Since graduating college I have mixed research of new technologies with research of being as productive as I can be. This includes development tools like IDE’s, good testing tools, and better pair programming techniques. But also I try to keep up with the popular Get Things Done (GTD) movement, most recently utilizing Spring Pad as well as better ways to exercise our brains and transform from novice to experts in our career fields (information I picked up from the book!). Pragmatic Thinking and Learning was a great book in introducing many new ideas to me as well as a great resource to start research on all those ideas.
The book starts very well in selling the reader that the information provided is well thought out and if the activities were attempted you will see real results. That is probably its biggest down fall as well, as it will repetitively try to convince you of this. I am on board, I bought the book, I want to improve my productivity and cognitive abilities, stay on topic! That only negative critique aside, the book was everything I hoped it to be.
The book covered enough but not overly too in-depth the Dreyfus model, and helped outline SMART goals. It discussed techniques to better utilize all parts of your brain. Morning Pages and Random Juxtaposition being a couple of examples. It discussed how to let your brain work on the hard problems by writing down and freeing your brain from the simple ideas you have already thought of once. There are chapters on how to stay focused, and how simple breathing meditation practices can go a long way to staying in context.
All in all a book I recommend to everyone who is interested in ways to utilize our cognitive abilities as humans, staying focused, getting things done and solving those really tough problems.
Below I have attached and linked my notes from the book. Originally I had taken notes in Spring Pad here. Spring Pad has been awesome for many other notes and checklist items, however was very tedious for this use case. The book focused on mind maps heavily, an idea I have tried in the past, however when transitioning my notes to a mind map as a first step from the book. I found it tremendously useful, and wanted to share that with you.
See the mind map of my notes below. Map may update over time as I refer back to it.
[ilink url=”http://www.mindmeister.com/100157863/pragmatic-thinking-and-learning-refactor-your-wetware” style=”info”]Pragmatic Thinking and Learning Mind Map[/ilink] – Embedded below
