Have you ever experienced a time when you had trouble making a choice and found yourself continually looking at alternatives? How easy is it for you to decide when to try a new restaurant or return to an old favorite? What is the best way to make good choices when anticipating for an uncertain future?
These are all types of challenges that computer scientists face when designing computer memory, systems, and networks. In their new book, Algorithms to Live By: the Computer Science of Human Decisions, authors Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explore fascinating ways that discoveries in computer science can help improve our own decision making on a wide range of problems. Some of the topics they explore include:
Optimal stopping : when to stop looking- Explore/exploit : the latest vs. the greatest
- Sorting : making order
- Bayes’s Rule : predicting the future
- Overfitting : when to think less
- Randomness : when to leave it to chance
- Networking : how we connect
Algorithms to Live By is “A fascinating exploration of how insights from computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives, helping to solve common decision making problems and illuminate the workings of the human mind.” (from the dust jacket)
If you enjoyed reading Malcolm bestselling books like I did, then this is a podcast for you. As described on the web site: “He has explored how ideas spread in the 
Years ago I was a certified yoga teacher in the Kripalu tradition. I was drawn to yoga as a way to find centering, peace, and health in my life. Perhaps one of the reasons that GTD has always connected for me is that it takes the ancient wisdom from the mountaintop and brings it straight to the modern office. I recently came across this great quote from a Raja Yoga school of wisdom that clearly demonstrates the reason why it is important to get things out of your head and to bring them to completion in a timely manner.
According to Pink’s study of the scientific literature, most people erroneously believe that external motivations like money and fancy benefits motivate us to do good work. The conclusion he draws is that what truly motivates us is the ability to direct our own lives, learn new things, and improve the lives of the people around us. Pink provides examples of ways to improve your own level of drive. His book also identifies different ways that organizations can use self directed motivation to inspire their workforce in ways that the old approach of carrots and sticks was never able to do.
Angela Duckworth, PhD, has made the topic of grit her life’s work. According to the dust jacket of her book called 
Efficient Librarian 