This is a subject of great personal importance to me. I recently quit a research position (was offered another one in computational role at the same laboratory) because my lack of SA rendered me unable to do lab work. I went to a psychologist at a friends insistance due to a resulting, brief spate of depression.
The psychologist caused me to realize that I’d built an ugh field around my lack of SA, which was my major problem in life. The constant litany of small humiliations had caused me to internalize an image of myself as laughable and incompetent. My inability to pay attention during conversations made most human interaction unpleasant and stressfull. I had frequently injured myself, and my career was suffering.
SA (which I understand as being basically identical to “mindfullness”) isn’t just about avoiding danger. It’s about actually experiencing what’s happening around you. You can’t form accurate models of other people for instance, or empathize with them, if your not actually paying attention to them. You can’t stick to a schedule or execute a complex plan if you aren’t aware of what you’re doing at any given time. I think I’ve improved mine considerably over the past few months. It has benefit me in almost everything I do. My anecdata suggests the following have helped:
4)Reducing computer usage.
I strongly suggest that for me at least, computers, tabbed browsing etc. are overstimulating, and make it difficult to pay attention to anything that isn’t a constant stream of information. Not multitasking when using a computer is preferable.
5)Decluttering the physical environment.
This is probably more symptom that cause but for the same reasons I think removing clutter and distractions aids situational awareness.
6)Scheduling a regular bell to go off on your cell phone, habitually observing yourself and your surroundings when it does (what am I doing, where am I etc.)
All of this, like attempts to improve rationality itself, suffer from the huge difficulty in measuring improvements. Self experimentation is likely to be the only option for anyone else trying to improve this.
This is a subject of great personal importance to me. I recently quit a research position (was offered another one in computational role at the same laboratory) because my lack of SA rendered me unable to do lab work. I went to a psychologist at a friends insistance due to a resulting, brief spate of depression.
The psychologist caused me to realize that I’d built an ugh field around my lack of SA, which was my major problem in life. The constant litany of small humiliations had caused me to internalize an image of myself as laughable and incompetent. My inability to pay attention during conversations made most human interaction unpleasant and stressfull. I had frequently injured myself, and my career was suffering.
SA (which I understand as being basically identical to “mindfullness”) isn’t just about avoiding danger. It’s about actually experiencing what’s happening around you. You can’t form accurate models of other people for instance, or empathize with them, if your not actually paying attention to them. You can’t stick to a schedule or execute a complex plan if you aren’t aware of what you’re doing at any given time. I think I’ve improved mine considerably over the past few months. It has benefit me in almost everything I do. My anecdata suggests the following have helped:
1)Meditation see david M’s post. http://lesswrong.com/lw/5h9/meditation_insight_and_rationality_part_1_of_3/ 30 minutes per day alone, meditating with a group is a lot more effective. This is the most reproducible and subjectively dramatic effect, coming a close second is
2)Sleep Obviously enough.
3)Methylphenidate
I’m less sure of these last three.
4)Reducing computer usage. I strongly suggest that for me at least, computers, tabbed browsing etc. are overstimulating, and make it difficult to pay attention to anything that isn’t a constant stream of information. Not multitasking when using a computer is preferable.
5)Decluttering the physical environment. This is probably more symptom that cause but for the same reasons I think removing clutter and distractions aids situational awareness.
6)Scheduling a regular bell to go off on your cell phone, habitually observing yourself and your surroundings when it does (what am I doing, where am I etc.)
All of this, like attempts to improve rationality itself, suffer from the huge difficulty in measuring improvements. Self experimentation is likely to be the only option for anyone else trying to improve this.
What is SA?