Dozens of times over the last few years I’ve told people that my favorite place to do sermon prep and other writing is at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Until last night I was never quite sure why. There is something about all those books, people reading, people conversing, and all that caffeine! For some unknown reason it just felt better to do work there then at my house or in an office.
Something I read last night might shed some light on why this is. In the book “Blink”, Malcolm Gladwell mentions a study where a large group of students were given the same Trivial Pursuit test. Five minutes before the first group took the test they were told to think about what it would be like to be a professor. These students were then directed to quickly write down all of their thoughts about being a professor. Five minutes before the same exact test the other group of students were told to think about soccer hooligans.
Now how did the two groups do with the same test? Group one (the “Professor” group) answered 55.6% of the questions correctly. Group two (the “soccer hooligan” group) just answered 42.6 correctly. What an enormous difference?
Gladwell goes on to say that neither group was particularly smarter then the other. The difference was one group was thinking about being smart while the other group wasn’t.
Reading this last night shined some light on my B&N habit. While I’m there I feel smart and creative. I don’t think I’m necessarily smarter or more creative there, but the atmosphere triggers something deep inside that lets the juices flow.
Everyone has to find their B&N, but I encourage all of you to look for it. If you’re a student, go somewhere that makes you feel smart. Wear that shirt that makes your brain feel bigger (this also helps when taking a final). If you are a pastor and you have an institutional feeling office, get out of there man. Go to the beach, the coffee house, go wherever you can that makes you better then you really are. I bet it will make a difference.
Posted by Billy Mitchell 
