tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123762252024-03-13T06:01:26.121+00:00Getting it WriteSheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.comBlogger782125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-39003896345329400362015-04-09T12:03:00.001+01:002015-04-09T12:03:54.504+01:00If at first you don't succeed..... try again. This blog has moved to <a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/">http://sheilacrosby.com</a>, and joined with <a href="http://starisland.co.uk/">http://starisland.co.uk</a>. <a href="http://lapalma-island/">http://lapalma-island</a> will be joining soon. The new blog looks much prettier, and hopfully this time I won't wipe it out while trying to upgrade. (And yes, I have a backup now. You bet your bibby I have a backup.)Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-5408786214432611592015-03-29T12:30:00.000+01:002015-03-30T22:32:10.235+01:00Somebody's got to do it.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWqjZrIS0NriPEyISJA9dk0Pchd_FzIqk09eKIe8ZoIh7IKdyisBYcuU1_6XEmHqYLXPzeIaNBMWWWrS_1qLcO8KaP9JFiUsFdoey8CzUqb3q68Jy3c6uszjxDG0u8lrGbWrKYA/s1600/sunset.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWqjZrIS0NriPEyISJA9dk0Pchd_FzIqk09eKIe8ZoIh7IKdyisBYcuU1_6XEmHqYLXPzeIaNBMWWWrS_1qLcO8KaP9JFiUsFdoey8CzUqb3q68Jy3c6uszjxDG0u8lrGbWrKYA/s1600/sunset.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
I've been showing an international group of journalists around La Palma for the tourist board. So I took them to all the most beautiful parts of the beautiful island, and we ate in the best restaurants, and we had good conversations and I got paid for it.<br />
<br />
But then I suppose that somebody has to do it.<br />
<br />
On Saturday we watched the sunset from the dome of the enormous Gran Telescopio Canarias at the Roque de Los Muchachos observatory. As usual, it was spectacular to watch the sun set into the sea of clouds beneath us.<br />
<br />
Even the people and their shadows looked amazing.
<br />
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Then we went up to the Roque itself where we saw the twilight and Venus (on the right) through the Muchachos themselves. ("Muchachos" is Spanish for "young men". With a lot of imagination the rock formation looks like a group of people.)<br />
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Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-80403365652932634872015-03-22T21:48:00.000+00:002015-03-22T21:48:15.211+00:00At Bleeding Last!<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I finished the second
edition of "A Breathtaking Window on the Universe" in July
2013. Almost immediately, I started work on the Spanish version. But
I got interrupted by family holidays, distributing books, and writing
"The Seer's Stone" and translating it into "La piedra
ocular" (while local government subsidies were available.) That
took longer than anticipated, as these things generally do.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Meanwhile I was tour
guiding, blogging, writing the odd short story (some of them were
very odd) doing an online course about moons, and sometimes even
doing housework.
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Family holidays came
around again. Then I was I was tour guiding, blogging, writing the
odd short story, learning about oral story telling, applying for
governement business coaching and cleaning up after a mouse.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I sent "La Piedra
ocular" off to the printers in October 2014 and re-started work
on the second edition of "Una espectacular ventana al
universo". Yay!</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I got the coaching.
Double Yay! And almost the first thing my coach said was, "You
really, REALLY need to do something about sheilacrosby.com"</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So I abandoned my secnd
edition again, and sorted that out, quick before I had to pay for
another year's hosting at http://lapalma-island.com. I planned it all
out (see
http://sheilacrosby.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/working-on-website.html)
and got it up, and killed it before I could take a backup. (See
http://sheilacrosby.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/disaster.html)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That meant that I had
to pay for an extra year's hosting anyway. So I went back to the
much-delayed second edition.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And tonight I finally,
finally sent the changes off for professional proof correction
(absolutely necessary with Spanish)</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I still need to buy an
ISBN and double check half the URLs, but it feels like a major (and
long overdue) milestone.</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm going to have some
champagne.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-57706426727790815392015-03-16T17:06:00.000+00:002015-03-17T17:07:19.238+00:00ExhibitingThe factoria de innovación (Innovation Factory) held a presentation of their work this morning, and I was invited to exhibit my books.<br />
<br />
So I did. The Spanish ones, anyway.<br />
<br />
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<br />Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-84446814607089967942015-03-14T16:59:00.000+00:002015-03-17T17:00:04.325+00:00Pi DayFor those sane people who don't know, March 14th is pi day, because if you write March 14th the American way, it's 3.14, yes? Actually, the first five digits of pi are 3.1415, which made this year a bit special. In fact 9:26:53am was super special because pi is 3.141592653 (and the rest).
It's tradicional to eat pie on pi day, which is probably why the idea caugh on. I mean, how much of an excuse do you need? But as usual I was too busy to muck around rolling out pastry, so we had shepherd's pi.
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-35313721922674414882015-03-13T11:20:00.000+00:002015-03-13T11:20:51.816+00:00R. I. P. Tery PrattchettBuggerlit millenium shrimp!<br />
<br />
And other expressions far too foul even for Old Ron.<br />
<br />
I hope he's sitting in Death's strange garden, with the Death of Cute Kittens purring on his lap.<br />
<br />
(No, the Death of Cute Kittens isn't in the books, only in my head. She's inspired by the Death of Rats, of course. And yes, she has a pink velvet bow around her neck.)Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-67802512789912674232015-03-10T20:20:00.004+00:002015-03-10T20:24:35.195+00:00Disaster!<br /><br />I really need to finish translating the second edition of "A Breathtaking Window" into Spanish. I was working through all the minor changes from the English second edition, seeing which ones needed to go into the Spanish version (most of them). I came across a URL on my <a href="http://starisland.co.uk/">starisland.co.uk</a> page, and decided that the best thing would be to move it over to <a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/">sheilacrosby.com</a> now, so that I could put the new one in my book. I had to move star island by May anyway. Part of my grand Unify-the-Blogs plan.<br /><br />So I moved it over and it completely overwrote the whole ****ing site.<br /><br />The one I spent about a month on - or was it six weeks?<br /><br />And I didn't have a proper backup for lack of disk space.<br /><br />It could be worse though. I got the site ready (all the visual stuff like colours and background images) at <a href="http://lapalmaisland.sheilacrosby.com/">lapalmaisland.sheilacrosby.com</a>, and I still had the file I used to transfer it. And I know how to do stuff. But I still have to transfer over posts and pages from lapalma-island, and re-do all the writing stuff. The page of my publications took bloody forever, because of all the links I had to check. I suppose that's good in a way, since it's due to selling a lot of stories over the years. It's a fuck-ton of work, and this week I have three morning's work at the Roque and a translation for the Tourist Board. And the Tourist Board are in a hurry.<br /><br />So the second edition in Spanish is postponed yet again, although it's a lot further forward.<br /><br />And I am not a happy bunny. For one thing, I'm very cross with myself. I know how important backups are. I should have gone out and bought a ****** flash drive.<br /><br />Oh yeah, at the time I didn't take the backup, I had no money. And the next week, I had money but forgot about it.<br /><br />Oh well, it'll all get fixed eventually. But I'm still not happy.<br /><br />So in the mean time, there will be sporadic updates to this blog again.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-71103759740468641622015-02-25T11:31:00.000+00:002015-03-13T11:30:28.277+00:00Moving house<br />
Not the writer, just the blog. This blog has moved to <a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/">http://sheilacrosby.com</a>, and joined with <a href="http://lapalma-island.com/">http://lapalma-island.com</a>. The new blog looks much prettier, and I've just posted photos of the 60s wedding in Los Sauces. Carlos looked great in his costume!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/boda61web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="A particularly elegant guest at the 60s wedding in Los Sauces" border="0" src="http://sheilacrosby.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/boda61web.jpg" height="640" title="" width="460" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #57718d; color: #101010; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">A particularly elegant wedding guest.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-88807432809005973772015-02-21T14:40:00.004+00:002015-02-21T14:40:33.499+00:00"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 9: Making Habits."Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
====================================================================<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Successful
famous people often have a regular routine. Working steadily on your
main goal is clearly an important part of success, but then it's
clearly not the whole thing. A daily walk will help keep your brain
and body in shape, but by itself it won't produce the theory of
evolution by natural selection. As scientists say, the plural of
anecdote is not data. What we need is studies of large numbers of
people to find out what works and what doesn't. We need science.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>One thing at a
time</b></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's
tempting to go for a complete makeover. Don't. Look at all the people
who make ten New Year's resolutions and break them all by the end of
January. Start small, and change one thing at a time. You can break a
large habit down into smaller parts, and do them one at a time. Don't
change your whole diet in one go. Maybe start by weaning yourself off
the sugar in your coffee. Leave fruit for elevenses until the
sugarless coffee is automatic.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Motivation.</b></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If your
motivation's weak, you’re unlikely to make a new habit stick. So
have a think about why you want to do this. But don't daydream that
you've done it. Surprisingly, that's counterproductive. Daydream
about working on your goals. That way you'll work harder at it, and
you're less likely to be blind-sided by problems. Best of all,
imagine your future with the good habit, then without the good habit,
and contrast the two. That works best, as long as you expect to
succeed. People who don't think they can succeed tend to give up,
which at least saves wasted effort. (This is another reason to start
small – you'll have a more realistic idea of what you can achieve.)</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The catch
is that it's no fun thinking of the yawning gap between your goal and
the status quo, and taking an inventory of everything that might go
wrong. But oddly, once you realise that it's difficult but doable,
you'll probably be motivated. And then you need a plan – the right
sort of plan.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Planning</b></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most
people have really vague plans, like “lose weight,” or “be
kinder.” What you need is to plan a very precise (preferably small)
action and a a very specific situation to trigger it. “<i>Whenever</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
</span>I'm getting myself coffee, <i>then</i> I'll have 2 sugars
instead of 3” or “<i>If</i> I see someone struggling with a
buggy, <i>then</i> I'll offer to help.” Link the situation with the
response, and there's a much better chance you'll form a habit. 94
studies show that this works.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You may
have to tweak the plan. Say you want to exercise and you start with,
“<i>If</i> I reach the lift at work, <i>then</i> I'll take the
stairs.” That limits you to the stairs at work. OK, so “<i>If</i>
I reach any lift, <i>then</i> I'll take the stairs.” But what if
it's 25 floors, or you're in the middle of an important conversation
with somebody who's taking the lift? Hmm. “<i>If</i> I reach any
lift and I'm not mid-conversation, <i>then</i> I'll take the stairs
for at least 2 floors.” Sometimes these things just won't work for
you, and you'll need a different technique. “<i>If </i>I leave the
car in a car park, <i>then</i> I'll park at the far end and walk
across the car park.” It's not a lot of exercise, but it's better
than nothing.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Don't plan
using the time of day. If you plan to go for a run at 8pm you
probably won't be looking at the clock at 8pm. Don't rely on your
memory: use an event. Go for a run after Dr Who. The best cue for a
new habit is something that happens every day at a regular time.
People trying to eat more healthily found that arriving at work and
lunchtime were good cues, because it links to an existing habit. A
lot of your day is already chains of habits – add a new link. The
best time to floss is right after you brush.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
OK, that's
the <i>if</i>. Now for the <i>then</i>. Make it specific, If you're
trying to be nicer to your spouse, then “If it's my turn to cook,
then I'll make something they like.” If you're trying to eat more
healthily, “If I'm food shopping, then I'll remember to get low fat
milk.” It's often good to include alternatives. “If there's time
after breakfast, then I'll go for a run <i>or</i> ride my bicycle.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You should
also plan for when it starts to go wrong. “If I get a craving for a
cigarette after meals, I'll distract myself by clearing the table and
loading the dishwasher.” “If I can't be arsed to do yoga, I'll
light some incense and put on soothing music to get me in the mood,
then I'll get the mat out and just do two sun salutations” “If
I'm too tired to do the de-cluttering I promised myself, I'll play
some rock and roll.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Every time
you repeat your habit, it gets a little easier. But the number of
repetitions varies depending on the person, the habit you're trying
to form and how you go about it. It's a good idea to have a plan (or
plans) for dissatisfaction. “If I feel I'm not making any progress,
then I'll remind myself how far I've come.” “If I'm short of
motivation, I'll remind myself why I'm doing this and put on some
energising music and/or promise myself a small reward afterwards.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Self
monitoring helps</b>. Both the traditional chart to record progress and
noticing how it's going. You may want to tweak. Would it be easier
at a different time of day?How about two short cleaning sessions
instead of one long one? Of course once you've noticed a problem
(“I'm bored with apples”) you have to do something about it
(“I'll have a banana instead.”) You may need to tweak again.
“Bananas don't keep very well. I shop on Wednesdays, so I'll have a
banana on Thursday and Friday, a mango on Saturday when I tend to
skip fruit, and then I'll have apples or oranges for the rest of the
week.”)</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Don't beat
yourself up if you miss a session. A few misses won't hurt much.
[Sheila sez: Specifically don't be like an ex-boyfriend of mine, and
conclude that one miss means you've given up and you're useless and
there's no point trying ever again.]</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Be careful
with <b>rewards</b>. What happens when you get bored with the reward? It
works better if the reward is your own satisfaction.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It
shouldn't be so very hard to acquire a new habit. You've acquired
loads of habits without even trying! And once you've made your
desired behaviour into a habit, you'll probably go on doing it even
when the house burns down and the cat explodes.</div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-20244638000580992922015-02-15T19:20:00.000+00:002015-02-15T19:33:24.491+00:00Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean, Chaper 8: Online all the time"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
====================================================================<br />
Facebook can get out of hand. Not just late-to-cook-dinner out of hand, but 5-hours-a-day,-sneaking-off-work-to-check-it-until-you're-fired,-then-sneaking-peeks-at-it-during-your-session-with-a-psychologist out of hand.<br />
<br />
Some people set their email program to download every 5 minutes, even though there's usually nothing, and if there’s something, it's usually spam. 59% of people check their email in the loo. Of course it only takes a moment to check email, but it takes another minute or so to get back into whatever you were doing before. One minutes, every five minutes.<br />
<br />
Email is what behavioural psychologists call a “variable-interval reinforcement schedule.” You never know when the next email will arrive, and you never know how interesting it will be when it does. So you put up with the frustration when you get nothing worth reading, and the habit is strengthened when you do get something. Like slot machines.<br />
<br />
Checking email every 5 minutes at work reduces your productivity. Checking email every 5 minutes on holiday can lead to burnout and/or divorce.<br />
<br />
Some people check email once or twice a day. Some people check it every 30 seconds and always respond immediately. Some people feel it's taking over, and some delete anything that doesn't look interesting. Jeremy Dean suggests that for most of us, checking once every 45 minutes or so would work better. Other mini breaks might consist of shutting your eyes for 5 seconds to rest them, or getting a drink. You're unlikely to do that every 30 seconds, it's less tiring, and you could think about your work while you do it.<br />
<br />
Multitasking doesn't really work. You're actually switching rapidly between tasks, and probably forgetting stuff each time. And it stops you ever getting into a flow state.<br />
<br />
Twitter takes multitasking a step further. You can hold multiple conversations at once, although 80% of users only talk about themselves, and 10% of users generate 90% of all tweets. In practice, it's not so much conversations as information spread. But while you're waiting for some juicy information, it's another “variable-interval reinforcement schedule.” So we tend to check Twitter at shorter and shorter intervals until we make a conscious decision to change.<br />
<br />
Does checking email and twitter every 30 seconds count as an addiction? Sort of, but it's probably more useful to ask whether it's making you miserable. And it's often a symptom of depression or anxiety as much as a cause of it. The catch is that the more your life has been screwed up by overuse of the Internet, the more likely you are to distract yourself by using the Internet. And the internet is pretty much always available.<br />
<br />
It's up to us how we use it.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-3719352942668270512015-02-13T20:09:00.001+00:002015-05-06T11:17:14.619+01:00The new website's upWell the new website's up, although I'm sure there are broken links and missing images. I'll be adding more later, but meanwhile, feel free to go have a nosy around <a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/">http://sheilacrosby.com</a>Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-1208219038760252792015-02-09T11:32:00.000+00:002015-02-09T11:35:08.813+00:00"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 7: When habits kill"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
====================================================================<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Habits can
be lethal, but no, he doesn't mean smoking.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Pilots
have to go through a long check-list before take-off. These check
lists reduce accidents, but they get so routine that occasionally the
pilots will say “Check” without really checking. The results can
be tragic, so there's a lot of research on how to avoid this. For
example, moving the check-list from paper to computer halved the
error rate.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Humans
have such a strong tendency to see what they expect or want to see,
especially when stressed. Give musicians music with mistakes in it,
and by and large, they'll play correct notes instead. Most people
don't spot spelling mistakes, especially in the middle of a word.
[Sheila sez: no wonder it's so hard to proof read your own writing!]
This sort of slip offers a fascinating window into how habits work.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We also
substitute one action for another, like going to the fridge for milk
and fetching orange juice instead. [Sheila sez: Am I the only one who
actually put the orange juice in my tea?] We think we asked for
coffee when we only thought about it, then get annoyed when coffee
doesn't appear. [Sheila sez: I used to do that with letters. I'd
write them in my head, and then be convinced I'd written them on
paper and posted them.]</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Another
favourite is repeating part of a habit. Boil kettle, pour water into
mug. Boil kettle again, pour water into full mug so it overflows and
you have to mop up.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We do
these things mostly in very familiar places, like the kitchen and
bedroom. It's partly because we spend quite a lot of time there, but
also because they're so very full of environmental cues to our
habits.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Health and
Safety has a bad reputation, but they became more effective when they
stopped merely educating people. I remember when they ran TV adverts
showing how very easy it is to go through a car windscreen if you're
not wearing a seatbelt, and how very, very horrible it is if that
happens. That persuaded people that they ought to wear seatbelts, but
it didn't make them wear seat belts. The habit of shutting the car
door and driving off was too strong.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So the
psychologists started looked at what else was going on. And they
found that environmental cues play a huge role in habits. Like the
tragic case of the train driver who unconsciously developed the habit
of driving off when he heard the guard ring the bell twice –
missing out the vital “CHECK THE SIGNAL IS AT GREEN” part.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Explaining
to people that smoking kills didn't stop people smoking. Banning them
from smoking in certain places did, because it disrupted the habit.
Check-lists also help.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jeremy
Dean finishes the chapter by saying, “We think of ourselves as
biology, psychology and behaviour and neglect [snip] how we are
embedded in our environments, both physical and social. Our habits
[snip] also grow out of these. [snip] The situation has more power to
control our habits than we think.</div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-43964442294391855152015-02-08T12:11:00.002+00:002015-02-08T12:11:40.781+00:00Do I dare?Only three weeks ago I managed a quick and perfect installation of WordPress to get ready for my blog upgrades. Today I tried to do it for real, and it all went splat. Perhaps because this was on top of the old site instead of a nice new one.<br />
<br />
I have a backup of the site. Maybe I just need to take a very deep breath, clean it all out, and start again. Scary, scary thought.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I should mention that I haven't abandoned the read through of "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean. I'm just busy with websites. And yeah, you could say that I've got out of the habit.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-84582767641088158392015-02-05T19:10:00.001+00:002015-02-05T19:10:15.413+00:00A conference in Saudi ArabiaOK, so what do you think a conference on "Women in Society" in Saudi Arabia looks like?<br />
<br />
I was guessing that it looked like laundry bags (and sounded very interesting). My son guessed that it would be an empty room.<br />
<br />
Nope.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.konbini.com/en/files/2015/02/ob_8757bf_o-saudi-arabia-womens-conference-570-810x420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.konbini.com/en/files/2015/02/ob_8757bf_o-saudi-arabia-womens-conference-570-810x420.jpg" height="206" width="400" /></a></div>
It's all men.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-26182994591453485812015-02-04T21:16:00.000+00:002015-05-06T11:18:34.689+01:00Working on the websiteI have too many blogs. There's this one, and the one about <a href="http://lapalma-island.com/">La Palma</a>, and <a href="http://starisland.co.uk/">one about astronomy</a> and one about <a href="http://elhierro.sheilacrosby.com/">El Hierro</a>. Plus there's <a href="http://sheilacrosby.com/">my main site</a> (or at least it used to be my main site, but it's very neglected and old-fashioned.) And <a href="http://dragontree.sheilacrosby.com/">my bookshop</a>. All this takes up far too much of my time and interferes with writing. So I'm combining them.<br />
<br />
Stage 1: Move lapalma-island.com to lapalmaisland.sheilacrosby.com (This goes first because the web hosting is up for renewal.) Coming along nicely.<br />
<br />
Stage 2: Add articles from Sheilacrosby.com.<br />
<br />
Stage 3: Move combined blog to Sheilacrosby.com. Leave redirects behind.<br />
<br />
Stage 4: Add the other two blogs and the bookshop.<br />
<br />
Stage 5: Finish the whodunnit.<br />
<br />
Stage 6: WORLD DOMINATION!Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-19051373651650629432015-01-30T11:55:00.000+00:002015-02-09T11:20:55.298+00:00 "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 6"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
=================================================================</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
[<i>Quick interjection from Sheila</i>. This chapter deals with
mental illnesses, which tend to be misunderstood by the general
public. Clinical depression is not the same as feeling a bit down.
Clinical depression is to the blues as a bit of a breeze is to a
hurricane. There are similarities BUT! If you, or someone close to
you is suffering, please, please get much, much better help than this
blog post.]</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
People often joke that “They're really OCD about their kitchen,”
but genuine OCD is a nightmare. Still, it's almost like a sensible
habit gone ballistic: most of us would rather like to be cleaner,
tidier and more hygienic and punctual, as long as it doesn't take
over our lives.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
In pop psychology, Tourette's syndrome is associated with involuntary
swearing, but only 10% of sufferer do that. They feel an urge
building and building until they twitch – say, stabbing out an
elbow. It's as compulsive as OCD, and the two things often go
together. They're both linked to the basal ganglia, deep in the
brain, and drugs help both. These tics are sort-of extreme habits,
like OCD, only they're social habits, like raising the eyebrows in
greeting.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Perhaps surprisingly, psychological therapy also helps. First you
have to become aware of the tic. Then you have to try to work out
what triggers it (it could be external, like computer games, or
internal, like thinking about Batman). The idea is to catch it before
the urge becomes irresistible. Then you do something else instead. If
you're about to jerk your head to one side, tense your neck muscles.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
That works for habits too.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Of course you have to stick at it, which isn't easy. But in one
study, over half of the children with Tourette's managed an
improvement. You'd think an adult would find it easier to battle a
chocolate habit, wouldn't you?</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Clinical depression is partly the result of habitual thoughts.
Depressed people tend to believe that their problems are a) all their
fault b) permanent and c) unfixable. E.g., I lost my job because I'm
useless, therefore I will never find another job, and there's nothing
I can do about it. Optimistic people tend to believe the opposite –
I lost my job because of the recession, I'll get another when the
economy picks up if not before, and I'll find one sooner if I apply
for lots of jobs, I'll be flexible about which jobs, and I'll get
training if necessary.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Perhaps it a good thing that most people believe they're better
drivers than average, more charitable than average and smarter than
average. (Depressed people are an exception. They don't behave worse,
they just rate themselves worse – arguable more accurately.)
Clearly we can't all be better than average, but it does tend to
protect our self-esteem.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Depressed people also tend to ruminate – to think a lot about how
depressed they are – while non-depressed people deal with a bad
mood by distracting themselves.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Of course thinking habits aren't the only cause of depression, but
they do illustrate how unhelpful habitual thoughts can be.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
When Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is used to treat depression
and anxiety, it's based on challenging the habitual thoughts. Drag
them out into the open and take a good look.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“If I don't do everything perfectly, that means I'm a complete
failure at everything. And if anything goes wrong, it's entirely my
fault, always.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“O RLY?”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Both these steps are harder than they might sound.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
It's also worth mentioning that some negative thoughts are helpful.
Worrying about a problem generally spurs you to go find a solution.
Worry about your health -> eat more veggies and less chocolate.
Worry about the electric bill -> save up for it. Of course
sometimes worry produces very unhelpful actions. Worry about your
health -> assume you're dying soon -> picture the funeral in
heartbreaking detail -> drink an entire bottle of rum to forget
about it. Worry about the electric bill -> picture yourself living
in a cardboard box -> go on a shopping spree to cheer yourself up.
Pessimism only works if it produces concrete action instead of
abstract misery.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
And it's not at all helpful to take the concrete action to extremes,
like checking that you've locked the door 20 times instead of once or
twice.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
If you need help, please reach out for it. Help is available. You
don't have to be stuck in a depressing loop.</div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<br />Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-36300311169000360122015-01-27T21:36:00.000+00:002015-01-27T21:39:08.418+00:00She's Back!
My enthusiasm came back! She's sitting on my shoulder, with that lovely silky fur snuggled up against my neck.
On Sunday morning I read in Writer's News about a competition for page-turning novels run by a writers' agency. Unlike most such competitions, they were prepared to look at "almost complete drafts" as well as finished ones. And I have an almost complete draft of a whodunnit set in the observatory. I've been wanting to finish it for ages, but it's taken a back seat while I did the two books with local government support. So I got it out and looked it over, and (OK, I'm obviously biased, but) I think it counts as a page turner.
Of course there was a catch. Entries had to be in "by the 26th of January". I wasn't sure whether that meant midnight Sunday or midnight Monday, so I decided to do what I could an enter by midnight Sunday. I started a mad rush to write the CV and covering letter and polish up my novel to make it at least clear what I plan to put in the gaps. I managed to sort out a glaring continuity errors as well.
And my wonderful enthusiasm came back! She does love fiction and short-term deadlines. Before I knew it, it was 1 am.
Oops.
Well, I'd missed one deadline, right? I just had to hope that they meant Monday night. I went to bed and me and my enthusiasm got back into it in the morning. We fixed another continuity error, and spellchecked and did the synopsis. I finally submitted it at 11:30 pm on Monday.
Best case is that I win the prize (£1,000 and they take me on as a writer. The previous winner did very well indeed.) Obviously that would be fantastic, but I'm sure there are lots of good entries and a few excellent ones.
Second best case is that I don't win the priize, but they take me on anyway. That would be fantastic too.
Worst case is that I don't even make the short list. But even then, I'm a good step further on with the novel.
I must go and get my enthusiasm the fresh mango that I promised. She's definitely earned some.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-31476479909054153112015-01-24T18:56:00.002+00:002015-01-24T19:01:57.288+00:00 "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 5"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm going
to try to go faster. I want to get to the practical advice, and I
suspect other people do too.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In a novel
called “The Dice Man” by George Cockroft, the protagonist, Luke
Rinehart, uses a drastic method to escape the rut. He writes down six
possibilities, throws the dice, and does whatever. It works because
he's consciously making a list of options and then adding a random
element. Of course he didn't have to put things like “murder”
down as one of the options!</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So why
don't more of us do it? Well, in the novel, other people are appalled
by the random behaviour. We find routines comforting. Flying is less
scary the more you do it. Surgery is less tiring the more you do it
(which is a very good thing when you arrive in A&E near the end
of the shift).</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Habits
tend to be emotionless. You do have feelings while you, say, brush
your teeth, but they're feeling about whatever you're thinking about,
which is unlikely to be your teeth. We tend not to be proud of our
habits, and feel they don't say much about us and aren't very
important for reaching goals – we feel we aren't in control and
anyway, we hardly notice most of them.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One of the
effects of Parkinson's disease is that patients find it very hard to
form new habits and may even forget old ones.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Children
tend to be happier in families with regular routines like all eating
together, sitting in the same places. It can feel weird to go to a
friend's house, where they do things differently.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Most of us
learn young to be polite to strangers, so people are nice back and
it's self-reinforcing. Sadly, some people start out very pessimistic
about strangers; they expect rejection, and that makes them behave
in ways which makes rejection more likely. A simple habit of not
bothering with “Please”, “Thank you” and “Good morning”
can all too easily lead to a lonely old age.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Habits are
important at work, too. Companies which stagnate tend to bust (not
surprising) but companies which innovate too fast also go bust. You
need to have most of the workforce to be running on habit most of the
time, because habits are efficient.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Much of
our eating is habitual. But if you count when to start, when to stop,
what to eat, who to eat it with etc. as separate decisions, we make
over 200 of them per day, and very few of them are conscious. Food
just falls into our mouths by itself. Much of our shopping is
similarly automatic – we buy pretty much the same food that we
bought last week.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
All this
repetition is efficient, but it get very boring. So we decide to
change, and then we find we're doing the same old, same old again.
</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The first
step to change is to notice what we're currently doing. We don't need
to resort to dice to get out of the rut. We can change things around
once we know which bits aren't helping, but it's best to go slowly.</div>Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-64711205356058572892015-01-22T19:36:00.000+00:002015-01-22T19:36:00.180+00:00 "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 4"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
author, Jeremy Dean had a power cut. He looked out of the window and
saw that the neighbours' lights were off too, so he called the power
company and they said that the engineers were on their way. He lit
candles, and went to the bathroom. He flicked the switch, and nothing
happened. It took a fraction of a second to understand why. Two hours
later, the lights were still off when he went to the bathroom again,
and flicked the switch again. Still no light.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Derp! What
was he thinking?</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Absolutely
nothing. A habit is what happens when you're not thinking. You might
like to look up Skinner's pigeons
(Http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Skinner/Pigeon/)</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Humans
aren't pigeons. For one thing, they have dreams and goals. In theory,
our goals decide out actions – dream of a clean house, get out the
mop and bucket. But all too often our dream of getting slim doesn´t
stop slices of black forest gateau falling into our mouths. It's
partly that strong habits pop back up as soon as you stop
concentrating, but there's more going on.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your
environment cues habits. Mostly this is a good thing, because it
frees up your brain for other stuff. But it's out of conscious
control. Give people sneaky reminders of old age and they'll walk
more slowly afterwards. Stereotypes can be nastier than you think. Or
they can be helpful – remind Asian-Americans of Asian stereotypes
before a maths test, and they'll get much higher scores (because they
answer more questions). Remind people of intelligence before a
general knowledge test and they'll do better at that too.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Which
might explain why it's easier to change habits when you've just
moved. Your old environment isn't there to cue your old habits.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Direct
cuing is when something in the environment elicits your behaviour. In
the common room with Pat and Chris = switch the TV on.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Motivated
cuing is when the habit becomes completely divorced from the original
goal. For example, when you're a student, you go out drinking with
friends. You learn to associate alcohol with freedom and good
company. Years later, socializing is still associated with alcohol.
Give people sneaky reminders of socializing, and they're more likely
to pick the “Free beer” voucher than the “Free coffee”
voucher. And once you take a drink you're thinking less clearly and
running more on habit, so you're more likely to take another and
another. It can get out of hand.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This sort
of disconnect is common. Once you associate “Go somewhere else”
with “Car”, it becomes very hard to walk to the shops. You want a
carton of juice and you're behind the steering wheel and halfway
there before you remember - “Oh yeah, I was going to start
walking.”</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's all
too easy for humans to wind up doing things which don't align with
their long-term goals. There's far too much going on in the
unconscious.</div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-45800837914236871992015-01-21T20:08:00.000+00:002015-01-21T20:10:01.264+00:00Has anybody seen my enthusiasm?Has anybody seen my enthusiasm? She's been gone since Blue Monday and I've looked everywhere.<br />
<br />
I've a horrible feeling that she's got out onto the Internet. She's larger than most, her fur is a lovely silky cream colour with chocolate socks and snout, and there's a corkscrew at the end of her tail, where it got caught in my twisted sense of humour.<br />
<br />
If you see her, please tell her that I'm sorry. Of course she doesn't have to go on eating cat biscuits - I've bought some posh chocolate just for her, and we'll share a fresh mango.<br />
<br />
Please help. I can't possibly go on nailing jelly to the ceiling without her.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-49167483667231333842015-01-18T11:25:00.000+00:002015-01-21T19:37:19.008+00:00 "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 3<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
<br />
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
People are astonishingly bad at describing what they find attractive
in member of the (usually) opposite sex. But they're no worse if the
researcher switched photos – they usually go ahead and describe why
they're attracted to the person they originally thought less attractive,
and they do it just as enthusiastically as people who're looking at
the original photo.
<br />
<br />
Freud thought of the subconscious as something you could dig out with
skilled help, and that's the popular understanding. But it seems to
behave more like a black box. Ask people which of four pairs of
identical tights they prefer, they generally pick the one on the
right,. Ask they why, and they come up with all sorts of explanations
except the position. If you suggest the position might have influenced
them, they give you a funny look. Ask them about their self esteem,
and their answer has no relation to what their body language says.
<br />
<br />
People with damage to the frontal lobes of the brain may have no
breaks on their habits. Put a pair of glasses in front of them, and
they'll put the glasses on – on top of the other two pairs they put on
a minute ago. At the other extreme, there's alien hand syndrome, where
the patient's hand is completely out of the patient's control. It
grabs doorknobs, undoes buttons, even hits people, without the patient
(consciously) wanting to do any of those things. The patient feels as
though someone else is controlling the hand. It's like Dr Strangelove,
but of course it's not at all funny for the patient.
<br />
<br />
These are extreme examples, but they show “how our habits are
continually bubbling up from the unconscious”. It's just that most of
us inhibit the habits sometimes. Not always. Yup, plonk a piece of
chocolate in front of Sheila, and the same thing happens every time.
<br />
<br />
It's no bad thing that our unconscious can recognise faces, catch balls
etc. without conscious intervention. It's just weird and slightly
disturbing that we can't see the working, even when we think we can.
Ask students why they like the drink they're about to get at the
canteen, and they make less accurate predictions about how much
they'll drink. Ask them why they chose THIS poster instead of THAT
one, and they'll be less happy with the poster a week later.
<br />
<br />
It's a bit like the fable of the fox and the “sour” grapes, or the
smokers who insist that smoking isn't dangerous.
<br />
<br />
This makes changing habits very tricky. The habit is down there in
your unconscious, which, by definition you don't understand and don't
control. But recognising the problem is an important first step, and
the habit itself is a clue to what's wriggling down in the murky
depths.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-1050770561199370642015-01-17T16:53:00.000+00:002015-01-17T16:53:56.877+00:00Yippee!The Isaac Newton Group (who run the two big British telescopes on La Palma) will be holding a conference in March on the evolution of galaxies. And they want lots of copies of my book to give to atendees.
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFqm1j_mdlXNO8YdWiIdxb01Zz-ruyCWRYzxbFL73dJRZcvdXlrOOqGo3KOVvYNB_DC0qdmMMs-roDWdEbuThwknSeWgUo2iqhCn1f0rI3KWsJBMViOyoh06Xt46Fq6-4PxN8Eg/s1600/cover_English_Second_Edition_full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJFqm1j_mdlXNO8YdWiIdxb01Zz-ruyCWRYzxbFL73dJRZcvdXlrOOqGo3KOVvYNB_DC0qdmMMs-roDWdEbuThwknSeWgUo2iqhCn1f0rI3KWsJBMViOyoh06Xt46Fq6-4PxN8Eg/s1600/cover_English_Second_Edition_full.jpg" /></a></div>
So that's me happy.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-82872571879084330852015-01-12T11:07:00.000+00:002015-01-12T11:07:00.292+00:00"Eccentrics" by David Weeks<br />
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies.
<br />
<br />
A recent email conversation reminded me about my much-loved book on eccentrics written by a proper psychologist who did proper research. One of the first questions he tried to answer was whether or not eccentrics are slightly mentally ill. The answer was a resounding "No!" By all the usual measures, eccentrics are both physically and mentally healthier and happier than the general population. He put this down to:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>The stress reduction due to not giving a *COUGH* what other people think and</li>
<li>The innocent pleasure of actually doing what you enjoy, whether that's living in a cave which floods at high tide, moving the the staircase of your house every few months, or keeping 6,000 garden gnomes and knitting them little woolly hats. </li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
The case studies are hilarious, and make me and my family look positively tame. I really wish that the book was available in Spanish, so I could by copies for all the people who are e.g. mortally offended that I have "weeds" in my garden.Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-53808868708675494622015-01-11T14:05:00.000+00:002015-01-11T14:19:07.214+00:00 "Making Habits, Breaking Habits" Chapter 2"Making Habits, Breaking Habits" by Jeremy Dean.<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=ss_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=shecrossit-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1851689893&asins=1851689893&linkId=PYK7MZJ5CITUIYO7&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;">
</iframe>
Full disclosure: If you buy the book through the link, it won't cost you any more, but I'll get a few pennies. But my main motivation for doing this is to understand the book properly. What follows is my summary of the chapter.<br />
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
We like
to think that we chose our habits on purpose. Yeah right.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Habits
build up slowly, like learning to back a car into a tight spot, and
we're not always aware that a habit is forming. We tend to assume
that we acquire habits as a means to an end. That includes bad
habits, although the goal might not be a good one – like getting
drunk to forget that you’re an alcoholic.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But
sometimes it's the other way around. If your daily walk in the park
goes past the ducks, you probably think you do it because you like
the ducks. You'll think that even if you did it at random the first
time, then the second time you did it because you did it the first
time, and the third time because you did it twice before, and so on.
The thing is, you're not lying; you really believe you chose it
because of the ducks. It's rather like being talked into buying a
more expensive car than you wanted, and then convincing yourself that
it was worth the extra money. Or changing your mind on an issue, and
then being convinced that you always held the view that you've only
held since last Thursday. We all want to be right, especially about
ourselves.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course
in real life our habits are some combination of intentions and past
behaviour. If a habit is weak (you don't do it that often) you tend
to do what you intended (drink more water, watch less TV, whatever).
But if you have a strong habit, like eating fast food for lunch every
working day, chances are the habit will win. Bizarrely, people with
strong habits tend to be more confident that they'll change even
though there's much less chance that they'll actually do so. We feel
we have more control exactly when we have least.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The main
difference seems to be the frequency. If you perform the habit a few
times a year, you can probably change. If you do it weekly or more,
it's going to be harder. If you do it every time you're in that
situation (sit in car, turn on radio: walk into Starbucks, order a
latte) it's going to be much harder.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For years
psychologists have successfully changed people's intentions. People
happily committed to low fat diets, wearing sunscreen, getting more
exercise etc. They just don't follow through.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Actually
many of our habits are fine. We formed them (or our parents formed
them for us) for good reason. It's a darn good idea to brush your
teeth, and to look both ways before crossing the street, however
preoccupied you are. But we tend not to notice these habits. Instead,
we notice the minority of habits which are creating trouble.</div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You
haven't failed to change those habits because you're weak. It's
because you're human.</div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12376225.post-86381947879032529162015-01-10T13:55:00.004+00:002015-01-10T13:55:49.374+00:00Why aren't I writing?
<br />
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Why
aren't I writing? I'm a writer and I should be writing! I've
been</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">reading
John Scalzi's “You're not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Laptop
to the Coffee Shop”, and he often produced 5,000 words in a</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">day.
Welp.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Maybe
it has something to do with trying to catch up with cleaning
and</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">laundry
after the party season, and the quarterly tax return, and</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">taking
the decorations down, and distributing my books around the</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">island,
and planning my website overhaul and trying to get fitter and</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">having
a minor lurgy. I can see how that might interfere with writing</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">a
bit. Oh, and I knitted myself a new pair of gloves, because
I</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">couldn't
find the old ones. Of course the old gloves turned up just as</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I
was finishing, along with another pair that I'd forgotten about,
but</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">hey,
it was quite nice to knit something.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIyl112stQula2UtiR5YugH-zn0TkLQTmZPvfZFQuRrAb9UazxQsYqubfXQeVBqSHpc6MpTi0lkHycftNgvRxNUA4Y949uSMIvvaMo42HwgxyjONCXwc-Hq0hS_w1J62Mp_x6xw/s1600/gloves.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIyl112stQula2UtiR5YugH-zn0TkLQTmZPvfZFQuRrAb9UazxQsYqubfXQeVBqSHpc6MpTi0lkHycftNgvRxNUA4Y949uSMIvvaMo42HwgxyjONCXwc-Hq0hS_w1J62Mp_x6xw/s1600/gloves.JPG" height="276" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="western" lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11.8181819915771px;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">And
so far this year I've written 5 blog posts (most backdated) and
500</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">words
of creative non-fiction which is nearly ready to go, and 500</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">words
of publicity for my books (ditto) and further drafts on two</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">short
stories. So I have been writing – just not very much for the</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">last
ten days.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But
I haven't done anything about finally finishing the second edition</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">of
</span></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><i>Una
espectacular ventana al universo</i></span></span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
or starting a new book. I have</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">several
ideas about new books, but I haven't done any
bum-in-seat,</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">fingers-on-keyboard
work on it at all.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Oh
well, 260 words of blog post, at least. I hope it knocks some
rust</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">off
the wheels.</span></span></span></div>
Sheila, Canary Islandshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10219032831132156995noreply@blogger.com1