Issue #391  (Why Your Brain Loves Games) 08/10/26

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Memory is a funny thing. I just finished a game of Balderdash with some friends and family. If you don't know, that's the board game where one person reads out a rarely used English word and everyone has to write out phony definitions fthat sound convincing. One person then reads out all the definitions, including the correct definition, then you score points based on who tricked more people and who guessed which definition is the real one.

Sometimes you get words you actually know (e.g. I'm Greek and one of the words was "Buzuki" – come on, give me something difficult!). But that's rare. By the end of it all, you've apparently "learned" a bunch of new words. Or have you?
 
The thing is, if you're playing with smart people, it can be difficult to remember the real definition amidst all the convincing fake ones. Especially if it's the first time you've heard that word in your life.

So at the end of the game, I reviewed all the words out loud and had everyone try to briefly guess again what each word's definition was. It was basically a spaced repetition exercise where we repeated these new words so they would "stick" a little more in our minds. I probably won't remember all of them long term, but it really drove home the point of the importance of reviewing stuff you've studied and using some form of spaced repetition for facts you want to recall again.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

 

Tools & Apps

Articles & Resources

Engineering Leaders Day-to-Day Activities — If you've been in a management role, then you know what this looks like, but maybe you want the other perspective if you're not in that role.

Are We Offloading Too Much of our Thinking to AI? — This subject is going to be a continuing conversation, especially in schools, but the intro that mentions 'microphone man' is an interesting anecdote related to this that sets up the piece.

David Burkus Newsletter — Join 25,000+ other leaders who receive David's twice-monthly tips on building high-performing teams.     sponsor  

The 'Busy' Trap — A 2012 essay that looks at what “being busy” really means, who is actually busy, and why we seem to give busyness a power it doesn’t deserve.

Neuroscientists Discover Previously Unknown Cognitive Benefits Of Reading Physical Books — "The findings suggest that physical books provide stable spatial and tactile cues that lower the brain’s workload when a reader tries to recall complex plot points later."

Why Your Brain Loves Games — and How to Use That to Your Advantage — The encouragement here is to treat challenges like experiments, setting up smaller milestones instead of big goals, creating your own "XP" system, among other suggestions.

What To Do If You're Not "Detail Oriented" — If you're in a role where catching or avoiding mistakes is crucial, you definitely want to follow this advice, which consists of some good questions to analyze our results.

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X or chat via Bluesky and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
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