新学期第2周：Pragmatic Thinking and Learning 笔记

以下是我在阅读 Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactoring Your Wetware （中文版为程序员的思维修炼）时做的英文笔记，未经整理。

Ch 1

For better software, we need programmer brains improved – communication skills + learning and thinking skills.
Everything is interconnected in nonlinear systems (small things can have unexpectedly large effects), and you’re part of it even you don’t know. Remember to consider the context.

Ch 2

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein
The way that experts perceive the world, how they problem solve, the mental models they use, how they go about acquiring new skills, as well as the external factors that help them performance – or hinder it – are fundamentally different from nonexperts.
The Dreyfus model describes how and why our abilities, attitudes, capabilities, and perspectives change according to skill level. It is applicable per skill, not a trait or talent model.

Novices, with little or no experience, need context-free rules and want to directly accomplish the goal. Rules can get you started but won’t carry you further because of the phenomenon of infinite regression.
Advanced beginners, who can start to break away from the fixed rule set a little bit and want information fast when they try tasks on their own, will have difficulty troubleshooting, as they are not able to see the connections in the big picture.
Competent practitioners, who can now develop conceptual models of the problem domain and work with those models effectively to troubleshoot and solve novel problems they haven’t faced before based on deliberate planning and past experience, will still have trouble trying to determine which details to focus on when problem solving.
Proficient practitioners, who can self-correct when they learn from the experience of others and apply maxims within a certain context, need the big picture to understand the larger conceptual framework around the skill. The ability of self-improvement is a major breakthrough in this stage. A proficient is more like a junior expert than a really advanced competent.
Experts, who are the primary sources of knowledge and information in any field, who have a vast body of experience to tap into and apply in just the right context, work from intuition, not from reason. That means, hey know the difference between irrelevant details that can be safely ignored and the very important details to focus on, perhaps not on a conscious level. Experts are rare, about 1%-5% of the population. Unfortunately, when you are not very skilled in some area, you are more likely to think you’re actually pretty expert at it. This lack of accurate self-assessment is referred to as second-order incompetence, that is, the condition of being unskilled and unaware of it.

Experts aren’t perfect and they can make mistakes. But worse than that, rules ruin experts and drag their performance down to the level of the novice. Conversely, novices need to be “herded,” that is, given unambiguous direction, quick successes, and so on. Tip: Use rules for novices, intuition for experts.
The three characteristics change from novices to experts are: 1. Moving away from reliance on rules to intuition. 2. A change in perception, where a problem is no longer a collection of equally relevant bits but a complete and unique whole where only certain bits are relevant. 3. A change from being a detached observer of the problem to an involved part of the system itself.

The Dreyfus model does not follow a standard distribution, but most people never get any higher than advanced beginners.
Since metacognitive abilities (the ability of being self-aware) tend to be possible only at the higher skill levels, the lower-level practitioners overestimate their own abilities by as much as 50%. Tip: Know what you don’t know.
Experts aren’t always the best teachers. Teaching is an expertise in its own right. When pairing or mentoring within the team, you might try using mentors who are closer in skill level to the trainee.
Deliberate practice: 1. You need a well-defined task; 2. The task needs to be appropriately difficult — challenging but doable; 3. The environment needs to supply informative feedback that you can act on. 4. It should also provide opportunities for repetition and correction of errors.

The problems of nursing profession by the late 1970s are very familiar with that of software development now. The nursing professionals applied the lessons of the Dreyfus model to their industry with remarkable results in the early 1980s.
“I was just following orders!” doesn’t work for the nursing profession and in the software development. We have to help the advanced beginners raise there skill levels to competent so they’re capable of making some sorts of decision by themselves. A major way to help achieve that is to have good examples in the environment. Tip: Learn by watching and imitating. Learning is to go through three phases: imitate, assimilate, and innovate (Shu Ha Ri).
There’s no expertise without experience, and there’s no substitute for experience — but we can work to make the experience you have more efficient and more effective.
Keeping expertise in practice: like sport teams, real teams have stars, and sport stars are paid by the value they bring to the organization. The current common salary structures for developers is simply inadequate. As in nursing profession, experts at coding must continue to code and find a meaningful and rewarding career there. Setting a pay scale and a career ladder that reflects a top coder’s value to the organization is the first step toward making this a reality. Tip: Keep practicing in order to remain expert.

Beware the tool trap: model is a tool, not a mirror.
Dangers of over-reliance on formal models: confusing the model with reality; devaluing traits that cannot be formalized (e.g. creativity); legislating behavior that contradicts individual autonomy; alienating in favor of novices; sleeping out too much detail; oversimplification of complex situations; demand for excessive conformity; insensitivity to contextual nuances; confusion between following rules and exercising judgement; mystification.
Tip: Avoid formal methods if you need creativity, intuition, or inventiveness.
Don’t succumb to the false authority of a tool or a model. There is no substitute for thinking.

Novice needs context-free rules, the expert uses context-dependent intuition.
Beware decontextualized objectivity (trying to be objective about something after taking it out of its context.)
In systems thinking, as in OO programming, it’s often the relationships between things that are interesting, not the things themselves. These relationships help form the context that makes all the difference

What Dreyfus model tell us? One size does not fit all. Give novices the support they need and don’t confuse them unnecessarily with the big picture. Experts need to have access to the big picture; don’t cripple them with rules that aim to replace judgment.
Understanding the Dreyfus model and skills acquisition is a skill itself; learning to learn is subject to the Dreyfus model. Tip: Learn the skill of learning.
To embark on the path to expertise, we’ll need: cultivate more intuition; realize the increasing importance of context and of observing situational patterns; better harness our own experience.

Rate yourself with Dreyfus model with different skills but be aware of second-order incompetence when making evaluations. For each of skills decide what to do to advance to the next level.

Ch 3

Your brain is the most powerful computer in existence but not at all like the computers we’re familiar with. But discuss the cognitive processes as computer system is only a metaphor. Brain is horrifically complicated and this is just an analogy — hopefully helpful one.
Brain: dual-CPU, single-master bus design.

CPU #1: linear, logical, language processing, von Neumann, slow, relatively small real estate, “idle loop” routine.
CPU #2: magical digital signal processor, searching and pattern matching, no verbal processing (results not verbal).
Two CPUs share the bus to the memory core; only one CPu can access the memory banks at a time. They interfere with each other.
R-mode (rich mode) and L-mode (linear mode).
R: intuition, problem solving, creativity.
L: work through the details and make it happen.
Memory is stored holographically. Memory was like dynamic RAM and must be refreshed. Wetware must be refreshed, must be used, or it is lost.

Memory bus contention between L-mode and R-mode (e.g. dream not verbalizable).
Many amazing perceptual powers cannot be effectively put into words (e.g. face recognition).
R-mode isn’t directly controllable, it’s like your peripheral vision of your mind.
R-mode is asynchronous running as a background process.
R-mode is quite diligent at storing input but not all input is indexed. It will search all your memory for search when you’re trying hard to solve a problem.
There is no central locus of thought in the brain. Thoughts rise up and compete in clouds, and the winner at any point in time is your consciousness.

Capture Insight 24×7: pen and notepad; index cards; PDA; voice memos; Pocket Mod; notebook.
If you don’t capture ideas, you’ll stop noticing you have them. Once you start keeping track of ideas, you’ll get more of them. Tip: Capture all ideas to get more of them.
Get something to take notes on, and keep it with you!

Fastest processing modes: muscle-memory (piano, bicycle, no CPU processing).
L-mode: Verbal, Analytic, Symbolic, Abstract, Temporal, Rational, Digital, Logical, Linear
R-mode: Non-Verbal, Synthetic, Concrete, Analogical, Non-Rational, Spatial, Intuitive, Holistic, Non-Linear
Just because a thought process is non-rational or non-repeatable doesn’t mean it is unscientific, irresponsible, or inappropriate in any way.

Why emphasize R-mode? Because it provides intuition and that’s what we need to become experts.
Tip: Learn by synthesis as well as by analysis.
L-mode is necessary but not sufficient. Aesthetics and attractive user interfaces matter. Positive emotions are essential to learning and creative thinking. Aesthetics make a difference, whether it’s in user interface, the layout of your code and comments, the choices of variable names, the arrangement of your desktop, or whatever. Tip: Strive for good design; it really works better.
“Design is not making beauty; beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.”
Creativity comes from the selection and assembly of just the right components in just the right presentation to create the work. The ability of selection comes from pattern matching.
R-mode sees forest; L-mode sees trees.

The human brain is wonderfully plastic (neuroplasticity). Tip: Rewire your brain with belief and constant practice.
There is always an ongoing competition for cortical real estate – Skills and abilities that you constantly use and practice will begin to dominate and more of your brain will becomes wired for those purposes. – “Use it or lose it.” It’s sort like dynamic RAM.

Ch 4

We tend to dismiss unusual of uncomfortable thoughts.
Activate more neural pathways than usual. That means expanding sensory involvement.
Tactile enhancement – create and document a design or architecture using building blocks, toy blocks or Lego bricks.
Feed your brain. Your brain is always hungry for additional, novel stimulus.

“Drawing” is a R-mode activity – virtual perception is very much an R-mode task.
The problem: L-mode is sitting there chatting away, actively blocking the R-mode from doing its job. Many leisure-time activities and engage an R-mode flow that shuts down the chatter of the L-mode.
To access the perceptual R-mode of the brain, it’s necessary to present the brain with a job that the verbal, analytic L-mode will turn down – a mental shift to a different mode of information processing. Limit cognitive interference.

R-mode is not the silver bullet, what we need is a better way of synchronizing our L-mode and R-mode processing so that the whole mind can work better and more efficiently.
Create a sort of R-mode to L-mode flow is exactly what you want to do to facilitate learning. Tip: Lead with R-mode; follow with L-mode.
“Write drunk, revise sober.” Just as creativity can be stifled by trying to tie ideas down prematurely, learning can be impeded by trying to memorize minor facts when you don’t yet grasp the whole. – When learning, don’t try so hard to learn and memorize; just “get used to it” fist; try to understand the overall meaning fist.
Watch out the danger of perfectionism: being comfortable with uncertainty and with something that’s incomplete and unfinished. Purposefully create a “shitty first draft”.
Three main responsibilities of the teachers: train both hemispheres, not just traditional L-mode training; train students to use the cognitive style suited to the task at hand; train students to bring both styles to bear on a problem in an integrated manner.
Pair programming: one L-mode, the other R-mode. Working together is a provably effective way to discover helpful and interesting abstractions.
L-mode and R-mode meet in metaphor – in the act of creating analogies. Tip: Use metaphor as the meeting place between L-mode and R-mode.
We use metaphors constantly, maybe we can’t even think at all without the use of metaphor. Use random juxtaposition to create metaphor. That sort of imprinting from one frame of reference to another is very powerful and something we can use to our advantage. System metaphor in Extreme Programming: metaphorical thinking is fundamental in programming as it is in all abstract thought. Clear metaphors are a powerful tool, but we don’t always get it right. Generative metaphors suitable for your context are very hard.
Humor is necessary for thinking, learning, and creativity. It’s often based on identifying relationships and distorting them. Tip: cultivate humor to build stronger metaphors.

It’s entirely possible that your R-mode already has exactly the answer to the most important problem that you’re working on right now. But how can you get at it?
Many ideas of R-mode are not verbalizable. Sometimes we can learn the pattern unconsciously and couldn’t verbalize it.
Image streaming is a technique designed to help harvest R-mode imagery.
Free-form journaling: to write blog or letters. With blogging, tools will get in the way and stop you from writing. Once you start writing, it’s important to maintain the flow.
The morning pages technique: write your morning pages first thing in the morning; write at least three pages, no typing, no computer; do not censor what you write; do not skip a day. Not really awake and unconscious still has prominent role.
The “just write” technique.
Thinking walk: do not actually do any thinking: it’s important to draw a vital distinction between R-mode and L-mode processing.
R-mode can be invited, no commanded. Tip: Step away from the keyboard to solve hard problems.
Yoga, meditation, breathing techniques, and martial arts will affect how your brain processes information

Your mind is quite adept at reconstructing reality based on fragmentary patterns. It can make associations based on incomplete data, and it does so all the time, even if you’re not aware of it. Source code patterns (consistent typographic cues).
Sometimes you get used to the certain thought pattern. The trick to gaining insight is to try to see a problem from a completely different viewpoint – that’s the key to creativity and problem solving. Reverse the problem. Tip: change your viewpoint to solve the problem.
Common mental locks: there’s only one right answer; a given solution is not logical; dismissing play as frivolous. Non-goal-direced playing with an idea is where you’ll make connections, see relationships, and gain insights. It helps change your viewpoint.
Reconcile unlike patterns.
Change is good. Unexpected input wake up the brain. Functional shift in vocabulary.

Ch 5

Cognitive biases: Anchoring (TODO); Fundamental attribution error (ascribe other people’s behavior to their personality but not our own’s); Self-serving bias (TODO); Need for closure (not comfortable with doubt and uncertainty); Confirmation bias (look for choice facts to fit own preconceptions and pet theories); Exposure effect (prefer things just because they are familiar); Hawthorne effect (tendency to change behaviors when knowing being studied/tested); False memory (confuse imagined events with real memories); Symbolic reduction fallacy (use a quick symbol to represent a complex object or system); Nominal fallacy (the idea that labeling a thing means you can explain it or understand it).
Symbolic reduction is pernicious because it’s deeply ingrained in our thinking; in fact it’s the only way the brain to keep up with the complexity of reality; it’s helpful in programming; but if you take it for granted, you fall into the symbolic reduction fallacy.
Platonic fold emphasizes that humans are really bad at trying to extrapolate future events from previous events. We assume that events form a more or less stable, linear progression, with easily defined cause and effect. – That’s why we fail to predict the future. We’re focused on the wrong thing or are asking the wrong questions.
Just because you “think so” doesn’t make it right. Recognizing and overcoming your own cognitive bias is easier said than done.
Don’t discount unobserved or rare phenomena as impossible. Tip: Watch the outliers: “really” doesn’t mean “never.” Any minor elements that you overlooked can be the one that changes history.
Never say never. Take time to examine the “crazy” outliers or those “impossible,” astronomically unlikely events.
Need for closure may eliminate the successful choice. So defer closure. Resist the pressure. Know that you will reach a decision, and the matter will be settled, just not today. Tip: Be comfortable with uncertainty. Agile development embraces the idea of working with uncertainty.
Memory is unreliable, and old memory will change over time, which just reassures you that your misconceptions and prejudices are valid. Tip: Trust ink over memory; every mental read is a write. Argument your memory with some kind of reality check.

The biases you form change over time.
You are a product of your times. The attitudes, philosophies, and values of your parents and your cohort have a tremendous impact on yours.
Each generation’s reaction to the perceived weakness of the immediately preceding generations creates a repeating pattern over time.
Four Archetypes: Prophet (vision, values), Nomad (liberty, survival, honor), Hero (community, affluence), Artist (pluralism, expertise, due process).
Not everyone shares your deep-seated values, and that doesn’t mean you’re right or they’re wrong.
Are you making a logical argument, an emotional one, or just a familiar one? Is it the right argument in this particular context? Have you really considered other points of view? Rationality is often in the eye of the beholder, so you want to hedge your bets. Tip: Hedge your bets with diversity.

MBTI model: Extravert (E) vs. Introvert (I); Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N): largest source of miscommunication and misunderstanding; Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F); Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P).
It’s probably most important to realize this: when other people react differently than you would in a given situation, they aren’t crazy, lazy, or just plain difficult. And neither are you. People operates based on different temperament types; it’s like different OSs. To try to change the other people’s temperament to match your own does not work.
They may well have a different set of bugs than you do. Tip: Allow for different bugs in different people.

The older areas or brain are hardwired for more primitive, survival instinct behaviors like “fight or flight” response and plain old emergency shutdown. We are in fact wired very similarly to the aggressive alpha dog who marks his territory with urine.
Lizard logic: fight, flight, or fright (fight or run, or freeze with fear thinking maybe the bad thing will go away); get it now (everything is immediate and automatic; don’t think or plan; just follow your impulses and focus on what’s most exciting rather than what’s most important. Email or IM or web, that’s always more exciting than real work); be dominant (be the leader and abuse everyone below you); defend the territory (never share anything); if it hurts, hiss (don’t fix the problem but blame someone, cry and let everyone know that it’s just not fair); like me == good, not like me == bad (everything are either good or evil, your side is always good).
Attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, emotions are all contagious.
Brain can be physically rewired by either positive or negative thoughts.
Internet time short-circuits the neocortex and exposes our reptilian responses in email, blog comment, or IM.
When the rush of intense feeling come up, remember you’re the evolved one, let the lizard reaction pass, and allow the neocortex to process the event. Tip: Act like you’re evolved: breathe, don’t hiss.
Simple smiling an be as effective as antidepressant medications.

Lead with intuition, but follow up with provable, linear feedback. Tip: Trust intuition, but verify.
When you are dead solid convinced of something, ask yourself why.
Unit test yourself: How do you know? Says who? How specifically? How does what I’m doing cause you to…? Compared to what or whom? Does it always happen? Can you think of an exception? What would happen if you did (or didn’t)? What stops you from…?
Use numbers and different viewpoint. If you think you’ve defined something, try to also define its opposite. This can help avoid the nominal fallacy. Contrast a behavior, an observation, a theory with its exact opposite, in detail.
Expectations create perception of reality, or at least color it.
Every decision is a trade-off, no free lunch. Looking closely at the trade-offs in detail, both positive and negative.

Ch 6

The ability of learning is what separates “getting ahead” from just “getting by”.
Education: pour in or draw forth.
Sheep dip training (alien, toxic, and temporary) doesn’t work. Because 1. Learning isn’t done to you; it’s something you do. 2. Mastering knowledge alone, without experience, isn’t effective. 3. A random approach, without goals and feedback, tends to give random results.

Goals are needed, but aren’t enough to guarantee success. Needed to be well defined.
SMART objectives: Specific, Measurable Achievable, Relevant, Time-boxed.
Each objective should have the SMART characteristics. Objectives move you to your goal.
Goal: desired state. Objective: something to do to get closer to the goal.
Specific: narrow down to something concrete.
Measurable: how do you know when you’re done? Measure your objectives, but stage them in increments, just have to see two or three steps ahead of you.
Achievable: make each next objective attainable from where you are now.
Relevant: matter to you, under your control.
Time-Boxed: deadline.
Tip: Create SMART objectives to reach your goals.
The larger context of objectives extends the ideas of attainability and relevance.

Consider your skills and talents as a knowledge portfolio which must be managed as time goes by.
Pragmatic Investment Plan: model your knowledge portfolio with the same care as you would manage a financial investment portfolio.
Relegating learning activities to your “free time” is a recipe for failure. Time can’t be created or destroyed, only allocated. By being deliberate about your learning, by allocating appropriate time, and by using that time wisely, you can be much more efficient in your learning.
Maintain your knowledge portfolio: have a concrete plan; diversify; make an active, not passive, investment; make a regular investment.
Have a concrete plan: goals for now, for next year, for five years out… The planning is far more important than the plan. The plan will change, as we’ll see next. But getting in tune with your goals is invaluable.
Diversify: make a conscious effort to diversify your attention. Considering the risk vs. return ratio. All knowledge investments have value.
Active, Not Passive, Investment: the idea of feedback, evaluate your plan and realistically judge it.
Invest Regularly (Dollar-Cost Averaging): Create a ritual, make a commitment to invest a minimum amount of time on a regular basis. Not all your sessions will be equally productive, but by scheduling them regularly, you will win out in the long run. If instead you wait until you have time or wait for the muse, it will never happen. Plan what to do before you sit down at the appointed time.
Tip: Plan your investment in learning deliberately.

Three types of learners: visual, auditory, kinesthetic.
Three-part mind: metal-level component that manages thought processes overall; performance-based components that do tasks, make associations, and so on; knowledge-acquisition components that handle assimilating new information.
Different facets of intelligence: Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal. — They mean no excuse but some ways of learning are more effective for you.
Type is not destiny. These are your default behaviors when no one is watching (especially when YOU are not watching.) Tip: Discover how you learn best.

A study group is a great alternative to sheep dip experience.
Adult learner: motivated to learn if learning will satisfy their own interests and needs; units studied should be real-life situations, not just isolated subjects; analysis of ,the learner’s experience is the core method employed; need self-direction, the instructor should help them engage in mutual inquiry; the instructor must allow for differences in style, time, place, and pace.
Tip: form study groups to learn and teach.

Written instruction is the least efficient since many of the parts of the brain and body that you want to train or educate aren’t the parts that process language. It seems we learn best by observation.
SQ3R: Survey: scan the table of contents and chapter summaries for an overview; Question: note any questions you have; Read: read in its entirety; Recite: summarize, take notes, and put in your own words; review: reread, expand notes, and discuss with colleagues. – It is deliberate. Tip: Read deliberately.
Test-Driven Learning, spacing effect.

Mind Map.
Regular linear outlines tend to block a creative impulse, and hierarchies tend to reinforce their own structure. So, a great idea that doesn’t fit into the structure of the moment might get discarded.
Emphasize spatial cueing and relationships. Spatial cueing conveys information to you in a way that linear words or an outline can’t; the addition of color and symbols adds to the richness or the representation. You have to evaluate the relationships between ideas, not just the ideas themselves, and that can be a very revealing activity.
A messy draft first. Redrawing and retrieving the information from memory helps strengthen the connections and may expose additional insights in the process.
Nonspecific, non-goal-oriented “playing” with information is a great way to gain insights and see hidden relationships.
Software tool mind map is not the same.
Tip: Take notes with both R-mode and L-mode.

Mind maps are most effective when you’re not exactly sure what you’ll find.
Mind Maps with SQ3R: Reading phase, draw mind map; Review phase, redraw and revise.

Ch 7

Just “doing” alone is no guarantee of success; you have to learn from the doing for it to count. How to make each experience count? 1. Build to learn, not learn to build. 2. Fail efficiently with better feedback. 3. Groove your neural pathways for success.

Brain designed to explore and build mental models, not to passively sit by and try to store received knowledge.
The real learning comes from experience and cognition, not from explicit teaching or rote practice. – Constructivism – build to learn, not learn to build.
Playing with a problem gets us closer to how we’re wired to learn. And the word play introduces a sense of fun. Tip: Play more in order to learn more.

Problem solving: break the problem down into smaller parts; look for similar solved problems.
But in transitions, the new way was fundamentally different from the old way. You need to unlearn just as much as you need to learn. Tip: Learn from similarities; unlearn from differences.
Another danger is that your notion of a “similar” previous problem may be completely wrong.

Debugging means solving problems, generally of our own making.
You need a good learning environment to easily gain and apply experience from both your failures and your successes.
Positive learning environment: Freedom to experiment; Ability to backtrack to a stable state; Reproduce any work product as of any time; Ability to demonstrate progress.
Safety net: version control; unit testing; automation.

Inner Game: reducing failure-inducing interference and using feedback.
It’s very difficult to teach a skill by putting it into words; we learn better by discovery, not instruction.
Situational feedback: no distraction but concentrate on a very simple feedback loop. Instead of issuing a stream of instructions to the student, the idea is to teach the student awareness and to use that awareness to correct their performance.
Key aspect to playing the inner game: don’t focus on correcting individual details, but just be aware. Accept what is as a first step, and just be aware of it. Don’t judge, don’t rush in with a solution, don’t criticize.
Fight the urge to rush to judgement or to a potential fix prematurely. You can brainstorm solutions later, but first, be aware of what is.
“Trying fails, awareness cures.”

You are the least creative when you feel time pressure.
Tip: Give yourself permission to fail; it’s the path to success.
With the pressure off, you can be attentive. Examples: unit testing, prototyping.

In addition to gaining experience in the real world, you can gain experience inside your head as well.
Perception is based on prediction.
By surrounding yourself with highly skilled people, you will increase your own skill level. We are natural mimics.
Do offline practicing to groove your mind. Tip: Groove your mind for success.
Experience using scaffolding and un-scaffolding. Artificially create the conditions that you’d experience once you learn to perform at that level. Or make it artificially harder than it should be.

Ch 8

Manage your mind along three axes: Increasing focus and attention; Managing your knowledge; Optimizing your current context.

When distracted you can miss obvious things.
Beware the idle-loop chatter of attention deficit.
Time is just something you allocate. It’s not that we’re out of time, we’re out of attention.
Training in meditation could improve a subject’s ability to pay attention throughout the day. Tip: Learn to pay attention.
In Vipassana meditation, what you want is to sink into a sort of reeled awareness where you can be aware of yourself and your environment without rendering judgement or making responses
1. Find quiet spot with no distraction or interruption; 2. sit comfortable, alert, straight back. 3. close eyes, focus awareness on breath–that small point where the air enters our body and where it exists. be aware of rhythm of breath, the length and qualities of the inhale, the brief pause at the top of the cycle, the qualities of the exhale, and the brief pause at the bottom; don’t try to change it, just be aware of it. 4. Keep your mind focused on the breath. Do not use words or verbalize the breath or any thoughts or begin a conversation with yourself. 5. Whenever your attention wanders off, just let those thoughts go and gently bring your focus back to the breath. 6. Even if your mind is wandering often, the exercise of noticing that you have wandered and bringing yourself back each time is helpful.
Remain very alert but to focus that awareness.
Segmented breath approach, three distinct segments.

Creativity does not function on a time clock and does not generally yield results when pressured. Marinade of thought needed. It’s not the idea of not doing anything; it’s the idea of not doing something. But critical “thinking time” is generally unrecognized and unrewarded.
“Multiple drafts” model of consciousness: consciousness is the single draft in multiple ones that has the most brain cells or processing activity in the brain at a single moment.
Recognition has not yet reached a conscious level.
Procrastination vs. Marinating? (in my opinion, productivity thing vs. creativity thing)
Consultant’s Rule of Three. Tip: Make thinking time.

Developing your exocortex, external support is part of your mind.
Tip: Use a wiki to manage information and knowledge.

You can’t pay attention to as many different things as you think you can. Multitasking generally cost 20%-40% of productivity.
Multitasking is to perform multiple concurrent tasks at different levels of abstraction. It takes twenty minutes to reload context.
One way to help is to approach context switching more deliberately. Make IM or meal a deliberate act.
A setup that helps you maintain your focus on the task at hand, e.g. early word processor.
Use single-task interfaces to send one-line email or add a line to to-do list, e.g. Quicksilver.
Ideas from GTD: scan the input queue only once; process each pile of work in order; don’t keep lists in your head.
Manage interruption deliberately. Tip: establish rules of engagement to manage interruptions. Tip: send less email, and you’ll receive less email. Tip: choose your own tempo for an email conversation.
Context-friendly breaks: walk, not news.
A maskable interrupt can be ignored. Tip: mask interrupts to maintain focus.
Save your stack to be prepared to be interrupted, i.e. leave cues that you can pick up.
Keep a big enough context. Tip: use multiple monitors to avoid context switching.
Maintain task focus: use virtual desktops. Tip: optimize your personal workflow to maximize context.

How to stay sharp: 1. learn to quiet your chattering L-mode. 2. Deliberately work with and add to thoughts in progress, even if they aren’t “done” yet. 3. Be aware of just how expensive context switching can be, and avoid it in all its myriad forms.

Ch 9

Effective change: Practice makes permanent. Start with a plan. Inaction is the enemy, not error. New habits take time. Belief is real. Take small, next steps.
Beyond expertise: the beginner’s mind. Be aware of yourself, of the present moment, and of the context in which you’re operating. Eternal vigilance is the price of awareness. Tip: Grab the wheel. You can’t steer on autopilot.