Photo courtesy of Takayuki Miki and Flickr
It’s enthusiasm time again. Let me know what you think via twitter at @JamieSmartCom, on my Facebook page, or on my blog here.
1. A quote I’m resonating with this week
This week’s quote comes from Rebecca Costa’s brilliant book, The Watchman’s Rattle. She points out that when people and societies reach ‘cognitive threshold’ (ie. they get stuck), there’s a tendency to replace the search for knowledge with reliance on superstitious beliefs and rituals. Lots of this going on at the moment!
“When we can’t separate facts from fiction we become highly susceptible to misdiagnosing our problems.”
Rebecca Costa
2. Twenty Good News Stories You Didn’t Know About
I really enjoyed these news stories. In a world where it can seem like there’s plenty of bad news, it’s nice to see that there’s lots to celebrate too (E.g. The Giant Panda is no longer an endangered species). Watch all 20 here (it’s a 3-minute video):
https://www.facebook.com/curiositydotcom/videos/1558339554193856/
3. This week’s glimpse of the future
It turns out that your brain is approximately 100 times cooler than you thought. Read about why this is good news for us all, here:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/brain-has-more-than-100-times-higher-computational-capacity-than-previously-thought-say-ucla-scientists
4. Great TED Talk
Years ago I saw Louis Theroux’s documentary programme about the appalling activities of the Westboro Baptist Church. When I saw that Megan Phelps-Roper (one of the children of the church leaders) was doing a TED Talk on the power of listening to people we don’t agree with, I was very curious indeed. There’s an old saying about religious fundamentalism along the lines of “you can’t reason someone out of a belief they weren’t reasoned into.” It turns out that’s wrong. You can. This video fills me with hope in a world where there is much division. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVV2Zk88beY
5. This week’s 3 minute miracle
Want to watch a fab video with fab music? Here’s Gotye and Kimbra with Somebody That I Used To Know https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY
That’s it for this week!
Thanks and big love,
Jamie
PS. A couple of recent podcast episodes you might want to have a listen to:
a) RMP 14 – Jamie Smart – Keynote Speech: Clarity and the Strategy Equation – I keynoted a strategy workshop for the council of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. I wrote about this experience in Chapter 16 of RESULTS: Think Less, Achieve More. In this episode, you can hear the entire keynote speech for yourself, and discover the ‘strategy equation’ used by many of the world’s greatest strategists (including Napoleon, Steve Jobs, Microsoft and Netflix). https://www.jamiesmart.com/rmp14/
b) YEPP 26 – Liz Scott – You Don’t Have to Try So Hard – Liz Scott is a coach and trainer who works with a wide variety of individuals and organisations, ranging from police forces to education authorities. She collaborates with schools and works directly with children, teachers and head-teachers. And one of the interesting things about Liz is that she worked as a reporter and producer for the BBC for 12 years. https://www.jamiesmart.com/yepp26/