By: Akwese on April 7, 2024
Focusing so much on reading, writing, and synthesizing this semester ( all things im not exceptionally skilled in) meant learning new skills, creating new processes of support, and facing many unknowns. Doing this meant utilizing what Daniel Kahneman calls System 2 thinking, which requires much more consideration, awareness, energy exertion, and conscious thought than System…
By: Elysse Burns on April 6, 2024
Dr. David Rock kindly reminds his readers that our brains have performance limitations. He writes, “As you learn more about your brain, you begin to see that many of your foibles and mistakes come down to the way your brain is built.” [1] In Rock’s Your Brain at Work, he explains the mechanics and purpose…
By: Julie O'Hara on April 4, 2024
After five days of lying in the dark, something surprising happened. I washed my hands and I noticed how the warm water flowing over my hands and wrist and it was good. I realized I was present in the moment. How long had it been since I experienced being present? I remembered chewing an apple…
By: Daren Jaime on April 4, 2024
I remember being the last person seated and taking my seat at the back of the plane. Exhausted from the conference, I quickly buckled in, began to rest my head against the window, and fell asleep before takeoff. In the midst of my sleep, the flight attendant woke me up and said, I’m sorry, sir,…
By: Debbie Owen on April 4, 2024
I was at a loss. At an impasse, actually. I had read most of David Rock’s Your Brain at Work over the last couple of days. I could see lots of connections to my NPO project. But when it came to starting a blog article with a story about this book I was stuck. When…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 4, 2024
“Slow down, you move too fast You got to make the morning last Just kicking down the cobble stones Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy” (The 59th street by Simon and Garfunkel) One of the reasons I decided to enroll in a doctoral program was because I wanted to learn the discipline of writing. As…
By: Nancy Blackman on April 4, 2024
In 2013, I was bedridden for 6 months. Not only did I need to step away from my work as a missionary, I couldn’t do much of anything but lie in bed. The energy needed to sit up was sometimes too difficult. With so much free time, I began to search the internet for answers.…
By: Graham English on April 4, 2024
On December 18, 2016, the church that I was pastoring experienced a devastating church fire. The fire department fought valiantly but the building couldn’t be saved. Unfortunately, the fire was caused by a person in the church who was later charged with arson. As a result of the fire, we had to move a congregation…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 4, 2024
For the longest time, I thought multi-tasking was a great way to get lots done in a short time period. I am not sure, exactly, what changed my mind. It might have been the stacks of papers that were left unfiled on my desk or the mountain of work I had yet to do. Regardless…
By: Christy Liner on April 3, 2024
In March I went on a lovely vacation to Japan with my family. I am half-Japanese and my mother’s side of the family lives in Japan. My mother’s conversion to Christ and marriage to my father wasn’t well received from her family, so I didn’t have the opportunity to know my extended family during childhood.…
By: Daren Jaime on April 3, 2024
Reading the newspaper was a daily ritual in my household. In fact, we had the news delivered to us daily at our doorstep. Sometimes, my sister would wake up early before work just to get an early jump at the goings-on in the world. My parents were also affixed to the headlines, which would prompt…
By: Chris Blackman on April 3, 2024
The first chapter of this book, “Your Brain at Work,” got my attention. I loved the stage analogy and could relate to it. I have a very large stage in my brain, with way too many actors and a large audience. It is hard to stay focused. I never thought of it as a stage;…
By: Chad Warren on April 3, 2024
“Real men don’t eat quiche” is a phrase from the 1982 book Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche by Bruce Feirstein.[1] The book is a satire of masculine stereotypes. In a clever tongue-in-cheek approach, Feirstein explained what was acceptably “masculine” and “feminine” behavior according to the era’s societal standards. For real men, quiche was, apparently, a…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 3, 2024
“My mother was an actress and when I was a kid, I wanted to act, too. But she didn’t want that for me. She said the lifestyle is so hard, it’s either feast or famine. Today, I am a businessman who acts,” Jess Akerman (not his real name). When my former boss posted this quote…
By: Noel Liemam on April 2, 2024
For the past few weeks, there were few unexpected happenings and people just dropped into my schedule and derailing it into various directions. Some family members living nearby that never visited decided to visit; others flew into town, and I have to make time to see them, while others were work-related stuff that decided to…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 2, 2024
In the beginning, I thought David Rock’s book, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long[1] is yet another book that I have to read one sentence three times so that my brain can capture the outcomes. I felt this way because the title of the book…
By: Glyn Barrett on April 2, 2024
“Your Brain at Work” [1] by David Rock is a fascinating and thought-provoking book. The author’s exploration of neuroscience and its implications for improving workplace performance and personal effectiveness reminds me of another brilliant book called “The One Thing” [2] by Keller and Papasan, in which there are many similarities. I recommend that the duo are an incredible…
By: Adam Cheney on April 1, 2024
Looking at this book on my shelf did not excite me as I thought about reading it. However, I was pleasantly surprised that I found the information useful and relevant. I certainly did struggle to get through it though as I kept finding myself distracted repeatedly. We have a couple of house guests staying with…
By: Jeff Styer on April 1, 2024
“The kingdom of heaven is like . . .,” so begins Jesus in telling his parables in Matthew 13; using visuals to help his audience understand his teachings, threshold concepts.[1] David Rock in his book Your Brain At Work says that if you can, use visuals in an effort to “reduce the energy required for…
By: Noel Liemam on March 23, 2024
When I was growing up on a tiny Island in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, I read and worked on my school assignments during the night in the light of a kerosene lamp; regardless of the low light it provides, I was able to see clearly and worked gratefully. After thirty-one years of…
