Each day we can encounter setbacks or difficulties, or simply things may happen which we did not expect. And sometimes they can reveal a lot,  if they stir up our own mixture of unresolved issues linked to our past.  Rather than regarding them as diversions or obstacles on the path, we are encouraged to see them as where we are called to go. The “bad” situation becomes something to be skillfully worked with:

A person who falls to the ground gets back up by using that ground.

To try to get up without relying on that ground would be impossible.

Chinul, 1158–1210,

Zen Master considered to be the most significant influence on the formation of Korean Zen

Hmmm.

Imagine that after a routine medical exam your doctor delivers some devastating news: Since your last checkup your cognitive performance has plummeted. Your ability to connect with others has eroded. And your memory for everyday events is no longer operating as it once did. As it turns out, there is a cure and it won’t cost you a penny. The treatment is simple. All that’s required is that you put away your smartphone. Few of us will have this conversation with our doctors. But perhaps we should. Over the last few years, scientists have begun studying the way cell phones affect the human experience. Early results are alarming.

via Is Your Smartphone Making You Dumb? | Psychology Today.

Stunning, actually.

As economics students know, switching involves costs. But how much? When a consumer switches banks, or a company switches suppliers, it’s relatively easy to count the added expense of the hassle of change. When your brain is switching tasks, the cost is harder to quantify.

There have been a few efforts to do so: Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine, found that a typical office worker gets only 11 minutes between each interruption, while it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. But there has been scant research on the quality of work done during these periods of rapid toggling.

We decided to investigate further, and asked Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of information technology, and the psychologist Eyal Peer at Carnegie Mellon to design an experiment to measure the brain power lost when someone is interrupted.

To simulate…

Here are some thoughts that might help you get out of that funk.

When you’re feeling unmotivated or unfocused, it can be hard to get things done. How do you get out of this kind of funk?

It’s more complicated than just trying to force yourself to “try harder.” Indeed, your willpower can only get you so far.

This video gives a few helpful tips that allow you to trick yourself into entering a more productive state of mind. Unlike other productivity tips, these ones are based on science (which makes them both way more interesting and more effective).

My favorite productivity hack is what they describe as the “Zeigarnik Effect,” which is basically the idea that just starting a task makes it infinitely more doable.

via No More Willpower? Watch This For Practical Productivity Tips.