Doublethink for Productivity

In the last post I shared about Doublethink, it was one of the craziest ideas which came into existence in the novel “1984” by George Orwell and although it sounded completely fictional I shared how we employ Doublethink in our life as well.

That said, the author Richard Wiseman in his book, “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot” shared how we can even employ Doublethink for productivity.

Talk about crazy ideas.

Employing Doublethink is actually easy and you may have done it in the past without realizing it (I know because I have done it unknowingly, though). It basically involves enlisting and describing the pros and cons of achieving a particular goal. By looking at both pros and cons our mind makes a better judgment out of it and we end up achieving our goal much faster.

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: anideaaday, booklearning

Doublethink

The ability to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time is called doublethink. I first came across this word when I was reading the book, “1984” by George Orwell. The concept is tricky to understand and it means that a person can hold a thought where two plus two equal four and two plus two equal five. And the person will not have any difficulty believing it.

You might say that if one knows that two plus two is equal to four how can one say that it can be anything but four and that was the trick I was mentioning earlier.

Pretty intense stuff.

You must be thinking that concept like doublethink may only appear in the dystopian universe but they actually exist in real life too.

“You must stand out BUT you must fit in”

“You must follow your dreams AND find a secure job”

“Don’t lie BUT don’t say anything that’s rude”

sources

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: 1984, anideaaday

House M.D.

What’s Bothering You?

Writing things down have much more effect than merely sharing it with others. We know that if a painful memory is shared the pain gets halved it is true but not always. In the book “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot”  the author Richard Wiseman shared that writing things down have much more impact than sharing it with others.

This I have experienced personally, and I did it when I had no idea about what I was doing. At that time I was preparing for senior secondary examination and I remember one day I sat down and wrote everything which was bothering me at that time. Nobody told me to do that, I actually had no one to tell. The problems which I was having at that time weren’t that a big deal (now that I think about it) but they appeared to be huge at that time.

I remember that I never bothered to look at those piece of papers again. But I do remember that I things which I wrote down on that day never bothered me again. It was as if I had forgotten all about it. It was pretty amazing. The memories all back to me when I read about writing things down from my current book.

Filed under: Book learning, Daily posts Tagged: 59 seconds, anideaaday, booklearning

The Pratfall Effect

Another kind of phenomenon is The Pratfall Effect which says that a minor screw up is actually good and it can increase your likability. We don’t like people who act macho, look tough, disciplined and act like they have everything figured out. But if by any chance they screw up even a little bit we feel connected with them. By making a mistake they become more human and we start liking them.

The author Richard Wiseman in his book, “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot” mentions that a weakness in the beginning of a resume can actually increase your likelihood of getting the job. Of course, it can not guarantee it but it has a say in the overall decision-making process of the interview.

Read more about it from the wiki link by clicking here.

Filed under: Daily posts Tagged: anideaaday, booklearning

The Ben Franklin Effect

Started the Book, “59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot”