#sian beilock

[dreamadot]

Sian Leah Beilock - Cognitive scientist.

Photographer: Jason Smith

[meditation-practices]

Zen Meditation Study

A recent Zen meditation study reveals that experienced meditators have a high degree of resilience when it comes to dealing with distractions. This implies that distractions caused by thoughts can be noted and discarded easily as well. They can dismiss the negative effects of stress and let them go. “Researchers conducting the Zen meditation study wanted to know if meditation practice changed…

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[engageyourbrain-blog]

Now that the Olympics are over, we're guessing that some of the athletes wish they had been able to apply some simple psychological tools that help shape performance, explained here by FAN's most recent speaker, Sian Beilock, who runs the Human Performance Lab at the University of Chicago. It's all about training the mind as well as the body, and in many instances to ignore what the body has learned so well. We may not be Olympians, but we've all been in situations where we've worried about whether we're going to do as well as we know we can: work presentations, important tests, golf games, piano recitals. How can we overcome our fears and let our mind do its work? Simple, Beilock says. (Okay, actually it's complex, but her tools are simple to understand and use.) The highlights: 1. Focus on the outcome of your performance, not the intricate steps it takes to reach that outcome. Let your body do the work you've trained it to do. Distract yourself. 2. Walk away from a problem and then come back to it. Walking in nature or meditating for a few minutes can be especially helpful. 3. Talk over a problem with a friend or colleague, which allows you to see a problem from a new perspective. 4. Keep a positive mindset that focuses on effort rather than talent (sound familiar? That's the work of Carol Dweck, of whom we are huge FANs). Don't let yourself (or your kids) fall prey to negative stereotypes, such as "girls are bad at math." 5. Failure is okay. And more than that, failure is good, if we learn from our mistakes. 6. Journaling about our anxieties before a big test, game or other event can improve performance, and provide lasting gains. Sounds easy, right? As we all know, it's not. But getting a slightly better understanding of how stress affects the brain and then translates into behavior is one step toward doing well on all those things we practice.

[tiltingmill]

Becoming an Expert: 10,000 Hours May Not Be Enough

A former professor of mine, Sian Beilock, writing for Psychology Today:

I have to admit, the 10,000 hour rule is an appealing one. It implies that almost anyone can become an expert if they work hard enough. As Hambrick says, deliberate practice is so popular because it has “meritocratic appeal.”  The data, however, tell a somewhat different story. Yes, hard work is extremely important, but it’s not everything. Whether it’s genes, motivation, one’s ability to handle failure, all of the above or something else altogether, we have to owe up to the fact that factors other than practice contribute to achieving greatness. Only then will we be best able to identify areas we are most likely to excel in and have the best chance of rising to the top.

[123kissforme]

Clipped from www.futurity.org

Knowing the right way to handle stress in and out of the classroom could be the difference between success and failure for the millions of students going back to school this fall, new research shows.

“We found that cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress, can either be tied to a student’s poor performance on a math test or contribute to success, depending on the frame of mind of the student going into the test,” says Sian Beilock, associate professor in psychology at the University of Chicago and author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting it Right When You Have To.

Read more at www.futurity.org