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- The Smarter Brain: How Intelligence Kills Genius, Stop Trying to Be Productive, Why Leisure Doesn’t Benefit Everyone
The Smarter Brain: How Intelligence Kills Genius, Stop Trying to Be Productive, Why Leisure Doesn’t Benefit Everyone
Mario Peshev
November 13, 2021
Free Edition | Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins
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Quote Worth Thinking About On...
Achievement
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
— Vincent Van Gogh, Painter
Ideas Worth Exploring
1
How Intelligence Kills Genius
Researcher Alexey Guzey laments that we are missing out on the visionary work of real geniuses. He suggests that today's geniuses were “killed by the concept of intelligence.”
“The first requirement to do genius-level work is to not be afraid to do things only geniuses can do, i.e. to have the internal feeling of being better than everyone else in the world...The concept of intelligence kills this feeling.”
“I know a few people who I believe to be geniuses...They all tell me that there are people smarter than them and that they’re “only pretty good at one or two things’” But “this is exactly what genius is.”
Big idea: Being too conscious of intelligence may hinder geniuses from recognizing their own unique abilities.
Source: Alexey Guzey, AlexeyGuzey.com (2 min read) 2
Stop Trying to Be Productive
The quest to optimize time and boost productivity often leaves us empty and exhausted. That's because productivity is simply an end result. It’s how you get there that makes the difference.
The key is to practice focus, and gain satisfaction from it, rather than use focus as simply another productivity technique.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, refers to the focused state as "flow," Here, "a person enters a state of deep engagement with whatever they are focused on.
"By separating focus from results and seeing it in a more accurate light, we are able to free ourselves from a tyrannical, never-ending onslaught of expectation. We can learn to enjoy ourselves in a focused state...once you can learn to enjoy and practice focus in and of itself, outcomes will naturally increase both in quality and quantity.”
Big idea: The best way to achieve productivity is not to chase it, but to practice focus in your work.
Source: Finn, Medium (10 min read) 3
Why Leisure Doesn’t Benefit Everyone (Study)
“Engagement in leisure offers a host of benefits for mental and physical health, yet many people view leisure as wasteful and unproductive.” Ironically, it is those who look down at leisure time who are least likely to benefit from it.
“In a series of studies, researchers examined the effects of a common belief in modern society: that productivity is the ultimate goal and time's a-wasting if you're just having fun.”
People who agreed strongly that leisure is a waste of time “not only enjoyed leisure less, but also reported poorer mental health outcomes.”
Big idea: Studies have shown that “if people start to believe that leisure is wasteful, they may end up being more depressed and more stressed.”
Source: Tonietto, et al (2021) Viewing Leisure As Wasteful Undermines Enjoyment Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
What I'm Thinking About: Every villain is a hero in his own mind.
Hope you have a productive week ahead,
Mayo, Founding Editor
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