If you hear on the weather report that it's going to rain tomorrow, rather than reminding yourself to bring your umbrella, set the umbrella by the front door - now the environment is reminding you to bring the umbrella.
Interpretation
Make your environment work for you by setting reminders that prompt your desired actions.
This quote emphasizes the importance of structuring our environment in a way that encourages and supports our decisions and actions. Instead of relying solely on our memory or willpower to remember tasks, we can create physical reminders that prompt us to act, thus increasing our likelihood of success in fulfilling our intentions.
In practice
During a staff meeting, to encourage people to submit their reports on time, you might quote this to emphasize the importance of setting up reminder systems.
As soon as you hear a proposition, the creative brain in humans assumes for the moment that it's true, and starts trying to find evidence. It's what computer scientists in the old days used to call 'Fifo:' first in, first out. The first piece of information that gets in has a privileged position, even if it's misinformation.
What music is better able to do than language is to represent the complexity of human emotional states.
Information overload refers to the notion that we're trying to take in more than the brain can handle.
That walk around the block, that fresh air, is going to help you work more quickly and effectively when you get back.
There are a lot of books about how to get organized and a lot of books about how to be better and more productive at business, but I don't know of one that grounds any of these in the science.
There's an ancient connection between movement and music. Most languages don't make a distinction between the words 'music' and 'dance.' And we can see that in the brain. When people are lying perfectly still but listening to music, the neurons in the motor cortex are firing.
Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
Don't become too narrow. Live fully. Meet all kinds of people. You'll learn something from everyone. Follow what you feel in your heart.
Other people's views and troubles can be contagious. Don't sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.
Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it.
We live and learn, or, perhaps more importantly we learn and live.
Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.
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