Anne-Laure Le Cunff Sleeping is strange. We spend on average a third of our life asleep. That’s time we’re not spending working, socialising, or reproducing. Yet, sleep is necessary to our survival. While it can be tempting to spend as much time awake as possible so we can be productive, not getting enough sleep is actually detrimental to … Read More
I love reading. I read a couple of books a month. And, as you know, I’m fascinated with the weird ways our brain works and the biology of the mind. This is a short list of great books about the human brain which anyone can read. No need for a neuroscience degree, just a lot … Read More
Procrastination makes it difficult and stressful to finish certain tasks or to meet deadlines, so why do we do this to ourselves? When we get stuck into an akratic loop, we know we “should” do something, but we resist doing it. The sister word “procrastination” itself comes from the latin “pro”, which means “forward”, and “crastinatus”, which means “till next day.”
Want to save this list of mental models for later? Subscribe to receive a PDF copy. Remember how I told you that you need to build your own mental gym? Well, let’s talk about your mental equipment. Mental models are some of the most powerful mental tools at your disposal. They can help you think … Read More
We spend years of our lives attending school, but there are many life skills missing from the typical curriculum. Critical thinking, constructive conversations, handling money, business writing, time management, and self-care are just but a few. Another skill we don’t spend enough time honing is learning how to learn. It’s a shame, because there are … Read More
Yesterday evening, Elon Musk gave the first public presentation about Neuralink, a company he founded in 2017 to build brain-computer interfaces. While most of the research in that field has been focused on restoring functionality lost due to paralysis, Elon targets healthy and able-bodied people. Elon considers that artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence is not … Read More
We all possess creativity. However, sometimes, it feels like our muse is gone. We just can’t seem to find an idea worth working on. Making things is hard. Here is a list of books to inspire you and stimulate your imagination. If there’s a good book missing from this list, it’s because I haven’t read … Read More
Update: following the success of this article, I published a literature review that explores the science of personal growth outside the school and work environments, and how makers can use mindframing to manage their personal growth. According to Marty McFly in the classic 1985 movie Back to the Future, “If you put your mind to … Read More
Negative emotions such as stress and anxiety can have an effect on cognitive processes, with many studies showing that inducing negative mood states in individuals leads to a reduction in executive functions (Grant et al, 2001; Hammar & Ardal, 2009). This reduction may be caused by a depletion in limited attention resources in individuals experiencing … Read More
The role of emotions has been debated over the years, with some claiming that they are “bad for our peace of mind” (Skinner, 1948), and others arguing that they are important for our “physical or social survival” (Keltner & Gross, 1999). Emotions can be defined as states induced by the occurrence, termination, or omission of … Read More