Business, Innovation, and Managing Life (April 19, 2023)
Dec 15, 2023
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Stephen Wolfram answers questions about business, innovation, and managing life. Topics include goal setting, bucket list items, business skills for scientists, balancing work and personal time, handling ignored scientific ideas, movie preferences, teaching versus being a professor, foundations of being a scientist, and the future of education.
Approach projects with a logical, sequential order to ensure smoother progression and minimize frustration.
Focus on smaller sub-projects while waiting for project dependencies to maintain productivity.
Adapt to new directions and embrace the unknown to stay ahead in various fields and challenge traditional thinking.
Deep dives
Approaching projects with dependent milestones
When faced with a project that has several clearly defined milestones that are dependent on each other, it is important to approach it strategically. Writing something sequentially, in a logical order, is preferable as it allows for smoother progression and ensures that later parts of the project build upon earlier ones. It can be frustrating to work on a project when some necessary components are not yet completed. In such cases, it is better to wait until all the pieces are assembled before proceeding to the next step.
Managing tasks with smaller sub-projects
To maintain productivity while waiting for project dependencies, it is helpful to focus on smaller sub-projects that can be completed relatively quickly. Breaking down tasks, such as processing email messages, into smaller pieces allows for a sense of accomplishment and progress while waiting for other project components. By organizing tasks into folders or categories, it becomes easier to manage and prioritize them effectively.
The importance of timing in project execution
Understanding the appropriate timing for different projects is crucial. Starting a project too early, without all the necessary resources or materials in place, can lead to frustration and inefficiency. It is better to wait until all the materials and components are ready, ensuring a smoother workflow and minimizing obstacles. Additionally, in certain areas such as public speaking or making announcements, it is often more effective to prepare closer to the actual event, allowing for better alignment with the current context and avoiding the risk of outdated information.
The value of doing tasks thoroughly and sequentially
Focusing on doing tasks thoroughly and sequentially rather than in fragments helps ensure higher quality outcomes. Completing each step before moving on reduces the need to constantly revisit and fix previous work. Working in a continuous flow allows for better concentration and a better chance of delivering a good end result. By avoiding the temptation to rush or postpone tasks, projects can be completed more efficiently and with higher overall quality.
The Importance of Adapting to New Directions
Adapting to new directions in various fields is crucial. The speaker shares personal experiences of both jumping on something too quickly and being too slow to recognize a new trend. The success of projects like LMS and chat GPT demonstrate that new directions often deviate from expectations and challenge traditional ways of thinking. Denying or resisting these changes can hinder progress. Embracing the unknown and being open to learning from new discoveries is essential.
The Evolving Future of Education
The future of education involves three key aspects: computational thinking, personalized learning, and human involvement. Computational thinking allows individuals to build a solid foundation for problem-solving and empowers them to explore complex topics. Personalized learning, facilitated by Language Models (LMS), tailors education to individual needs and preferences, utilizing engagement and relatability. While technology can customize the learning experience, human educators are crucial for instilling passion and providing mentorship. By combining these elements, the future of education can be revolutionized, fostering a deeper understanding and expanding opportunities for learners.
Stephen Wolfram answers questions from his viewers about business, innovation, and managing life as part of an unscripted livestream series, also available on YouTube here: https://wolfr.am/youtube-sw-business-qa
Questions include: If you have a goal with many clearly defined milestones that are dependent on each other in order to get to the finish line, how do you generally approach that? - Do you have a bucket list? What are some things you hope you see or experience in life that you haven't yet? - What are common business skills that science people are commonly lacking? - Did you ever imagine you would end up as a CEO, or did you plan to stay in the world of academia? - Do you work more than you should? What's a good "work–time for yourself" ratio during a day for a person? - Suppose that scientist X has published an important, empirically valid idea that all other scientists completely ignore. How should scientist X proceed? - What was the last movie you watched? It's interesting to me to see how old movies imagined the "future" and seeing it compared to what today is actually like. - What do you order from the concessions stand at the movies? - What is more fun: being a professor at a university or teaching people live about things that interest you? - What are the foundations that made you a decent scientist? - What are your thoughts on the future of education?
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