Friday Finds: The Best Of Learning, Design & Technology | February 25, 2022

 “If you seek tranquility, do less.” 

Marcus Aurelius

Happy Friday! I had the best time last weekend at our local curling club. I learned a lot – especially that curling is a lot more challenging that it looks. Just imagine sliding a 40lb stone 150 feet across ice and getting it to stop where you want it to. If you ever get a chance I highly recommend giving it a try.

Thanks for reading!

What I’m Listening to:  It is rainy and cold here today which makes me feel like some calm Lo-Fi sounds are in order.

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Last week’s most clicked item:
The War Against Forgetting


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Design for Cognitive Bias: Using Mental Shortcuts for Good Instead of Evil

Our minds take shortcuts to get through the day. Usually they’re harmless. Even helpful. But what happens when they’re not? In this webinar, Dave will use real-world examples to identify some particularly nasty biases that frequently lead us to make bad decisions. He’ll also talk about some content strategy and design choices we can use in our designs to redirect or eliminate the impact of those biases.

https://www.thinkcompany.com/events/design-for-cognitive-bias/

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Your memory is lying to you. Here’s how. 

Our memories are not reality. A memory is the pattern of neural activity that represents the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, information, and language that you experienced when you learned something. When this neural circuit is reactivated, you experience a memory. Recalling memories is not a passive process. Every time we recall a memory, it changes, and we store this “2.0 version” over the older version in our brain. With each retelling, the memory drifts further and further away from the original memory.

Watch video

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Connecting Through Storytelling: Unleash the Power of Compelling Communication

Stories are scientifically proven to help build relationships and drive listeners to action. A good story is a powerful communication tool—especially in a time when people are bombarded by new messages every day. Help your team increase its effectiveness by using storytelling to create authentic, meaningful, and memorable connections.

https://www.arielgroup.com/resource/connecting-through-storytelling-2/

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In a new world of informational abundance, content curation is a new kind of authorship

Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curation of “cross-disciplinary interestingness” that scours the world of the web and beyond for share-worthy tidbits. Here, she considers how new approaches to curation are changing the way we consume and share information.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/maria-popova-in-a-new-world-of-informational-abundance-content-curation-is-a-new-kind-of-authorship/

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The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age

Your well-being is like a retirement account: The sooner you invest, the greater your returns will be. Happiness tends to decline throughout young adulthood and middle age, bottoming out at about age 50. After that, it heads back up again into one’s mid-60s. Then something strange happens. Older people split into two groups as they get old: those getting much happier, and those getting much unhappier. Which one will you be in? 

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/02/happiness-age-investment/622818/

Bonus: You can catch the author Arthur Brooks on the Daily Stoic podcast


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Published by Mike Taylor

Born with a life-long passion for learning, I have the great fortune to work at the intersection of learning, design, technology & collaboration.

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