Stuck in the mud? Try a change of scenery Cal Newport likes to improve productivity by stepping away from his desk and embarking on a "concentration circuit" of new environments. A recent trip included secluded park benches and quiet corners in museums. "Creating things with your brain can be incredibly satisfying -- but sometimes a dramatic change of scenery is needed to remind yourself of this reality," he explains. Study Hacks Blog (4/1)
LinkedIn is recommending collections of training videos on Lynda.com for people interested in new careers. Users need to have paid Lynda.com accounts to access the "learning paths," but LinkedIn says it is considering adding payment options for users who want access only to specific course loads. Re/code (3/31)
The odds of picking a perfect March Madness bracket The odds of picking a perfect bracket in the NCAA men's basketball tournament -- or virtually any similarly formulated bracket -- are 1 in 9.2 quintillion. This figure is approximately 1 billion times the population of the Earth, or 21 times the age of the universe in seconds. FiveThirtyEight (3/23)
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves.