, that he “will not succeed.” " Therefore, it is a determining factor in achieving the goal. Self-esteem should not limit and only if a person is confident in himself and is internally sincerely able to give himself the right to this or that goal, to a significant result, he can achieve it.
Best regards, Vasily
BE – DO – HAVE! This is what the basic life formula looks like .
How do most people understand this formula? Initially, one must possess certain things, such as special talent, money, or extraordinary abilities. Then they will be able to do what they want, and after that they will be what they dreamed of.
How it really happens.
The main thing for a human being is to BE, and not HAVE, or DO. We have what we would like to have because we do what brings success.
We do what needs to be done because we are the people who do it.. People of a certain character, with certain beliefs, values and worldview.
The main driving force that ensures the achievement of everything we want is not what we have, but who we are, what we are, in general, and what we are specifically at the moment when we achieve tangible results in our lives
This is the area where WE need to focus most of our attention.
If our BEING and ACTION correct, then we will definitely have the desired result!
Otherwise, we will have to fight with the life axiom of no change, which says - WITHOUT CHANGING WHO YOU ARE, YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE WHAT YOU ALREADY RECEIVE!
