According to a number of clever studies that were discussed in the January 22nd Print Edition of the Economist it just might.

In each of three studies conducted by a team led by Sean McCrea of the University of Konstanz, in Germany, researchers found that groups that were asked to perform concrete tasks and to provide specific information tended quite significantly to respond within the allotted time whereas groups that were given tasks where the answers were not as defined and which required more abstract rather than linear reasoning skills tended to respond after the proscribed time frame or to not respond at all.

While on one level these results are not suprising I think it is important not to draw too many conclusions from this sort of seriously limited study.  For one thing studies such as this suffer quite significantly from the fact that the researchers have little control over many hundreds of extraneous factors that can influence the results of their research.

Further it is important to be certain that what they are seeing is truly a cause and effect relationship between the type of task each participant was asked to perform and the way in which the participant responded.  How, do the researchers know, for example, that there isn’t someone within the group that is self medicating with procrastination induced fear rather then because of some abstract question they were asked to answer?

While I am reasonably sure that the conclusions of the study point towards a relationship between abstract thought and procrastination in some people I suspect that this is only a very small part of the complete picture.  A lot more research in this area is needed before any valid conclusions can be drawn in my opinion - after all- it may be that procrastination is more likely to cause abstract thinking than to be caused by it; just ask anyone that knows me well.  They’ll tell you…

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Earlier today David Allen took a few minutes to record the following special invitation.  In it he talks about the upcoming GTD Global Summit and shares with us why he thinks that this event is even more timely and will be more valuable as a result of the continuing financial crisis facing the US and the rest of the world.

From a personal perspective I would add that this event was partially the brainchild of my late friend, Marc Orchant.  Marc passionately believed that a gathering of people from around the world to share knowledge of GTD, to exchange ideas, swap tips and tricks and show off our coolest shiny toys would be invigorating, intellectually stimulating, and above all offer a very significant opportunity for self improvement.

I’m excited about the forthcoming event and hope that I’ll finally have the chance to meet many GTDtimes readers in person for the first time.  Of course I’ll be providing extensive coverage of the Summit here at GTDtimes (as well as announcing in advance some of the special presenters who will be joining us).

If you can only attend a single conference this year the GTD Global Summit will be the one that delivers the most lasting value and real world practical advice to help you become more productive, better balanced in your work and home life and ultimately more capable to weather the current turbulent economic times in which we’ve suddenly found ourselves.

One last note:  If you are an accredited member of the media and would like a press pass for this even, please send an inquiry to me at editor at GTDtimes dot com and I will get back to you with a response.  Please note that only accredited journalists from publications with a recognized name and meaningful circulation numbers wiill receive a complimentary pass as spaces for journalists are highly limited.

If you are a less accomplished writer looking to attend there may be some discounted slots available on a first come, first served basis at the discretion of the event management.

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Editor’s Note:  Dr. O’Connor is an occasional contributor to GTD Times.  She sent me an email about this book and I was so intrigued and felt that other GTDtimes readers would be similarly interested that I asked Dr. O’Connor if she could share her thoughts with the rest of us.  Thanks Lynn!

I’ve been reading a fascinating book, Spark, by John J. Ratey. It’s a quick easy read, a popular book, describing the role of exercise in neurogenesis, cognition and learning. It describes a pilot program in a school district in Naperville Illinois. They discovered that strenuous physical exercise led to participating schools raising their scores in all the national tests measuring children and adolescent’s academic achievement.   One year they had 97% of their 8th graders take the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international test of science knowledge/skills. Their young adolescents scored first, just ahead of Singapore. They have found that kids who participate in the program (they changed the name from PE to Fitness) end up with dramatic changes in their learning, concentration, memorization skills, cognitive flexibility, etc.

The kids are all given heart rate monitors and instead of competing with each other as they do in more traditional sports, they each are expected to keep their heart rates at 80% of capacity for an hour –therefore they are going for their own personal best. The effect on learning is remarkable. They found that the kids who arrive at school at 6:30AM to do their exercise are more able to learn in the classes that follow. Other research (on mice for example) is described, demonstrating the mechanics of this, with physical exercise leading to significant increases in BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) and other growth hormones which directly lead to neurogenesis –making new neurons affecting the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus (maybe other brain areas also, I don’t know yet, still reading the book).

This is not the emphasis in article below, but it is related. It made me want to resume going to the gym, and not just doing kundalini yoga although that probably works too –but I get the impression that the more strenuous exercise has a bigger impact. The children and adolescents are given a big choice of activities to choose from –running, cycling, climbing an elaborate wall, doing that computer generated dance activity (I don’t remember the name), etc. Ratey points out that in more traditional school sports, kids spend a great deal of time just waiting around, and some kids who are not “athletic” get left out altogether. Not so with the fitness emphasis, it’s a whole new endeavor.

I knew that exercise promoted better mood and countered stress. What I didn’t know was that exercise has profound effect on cognitive function. I recommend the book for anyone who wants to get inspired to engage in more regular strenuous exercise, while strengthening cognitive apparatus.

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Back in college I, like so many students, took an introductory psychology course.  Unlike most students, however, I still remember exactly what the professor said first in the first lecture of that course.  He said:

“Psychology is unique amongst the sciences for one particular reason.  That which we strive to comprehend - the brain, and that which we use to comprehend it - the brain, are of equal complexity.”

Perhaps to other students this revelation was less insightful or more stupefying or perhaps I was the only one in the hall insufficiently hungover to have failed to grasp what was said, but regardless of the reason, this simple opening statement made an indelible impression upon my brain such that two decades later I can conjure up in my minds eye nearly every detail imaginable about this moment in time.  I may never know why those words said at that precise moment had such an impact on me, but for the first time I have a clearer idea of what was happening in my head to make such a recollection possible.

That is the beauty of John Medina’s Brain Rules, a work of such scope and clarity that I believe you’ll feel, as I do now, that for the first time ever I’ve had a glimpse into the inner workings of my own mind and gained a new level of understanding for much of what is happening inside my thick skull.  Even for those of us that don’t have a science background this work is exceptionally accessible.  Medina brushes aside the typically incomprehensible words and the dozens of insider acronyms common to the language of neurologists, molecular biologists and other learned individuals with lots of letters after their names.  Medina synthesizes the jargon and the science and brings it down to a level where it is understandable to the layman.  More importantly, from this information he distills  practical concepts that can be put to use to help us maximize our individual intellectual capabilities.

To say I enjoyed this book is to put it mildly.  The truth is that I lost all feeling in both feet I was so wrapped up in reading I didn’t notice that the way I was seated was cutting off the circulation to my lower extremities for the better part of 200 pages!  (which I am certain will form an indelible memory of its own)

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If you happen to have an iPhone I have a treat for you. Ambient composer and artist Brian Eno in conjunction with Peter Chilvers and application developer Opal Limited have just released an application for your device that truly demonstrates what happens when a prodigious creative talent like Eno is given a blank slate I’m imbued with the capabilities native to Apple’s evolutionary hand held platform.

Bloom is part do it yourself composing tool, part ambient sound generator, part relaxation and meditation and a complete pleasure to use for personal entertainment.  Bloom is, in my humble opinion anyway, the most creative use of the iPhone to date. Without question worth the $3.99 price tag from the iPhone App Store.

Eno and Chilvers call this unique combination of composition and machine iteration Generative Music.  Although it is quite simple actually in terms of functions it is nevertheless capable of nearly infinite variation making for a piece of software that can entertain and at the sane time provide some health benefits for as long as you have your phone.The application provides a combination of aural and visual stimulus incorporating pastel circles that appear atop a contrasting but also pastel background. The circles are produced in response to the touch of your fingers upon the screen and will vary in size and persistence based upon how long your touch lasts and apparently also to how much pressure you apply.  The tones generated vary in pitch depending where upon the screen you place your fingers.

The result is a tonal and visual composition of your own creation that can be saved if pleasing or deleted with a quick shake if less than sonorous. What’s more there is even a setting that allows the application to take your original piece and if left idle will evolve your work over time. In addition to the creative mode you can also select a passive listening mode where the program will randomly create ambient music that is pleasant to hear combined with colors peaceful to regard.

The one complaint I do have about Eno’s creation is simply that it intuitively begs to do even more. One wants to explore beyond the simple touch / tap interface into other more complex movements; to smear one’s fingers, one, two, three at a time -to drag out certain notes or stifle others. Those with a good ear will long for the ability to move beyond pitch and gain more complete tonal control while visual artists will undoubtedly wish for the ability to change color, to alter hue, depth, intensity and luminosity.Don’t let that dissuade you from purchasing this delightful little application though; after all this is only V-1.0 and knowing Eno he craves the added functionality worse than anyone meaning the application will likely evolve just like the compositions you make with it do.

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