Memory is Not (Only) for Remembering

CAREER & LIFE
Stop Specializing, Start Diversifying
Stuck trying to achieve career specialization to stand out? Christina Wallace, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and renowned advocate for a balanced life, thinks specialization is a risky and outdated approach. She recently discussed her portfolio approach to career and life with Dan Harris on Ten Percent Happier.

Insights:

• Christina draws a parallel between managing your life and your financial portfolio, advocating for diversification and regular adjustments to respond to technological changes and your evolving personal priorities.

• Specialization and company loyalty might have been rewarded for boomers, but this approach might leave you vulnerable in a dynamic and modern work landscape where companies prioritize layoffs, automation, and contract-work.

• Optionality theory suggests you should aim to diversify your skills, interests, and knowledge to mitigate career risks, expand your possibilities, and forge unexpected connections.

• For work-life balance, Christina suggests reclaiming control over our workload by aiming for a utilization rate of 85% to make room for the inevitable unexpected and urgent tasks.

Your Actions:

• Reflect and document your past and present interests, both personal and professional. Use this as a reference to avoid being pigeonholed by your career or personal life.

• Assess your level of optionality. What skills do you currently have? Are you prepared to adapt in the face of technological advancements (e.g. AI)?

• Explore interests and find one that might expand your set of skills or knowledge. Try to make it fun, like taking acting classes to help with public speaking or a comedy writing course to help with copywriting.

For more details, check out Christina’s book The Portfolio Life.

PRODUCTIVITY
Memory Is Not For Remembering
According to science, conventional understanding of memory is flawed. Neuroscientist Charan Ranganath delved into the intricacies of memory formation, forgetting, and the generation of new ideas during a conversation with Adam Grant on Work Life.

Insights:

• Memory isn't merely about recollecting every detail from the past; rather, it's about leveraging past experiences to plan future actions.

• Forgetting allows individuals to prioritize relevant memories and focus. So don’t be too frustrated when you forget something, your brain is trying to prioritize quality rather than quantity when storing information.

• Memories once thought to be lost are just require the right place-based or emotional trigger to recollect, such as songs or scents.

• Establishing a sense of place aids memory recall. Adam shared an anecdote about how naming each floor at O'Hare airport after a Chiago-based sports player made it easier to remember where his car was parked (plus, who wouldn't want to be on Michael Jordan's level?).

Your Actions:

• Practice associating important information with a sense of place. For instance, if you come across a significant quote in a book mentioning a garden, link that memory with a childhood garden experience.

• Utilize tools like your phone camera to capture fleeting moments. There's no harm in snapping a photo of a book quote or your parked car location to aid memory retention, just create a “memory folder” in your photos app to ensure you can find the snap.

For more details, check out Charan’s book Why We Remember.

WELLNESS
Stop Relation-shopping with the “Post Date 8”
Behavioral coach Logan Ury discussed the importance of focusing on fundamental qualities rather than superficial traits of a person when dating with Steven Bartlett.

Insights:

• People often approach dating like they approach shopping. They think about the qualities they need and seek them out, but this approach rarely works.

• Instead of excluding people before meeting them, adopt a more scientific approach to dating. Go on a date and observe how the person makes you feel and what they bring out in you. Don’t try to catch the spark; seek the slow burn.

• To train yourself to think long-term, Logan created the “post-date 8” questionnaire, which primes people to pay attention to important qualities before entering a date.

Your Actions:

• If you are dating, try the post-date 8:

  • How did my body feel during the date?

  • Did I feel heard?

  • Did I feel respected?

  • Did I feel curious?

  • Did I feel excited?

  • Did I feel comfortable?

  • Did I feel like myself?

  • Do I want to see them again?

• Don’t expect a perfect score on the first date, see how these questions evolve over the first couple dates.

For hear more about Logan’s approach, check out her book How to Not Die Alone.

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