Why You Should De-Optimize Your Life | Maria Cano, MBA ’25
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- In the midst of our fast-paced lives, we find ourselves entangled in the pursuit of constant optimization - squeezing every moment dry. However, what if, instead of optimizing every second, we dared to de-optimize parts of our days? Embracing the seemingly unproductive aspects of life and incorporating more downtime into our schedule hold the key to curiosity and creativity.
Speaker: Maria Cano, MBA ’25
The LOWkeynotes Program features a series of nine-minute ‘keynote-style’ presentations from Stanford Graduate School of Business students about an idea they think could change lives, organizations, and the world. This presentation was delivered for the March 2024 LOWkeynotes season.
I am watching this video at 1.5X speed in order to optimize my time.
Nice. You got about 3 minutes of extra downtime with the time you saved
Watching this on 2x
Unlucky to me. As an English learner,I over and over spent almost 30 minutes just listening and trying to understand the speech and her intentions.
@@CaCa-2003 you will catch up bro, just keep going... But don't over think every word or structure. Love from Iran
@@amirrezajamadi4179not overthinking is a key fr
“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.” ― Lao Tzu
When you are busy de-optimizing, that's not doing nothing (wu wei).
Which chapter is that line from? I'm reading Lao Tsu right now
Who's wu wei?
@@Kevin509wisdom do nothing = wu wei
@@kenhtinhthuc 惭愧，竟然没反应过来，原来是“无为”
@@davidc3945
Some of us are always reading it ❤
This quote is from the early poem number 3 (or chapter 3 if you'd like) which starts with timely wisdom:
"If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal."
... and soon after, it ends with timeless wisdom:
"Practice not-doing and
everything will fall into place. "
Read it all 🙏
This is from my favorite translation by Stephen Mitchell. It's less poetic but more precise than my other favorite by Ursula LeGuin.
Note that while the speaker talks about "de-optimizing" the basic argument really is that you should spend time doing nothing to be more create and innovative. In other words, you should perform "downtime" to optimize your performance. As such, this talk only pretends to challenge the idea of optimization, but actually ends up presenting an argument based on the internalized idea of optimization anyway. To me this shows how immensively difficult it can be to break free from deeply held beliefs, such as a belief in performance and optimization. I'd highly recommend the book "How To Do Nothing" by Jenny Odell as a piece of work that _actually_ challenges the idea of optimization and constant desire to increase onces utility.
I feel like she’s trying to speak to her audience of Bay Area folks because they can’t understand anything that’s not about optimization. It’s like trying to speak a foreign language , you have to translate for the audience first. Maybe she’ll speak more about this in the future in a more direct way.
@@peachxblueBoth of you make valid points. Expressing the joys of day dreaming or sweetly 'wasting' away some time to relax, to humans who are resembling machines more and more each passing day, is next to impossible, unless it is spoken to in the only language they understand : Profit and loss.
Well said. Simply existing and being present are forever at odds with maximizing our achievements and accomlishments, and yet society is filled with messages devaluing the former and lauding the latter. Downtime is just another thing for her to cross off her to do list, to 'fit in' to her busy schedule. Perhaps someday she can liberate herself from to do lists entirely, and craft a life where downtime isn't something she squeezes in to small corners, but the base from which her activities grow naturally.
@davebristol806 wow, that's really well put. Completely agree. her talk makes me pity her lol
Well said!!
00:00 🤫 Silence and downtime are often uncomfortable in our noisy, hyperactive world.
02:18 🧠 Our brains need downtime for creativity and productivity, as constant activity depletes cognitive resources.
03:20 🛋 True downtime is unstructured and without a specific goal or focus of attention, allowing for reflection and unexpected connections.
04:52 💡 Downtime fosters integration, connecting disparate thoughts and leading to insights and epiphanies.
06:32 🚶♂ Incorporate small breaks into your routine, engaging in activities like walking or mindless tasks to promote downtime.
07:31 ⏳ Downtime is crucial for busy individuals, enhancing achievement rather than hindering it.
08:31 🌟 Embrace downtime to reconnect with childhood curiosity and foster creative thinking about shaping the world.
thank you!
Thank you, RK
Thank you for optimizing our time.
lol the thing about telling busy people this is, now they will set aside that 15minutes in hopes that they will get an epiphany and improve productivity everywhere else in their lives, and it backfires on them because they turned it into an activity. Epiphanies will only come naturally, you cant force it out. The most important thing is to give yourself a break.
Downtime is a privilege that not everyone has but everyone needs! It helped me with my MBA program. Whenever I got stuck, I would do nothing and a few minutes later, I got a revelation that solved my problem. Every single time.
I think having downtime is a privilege in the sense that only a few of us have broken free from attention-seeking technology. I believe almost everyone spends 1-2 hours a day on social media or watching television. This is time they could easily spend staring at the stars, sitting under a tree daydreaming, lying on the bank, staring out the window, walking, doodling, etc.
@@ThijsPeppingagree with everything but the 1-2 hours.
I recently realized I have ADHD and this talk made me wonder if it’s related to this unstructured “integration” mode. I feel like my brain resists focus and actively tries to go into integration/day dreaming state. I make a lot of connections others don’t make, but I have a hard time completing goal-oriented tasks.
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
😊
I came down to the comments section to say exactly this, and found yours.
Interesting.
same here
It's true. All these social media videos envangalising Productivity. Man is not a Robot.
And now we know what the ultimate optimizer himself, Andrew Huberman, was using all that optimization for. I can't take him seriously on any of that stuff every again.
@@squamish4244 if you're going to throw out every thing someone says because of character flaws, then you're going to end up with nothing.
@@andrewhooper7603 I don't. I do take him seriously in his podcasts devoted to serious mental health issues, where he defers to expert opinion, and when he has experts in their fields on where it concerns serious mental illness and its treatment.
I said I can't take him seriously on optimization. Because what what are you optimizing _for?_ If the result is that you are a sack of sh*t like him, then maybe following all those ridiculous protocols isn't as important as the same basic advice on diet, exercise and a few other lifestyle choices that you can find in a hundred different ways.
I also can't take him seriously on anything to do with relationships (of any kind, as he has a known history of manipulating friends and colleagues as well as partners), childhood and adolescence (as he lied about his own supposedly 'rough' adolescence), narcissism, honesty and deception etc. He can' be trusted in any of those areas of life.
Also, unless he is a very unusual person who mysteriously managed to hit his genetic peak in muscle growth and fat percentage at age 48 as a ripped monster, with his crazy lifestyle, when he was much slimmer five years ago, I am pretty sure he is on PEDs. So I'm not taking workout advice from him either.
@@squamish4244 What do you mean? Please explain.
Her explanation of downtime reminded me of the Pomodoro technique wherein you are taking a break from studying after a set period of time to give your brain some time to process and integrate what is being learned. Although when doing the Pomodoro doesn’t necessarily mean you are taking a downtime, I just found it to be a good analogy.
Sounds like the speaker is saying that we should optimize our lives by adding or protecting down time.
Simple and not complicated
So easy to listen and very well presented
Sounds like the message is to optimise your life by incorporating downtime (rather than to de-optimise)
Some people need to do a lot because they're poor and they need to support their families.
Can Stanford MBA graduates focus on sharing wealth to the poor instead of making life more comfortable for the rich and powerful?
Perfect 10 babe from Stanford telling me that I need to deoptimize?
Great subject, even better presentation!!
So we should totally cultivate downtime and silence for... being more productive? Wait what?
I realised that the video is only for overachievers of Stanford. So I optimised my time by moving on.
Studies show that yesterday's studies are wrong yet we still get excited about studies.
Wow, a smart ass.
Guess you have no clue how science works…
Studies show that the #1 cause of death is being alive
Even trying to approach the truth is a majestic challenge.
No.
Brillant talk. Thank you for sharing. Down times to be up to much more!
I’m more creative in the summer when I spend (mindless) time mowing the lawn.
This person is the primary example of why people stopped respecting MBA’s, just listen to this pompous advice.
I believe downtime is necessary for optimizing. Even just a few minutes in the passing.
Excellent talk...my "aha" moments are in the shower!
same, that's the first thought that popped in my head when she said "aha"
+1
Silence is the language of the wise; it is the angle from which we understand ourselves.
Me: Watching the video to optimise the 10 minutes between booking an Uber, and its arrival.
You deserve a break, mate!
(just a reminder)
cool presentation ,listener also feeling relax .
My brain switch one task to another all day ,this stress leading to anxiety.now i divide day in work and to do nothing or just walk.Free time is better than productivity all time.
Can i come in for some extra tutoring on this subject. Thanks. Watching at 5x speed. She can fix me tho
Thanks, Maria! I'm sharing your presentation with my 7-year-old daughter who dreams of being a scientist to create superheroes! You're a great inspiration, and I hope she can follow in your footsteps. Keep up the fantastic work!
Watch the video again replacing "Downtime" with "Smoking pot".
Studies show that if you have a cute professor, most people will click on the lecture and watch it through to the end ..
It recalls me quote “To be successful, you need leisure. You need time hanging heavily on your hands.” - George Soros
Silence is wisdom.
It’s so sad that a person needs to build all this justification to be able to stop working for 15 minutes. “Hey, I’m resting, but don’t worry, this will increase my productivity.” I’m glad to be a loser. In our society, the winners are nothing more than slaves (the most productive and disciplined slaves in history).
i am lazy .. soooo what u saying is not really for me , that moment of silence in the beginning wasn't annoying , i can stay hours looking at the roof of my room with no problem
0:11 you’d get punched in the face if you do that staring in the streets
Yes that's what Barbara Oakley calls as diffused mode thinking. It's nothing really new but I guess it's a tip that those in the workplace forget or undervalue.
Completely agree. Sometimes we just need to be reminded!
Down time possible but with constant practice.. even switch off or restart both are possible but again by constant follow ups of the same..
Good topic to share in modern era adding hectic person and professional life...
Something about the way she converses with her hands is so monotonic
The best ideas come when one is in the shower.
This is a perfect example of a typical know nothing, do nothing mba. When I did my mba at a major program about 10 years ago I quickly realized I was the odd man out because I actually did real work pre-mba. All my classmates were resume wordsmiths who took credit for other people’s work and would only take notes if the professor said “this will be on the test”.
Take for example what at 4:56 where she claims she came up with an INITIATIVE that supposedly LED to 20% growth at the start up she was working at. She wordsmithed her way into credit theft because it will never be known which initiative if any led to that growth. And growth of what exactly?? I could go on and on.
And now these clowns are holding quasi ted talks?? What a joke!!
I liked your comment first and then unliked it, b/c you became rude.
@@Piknockyou in all fairness, I think the rudeness began at the first sentence...
Bravo - great to see you grown up and bright
Proud parents I’m sure
As a man with adhd this comes natural for us. Research that and why I was able to accomplish so much in such little time.
Great speech BTW! ❤
This woman has no idea what meditation is.
I'm the most experienced worker in my work section. For some of my co workers, this is their second job or third job. Yep, they are all younger than me. So, I've told them, when there's not a lot to do, is to enjoy the time, relax, catch your breath, enjoy the moment. I've even suggested to go outside and walk around.
I enjoyed your talk. Thank you 😊
very insightful great vid
She still made the downtime about a goal of getting aha moments... thought this was about taking it easy 😂
hahahh I was thinking the same thing, so basically there is still a second-order goal there, and eventually the downtime is still for optimizing life.
This is common sense lol
I take so much downtime that people think I'm broken.
Only 1 like? People are hypocrites😂
Takeaway:
* Integrate 1 hour of downtime every day (literally 'do nothing' time) - not TV/Netflix, not listening to music, not reading, not even trying to meditate. There should be no goal for down time
A long walk could be the solution? (no podcasts, no music, just boredom)
If I must - I can drink tea (lots of it!)
Now I will force myself to take breaks at the most optimal moments between other activities
I just drive on empty freeways, I start driving around 10 PM and drive until 1 AM, but the gas prices in LA are $6 now, can’t do this no more
Its only when a stanford graduate says that on a youtube video, such a point of view matters! When a common person says/does it, they will be labelled as timepass/jobless or even worse, an entrepreneur.
Great talk! Thanks.
I suppose if you’re in your teens or 20s, then this is a good lecture of commonly repeated, clichés and common sense
I think the video is taking off because the title of the video is really strong. It got me, ha
I let my brain roam free and what I found is very weird. I was just thinking about you. And I thought about all possible ways through which I can say how beautiful you are without sounding creepy and I couldn’t find a good one.
does watching this can be considered as downtime?? cause i don't have any intention..
joking obviously.. anyways thanks for reminding the importance of doing nothing..
Excellent talk. Makes me think of a great book: “A Whack on the Side of the Head” by Roger von Oech.
Wow, thanks to modern neurobiology I've found out, that solutions of problems just appear when I'm not doing anything. Seriously, we use such a complicated language to just make observations about everyday human experience nowadays. Then we act like we've just learned sum sience. Something went wrong
As the adage goes: less is more.
But, once someone lives by that, focusing on less for that reason, they are still going after more. Given this immense, seemingly infinite universe -- physical and mental -- how could we ask for more? Well, we do. And, that's the gateway into the deepest secret of our (non-) existence. 🎉
It's true that lots of people meditate "with a goal in mind" but this is wrong!
The best way to de-optimize your life is don't take any MBA courses, those are really bullshxt. Business school can not help you to do business. I would suggest this lady to give birth to experience and learn what a mankind basic needs and see if she can realize some opportunities for business.
Her confident expressive body language as she talks is so satisfying to watch 🙂
I am looking for the book spinoff from her, which will be a 200 page version of this 10 minute presentation 😆
Good one …
But on the “meditation” part her understanding was not accurate. Unfortunately meditation has become another “thing” to do. The real meditation is a practice of doing nothing. There is no outcome to be achieved. The purpose of meditation is meditation!
Otherwise a great talk. Thanks for sharing 🙏
the idea is not new to me, I agree, my shrink agrees etc. but bothers me that when talking about it people alwasy (even if is just one mention) tap in the "and it is even more productive!" reasoning.
which is the opposite of not having a goal.
cant we just stick with the "because it is good for you" or "it makes you happier" instead of "it will boost your creativity so you can sell it to the system"?
Yes, great insight. As i get older, I starting to understand being good enough is not that bad. Average is a bad word to describe it but not everyone is going to have an uber life and that's ok. You don't need the perfect partner, career, house, car, social media, etc. The chase for perfection is also contributing to the massive increase of disappointment and depression in the modern world.
Loser
It’s a competition between information explosion (one sided reception) versus self enquiry or conservation of energy
This MBA grad will run a staff productivity programme in her next company.
Maybe another way to call it is to get relaxed, have some free time everyday. Don't be too pushy, or anxious.
my do nothing or silence is "not doing anything" being alone, sitting still, not talking, is not doing anything, it is optimizing your mind to produce more effective use of your time. so your premise is false. doing nothing is optimizing itself. when I go running, ideas come flooding into my brain on making lawyerly arguments and rebuttals.
Wrong.
While meditating you DO not have a specific goal. Some meditation practices wants a perosn to loose all controls.
Nice cadence, to much hand movement
Liked the title and topic but I left early.
This is the quality of business. You can even sell nothing.
This One Time, at band Camp... sorry....at down time....
thanks a lot, it's helpful for me.
Fantastic speech!
I rarely heard a less convincing introduction to a speech at such a level. I felt not uncomfortable at all when she stopped speaking. Her facel and body language expressed confidence, and it was very clear that she was up to something. She even announced it (which was not necessary). Maybe people should watch at not only listen...
In my personal life, I do not feel uncomfortable at all, when there is silence. Instead, I feel privileged to get some time for my thoughts.
I am 49 and I work at university as a teacher, so I am used to stand in front of people or listening to them.
It feels awkward that in 2024, 10 seconds of silence are awkward..
I was there in person, and it did feel awkward
Thank you for sharing this. I’m constantly distracting myself. I’m curious how cleaning would be considered down time. I was thinking it needed to be time when nothing was actually being accomplished.
There are probably 2 levels here:
1.Ideal: idle brain where the body is resting like sitting and doing nothing.
2. Slightly less ideal: idle brain but the body is doing some muscle memory activity like walking, cleaning, showering etc
Nice perspective. Quite often I come up with new ideas or thoughts when I am having bath!
esos tiempos que pide nuestro cerebro hay que dárselos, es como cuando un deportista pide descanso, gracias por recordarmelo ., from mexico city
yabut
creativity is an animal
that must be fed.
stop feeding it, it stops growing.
Seems my own mental downtime is when I am doing manual jobs or chores like washing dishes etc 😂😂
Solitude is the answer and detachment from the illusionary externalities
what if my whole day goes in DOWNTIME what should i do
Maifavorite
train and bus rides are perfect for doing nothing and i've come to prefer that than checking my phone
Watching people swipe away Facebook like every 2 s, apparently the new hard labour.
It's called "Meditation"
You're welcome.
It's a true question, but have the intention to have not an intention is a paradox isn't it ?
Bhai, mere bhai ne mujhe 4rabet recommend kiya tha, tabse yahin khelta hoon
Sounds like it was written by ai?
These hand gestures are distracting. Unreal and too loud.
Bhai Aaron Finch ke saath 4ra events aur bhi bright aur better ho gaye, real fun hai
Yaar 4ra ka interface bohot easy aur user-friendly hai, maza aata hai use karne me
But you did It again 😅. The goal of downtime is to just do nothing but you want to use it for the next breakthrough 😕 it misses the goal again.
If the mind is wandering, then how is it 'downtime'?
00:44 🤫 Silence and downtime are often uncomfortable in a noisy, busy world, but they offer opportunities for reflection, clarity, and creativity.
01:15 ⏳ Society's pressure to constantly optimize our lives can lead to a fear of downtime, but embracing moments of silence and reflection is crucial for mental well-being and creativity.
02:49 🧠 Our brains need downtime to thrive, as unstructured time allows for integration of information, fostering creativity and problem-solving abilities.
04:23 💡 Downtime enables non-linear thinking, leading to unexpected connections and "aha" moments, which can spark creativity and innovation.
06:02 🔄 As AI advances, creativity becomes increasingly valuable in the workplace, making it essential to prioritize and cultivate downtime for enhanced problem-solving abilities.
07:31 ⏰ Despite busy schedules, prioritizing downtime is crucial for mental rejuvenation and unlocking creativity, even for those with numerous commitments.
She optimised each and every one of her words, gestures, facial expressions, ... but but but 🤷🏻♀️
sometimes we should just don't push ourself too much but just relax for a bit
agree
We are machines and downtown does not further the machine unless it does and you make money, then downtown is ok. Giving speech at standard after downtown. Acceptable. Living at parents house with downtime unable to actualize career, people don’t like that. 😂😂😂😂
Bhai 4rabet ne Aaron Finch ko ambassador banaya hai, kya baat hai
Me watching half the video while having breakfast and half the video while getting ready for office. I think optimization just keeps coming up naturally!
hmmmm - I do find mindfulness meditation pretty close to "down time". I mean - my 'purpose' is to pay attention to the present moment (breathe, body, thoughts etc) but, to be honest, in a 30 minute meditation, I am only effective in that task for maybe 2% of the time. The rest feels like downtime. I certainly get more motivation and clarity afterwards. So, maybe its the down time that happens between the 'focussed' times that give the benefits????