Ideas que valen la pena, de Daniel Gilbert

 Uno de las primeras entradas que escribí en este blog (la quinta, para ser precisos) fue sobre Daniel Gilbert, al que había visto en una charla en Harvard, y del que luego leí su libro. Siempre me ha parecido un tipo cuyas ideas vale la pena considerar (aunque creo recordar que se ha visto también envuelto en alguna de las crisis de replicabilidad). Me ha gustado recordar sus ideas en esta buena entrevista con Steven Levitt, y tratar de quedarme con alguna de ellas:

- Que la concentración en la tarea es la mejor forma de convertir algo aburrido en un juego (similar a la teoría de Flow):

 I would say that the reason I put so much time and effort into my teaching is because I’m lazy. And lazy people don’t like to work. Somewhere very early on in life, right around the time I dropped out of high school, I think, I decided I never want to work again. All I want to do is play. And what I discovered is that to the extent that you put your whole self into almost any task — even if it’s washing the dishes — it stops being work and it starts becoming play. I wonder if I can wash the dishes by holding them in my right hand and scrubbing with my left hand. Is it faster if I do it that way? Is there an interesting way to stack them so that they dry faster rather than slower? Anything that you are creative and playful with is a joy. So, I have to teach. It’s part of my job. I could go into the classroom and spend 10, 15 hours a week doing drudgery. Or I could spend double that amount of time having the time of my life. And so, I do. The short answer to your question is putting your entire self into things turns it into joy. And lazy people like to have more joy than work.

- Que hay que decir que no mucho más:

 So, early on, when I decided I want everything I do to be a joy, I realized I would only be able to do very few things. So, I just say, “No,” to just about everything. And “Yes,” to just enough that I can constantly be putting my whole self into the teaching or into an article. I mean, I’ve published a quarter of the articles most of my colleagues at my stage of career have published. Because I write very few articles. Because I’m not going to write one that isn’t just as beautifully written and as smart as I can possibly be at that moment. Because that brings me joy. And I’m lazy. I like joy.

But I do suspect that many, many people would be much happier if they did less, better. Publish fewer papers and make them better papers. For God’s sake, publish one paper and make it a great paper. Not only will you be happier, but the world will be happier without all the crappy papers you didn’t publish. Reading this one that you put your heart and soul into, and everybody can tell you did because it’s just such a pleasure.

- Que lo que hay que hacer con el dinero no es ganar más, sino comprar tiempo para tener más relaciones sociales, porque esa es nuestra mayor fuente de felicidad.

- En esa misma línea, que tendríamos que hablar mucho más con extraños, en lugar de quedarnos callados por miedo a molestar (o a ser molestados).