Comments on: Leaving Space for Thinking

By: J-Mo

J-Mo — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:45:37 +0000

This was a great, great post. I cannot TELL you how much your blog has helped me learn to assess/reassess all that I do from day to day. I really feel my work habits are improving. I cannot thank you enough!

I find this does, indeed, work best. I am so glad I stopped paying for television. Now, we control what information we take in in our home, not the other way around, and my brain feels so much sharper for it!

We watch DVDs, but of course, only at particular times.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:16:17 +0000

I have to agree with Vered that taking notes as you read can be a similar approach. Since you wrote about reading in 10 minute chunks, I have been giving it a try. It’s not bad, but I do need to become better accustomed to it. It’s a stilted feel, but I think if I do a couple minutes of sit-ups in between, I can process the information and get some rock-hard abs. :) Of course, I’m not sure if exercise will negatively impact the thought process or help it along. We shall see.

By: Andre Kibbe

Andre Kibbe — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:54:22 +0000

@Vered: I'm impressed. You're a natural parallel processor :) I'm starting to think that my habit of maintaining long flow states is a drug, and scheduling interventions keeps me from going too deep. @Duff: I got the sense that there is something valuable about that kind of scheduled wandering, allowing the unconscious to make new connections and insights based on the material. In Brain Rules, there's a section on sleep theorizing that one of the purposes of sleep is to allow the brain to integrate new things that were learned during the day.In one experiment, the pattern of neural activation in a mouse trained to walk through a maze repeated itself during sleep. I think play, daydreaming and wandering (I love your term, "scheduled wandering") give us the space to manipulate and integrate what we learn from the outside world.

By: Duff

Duff — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 17:50:27 +0000

Thanks for this series on segmented reading. I tried it the other night and realized that it’s actually what I often do naturally.

In my 2-minute breaks, I alternated between taking notes on 3×5 cards, staring off into space, and allowing my thinking to wander and make connections.

I got the sense that there is something valuable about that kind of scheduled wandering, allowing the unconscious to make new connections and insights based on the material.

I felt that the breaks were especially valuable given the fact that I was reading something very challenging. Back when I mostly read easy self-help stuff, I found speed-reading useful. Lately, however, I’ve been aiming to digest more “nutritious” reading material.

By: Vered - MomGrind

Vered - MomGrind — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:43:34 +0000

Got it.

I do take notes. All the time. I even scribble thoughts and observations while reading fiction. I guess our reading styles/ habits are very different. :)

By: Andre

Andre — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:37:13 +0000

That’s a personal problem I have that I mentioned in the first linked post. I’m no good at taking notes while I read. Writing breaks the flow of my reading, since I normally read at a pretty fast pace. Stopping to write something down in the middle of each paragraph would drive me nuts. Other people do it all the time with no problem, though.

So I guess the answer is yes, I consider taking notes as taking a break.

By: Vered - MomGrind

Vered - MomGrind — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:49:40 +0000

Can’t you achieve the same effect by taking notes while reading (which would free your brain from thinking about what you’ve already read and enable you to fully focus on the new material), or do you consider taking notes as a taking a break?