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know "Mr. L says" is an article about #Entropy of Thinking#. In December last year, I signed up for the first issue of Intelligent Training Camp 3.0, and I know that Mr. L is preparing to publish a book.
is very lucky to get the pre-sale signature version at the end of September this year. I took advantage of the National Day holiday and finished reading this book "Open the Mind" and share with you some reading experiences.
What is this book about?
This book starts from the perspectives of psychology, cognitive science , and neuroscience , focusing on "4 basic principles + 6 major growth ladder + 30 action steps".
easy-to-understand language, rigorous and meticulous logic, and vivid cases provide solutions for readers who are troubled by problems such as "mental internal friction, ineffective learning, solidification of thinking, social disorders, procrastination".
First, let’s talk about the inspiration brought by the four underlying principles of the brain.
- Energy saving: In order not to think, humans can do anything
- Stability: The culprit that drags down growth steps
- Prediction: What will become what you feed the brain
- Feedback: Sweet traps that can't stop
1. Regarding energy saving and stability
Why is habit so difficult to change? Because the essence of habit is the result of a set of automated processing, it is the most comfortable and labor-saving state of the brain, and it is also the most natural state of the brain.
Why is it easier to be fearful of changes as you get older? Because I hope that everything is certain, known and controllable for the brain, I will subconsciously reject the matter of "change". The operating mechanisms of these underlying principles, such as
, can allow us to accept inner fear and confusion more calmly, and then seek effective solutions, rather than being trapped in self-blame and closed emotions that cannot extricate ourselves.
2. Regarding prediction
"The brain is actually just suspended alone in a darkness, and there are only electrical signals from 860 neurons that surround it." This sentence has a kind of lonely beauty.
This chapter mentions an important theory - "prediction processing".
Through the information input of every day, every minute and every second, we constantly fine-tune the mental model inside the brain to better conform to and reflect the external world; through the mental world, we predict the situations, reactions and results we will encounter every day, and test the effectiveness of the mental model through prediction and comparison.
The theory reminds me of an example. Try to read this sentence and read it again:
Research shows that the order of Chinese characters does not necessarily affect reading . For example, when you finish reading this sentence, you find that the words are all messy.
The brain's automatic correction ability may also be a form of "prediction". Sometimes text that seems to be fine at first glance, but the brain automatically corrects it based on previous reading experience.
Interestingly, there are similar examples in English. If you disrupt the internal sorting of words, you are still likely to read a sentence in full. If you don’t believe it, try the following paragraph:
In addition, the "predictive processing theory" is also alerting us, "What to eat to make up for," and the same is true for the brain. You are what you eat, you are what you read.
is what the saying goes: your temperament hides the path you have walked, the books you have read, and the people you have loved.
3. Regarding feedback
Dopamine As a neurotransmitter, its secretion and information transmission mainly have four pathways:
- Substantia nigra -stratigraphic pathway: mainly involves movement and regulation
- midbrain- cortical pathway: mainly involves decision-making function
- nodule-funnel pathway: mainly involves reproductive
- midbrain -limbic pathway: mainly involves decision-making function
Among them, the fourth pathway, which is the "reward circuit" we are familiar with.When this pathway is activated by dopamine, it will give us strong motivation and motivate us to act.
This reminds me of the craving and reward mentioned in the book Atomic Habits, but Mr. L refined the rewards of the brain into two parts in "Opening the Mind", one is "pleasure" and the other is "motivation".
For example, if you spend a few hours writing a reading note and a research article, you feel fulfilled and satisfied, but at the same time you feel very tired and don’t want to write anymore. This is high pleasure and low motivation.
Another example is the phenomenon of "addiction". You are addicted to something, but you are not happy. You know that it is not important, is wasting time, and cannot control yourself. This is a high motivation and low pleasure. Chapter 7 of the book
also mentions three levels of happiness:
- The lowest level of happiness is to give you a sense of pleasure in a short period of time and make you "good", but it is irresponsible and does not care whether your threshold will be raised or whether you will indulge in short-term feedback. For example, some consumer entertainment.
- A higher level happiness gives you long-term and stable satisfaction and sense of belonging. Make the happiness curve rise steadily and make people feel fulfilled. For example, study, growth, satisfactory career, etc.
- The most advanced happiness is to give you meaning, sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy. Help you find your mission and direction, let you connect with more individuals and even the world, and give you more noble meaning to your life. Such as giving, help, connection, etc.
Regarding "feedback", there are two solutions that may be inspiring:
① I often feel that I lack motivation and cannot be interested in anything. What should I do?
This may very likely mean that your reward circuit system relies too much on external rewards and lacks sufficient exercise and stimulation, which makes its ability to independently produce dopamine less, and it only wants to satisfy the entertainment in front of you, regardless of the long-term. What to do if
? Consciously stay away from short-term feedback, avoid your threshold being infinitely raised, and do things that benefit the long-term by starting new skills and entering new fields, gain rewards and feedback in the process of creation, and accumulate internal motivation and sense of accomplishment.
②How to resolve "existential anxiety" and find the meaning of "why am I alive for"?
Find something higher than the individual, incorporate yourself into it, become part of it, and make it the ultimate answer to all questions about meaning.
is like Marx who "fights for the liberation of all mankind" and Zhou Enlai who "studys for the rise of China", found the purest life career and fought for it for life.
But as an ordinary person, how can you find a career that is "higher than individual"?
expands the contact area of life and constantly try more possibilities. Take action first and get feedback during action.
If a "interest" happens to connect you with the world, let you feel that it can help others, influence others, and let you feel the value of existence, it becomes a "career" that can bring meaning to you.
What three points that inspired me the most about this book?
After chatting about the 4 underlying principles of the brain, this book shares specific practices from 6 aspects: "controlling emotions, self-driven, decisive action, efficient learning, deep thinking, and active creation".
length reason, focus on sharing the three points that I feel the most deeply.
. Control emotions: How to be friends with emotions
What is the essence of emotions? From an evolutionary perspective, emotions are equivalent to an alarm for the brain, but they seem too sensitive in a more stable and safe environment in modern times.
I am a very emotional person. At best, it is because of strong empathy. At worst, it is just a thunder that explodes when it doesn’t know when it will be. This matter also bothers me very much.
But this book provides me with a solution:
When facing emotions, don’t reject it or reject it, but try to understand it, accept it, and guide it and comfort it on this basis, let it develop in the direction it wants, and avoid being merciless and manipulated by it.
(I) 4 weapons to master emotions:
① Emotion is not a fact. treats emotions as a consultant and as one of the information channels, and listens to its warnings and opinions calmly but does not accept them completely. After being pulled out of your emotions, tell it: "I understand, you go back."
The power of decision-making is always in your own hands. Emotions can provide you with advice and reference, but they cannot replace you in making judgments and actions. The ultimate decision-maker should be your own rationality.
Inspiration: You might as well regard emotions as cartoon characters in " Mind Agents ". They will be online under specific conditions, but always remember that I am the master of emotions and the determiner of the next action.
②Cognitive reconstruction. The emergence of emotions is not inevitable. We interpret external events based on our existing beliefs, thereby generating corresponding emotional reactions. If our beliefs change, the emotions that arise will also change.
Brain is a Bayesian machine. Every time we make judgments and choices, we adjust and train them.
Inspiration: Sometimes anger is caused by ignoring some preconditions or not thinking about problems from the other party’s perspective.
③Expressive writing. write an emotional diary and record your mood, feelings and thoughts. Each time, it takes 15-30 minutes, and the specific frequency is based on the actual situation.
In this way, we cultivate the habit of thinking and analyzing emotions with rationality, so that emotions become a controllable factor.
Inspiration: I was depressed for a while and even thought it was biphasic. At that time, I specially took a booklet to record the state of peaks and troughs, followed and observed myself, and invisibly used the method of expressive writing.
④Implicit self. If your implicit self is filled with feelings of failure and frustration, then when you face new and similar scenes, unpleasant memories will arouse you, thus allowing you to subconsciously reject, escape and fear.
For example, if you always throw something to others to make decisions, or you always delay and make decisions until there is no room for you, then it will subtly strengthen the belief that "I can't make decisions", reduce your self-efficacy , and your resistance in the face of threats.
so, we can do the opposite. On the one hand, regularly record what you "does right" to strengthen your implicit self, and accumulate a lot of positive information to deal with different scenarios.
On the other hand, take the initiative and consciously solve problems and make choices, from small decisions to "where to eat" to large decisions, try not to hesitate or ask others for help, but make decisions on your own.
Inspiration: This is very similar to "Success Diary". Recording successful things can be done, any small things can be done. In this way, you can enhance your confidence and let yourself see that you have the ability to do one thing after another.
(II) 7 daily exercises to improve emotional immunity:
① Anxiety box: When you have anxiety and worry, don’t think about it first, but write it down quickly, set a fixed time period every day, and arrange for 15-30 minutes to concentrate on dealing with all the problems that make you anxious. Keep an "anxiety diary" and follow up and observe, you will find that most worrying problems will not happen at all.
②Back Garden: cultivates interests and hobbies. When you gain a sense of happiness and accomplishment from it, the ventral striatum in the brain will be activated, thereby inhibiting the amygdala, reducing the secretion of cortisol , reducing stress response, and enhancing the "immunity" to negative emotions.
③Social: Social can fully mobilize the prefrontal cortex, keep it active at all times, and make it more developed.
④Sunshine: Serotonin is the neurotransmitter most closely related to emotions. Stable and adequate serotonin levels can calm us down.
⑤Sleep: If you lack sleep, the blood and oxygen supply of the brain will be affected, the activity of the prefrontal lobe will be further inhibited, and the amygdala will become more active. Develop a stable and healthy routine and use stability to defeat uncertainty.
⑥ Exercise: If the lack of exercise leads to weak and unhealthy enough, this state may cause stress, anxiety and low self-esteem - this cannot be compensated by thinking and psychological adjustment. Physical state determines the upper limit of the mental state.
⑦Reading and thinking: The simplest and most effective way to train prefrontal lobes is to read and think. Focusing on a certain issue and thinking is calling the frontal lobe. Read more and think more, "use advancement and retreat and waste" to make the prefrontal cortex more and more developed.
In short, making yourself stronger is the best way to deal with negative emotions.
. Decisive action: How to get rid of laziness, procrastination and fear of difficulties
This chapter divides the lack of action into four modes from the two dimensions of "external cause-internal cause" and "motive-resistance", and provides corresponding suggestions in a targeted manner.
- Threat sensitivity: Are you a mental insufferer
- Feedback missing: How to overcome short-term temptation
- Status orientation: Don’t wait until you are ready before you act
- Stable demand: Turn self-discipline into self-drive
share the three most inspiring points:
① How to get rid of mental insuffering?
two key concepts are mentioned in the book DMN and CEN.
DMN is the default mode network. When you do nothing, your brain is also running, sorting out fragmented information in the background and activates information that may be forgotten.
CEN is the central execution network, that is, when we focus on a certain task, the brain will highly activate the areas related to the current task and suppress other areas. Focused CEN is also more likely to bring flow state.
The book mentions that people with more active DMNs are more efficient in sorting information, and their long-term memory ability, imagination, creativity, etc. are often better than ordinary people.
But at the same time, it also causes it to appear that it is resting, but it is not actually resting. Because the brain needs to consume energy to suppress these distracting thoughts caused by " rumination ", it makes people fall into internal mental consumption.
Inspiration: There are two directions to get rid of mental internal friction, reduce DMN activity and exercise CEN concentration. Instead of letting the brain think casually, it is better to guide the brain to actively recall knowledge and think about unsolved questions.
includes some important but not urgent matters in the background thinking list, establishing To-think-list like setting up To-do-list, and automatically run using your brain to switch to the default mode.
Personal observation, a lot of creativity and inspiration for life and study often emerge in fragmented time, especially when you get home from get off work and ride, there will be a lot of aha moments.
In addition, for some things that need to be strengthened, after turning off the lights and going to bed every day, close your eyes and review them for 10 minutes. This is also a good way.
②How to obtain a continuous power system?
In the fourth chapter of this book, I found the key to "overcome procrastination and gain continuous action", that is, find fun and find ways to "love" this matter.
Regarding this, read Mr. L's "Open the Mind", read Luo Xiang's "Details of the Rule of Law" by Teacher Luo Xiang, and read Eric's "Methods More Important than Knowledge", you will find: Great minds think alike.
Why can a person do something continuously and for a long time? It must be because you "have fun" and you find fun, harvest and even meaning in the process. These are the motivation to continue to do it.How can you endure loneliness and do something that requires long-term hard work? willpower alone will not work. You need to "make this fun" . ——Mr. L "Open the Mind"
"The purpose of my starting point of being a teacher is not sexy at all, there is no great inspiration, just to earn living expenses, and to cure stuttering. It is such a humble starting point. The humble starting point will prompt you to start something, but what makes you persevere must be passion and mission ." —— Luo Xiang "Details of the Rule of Law"
"If you want to do something, it must be "Because of love, there is no need to persist" . So what is this "love"? It is the pressure to support the family, believing that you are worth it, and the courage to try others, and I also have expectations for this world that anyone knows whether it will be a good world and a meaningless life. ”—Eric "The official account has been updated almost every day for 6 years, how did I do it"
③Three inspiring thinking habits
[Experience value mentality]
treats all challenges and difficulties as an opportunity to improve experience value. Don't pay too much attention to "whether I will fail", but pay more attention to "what can I learn from it".
This mentality is very similar to the "growth thinking" proposed by Carol Dweck. Many The reason why people dare not try new things is because they are afraid of failure and afraid that "insufficient ability" will be discovered by others, but growth thinking tells us: don't be afraid.
People's abilities are never static, but constantly changing. Your failure in one thing can only show one thing, that is, you will become more powerful.
[Rules of Eating Frogs]
"If the first thing you wake up every morning is to eat a live frog, then you will be happy to find that there is nothing worse than this next day. "This is a classic quote from Mark Twain about time management.
About this rule, Born Tracy (Brian Tracy) has written a book " Eat That Frog ", which has refined 21 rules of time management.
"frog" can be understood as the most important, most difficult and most difficult thing we face in a day. It may not be the longest time, but it must be the most repulsive and least want to do.
has finished doing it, or even if it is just a step, you will feel refreshed. Doing other things will be more motivated. tml2
This point, a sentence in the book "Naval Book" also has the same effect:
A simple life experience: If you don't agree on a difficult decision, you should choose a more painful path in the short term.
[Active procrastination]
passive procrastination is a strategy of avoidance, you have always defaulted on yourself "not prepared". OK, treat procrastination and avoidance as "preparation", so as to passively go to work at the last moment.
and actively procrastination are very clear about "how to do this thing", but don't do it now, just do it when the deadline is approaching.
This way, on the one hand, can minimize the time and energy spent on this thing, and on the other hand, can give the brain appropriate pressure, so that the brain can "full power" under pressure, and slowly adapt to this fast pace. The most critical point of
is to put yours The thinking angle is withdrawn from immersion, worry, and imagination in time, and shifted to action, and think focusedly: What are I able to control? What can I do? What steps should I take to act?
For this, there is a similar view in the book "Seven Habits of High-Efficacy People":
Active people focus on " Influence Circle ", they concentrate on doing what they can, their energy is positive, and they can continuously expand the influence circle.
If our focus is on the circle of attention, it is equivalent to allowing ourselves to be subject to external conditions, and naturally we will not take the initiative to take necessary measures to promote positive changes.
Only when we work hard on the influence circle and pay attention to our own way of thinking can we gain the positive energy to change ourselves, rather than just worrying.
- Following circle: I want... (for example: good figure/wealth freedom/good job/more wisdom)
- Influence circle: I can do... (for example: fitness/financial management/improve ability/reading)
The problem-solving ideas about "negative procrastination-active procrastination" can also be moved to Chapter 7 "How to rest effectively", that is, turning "passive rest" into "active rest".
How to take the initiative to rest?
- Principle 1 Work alternately, actively master the rhythm of work and rest
- Principle 2 Use your brain to rest, avoid DMN model aimlessly rumination
- Principle 3 Spiritual space, arrange fixed time every day to do things that are interested, have certain thresholds, and need to think or do your brain, so that you can continue to grow.
- Principle 4 Set boundaries, actively control the work rhythm, set zeros to the whole, avoid falling into the "time black hole", learn to say no, and achieve topic separation
- Principle 5 Good work and rest, maintain a healthy body, abundant energy and clear thinking
. Deep thinking: How to become a smarter person
In this chapter, Mr. L shared four thinking models and a set of efficient thinking toolboxes, but the first thing to remember is: cleverness is not a difficult-to-see trait. It is learnable and can be continuously strengthened through growth.
(I) Four thinking models :
① Individual-overall model: connects the object of research itself with the systems and systems we know, and looks at the problem from the whole.
I remembered a line from the movie " Heart-pounding ":
A painting is more than the sum of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow. A meadow by itself is just grass, flowers. And the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light. But you put them all together and it can be magic.
"A painting is not simply pieced together. A cow is just a cow, and the grass is only grass and flowers, and the sunlight passing through the branches is just a beam of light, but if they are put together, it will produce magical charm."
②Input-output model: system is a combination of "elements" and "structure". The most critical point is that the system includes a "transformation" process. Whether a system and a structure are efficient and have the value of existence depends on whether it can better convert the former into the latter.
③Supply-Demand Model: Think about these three questions clearly - what do I have? Who needs these things? How can I turn what I already have into what others need? Once you figure it out, the problem will basically be solved. Even if it cannot be solved, you have a direction to think.
④Motility-Resistance Model: The essence of many problems is actually a game between power and resistance. When the momentum exceeds resistance, change will occur, behavior will be established, and vice versa, it will stagnate. What is the driving force behind something? What factors do not want it to happen and change?
Inspiration: Speaking of thinking models, I thought of the "multi-dimensional thinking model" in "Poor Charlie's Book" and the list of various principles mentioned in the two books "Principles" and "Naval Book".
similar, there are "5w2h thinking method", "correct U-shaped thinking method", "360-degree VR thinking method", etc. Their essences are all to provide an angle and direction for thinking, and only when it is truly used can it be effective.
(II) A set of efficient thinking toolbox
① Retelling: What information I got
② Refinement: Among these things, what is the most core
③ Integration: How to look at it from a higher place
④ Analysis: What may be the reason for it
⑤ Criticism: I can choose to believe what
⑥ Substitute: If it is Me, what will I do
⑦Contact: What can it be connected to
⑧Targeting: For me, what is the most important
⑨Review: How can I do better
⑩Creation: What can I provide for
Inspiration: From memorizing words, writing articles, to planning and making products, whether it is life or learning, these thinking habits can help us exercise our thinking and become a little "smarter".
written in the end
This is a book that I am reluctant to finish. It took about 3 hours to read the whole process, but it took me more than 3 hours to conceive and organize the reading insights and ideas.
Thinking of this sorting process is actually the application of "retelling, refining, integrating, connecting, targeting, reviewing, and creating" in the "thinking toolbox". Thinking of this, it is worth it.
"The reason why a book becomes a book is the author's logical framework. What content is written in and what content is not written is determined by the author. If you fully accept the author's logical framework when reading, it is just copying other people's brains."
If you have any regrets, it is the INKP knowledge management method mentioned in the "Efficient Learning" section of Chapter 5 of the book. When I participated in the training camp, I felt that Obsidian was difficult to apply. The process of reading this book was still complicated, and it has not yet been internalized into my own knowledge system, and it has not yet developed a simplified version suitable for me.
Since this is the case, let’s put such confusion into your own To-think-list and "anxiety box".
敏时时. There is also a small detail that makes people shine. The title page section has a QR code Q&A channel. If you have any questions, you can communicate here, and if you have any additions, you can modify it here. As Mr. L said:
"This way, this book can become a growing tree, constantly communicate with the outside world, and always maintain vitality."
In the postscript part of the book, there is also a sentence:
"Maybe in 3 years or 5 years later, I will find many incomplete things, but that was the me at that time, not the me now. For me now, it is already the 'best thing I can do."
Isn't this the application of "experience value mentality" and "growth thinking"? This should be the same in daily study and life, allowing and accepting the imperfections of the moment, but never giving up on the pursuit of growth to become better.
