WSJ: “Hybrid work arrangements mess with our brains. Frustrated bosses who survey their half-empty officescapes say it makes no sense that somebody who worked full time in an office before 2020 can’t show up like they used to. But neurologists and behavioral scientists say the collective amnesia for effectively working alongside each other makes perfect sense to them. Some workers have lost the muscle memory in their minds required to get jobs done in an open-office setting and, like flabby biceps, that muscle has to be exercised to strengthen, says S. Thomas Carmichael, professor and chair of the neurology department at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. After years of remote work, our brains’ selective attention skills and ability to block out distractions is weakened, Carmichael says. Those who prefer to work from home might not like one of his remedies: Make yourself work from the office more often. “The brain is really good at understanding contingencies, so if we just say ‘I’ll just get this done when I’m at home,’ we don’t learn it as well,” he says.”
WSJ: “Donors who want to make an immediate impact and avoid ideological drift are setting up foundations that must spend their whole endowment and go out of business in a fixed period of time…The idea of sunsetting a foundation doesn’t have to mean rushing to give away money. Rather, it gives staff and board members a clear time frame for thinking about larger gifts.”
WSJ: “It’s an interesting time for [Ed] Catmull to release a new edition of “Creativity, Inc.”, with around 120 pages of new material. He explains that readers often thanked him for sharing his formula for surefire creative success, when in fact the book’s lessons “aren’t a template, they’re a way of thinking.” He suggests that Pixar’s current struggles drive home how the work of fostering an atmosphere of candor, collaboration and problem-solving is never done. “People think, OK, we’ve figured out how to do things, let’s just get to that sweet spot. But there is no sweet spot,” Catmull says. “Even when you get to a place where everything seems right, people come in with new ideas, new technology, new expectations. What we need is a mindset that allows us to adapt when nothing is stable.””
Sonali Gupta: “Our relationship with leisure is also about the attitude we take to rest and how we allow ourselves to engage in it. Learning to examine this is important, given that our lives are so complex and that we are constantly overwhelmed by new information. Given the constant pressure to learn, grow and stay updated, we need to be mindful if we are using our leisure time again to catch up on things which, in turn, may seem like work. This is one of the reasons why so many adults today feel that while there is free time, it’s always filled with activities, making it hard to enjoy. Leisure should feel relaxing, not work, so pause and allow yourself to re-imagine your relationship with it, possibly without screens. If you struggle with it, try to think of a holiday or childhood memory where you felt rested and allowed yourself to savour the feeling.”
