Quote of the Day

Garrett Royce: so, here’s a tip for you

Parkzer: Is it more than 15%? I like big tips

Garrett Royce: no

Garrett Royce: if you delete a folder and forget you have a terminal where the CWD is that folder and you try to run a command in that terminal you will get an error from virtually every program

Parkzer: … I have no idea what that means

Parkzer: but I don’t think I will ever have to command a CWD terminal to delete a running folder that forgets errors

What I’m Reading

To expand my knowledge about psychology in general, I decided to read a book by Daniel H. Pink titled Drive. Drive is about what motivates us, and how we can improve that level of motivation. It presents ideas that contrast with what most people believe, explains why the common belief is wrong, and supports the claim with data from research. For example, most people believe that salary and productivity are directly correlated such that an increase in payment will increase the amount and quality of work done. Pink shows that this is actually very false in more than one way. When a task involves creativity and innovation, increasing monetary compensation to an unnecessarily and excessively high amount can actually damage the quality of the final result.

Pink goes on to state that people should change their motivators from extrinsic forces (like money) to intrinsic forces (like a desire to learn). Although extrinsic motivators may boost productivity and results temporarily, in the long run, intrinsic motivators will do much more good. Pink then spends the remainder of the book describing how all different sorts of individuals – students, parents, and corporation owners – can apply this concept of intrinsic motivation to their current environment.

Although this book didn’t hold my undivided attention, it was still worth reading. A large portion of this book seems to be talking about things that can be concluded with common sense, but Drive helps people actually come to these conclusions and realize how important they are to recognize and interlace into their lives. Pink cites some interesting research that presents some surprising and shocking results that will help rid some myths that could be harmful in the long run. Like most other well-written books related to psychology, the topics covered in this book can be used by anyone to apply to their everyday life and improve their overall quality of life.

The Daily Post at WordPress.com

Topic #123: Pick a blog or blog post you enjoy and write a post about it. By writing about another blogger, and including a link to their blog, you’ll show up in their pings, and if what you write is interesting, odds are good they’ll check out your blog too. Don’t abuse this, no one likes to feel spammed, but if you want more traffic, genuinely writing about blogs or posts on other blogs you enjoy can only help draw attention your way.

I actually already did this on May 23, 2011 in response to a blog post by my friend Benjamin Chow from May 15, 2011. If you actually want to read my response to his blog post, check out my blog post from May 23.