Page 118 - A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science

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tools, tips, and tricks

s noted management specialist David Allen points out, “We trick ourselves
Ainto doing what we ought to be doing. . . . To a great degree, the highest-
performing people I know are those who have installed the best tricks in their
lives . . . The smart part of us sets up things for us to do that the not-so-smart

part responds to almost automatically, creating behavior that produces high-
performance results.” 1
Allen is referring to tricks like wearing exercise clothes to help him get into
the mood for exercising or placing an important report by the front door so he
can’t miss it. One constant refrain I hear from students is that putting themselves
in new surroundings—such as the quiet section of a library, which has few

interrupting cues—works wonders with procrastination. Research has confirmed
that a special place devoted just to working is particularly helpful. 2
Another trick involves using meditation to help you learn to ignore
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distracting thoughts. (Meditation is not just for New Age types—a lot of science
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has revealed its value. ) A short, helpful guide to getting started with meditation
is Buddha in Blue Jeans by Tai Sheridan. It’s free as an electronic book and is
suitable for people of any faith. And of course there are many meditation apps—

just Google around to see what looks workable for you.
A last important trick is to reframe your focus. One student, for example, is
able to get himself up at four thirty each weekday morning, not by thinking
about how tired he is when he wakes but about how good breakfast will be.
One of the most extraordinary stories of reframing is that of Roger

Bannister, the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes. Bannister was
a medical school student who couldn’t afford a trainer or a special runner’s diet.
He didn’t even have time to run more than thirty minutes a day, squeezed in
around his medical studies. Yet Bannister did not focus on all the reasons why he
logically had no chance of reaching his goal. He instead refocused on