A little bit of wisdom?

Quote of the week

“Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.”
– Earl Wilson

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Hello,

How do you start your day? Do you have a special morning routine, or you just head for the bathroom and then the kitchen for breakfast? Usually, we are so occupied these days that the morning routine, most likely, is a somewhat stressful time. Luckily, for me, these days are over, and I am enjoying a long breakfast, reading a book, doing crosswords or a sudoku. To really wake up, I do need coffee. I wrote about the need for coffee in The Pleasure of a cup of coffee, and now I found the interesting quote above, about the magic drink; it is contributing to one of the best communication systems, and I am not talking IT. It is a way to break away from work for a short time, seeing and talking to colleagues. I guess it can also be a good way of talking about work, private things, politics or whatever is on your mind for the moment. It is maybe better to go to the cafeteria of your work, than standing around the office, as is highlighted in a report from the Turku University.

Small talk

In SVT (Swedish public service/TV-Radio) published an article a while ago presenting a report from Finnish researcher Valtteri Hongisto from the University of Turku in Finland. He found that small talk in the background affects us negatively while we are working. He refers to acoutics and noice levels in the working place, and that employers should take a bigger responsibility in assuring the surroundings are suitable. The increased noice gives higher levels of cortisol and faster heart beats which can lead to health problems. At least this was the result in a test group of 20 persons having to work with small talk around. He says that it is important to understand that it is not only the increasing level of noice that is a risk, but also the way the noice affects our feelings.

I am thinking of myself, in my lonely office, when I use the Coffitivity website where you can add background noice as if I were sitting in a café. They advertise the website as: “Coffitivity recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better. Proven and peer reviewed, see the research to learn more.” The research they are referring to says:

Everybody says their product is proven by research, right? Well...ours actually is.

According to a peer-reviewed study out of the University of Chicago, "A moderate level of ambient noise is conducive to creative cognition." In a nutshell, this means being a tiny bit distracted helps you be more creative. This is why those AHA moments happen when we're brushing our teeth, taking a shower, or mowing the lawn! If we're not focused too much at a task at hand, we come up with awesome stuff. In the coffee shop, the chatter and clatter actually distracts us a tiny bit and allows our creative juices to start flowing. It sounds crazy, but it works!

That said, don't take our word for it.”

There is a link to the study on the website, if you are interested in reading more. I must admit I do like a little bit of noice in the background from time to time. The best thing here is you can control it. I even consider, from time to time, to go to a public place and sit there and write. Obviously, I have to rethink this scenario. How about you? Do you enjoy having small talk, or low noice around you while working?

Stoic thought of the day

I read the Stoic quote from The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman for 15 February. It is a quote by Marcus Aurelius and it is about bad dreams and how to handle our worries and fears.

“Clear your mind and get a hold on yourself and, as when awakened from sleep and realising it was only a bad dream upsetting you, wake up and see that what’s there is just like those dreams.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.31

It refers to the Stoic belief that many of the things that upset us is a product of our imagination, not reality. I can adhere to it. I often worry about things, imaginary, and then they don’t happen. However, they seem so real, but is possibly only like a dream, even a bad one. One should ask oneself if it makes sense. In a dream we don’t ask this question, we just have to go along with it. In real life, if we worry, or get upset about things, it is like waking up and still continuing the bad dream. Some people seem to have realised this:

Raymond Chandler to his publisher: “I never looked back, although I had many uneasy periods looking forward.”

Thomas Jefferson in a letter to John Adams: “How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened!”

Seneca: “There is nothing so certain in our fears that’s not yet more certain in the fact that most of what we dread comes to nothing.”

I will definitely try to think of these advices next time I am worrying, or have fears. Imagination can be very strong, but it is not reality. For a happy life the Stoics tells us to focus on what you can control. Marcus Aurelius means that you have power over your mind, but not events. It is a matter of how you interpret what is happening around you. As Voltaire said: “The most important choice you make every day is to be in a good mood.”