Visualizzazione post con etichetta david mcraney you are not so smart. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta david mcraney you are not so smart. Mostra tutti i post

martedì 15 agosto 2017

Il procastinatore


La maledizione delle proroghe per il commercialista procastinatore

Il procrastinatore non è un pigro, semplicemente non sa come funziona la sua mente e la mente umana in generale. D’altronde esiste una spiegazione evoluzionistica a questa diffusa distorsione cognitiva. Ma vediamo meglio di cosa si tratta.
Quel che la gente crede: tu rinvii le cose perché sei pigro e/o non sai organizzare il tuo tempo.
Sbagliato!
La realtà: tu rinvii perché non sai respingere una tentazione, non sai pensare a come pensa il tuo cervello e mettere delle toppe dove ci sono delle falle.
Anche se parlando ho in mente il commercialista, non è che in altri ambiti della nostra vita il procastinatore non imperversi.
Tanti di noi comprano una massa di libri accumulandoli sul comodino, oppure una quantità di film accatastandoli vicino al videoregistratore rinviando a data da destinarsi la lettura o la visione.
All’atto dell’acquisto di solito optiamo per la qualità ma poi la sera, quando dobbiamo metterci in concreto a leggere o a guardare un film, scegliamo la spazzatura rinviando i consumi qualitativi all’indomani.
Al supermercato riempiamo con fare compiaciuto il carrello di cibi dietetici ma alla sera aprendo il frigo, dopo aver soppesato le varie alternative, optiamo per il solito Vortice Perugina. Siamo un po’ tutti procrastinatori.
E chi a Natale non aspetta l’ultimo giorno per fare i regali?
Abbiamo tanti libri bellissimi, tanti film  raffinati e cibi di prima qualità ma c’è sempre qualcosa da fare prima che venga il loro turno.
Potreste anche schedulare tutto su un’agenda ma la cosa non vi aiuterebbe perché il problema non è la gestione del vostro tempo ma il vostro modo sbagliato di pensare.
Conosci te stesso, diceva il saggio.
Pensare il pensiero, ecco la chiave.
Se lo facessimo, scopriremo che la dimensione del futuro ci è fondamentalmente estranea, tutti noi siamo cattivi anticipatori dei nostri  stati mentali.
Se vi offrissero in alternativa 50 euro oggi oppure  51 euro tra un anno come vi orientereste?
Ci state ancora pensando? Forse allora qualcuno di voi sarebbe sorpreso nell’apprendere che un essere puramente logico non avrebbe dubbi: 51 è maggiore di 50 sì o no? E quindi…
Evoluzionisticamente ha senso scegliere l’alternativa più vicina nel tempo, i nostri antenati non dovevano preoccuparsi della pensione o dell’infarto dovuto alla dieta, morivano giovanissimi e fronteggiavano molti pericoli imminenti, cio’ significa che erano interessati solo al breve periodo. Per loro un atteggiamento del genere era giustificato.
Inutile aggiungere che il cervello consegnatoci da loro in eredità e che portiamo orgogliosamente sulla testa era conformato per risolvere i loro problemi e non i nostri.
Uno dei modi più fruttuosi per verificare se rientrate tra i procastinatori consiste nell’osservare come ve la avate di fronte alle scadenze.
La scadenza unica manda nel pallone il procrastinatore: se tutto scade nello stesso giorno lui rinvierà tutto a quel giorno trovandosi poi nelle canne.
Costui, infatti, non sa creare scadenze artificiali scaglionate, è in qualche modo condannato a quelle ufficiali.
Non è pigrizia: il procastinatore lavora più degli altri. Non è mancanza di programmazione: il procastinatore sa tutto per tempo. E’ che poi cade in tentazione e rinvia la conclusione (visto che si puo’).
La confidenza in se stessi non fa che peggiorare le cose. Se ancora non riuscite a capire che rinvierete gli impegni appena ve ne sarà data la possibilità o se diventate idealistici circa il vostro comportamento futuro, non svilupperebbe mai una strategia che affronti nel modo dovuto le vostre debolezze.
In ogni caso la medicina è una sola e ve la ripeto: saper pensare il proprio pensiero, conoscere i punti deboli della mente umana e anticiparne le prevedibili distorsioni.
Torniamo al commercialista e alle scadenze fiscali.  Viviamo un’epoca in cui le proroghe si moltiplicano e questo può essere una maledizione per il procrastinatore. Il rimedio lo abbiamo appena visto, avere la forza mentale di fingere che alcune di queste proroghe, quelle meno giustificate, semplicemente non esistano.
procrastinatori

Il procastinatore


Procrastination – You are Not So Smart – David McRaney
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Punti chiave: Il procastinatore non è un pigro, semplicemente non sa come funziona la mente umana – La spiegazione evoluzionista dello sconto iperbolico –  Meglio scadenze scaglionate che la scadenza unica – Inutile programmare, piuttosto “conosci te stesso”, impara a pensare il tuo pensiero –
***
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THE MISCONCEPTION: You procrastinate because you are lazy and can’t manage your time well. THE TRUTH: Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking.
Note:DESCRIZIONE BIAS
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If you have Sky+, you tend to gradually accumulate a cache of hundreds of films you think you’ll watch one day.
Note:COMPRARE E ACCUMULARE LIBRI SENZA LEGGERLI
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The researchers had a hunch people would go for the junk food first, but plan healthy meals in the future.
Note:SCEGLIAMO LA QUALITÀ MA POI CONSUMIAMO (PRIMA) LA SPAZZATURA
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Many studies over the years have shown you tend to have time-inconsistent preferences.
Note:PREFERENZE INCOERENTI
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With Sky+, the choice of what to watch right now and what to watch later is like chocolate versus carrot sticks.
Note:SKY PLANNER
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You wait until the last minute to buy Christmas presents. You put off seeing the dentist, or getting that thing checked out by the doctor,
Note:REGALI DI NATALE
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There’s a growing list of books you will read one day. Before you do though, maybe you should check your e-mail. You should head over to Facebook too, just to get it out of the way.
Note:C’È SEMPRE QUALCOSA DA FARE PRIMA
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You can buy a daily planner… but these tools alone will not help, because the problem isn’t you are a bad manager of your time—you are a bad tactician in the war inside your brain….
Note:NON È UNA QUESTIONE DI ORGANIZZAZIONE
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Walter Mischel conducted experiments at Stanford University throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s in which he and his researchers offered a bargain to children. The kids sat at a table in front of a bell and some treats. They could pick a pretzel, a cookie, or a giant marshmallow.,,Some made no attempt at self-control and just ate right away…. kids who were able to overcome their desire for short-term reward in favor of a better outcome later weren’t smarter than the other kids, nor were they less gluttonous…. The ones who could hold out ended up with SAT scores that were on average two hundred points higher than scores for the ones who ate the marshmallow….
Note:MARSHMALLOW E SELFCONTROL
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Thinking about thinking—this is the key. In the struggle between should versus want, some people have figured out something crucial: Want never goes away.
Note:IL SEGRETO: PENSARE IL PENSIERO
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You are really bad at predicting your future mental states…Later is a murky place where anything could go wrong…
IL FUTURO CI E’ ESTRANEO
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If I were to offer you £50 now or £100 in a year, which would you take?…A being of pure logic would think, more is more, and pick the higher amount every time, but you aren’t a being of pure logic….
Note:50 OGGI O 100 DOMANI
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The tendency to get more rational when you are forced to wait is called hyperbolic discounting, because your dismissal of the better payoff later diminishes over time and makes a nice slope on a graph.
Note:SCONTO IPERBOLICO
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Evolutionarily it makes sense to always go for the sure bet now; your ancestors didn’t have to think about retirement or heart disease. Your brain evolved in a world where you probably wouldn’t live to meet your grandchildren.
Note:SPIEGAZIONE EVOLUZIONISTA
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One of the best ways to see how bad you are at coping with procrastination is to notice how you deal with deadlines.
Note:SCADENZE
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Klaus Wertenbroch and Dan Ariely. They set up three classes, and each had three weeks to finish three papers. Class A had to turn in all three papers on the last day of class, Class B had to pick three different deadlines and stick to them, and Class C had to turn in one paper a week. Which class had the better grades? Class C, the one with three specific deadlines, did the best. Class B, which had to pick deadlines ahead of time but had complete freedom, did the second best, and the group whose only deadline was the last day, Class A, did the worst.
Note:MEGLIO LE SCADENZE SCAGLIONATE CHE LA SCADENZA UNICA
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If you fail to believe you will procrastinate or become idealistic about how awesome you are at working hard and managing your time, you never develop a strategy for outmaneuvering your own weakness.
Note:LA CONFIDENZA IN SE STESSI PEGGIORA IL PROBLEMA
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You must be adept at thinking about thinking to defeat yourself at procrastination.
Note:LA SOLUZIONE: PENSARE IL PENSIERO
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Capable psychonauts who think about thinking, about states of mind, about set and setting, can get things done not because they have more willpower or drive, but because they know productivity is a game played against a childish primal human predilection
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OVERCOMING BIAS

Catarsi immaginaria

Catarsi immaginaria

Catharsys – You are Not So Smart – David McRaney
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Punti chiave: Lo sfogo violento non ci libera dalla rabbia ma crea piuttosto dipendenza – Strategia alternativa per liberarsi dalla rabbia: imparare a contare fini a dieci – La rieducazione dei carcerati-
***
THE MISCONCEPTION: Venting your anger is an effective way to reduce stress and prevent lashing out at friends and family. THE TRUTH: Venting increases aggressive behavior over time.
DESCRIZIONE DEL BIAS
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Head to the gym and assault a punching bag. Shoot some people in a video game. Scream into a pillow.
Note:SFOGARSI
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The concept of catharsis goes back at least as far as Aristotle and Greek drama.
Note:ARISTOTELE
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was Aristotle’s counterargument to Plato, who felt poetry and drama filled people up with silliness and made them unbalanced.
Note:CONTRO PLATONE
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Balancing the humors—choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine—was the basis of medicine from Hippocrates up to the Old West, and the way you balanced out often meant draining something.
Note:IPPOCRATE
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Thanks to Freud, catharsis theory and psychotherapy became part of psychology…He believed your psyche was poisoned by repressed fears and desires, unresolved arguments, and unhealed wounds….
Note:FREUD
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In the 1990s, psychologist Brad Bushman at Iowa State University decided to study whether or not venting actually worked.
Note:BUSHMAN
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The students could set the volume the other person had to endure, a setting between zero and ten, with ten being 105 decibels. Can you predict what they discovered? On average, the punching bag group set the volume as high as 8.5. The time-out group set it to 2.47. The people who got angry didn’t release their anger on the punching bag—their anger was sustained by it… In subsequent studies where the subjects chose how much chilli sauce the other person had to eat, the punching bag group piled it on….
Note:PIÙ CRUDELE CHI SI SFOGA
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If you think catharsis is good, you are more likely to seek it out when you get pissed. When you vent, you stay angry and are more likely to keep doing aggressive things so you can keep venting.
Note:CONCLUSIONI GENERALI
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you get accustomed to blowing off steam, you become dependent on it. The more effective approach is to just stop.
Note:DIPENDENZA
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Bushman suggests you delay your response, relax or distract yourself with an activity totally incompatible with aggression.
CONTA FINO A DIECI PIUTTOSTO

Di fronte all’ignoranza


Di fronte all’ignoranza


The Argument from Ignorance – You are Not So Smart – David McRaney
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Punti chiave: L‘ignoranza scatena spiegazioni fantasiose – il ruolo della semplicità
***
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THE MISCONCEPTION: When you can’t explain something, you focus on what you can prove. THE TRUTH: When you are unsure of something, you are more likely to accept strange explanations.
Note:DESCRIZIONE DEL BIAS
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It is easy to succumb to mystical thinking when you compare what you know for sure to the vast expanse of things yet unsolved…You’ve probably met people like this, who see things like magnets and Stonehenge as unsolvable mysteries….
Note:IL FASCINO DEL MISTERO
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Most of what gets filed under the realm of the paranormal is the result of people committing the argument-from-ignorance fallacy, or argumentum ad ignorantiam if you prefer the Latin logic terminology.
Note:IL PARANORMALE
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You know this book is in your hands right now, but when you leave the room you can’t be sure it does not come to life and eat your carpet fluff for sustenance.
Note:CHI PUÒ DIRLO?
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The same holds true for leprechauns and unicorns, fairies and the Loch Ness Monster. These things aren’t more likely just because you can’t prove they don’t exist. Lack of proof neither confirms nor denies a proposition.
Note:LA MANCATA CONFUTAZIONE NON È UNA PROVA
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Some people think the Holocaust didn’t happen, or human beings never walked on the moon, but there is plenty of evidence for both. People who refuse to believe such things claim they need more evidence before they can change their minds, but no amount of evidence will satisfy them.
LA PROBABILITÀ NON È MAI DEL 100%
COMMENTO PERSONALE
Spesso sfugge che a decidere in campo scientifico non sono le dimostrazioni e le confutazioni (raramente disponibili in modo convincente) ma la semplicità e l’immediatezza della teoria proposta. Il complottista, per esempio, ha il torto di presentare teorie cervellotiche

Credenziali

Credenziali

The Argument from Authority – You are Not So Smart – David McRaney
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Punti chiave: I titoli cambiano dell’interlocutore cambiano il nostro modo di ascoltarlo – la conoscenza è specifica: la sapienza in un campo non aiuta l’apprendimento in un altro, semmai lo ostacola –
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THE MISCONCEPTION: You are more concerned with the validity of information than the person delivering it. THE TRUTH: The status and credentials of an individual greatly influence your perception of that individual’s message.
Note:  BIAS
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Those who devote their lives to the study or practice of a given idea are worth listening to when it comes to the areas of their expertise, but this doesn’t mean all their opinions are golden.
Note:IL DOTTO FUORI DAL SUO CAMPO
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Today, the ice-pick lobotomy is condemned by medicine as a barbaric and naive approach to dealing with mental illness. The rise and fall of the ice-pick lobotomy had a lot to do with the argument from authority. Freeman and others had jumped the gun on the scientific evidence…This sort of turnover in science is common,…
Note: UNA STORIA ESEMPLARE: LA LOBOTOMIA
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You naturally look to those in power as having something special you lack, a spark of something you would like to see inside yourself. This is why people sometimes subscribe to the beliefs of celebrities
Note:LA SANTITÀ
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If a celebrity footballer tells you to buy a particular brand of batteries, ask yourself if the footballer seems like an expert on electrochemical energy storage units before you take his word.
LE DOMANDE GIUSTE DA FARSI

martedì 17 gennaio 2017

Ribelli in vendita

Selling Out - You are Not So Smart by David McRaney
Molti “ribelli” moderni finiscono per diventare un brand. L’errore è quello di considerare tutto questo un paradosso quando invece si tratta della loro sorte naturale. Sbagliarsi su questo punto significa non cogliere l’ “essenza del capitalismo”.
L'illusione ottica...
... Both consumerism and capitalism are sustained by corporations and advertising...
La credenza corretta...
... Both consumerism and capitalism are driven by competition among consumers for status...
Insomma, il capitalismo non si fonderebbe sui fantomatici bisogni indotti ma sulla competizione tra consumatori.
Ok, ma come si arriva da qui al fatto che il ribelle è destinato alla mercificazione. Calma, un passo alla volta.
Il venditore è sempre in cerca di novità: i ribelli all'ordine costituito – con le loro proposte innovative – sono quindi per lui una miniera d'oro...
... Beatniks, hippies, punk rockers, grunge rats, metal heads, goth kids, hipsters...
Tutti noi attraversiamo una fase giovanile di ribellione...
... Whether you lived through the Summer of Love or South Park, somewhere in your youth you started to realize who was in control, and you rebelled... you sought out something real, something with meaning...
Si tratta di un periodo molto creativo, e spesso sono proprio quelle idee che verranno commercializzate domani. L' esempio del punk...
... Think about an archetypal punk rocker with chains and spikes, gaudy pants and a leather jacket. Yeah, he bought all of those clothes. Someone is making money off of his revolt. That’s the paradox of consumer rebellion—everything is part of the system...
Il "venditore" non aspetta altro: nuove idee per rinnovare completamente il "guardaroba" (e non solo) di una generazione...
...  Every niche opened by rebellion against the mainstream is immediately filled by entrepreneurs who figure out how to make a buck off those who are trying to avoid what the majority of people are buying...
Il cinema recente offre uno spaccato di cultura "contro" che rende benone al botteghino...
... Fight Club, American Beauty, Fast Food Nation, The Corporation, etc. The creators of these works may have had the best intentions, but their work still became a product designed for profit...
Ma anche tra artisti e scrittori il fenomeno è ben evidente...
... Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, Kurt Cobain, Christopher Hitchens—they may have been solely concerned with creating art or illustrating academic principles, but once their output fell into the marketplace, it found its audience, and that audience made them wealthy...
Le t-shirt con Che Guevara sono un classico e "Imagine" di John Lenon, da inno comunista e visionario, è diventata in un amen la muzak ideale per accompagnare gli acquisti al centro commerciale. E, restando in Italia, che dire di Pasolini? L' uomo che denunciò in largo e in lungo lo “sviluppo” facendo la gioia dei suoi editori e del PIL. Paradossi? No, casi di scuola per capire la macchina capitalistica.
Il libro che meglio ha sviscerato il fenomeno: The Rebel Sell di Joseph Heath e Andrew Potter. La tesi...
... you can’t rage against the machine through rebellious consumption....
Non esistono "consumi alternativi". Solo consumi da reinventare continuamente.
Secondo la vulgata bisogna "omologare" per vendere meglio...
... All the interconnected institutions in the marketplace need everyone to conform in order to sell the most products to the most people...
Corollario: ci si salva solo uscendo dal mainstream...
... To escape consumerism and conformity, you must turn your back and ignore the mainstream culture...
Sbagliatissimo, il mercato prospera proprio grazie al "diverso". I mercanti amano e ricercano l' "alternativo", se la giostra riparte sono i primi a beneficiarne...
... The problem, say Heath and Potter, is the system doesn’t give a shit about conformity. In fact, it loves diversity and needs people like hipsters and music snobs so it can thrive...
La parabola di una band indie...
... For example, say there is this awesome band no one knows about except you and a few others. They don’t have a record contract or an album. They just go out there and play, and they are great. You tell everyone about them as they build a decent fan base. They make an album that sells enough copies to allow them to quit their day jobs. That album gets them more gigs and more fans. Soon they have a huge fan base and get a record contract and get on the radio and play on prime time. Now they’ve sold out...
Altri esempi presi a  caso qua e là...
... In the 1960s, it took months before someone figured out they could sell tie-dyed shirts and bell bottoms to anyone who wanted to rebel. In the 1990s, it took weeks to start selling flannel shirts and Doc Martens to anyone anywhere....
Le corporation sguinzagliano i loro osservatori nei centri sociali per capire meglio le tendenze del futuro...
... Now people are hired by corporations to go to bars and clubs and observe what the counterculture is into... The counterculture, the indie fans, and the underground stars—they are the driving force behind capitalism...
Ora l'essenza del capitalismo dovrebbe essere più chiara...
... This brings us to the point: Competition among consumers is the turbine of capitalism...
Cerchiamo di essere i più fighi, e su questa nostra ambizione gira la macchina degli affari...
... As Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like, pointed out in a radio interview, you compete with your peers by one-upping them. You attain status by having better taste in movies and music, by owning more authentic furniture and clothing...so you reveal your unique character through your consumption habits...
Ma è difficile essere i più fighi intruppandosi nella massa, da qui l'ossessione per l'autenticità...
... your desire for authenticity is what moves these items and artists and services and goods up from the bottom to the top—where they can be mass-consumed...
Passata un’ onda si attende la prossima con ansia, e gli innovatori ribelli al conformismo sono proprio quelli che più garantiscono questo dinamismo... "siano benedetti" pensa il mondo del business...
... It is ironic in the sense the very act of trying to run counter to the culture is what creates the next wave of culture people will in turn attempt to counter...
La merce non ha solo un valore intrinseco...
... The value, then, is not intrinsic. The thing itself doesn’t have as much value as the perception of how it was obtained or why it is possessed...
La merce serve anche per competere e nel capitalismo la competizione tra consumatori relativa allo status conta più di quella tra imprese...
... Competition for status is built into the human experience at the biological level. Poor people compete with resources. The middle class competes with selection. The wealthy compete with possessions...
pasolini