For content related to psychology, how we learn, how we make decisions.
This is Derek Sivers' version of a quote based on the opening of a David Foster Wallace address* to the 2005 graduating class at Kenyon College:
I precipitated a recent online discussion about healthcare’s obsession with measurement (quality metrics is the current buzz phrase) when I quoted two aphorisms that highlight some problems with metrics and targets:
Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure,"
Campbell's Law: "The more a metric is used, the more likely it is to "corrupt the process it is intended to monitor."
One comment rubbed me the wrong way because it implied that measurement reduces harm:
a total stranger one black day
(by edward estlin (e e ) cummings)
a total stranger one black day
knocked living the hell out of me--
who found forgiveness hard because
my(as it happened)self he was
-but now that fiend and i are such
immortal friends the other's each.
This past year I became a certified Green Dot instructor. Let me tell you why it is important to me - and should be important to you.
Here I list what I like to call Peter's Canon: a list of books and articles I have read and consider important. If I get time, I will annotate at least some of them.
Cognitive sciences, behavior, psychology
After four decades in medicine, I retired from the active practice of primary care 15 months ago. I still get asked at least once a day: “Well, how’s retirement treating you?” My usual reply is that it is a learning process. A more accurate response would be that it is like playing Tetris, but with pieces that change shape and rotate unpredictably as they fall.
(For those not of a certain age, here is Tetris:
I see and hear about more and more unhappy physicians, some of whom become happy former-physicians. It makes me reflect on my own circumstances.
Research suggests that the four major underlying contributors to physician dissatisfaction and burnout are
Under stress, including conditions of overload, systems degrade in a predictable manner.
Teaching in our local family practice residency is one of the most enjoyable parts of my week. When a colleague recently asked why I liked it so much, it took some reflection to answer.