Author Archives: Matti Kolu
Speaking of Spare Time
Bennett: The Human Machine (1913) Invention is not usually their principal business. They must invent in their spare time. They must invent before breakfast, invent in the Strand between Lyons’s and the office, invent after dinner, invent on Sundays. See … Continue reading
Intelligence that isn’t
SAM, The Senster and the Bandit: Early Cybernetic Sculptures by Edward Ihnatowicz Observing the Senster, and knowing just how simple the controlling program was, he “felt like a fraud and resolved that any future monster of mine would be more … Continue reading
Randomness and variation in skill acquisition
Richard J. Robertson in The Early Days of Perceptual Control Theory: (Vol 4 #1 of Closed Loop) During the tournaments, a number of us noted a curious change that would quite regularly occur in the play of a contestant when … Continue reading
How Benjamin Franklin deliberately practiced writing
From the first chapter in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography: A question was once, somehow or other, started between Collins and me, of the propriety of educating the female sex in learning, and their abilities for study. He was of opinion that … Continue reading
two podcasts with merlin mann
a lot of Mann this week This is a great speech Merlin Mann held at MaxFunCon. He discusses creativity, the importance of learning how to start, being okay with sucking and tolerating ambiguity. from The Sound of Young America Also, … Continue reading
creative procrastination
On creative procrastination and letting your ideas develop in your subconscious mind while you do other things. Continue reading
the prevalence of procrastination
Sometimes it might feel like you’re the only one procrastinating, that you’re the only one who doesn’t start working in time. A look at the procrastination research shows that most people procrastinate to a degree and that procrastination is a … Continue reading
Posted in procrastination
Leave a comment
Colin Marshall: “If only”
I try hard to identify my most dangerous patterns of thought, but since the most dangerous ones are by definition those difficult to detect or apt to masquerade as beneficial, progress is slow. By “dangerous”, I generally mean the ones … Continue reading
Procrastination in literature: Winning Through Intimidation
My cross-country trip had been based on an assumption and a gamble. The assumption was that the borrower was going to stop payment on the $15,000 check; the gamble was that he would make the mistake of procrastinating and not … Continue reading
Framing writing
Have you noticed how much easier it is to write a short comment on a blog than to write an article? The small text area and the button labeled “Preview” removes a lot of the pressure from writing. The subject … Continue reading