Completely disagree. Every time my servers are offline it stresses me out, can't sleep, customers yelling at me.
There's nothing worse than downtime! Five nines baby!
Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
11–20 of 66 posts
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've said to myself that I do my best work in the bathroom. Whether sitting on the toilet (sorry) or standing in the shower, it seems that enforced brain idle time can be more productive than "trying". I wonder if there's also a relation to the 'doorway = change of context' in there somewhere? It literally gets you thinking outside the box.
For me it's the shower, running or cycling. Performing some kind of physical task that is largely done on 'auto-pilot' in physical space. A more complex task, such as playing soccer, which requires that I exert physical and mental effort won't produce these results.
Off-topic, even maybe the inverse, one of the things I like about 'more complex' tasks like playing sports, is the single-mindedness that goes with it. It quietens the rest of the world for a time; nothing matters but the immediate, and it takes up 100% of processing to do it justice.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#13"Effortless"
I envy David Robson at the BBC, for whom it is apparently effortless to take time away. Because it certainly isn't without effort for me to not accidentally find myself back at my desk, late in the evening, working on just one more thing.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#14"Effortless" I envy David Robson at the BBC, for whom it is apparently effortless to take time away. Because it certainly isn't without effort for me to not accidentally find myself back at my desk, late in the evening, working on just one more thing.
Come on. It’s meant as a bit of wordplay.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's also the one interesting argument against podcasts. That they take the last remaining moments of doing nothing (vacuuming, doing the dishes, commuting,...) Especially interesting since one of the most popular podcasts is also run by a very reflected meditation proponent (Sam Harris).
It's funny you mention this, I've been thinking about this lately. I make a 1.1 hour sporty bike ride every day and listen to podcasts while doing so, but I'm often asking myself if I should just not do that and instead listen to myself. The same goes for falling asleep, where I used to listen to podcasts but they got replaced by YouTube videos which I just listen to. I remember the time when I dealt with my thoughts…
I’ve never been able to “deal with my thoughts” and also get sleep so since I was able to read I consume fiction before bed to wipe the mental slate clean. Before it was books, now mostly audiobooks or occasionally music so I can keep it dark for my wife. If I can’t do this its usually 1-3 hrs of brain processing worries from the day, next day etc. There must be others like me who can’t just turn off instantly.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#16Silicon Valley is backwards in this regard. There's this mentality of always being busy; I can't help but feel it is a ruse for extroverts to flash their social proof at each other. In Silicon Valley, people always want to seem busier than they actually are, and people who are not busy are seen as inferior.
The next time someone asks if you're working on a side project, say "no". Carefully notice how their interest quickly turns into contempt. Similarly, people don't want to hear that you're "taking it easy" or "doing nothing" this weekend. That's literally all I tell people at work, and it just turns people off.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#17"We don’t give them any specific instructions with regards to what they should or shouldn’t do while resting,” Dewar says. “But questionnaires completed at the end of our experiments suggest that most people simply let their minds wander
In one study, for instance, participants were asked to imagine a past or future event during their break, which appeared to reduce their later recall of the newly learnt material. So it may be safest to avoid any concerted mental effort during our down time.
"
Astounding. I assumed that the high performing test subjects would have used some sort of special memorization technique, but in fact doing and thinking nothing actually wins out.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#18Using this to excuse my 6+ hour Cities Skylines binge on a Sunday.
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#19Completely disagree. Every time my servers are offline it stresses me out, can't sleep, customers yelling at me. There's nothing worse than downtime! Five nines baby!
Based on the downvotes some people clearly don't have a sense of humour.. but this made me chuckle!
Re: Downtime is an effortless way to improve your memory (2018)
#20Maybe day dreaming has a similar memory consolidation effect to dreaming?