[x3d-public] The Only Way to Keep Your Resolutions - The New York Times

[Don Brutzman]

This thoughtful article describes how valuable a sense of community and contribution are, especially for a cooperative non-profit organization like Web3D Consortium.  As we work together on open sharable communications mechanisms for the Web, these guidelines for effective individual+group progress are not incidental but central.

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"The Only Way to Keep Your Resolutions" by DAVID DeSTENO, NY Times, December 29, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/opinion/sunday/the-only-way-to-keep-your-resolutions.html

"Willpower is for chumps. Here’s what actually works."

"What my lab, and others, found when we looked at pride was similar. Making people feel proud — not arrogant, but proud of the skills they have — makes them more willing to wait for future rewards and more willing to take on leadership roles in groups and work longer and harder to help a team solve a difficult problem. Likewise, when we make people feel compassion, they’ll take on the burdens of others, spending more time and effort to help get others out of jams and ease their distress.

What these findings show is that pride, gratitude and compassion, whether we consciously realize it or not, reduce the human mind’s tendency to discount the value of the future. In so doing, they push us not only to cooperate with other people but also to help our own future selves. Feeling pride or compassion has been shown to increase perseverance on difficult tasks by over 30 percent. Likewise, gratitude and compassion have been tied to better academic performance, a greater willingness to exercise and eat healthily, and lower levels of consumerism, impulsivity and tobacco and alcohol use.

If using willpower causes stress, using these emotions actually heals: They slow heart rate, lower blood pressure and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. By making us value the future more, they ease the way to patience and perseverance."
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An amazing number of people can certainly feel proud of their contributions in this arena.  Working well together while tackling worthy challenges, and capitalizing on these tremendous opportunities, is completely impressive.  It also means that we are continuing to make stellar progress for many days months and years (decades really).  Wow.

Happy new year!  Have fun with X3D!  8)

all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman