Philos

What you see is true!

2011-10-15T18:44:00.002+02:00

If your colleague, friend or relative disagrees with you, how do you respond?

Your reality
When we view or perceive (hear, smell, taste) something, this is reality to us.
And indeed it is a kind of reality, your reality! As, given your 'filters' like genes, education, physical (health) condition, background, position, circumstances, consciousness, and experiences (etc....), every human being can only perceive a small and often different glimpse of what reality really is.

So, to put it in an other way:

What you see is true, but what others see too!

Consequences
This implies that instead of trying to convince the other that your point of view is right, it's more constructive and fruitful to ask the other about his view and opinion.

At first it will be difficult to understand the other and perhaps it even arouses aversion, but eventually you'll be able to better understand the other's point of view without the obligation that it necessarily has to become your point of view.

This way you'll be able to enrich, grow and develop yourself to a more complete human being. This way of thinking opens new doors and gives space for new solutions and breakthroughs in a growing controversial world.

Risk Perception

2011-09-09T10:13:00.000+02:00

Risk is all about perception, as the next story illustrates...

Finally you arrive at your hotel late that night.... The hotel manager has only two rooms left. These two rooms are exactly the same, except for one aspect: The fire alarm.....

The manager tells you that in the event of a nighttime fire due to the usual causes, guests in Room 1, equipped with Alarm 1, have a 2% chance of dying. Guests in Room 2, equipped with Alarm 2, have only a 1% chance of dying.

However - things in life are always complicated - there's a slight problem.....

According to the manager...... The wiring of Alarm 2 is such that it sometimes causes electrical fires that increase the risk of dying in a nighttime fire by an additional 0.01%.

In other words, Alarm 1 is associated with a 2% risk of death and Alarm 2 is associated with a 1% + 0.01% (betrayal) risk of death.

What room do you choose?

Outcome

According to a study by Gershoff and Koehler, most participants choose the room with Alarm 1. This, even though this room 1 has double the increased risk of fire death. Reason: most participants found the tiny risk of "betrayal" (product malfunction) much more frightening than the much larger risk of actually dying. When people get upset by a tiny risk, they often paradoxically choose the much larger risk.

Personally I think a more imaginable risk 'weighs' stronger than a non-specific abstract risk......

Conclusion
This simple example proofs that perception or emotion has a strong influence on risk decisions.

Next time you have to make a decision on risk, try to make a rational guess. Than, act on this calculated guess and not on your 'risk feeling'.
Nevertheless, keep in mind 'risk decisions' are often irrational, no matter how strong you prove that they are not. It seems we have to live with the fact that, regarding risk, we're all victim of the same emotional bias....

Read more about this interesting subject on:

- Vaccination and betrayal aversion (2011)
- Safety First? The Role of Emotion in Safety Product Betrayal Aversion (2011)

- The Risk-as-feelings hypothesis in a Theory-of-planned-behaviour
- Behavioral economics: the missing link in the financial crisis-
- Decisions are Never Emotional
- Irrational Risk

The Risk of bicycling

2011-07-01T17:05:00.002+02:00

You decided to start a 3 year math study at City University in London. From your brand new apartment in Southall, it's a 12.5 mile drive to the University at Southhampton Street. As a passionate cyclist you consider the risk of cycling through London for the next three years.

Based on your googled " DFT's Reported Road Casualties 2009" research (resulting in a cycling death rate of 36 per billion vehicle miles), you first conclude that the probability of getting killed in a cycle accident during your three year study is relatively low : 0.1% (≈ 3[years] × 365[days] × 25[miles] × (36 [Killed] ÷ 10⁹[vehicle miles]).

Subjective probability

After this factfinding you start to realize it's YOU getting on the bike and it's YOUR 0.1% risk of DYING in the next three years of your study....

Hmmmm...this comes closer; it makes things a little different, doesn't it?

Its looks like 'subjective probability' - on reflection - is perhaps somewhat different from 'objective probability'.

While your left and right brain are still in a dormant paradoxical state of confusion, your left (logical) brain already starts to cope with the needs of the right (emotional) half that wants you on that bike at all costs!

Russian Roulette

Now your left brain tells you not to get emotional, after all it is 'only' an additional 0.1% risk. Already your left brain starts searching for reference material to legitimate the decision you're about to take.

Aha!.... Let's compare it with 'Russian Roulette', your left brain suggests. Instead of 6 chambers we have thousand chambers with one bullet. Heeee, that makes sense, you talk to yourself.

With such a 1000 chambers Russian gun against my head I would pull the trigger without hesitating.... Or wouldn't I?..... No.., to be completely honest, 'I wouldn't risk it', my right brain tells me.

Hé... my left brain now tells me my right brain is inconsistent: It wants me on the bike but not to take part in a equal 'death probability game' of Russian roulette. Why not?

In Control
My left half concludes it must be the 'feeling' of my right side that makes me feel I'm 'in control' on my bike, but not in case of Russian Roulette. That makes sense, tells my left brain me. Of course! Problem solved! My right and left brain finally agree: It's only a small risk and it's I who can control the outcome of a healthy drive. Besides, this way the health benefits of cycling massively outweigh the risks as well, my right brain convinces me superfluous.

A final check by my right brain tells me: If I can't trust myself, who can I?
This rhetorical question is the smashing argument in stepping on the bike and to enjoy a wonderful ride through London City.
As ever...,

My left brain is always right!

Aftermathematics
After returning from my accidentless bike trip, I enjoy a drink with a colleague of mine, the famous actuary Will Strike [who doesn't know him? ;-)].

After telling him my 'bike decision story' he friendly criticizes me for my non-professional approach in this private decision problem. Will tells me that I should not only have analyzed the probability (P), but also the Impact (I) of my decision. Remember the equation: Risk=P×I?

Yes of course, Will is right. How could I forget? ..., the probability of getting a deathly accident was only 0.1%.

Yet, 'when' a car hits you full, the probability of meeting St. Petrus at heaven's gate is 100% and the Impact (I) is maximal (I=1; you're dead ...)

Summarized:

Risk[death on bike;25 miles/day; 3 years] =
Probability × Impact = 0.1% × 1=0.1%

From this outcome it's clear that, even though the Impact is maximal (1=100%) , on a '0% to 100% Risk scale' this 3 year 'London-Bike Risk Project' seems negligible and by no means a risk that would urge my full attention.

I'm finally relieved... it always makes a case stronger to have a taken decision verified by another method. In this case the Risk=P×I method confirmed my decision taken on basis of my left-right brain discussion. Pff....

Afteraftermath
The next morning, after my subconscious brain washed the 'bike dishes' of the day before, I wake up with new insights. Suddenly I realize I tried to take my biking decision on the wrong variable: Probability, instead of Impact.

Actually, in both cases and without realizing, I took my decision finally on basis of the Impact and the possible 'Preventional Control' (not damage control !!!) I could exert before and during my bike trip.

I had to conclude that in cases of high Impact (I>0.9), nor my left-right brain chat, nor the 'Risk=PxI' formula lead to a sound decision, because both are too much based on probability instead of Impact. In other words:

In case of high Impact, probability is irrelevant

In case of high Impact, only control counts

From now on this 'bike conclusion' will be engraved in my memory and I will apply it in my professional work as well.

P.S. for disbelievers, the tough ones!
If you're convinced you would take the risk of firing the 1000 chamber Russian gun against your head, you probably valuate the fun of the bicycle trip higher than probability of the loss of your life or good health.

In this case, suppose someone would offer you an amount of money if you would take part in a 1000 chamber Russian roulette instead of a bicycle tour. At which amount would you settle?

Let's assume you would settle at € 10.000.000 (I wouldn't settle for less). In this case you really value your bicycle trip!!!!

Interested? read more at Actuary-Info

IF

2010-11-01T11:11:00.002+01:00

One of the best inspirational poems ever written, is 'IF' , by Rudyard Kipling (1895):

So..., 'If' you ever feel down or depressed, take up this poem, read it again and feel the energy coming back into your blood vessels....

Word Empowerment

This empowerment by words is also visible when a text, document or url is translated into Word-Picture. A wonderful application called Wordle, helps you to build these word-clouds.

Here is a Wordle example from Kipling's poem IF:

Enjoy the IFs in your life!

Route in life

2009-08-27T21:16:00.001+02:00

Do you also intent to follow the simplest, direct or easiest route in Life?
Right you are....
Going from A to B in life is like a risk management game.
As the captain of your Body&Mind-Ship (BMS) heading for a New Land at Port Novaya Zemlya, you'll have three starting issues:

Three starting issues

Define your target (B): Know where you want to go in life
Define your starting point (A): Know Where an Who you are in life
Define your Route: Know How you want to go from A to B

In terms of risk management there are two main targets:

Main Risk Management Targets

Long term Target
Reach your final target (Novvaya Zemlya)
Short term Target
Avoid short time risks, tackle problems along the way (avoid ice floes)

So, what kind of approach is right for reaching your goal?

If you concentrate too much in life on your 'final goal' or you want to achieve your goals too fast or too direct, you'll certainly hit a short term problem, like an ice floe, and end up crashed as a hero or a martyr.
If you concentrate too much on the short term problems in your life, you'll loose sight on your final goal and certainly fail to reach Novaya Zemlya.

The solution of this paradox is (of course) to concentrate on the short term goals as well as keep an eye on the long term goal at the same time.

The optimal route?
But what is the best strategy for finding the optimal route in life?
Take a look at the next map to find out the best strategy for this ship.

Strategy I: Don't think, go to your target in a straight line
The most logical route from A to B would of course be a straight line. However following this line as a blind man would certainly lead to failure.

Strategy II: Keep as much is possible to the straight line
As BMS captain might look like the 'best strategy' solution. This is how we often directly respond in life when we do not succeed in getting what we want the way we planned it.
Often this route is 2 to 3 times longer than the 'straight line route' and does not always guarantee that you reach your goal in the labyrinth of life.
As mostly in life , the best advice is....

Strategy III: Get help and plan!
As BMS captain with the right attitude and perseverance to succeed, you consult your friends and foes and draw yourself the best possible satellite map, so that you'll be able to oversee the 'seascape' of your life, with all relevant problems, like ice foes ahead.
Often this optimal ice route is 1.5 times longer than the 'straight line route', but it guarantees the highest success rate.

But what to do if you have no information at all? That's when thinking and mathematics come in, or it gets time for an alternative approach before you freeze in reaching for Novvaya Zemlya....

Moving Targets

2009-08-27T20:34:00.002+02:00

I once asked one of my business unit managers with regard to an important project, if he was still on course and how things were going.

He answered friendly:
My ship's on course......
But the port moves !

Sometimes, when you are totally focused on achieving your predefined goals, when you're right on schedule and your project looks perfect...... You can be sure your project will fail. Why? Because while working on your project the environment changes, so you need somebody in your project that constantly checks the defined project targets against the changing environment.

So always, while working keep your head up!

Success

2009-08-16T08:37:00.000+02:00

We all want to be successful. But what is success?

Success could perhaps be defined as achieving the Result you want by using your core Qualities at the right Time given the right Circumstances (place,people,weather, atmosphere).

In formula: R = Q x T x C

Another way of looking at success has been defined by Hevizi:

It’s not WHAT you know.

It is not WHO you know.

It is not HOW you deliver.

It is ALL of it.

In the new world of tough competition for positions, careers and recognition it is important to remind ourselves that it takes 3 to be successful and compete.

We can look at this as the following formula:

SUCCESS = IQ * EQ * XQ

Success explained
A more sophisticated, humorous yet interesting approach of success has been defined by Alain de Botton in the next TED video. Alain examines our ideas of success and failure:
Is what you define as success really your personal defined success or perhaps the unconscious copied succes definition of somebody else?

He points out that believing in winners and loosers is a narrow and wrong way of defining the world. On top of this, he gives randomness a place in the definition of success and stresses that there can be no success without loss....

Philosophy of Success

Wrapped up, success could be defined as being satisfied and happy with your choices, actions, gains and losses.....

So never give up, discover the secrets of success and enjoy it!

Youtube Success Links:
Quest for success
Success by Deepak Chopra

Crisis: Don't slam the brakes on

2009-06-21T09:06:00.001+02:00

Dutch Minister of Health, Ab Klink, recently stated the Dutch Cabinet:
My father always said: As your caravan starts to snake (roll), don't slam the breaks on, but (gently) accelerate.

Although this wisdom could apply in certain circumstances, generally it's not true.

When your caravan is snaking, it's best to follow the next DSA advice:
Don't brake harshly or you could loose control completely. Don't accelerate either, for the same reasons. Just simply ease off the accelerator until the unit is brought back under control.

Sometimes in relationships, with heart/mind problems or in crisis situations this is the best advice as well. Don't drop down or let go all things around you and don't try to force your way out. Simply let go the accelerator and wait for things to stabilize until you'll get grip on the situation again.

In general, to prevent snaking life situations as much as possible, surround yourself with stabilizers, e.g. 'good advice friends'. Good friends keep each other on the road.

Links:
- Caravan Rules of thumb
- Caravan Formules

Influenced Decisions

2009-06-20T23:44:00.004+02:00

We all think our decisions are made in a professional and rational manner.

Too bad, nothing is less is true! Decisions are strongly influenced by the way we present our proposals.

Influenced Decisions
In a splendid TED Video Presentation called 'Are we in control of our own decisions' (half an our fun and learning!) , Dan Ariely, an Israeli professor of behavioral economics and head of the eRationality research group at the MIT Media Lab, shows the astonishing effect of how decisions can be fundamentally changed by adding dummies in proposals:

First experiment
Ariely tested the next ad on the website of the Economist.com on a group of 100 MIT students:

As expected, most students wanted the combo deal (84%). Students can read, so nobody wanted the middle option.

But now, if you have an option nobody wants, you can take it off. Right? So Ariely tested another version of this ad on another group of students, eliminating the middle option. This is what happened:

Now the most popular option (84%) suddenly became the least popular (32%). And the least popular (16%) became the most popular (68%) option.

What happened was that the 'useless' option in the middle, was useless in the sense that nobody wanted it. But it wasn't useless in the sense that it helped people figure out what they wanted. In fact, relative to the option in the middle, which was get only the print for $125, the print and web for $125 looked like a fantastic deal. And as a consequence, people chose it.

The general idea here is that we actually don't know our preferences that well. And because we don't know our preferences that well we're susceptible to all of these influences from the external forces.

Second experiment
People believe that when they see somebody, they immediately know whether they like that person or not. Ariely decided to put this statement to the test.

He showed his students a picture of Tom and a picture of Jerry (real people in practice). Then he asked "Who do you want to date? Tom or Jerry?" But for half the people he added a slightly less attractive (photoshopped) version of Jerry. For the other half of the students he added a slightly less attractive (ugly) version of Tom.

Now the question was, will ugly Jerry and ugly Tom help their respective, more attractive brothers?

The answer was absolutely YES. When ugly Jerry was around, Jerry was popular. When ugly Tom was around, Tom was popular.

Conclusions: The Dummy Effect
What can we conclude from these two experiments?

When you let people chose between two options, their decision might be positively influenced by adding a third 'slightly less attractive version' (the dummy) of the option you value as most favorable. So decisions are susceptible to options manipulation.
Be aware of the Dummy-Effect when someone adds a dummy option in a choice you'll have to make. If your decision without the dummy is not the same as with the dummy option, try to investigate why. Don't take a decision until you've found out why.
Both decisions, with or without dummies, are 'rational'.
Therefore your 'rational decision' depends more than you're inclined you think on the character, the completeness and the description of the options. Your personal preference becomes more or less irrelevant if the options are incomplete. So think twice about possible 'missing options' before you take a final decision.

From now on...
Now that you've become aware of this dummy-effect, life will never be the same again. You've become conscious of the way the options in a proposal can influence a decision. This gives you the opportunity to take more enriched decisions. It also places you in a more responsible position when you develop proposals for others. Straight proposals will be 'cleaner' than before ('undummied') and also include an explanation about the way a proposal is structured and presented.

Links
- Book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- MIT Center for future banking

Job Application Interview

2009-04-25T23:49:00.000+02:00

Do you recognize the flabbergasted feeling that occurs when, after a 'splendid' job interview, you come home with a positive feeling and the day after you are rejected?

Although you thought you performed well in the interview, somewhere, somehow, you missed the boat.

What went wrong?

Well, apart from the general pitfalls in a job interview and the trivial explanations of a rejection, most probably things went wrong due to lack of proper communication.

Probably, when you're having an interview, you'll take notes.
Because you're focused on getting the job, you're inclined to (only) write down the positive aspects of the job and the conversation.

This will definitely give you a biased view on the outcome of the interview. You simply miss or underestimate the minor or negative remarks in the interview.

How to solve this?

This is what you can do to get a more realistic idea about the outcome of the interview.

Listen
First of all, make sure you listen well.
Take Notes
Be careful not just to write down your personally important or spectacular issues (e.g salary, benefits, car, etc), but especially note (and write down!) small remarks, advices or 'used adjectives' of the interviewer.
Split in Negatives and Positives
Split your note paper in left and right, and put the positive issues (the Positives) on one side and the negative issues (the Negatives) on the other side.
Manage the Negatives
Make sure to write down every single negative issue or negative adjective, no matter how small. Don't ignore these Negatives. By questioning, make sure you understand them right and manage them one by one. If you're not able to get those negatives from the table or to put them in quarantine, they might kill you in the end without you realizing it. So:

Manage the Negatives instead of counting the Positives
Feedback
At the end of the conversation ask for feedback and check by asking the interviewer to summarize your Positives and Negatives. If any Negatives are left, handle them with care right there.
Don't fake
Don't try to reason away negatives that are clear facts. If that would imply a rejection, be happy, because you are not qualified for this job and therefor wouldn't be happy in this job as well.

Evaluating an interview is not simply balancing Positives with Negatives. Even a single Negative can screw it up.

P/N-Method
Anyway, this Positives/Negatives Method is not only applicable in case of a job interview, but can be used in every "beauty parade", contract negotiation or proposal you try to defend.

Next time, with a positive attitude, keep your 'sixth sense' on the potential Negatives and manage them!

Time Perspective

2009-04-16T23:15:00.002+02:00

According to Philip Zimbardo, we all develop a specific attitude towards time (Time perspective).

Past, present or future orientated?
In The Time paradox Zimbardo explains that people turn out to be primarily past, present or future orientated. Each perspective has a detailed possible orientation (focus):

It's clear that our now-actions strongly depend on our perception of the present and the future. This perception has has been influenced by how we perceived the past. Therefore, our future actions will be influenced by how we perceive the present - as it appears to us right now - as well.

Form this we may conclude that our future happiness is strongly defined by how (positive) we experience the 'now'.

Experiencing the 'now' as a positive and constructive phase in your life, even in times of adversities, demands a conscious mind and a healthy style of thinking.

Healthy thinkstyle perspective
Based on research and his own definition of a 'healthy thinkstyle' in life , Zimbardo developed an ideal time perspective score (red dots):

Take the test
If you wonder what your Time perspective score is, take the test:

Take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory

Changing Time Perspective
As you grow up, your Time-perspective changes.
When you're young, you're almost not influenced by your past and you don't worry about your future, you just live in the present and simply take what comes.

As you grow up, you've learned from the past and become conscious of the consequences of your actions. You think about your future, feel responsibility and are able to postpone actual benefits in exchange for (more or increased) future benefits.

When we grow old, the past will influence and determine our actions more and more until our last phase in life, where future and present transform in a kind of transcendental state. In this stage your present and decisions are from another order. Physically you're here on good old earth, but in a spiritual way you've already risen to your new destiny.....

Zen-Present
However, back to the present., Zimbardo continues that living in the present can also be in a Zen-like perspective, illustrated by the next sanskrit verse:

Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow but a vision
But today 'well lived' makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope

So it's you who can create a heaven on earth.

Use Zimbardo's time-perspective to be(come) like you wanna be.

When to decide?

2009-04-16T22:34:00.002+02:00

In life you'll have to take all kind of decisions. Easy or tuff decisions, you'll always try to take the right decision or the best choice.
Even a indecision is a kind of decision.

Although there's a list of traditional Decision Making Techniques, the decision you take depends heavily on the moment of decision.

Almost any personal decision process consists of several phases

The Good Idea Phase
Often it 'starts with' a good idea or an opportunity or possible decision (for solving a problem) that 'looks like' a 'good idea'.
Deciding in this stage could be qualified as : Impulsive.
For small decisions this 'way of deciding' could work out fine. If the decision is successful, you enjoy it. It has the opportunity of incidentally creating a great unexpected success. If it turns out wrong, you just throw the idea away and you're not disappointed.
The However Phase
In this phase you quickly focus on the possible disadvantages of this 'good idea'.
By deciding in this stage you reduce the amount of downside risk of your decision from your own perspective.
Deciding in this face is more balanced and suits decisions with medium sized (personal) risks.
The On the other Hand Phase
In this phase you focus on the advantages of the 'good idea'.
Taking a decision in this phase, leads to rational decisions with respect to your own environment.
The But my Heart says Phase
Now you take your 'gutfeeling' into the decision process.
What your heart says, is taken into account.
Deciding in this phase leads to emotional balanced decisions. Watch out for 'too much emotional arguments in your final decision'.
The What Others say Phase
In this stage you include 'what other people think or would decide' in your decision.
An advice of a good friend that knows you well could perhaps make you conscious of your pitfalls or blind spots.
Watch out for 'getting dependent' in this stage. It's mostly wise to listen to our 'true friends', keep making your own decisions.
The I must take a Decision Phase
Often we don't have to decide, but we feel we do.
We get desperate. Weighting all facts of the idea or problem still on leads to a fifty-fifty situation.
Deciding in this phase (deciding 'something'), concerning ideas with big consequences, often leads to dividement, separation and chaos.
Go back to what you would have had decided in the rational phase or become enlightened and decide nothing until destiny decides for you.
The Zen Phase
When we are conscious of everything, we'll take no decisions at all. We know and accept that 'taking decisions' is the same as sailing a boat in a tropical storm: It helps, it's certainly important, but the sea is in charge and 'decides'. So be sure to choose the right sea!

Sometimes there are other ways on how to decide, like:
The Best Decisions a Person Can Make

Decide to decide
Decide to build character
Decide to pursue the best option
Decide to forgive
Decide to always get better

Anyhow, be conscious about the timing of decisions !

Adversity helps !

2009-04-16T21:55:00.002+02:00

Ever thought about:

It seems your life is only dependent on your circumstances?
Does life happen to you?
Do you live life or does life lives you?

Let's look at the life of a sailor that has to sail his boat to the port.
No matter what direction of the wind, a professional sailor is able to direct his boat to his destination, the port.

Even with adverse wind he manages to do so by a technique called

Tacking = zigzagging upwind

The only problem with sailing is when

There is no wind at all !
It's just like in our lives. When we don't encounter resistance, disagreement or disappointment, we will not be able to grow in life and we will not reach our destination.

A healthy, right sized, quantity of resistances in our life, help us to see the obstacles in our lives that prohibit us from development or growth.

So let's hope our circumstances in life keep moving.

So let's hope our circumstances in life keep moving.
Moving stairs at the fair This helps us to make our necessary steps in life.

It's just like climbing the "moving stairs" at the fair.

The circumstances (stairs) go up and down, and you have to make progress by making steps !

Now in a close relation, keep in mind to let the wind blow between the two of you, simply to make it possible for the both of you to zigzag to your common port.

Let's conclude with some wise "overcoming adversity" quotes .....

Inspirational "Overcoming Adversity" Quotes

Myla Kabat-Zinn
Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart.

Norman Vincent Peale
Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles and adds significance to all you do.

Napoleon Hill
Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

Og Mandino
Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

James Buckham
Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

So overcoming adversity is a life challenge and adversity helps !

Collective Behavior

2009-03-30T11:15:00.004+02:00

Understanding collective and individual behavior are key to a successful life.

Take a look at the next picture:

It's clear that the little fish here, have a problem.

What's also clear, is that random actions of an individual fish are not likely going to change the situation.

In the next picture, by coordinating behavior, a way has been found to solve 'the problem' :

This solution looks very simple, the question is how to organize this kind of collective "big fish" behavior?

The problem is that often first movers don't benefit from a collective approach in the first stage:

First movers take a risk by sticking out their neck. The are not sure that their fellows will follow. They also take the risk that their actions turns against themselves.

It turns out that one way to get individuals to coordinate their behavior is through morality.

Morality
Our natural sympathy for other people, our fear of shame and even our feelings of guilt, are often enough to stimulate us to participate in a successful collective action.

Albeit it's discussable what the origins of morality are, it's clear that morality can help us to overcome that 'first mover period'. Groups that use concepts like fairness, reciprocity, trust, guilt, and shame, often do better than rival groups.

Interested?
In an excellent essay called A Business Plan for Catalyzing Collective Action , The Point explanes how how these cooperative mechanisms can be created.

Examples
Collective rational or even emotional behavior often plays a decisive role in our society, as may be clear from the 2009 credit crisis turmoil and the escalating bonus madness.

Be aware of individual and collective behavior.

Study "collective behavior mechanisms" and certainly don't forget to integrate the key principles of this collective behavior into your personal Life Plan.

Bounded Freedom

2009-02-27T22:11:00.010+01:00

Freedom is great. But there's no freedom or liberty without borders.
Too much freedom will cause chaos, will damage others or even yourself.

Boundaries are essential for developing ourselves and relationships with each other, for our ability to give and receive love, for spiritual growth, and for a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

However, boundaries are often violated and we ask ourselves what we can do about it.

In their book 'When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life', psychologists Cloud and Townsend show how to set reasonable boundaries in relationships.

On their website you'll gain sound advice on boundary matters. On their website, just fill in a search word, click and simply watch the correspondent video (example) !

As a shortcut, their Ten Laws of Boundaries :

Sowing and Reaping
Our actions have consequences. Someone will bear them.
Don’t interrupt this law by regularly bailing others out.

Responsibility
We are responsible 'to', not 'for' each other.
We are to love one another, not be one another.

Power
We do not have power over other people.
We hardly have enough power over ourselves

Respect
If we wish our boundaries to be respected we must respect those of others.
For with the measure you use, you will be measured.

Motivation
We must be free to say 'no' before we can wholeheartedly say 'yes'.
“Acts of love” are worthless if we don’t feel to have a choice

Evaluation
We need to evaluate the effects our boundaries cause others.
Hurt and harm are not the same – pain may eventually lead to growth

Proactivity
Boundaries must express what you stand for, not just what you are against.
Solve problems on the basis of your values, wants, and needs

Envy
We will never get what we want if we focus on what others have.
Envy keeps us empty and unfulfilled

Activity
We need to take the initiative to solve our problems.
Don’t wait for your partner to take the first step

Exposure
Boundaries must be communicated.
Otherwise they are invisible to others

Applying these rules, looks simple, but is hard to do. However, they make the difference in life.

The best freedom is 'Bounded Freedom' !

The Real YOU

2009-02-21T14:37:00.001+01:00

Perhaps it'll be disappointing and hard to acknowledge, but there's no objective 'Real YOU'. There's only the 'Perceived YOU', perceived by others or yourself and strongly dependent on the context you're operating in.

Here's the simple proof.

Read out loud, from top to bottom, the next three characters:

This was quite simple, wasn't it?
Let's go to step two.

Now read out loud, from left to right, the next three characters:

Now read out loud the character in the middle:

The middle character
The character in the middle isn't just the letter 'B' nor is it the number '13', it has the potention of being both. Only when it is 'perceived', it takes a definitive value (appearance), depending on the character context and the characteristics of the perceiver.

If the context is a story or a literal phrase, the character will be perceived as the letter "B". If the context consists of numbers, the character will be perceived as number "13".

No context?
What if there is no context (not possible) or very little and we show up just the character in the middle?

In general, apart from context, a perceiver P Rates or measures a target T on an attribute X can be defined as:

R_x(P,T,R) = Perceiver effect + Target effect + Relationship effect + Constant

In case with no context and very little Target- or Relationship Effect, the perception depends (almost) totally on the identity and experiences of the perceiver (Perceiver Effect).

If the perceiver is a writer or has a non-science background, the character will probabely be perceived as the letter "B". In case of a scientist, or mathematician, the character will mostly be seen as the number "13".

The Real YOU
Now with you, yourself, it's just the same. There is no objective or context-independent "Real YOU". There is no YOU without others. There's only the YOU that's perceived by others or yourself (self reflection).

So think twice about how you pick your context (friends, social environment, employer, town). If you don't like the way people perceive you, change or reprogram your habits and consider picking a new 'context'.

Quantum mechanics
In fact the same principles as in "quantum mechanics" apply:

If you measure 'light' as a wave, you'll perceive it as a wave.
If you measure 'light' as a particle, you'll perceive it as a particle.
If you would have 'measured' it as anything els, like 'weight', 'energy' or a 'potato', it would have been perceived as 'that' as well.

So the question is not whether 'light' is a wave or a particle. 'Light' is neither, it has only 'wave' of 'particle' properties (attributes).

Back to YOU
It's the same with people that have a perception of YOU. They'll value you at their biased percepted properties. Just like yourself, they'll never get to know the ultimate 'real you', it simply isn't there.

So this means the real YOU is mainly the YOU IN OTHERS (apart from your narcissistic biased self). That's why it's so important to choose friends in life that believe in YOU.

Only real friends will accept you without conditions. They recognize and reflect your initial intentions in life ( You=Me principle) and therefore accept to live an fight with all of your good an bad (perceived) 'properties' (personality, habits, etc).

The real you is 'there'
Don't get mixed up now you found out the 'real you' doesn't 'exist'. It only means the 'real you' isn't perceivable, visible or knowable (only the attributes).

The real you is out there where no living human being has access to (let's cal it the i-dimension). It's very valuable, enjoy it in life, it's a gift.......

Cross View Quadrants

2009-02-02T00:53:00.001+01:00

When you're balanced in life, the 'art' is to keep it that way.
The Cross View Quadrant (CVQ) helps you to stay dynamically balanced.

This is how CVQ helps:

Just ask your best friend(s) to write down your best and improvable (worst) capabilities (character, skills, competences) on paper.
Independently, write down yourself, what you think your best and most improvable capabilities are.
Now draw a cross table (4 quadrants) of the two papers.

How to deal with the four quadrants to keep balanced or improve your relationship?

A. Quadrant ++
This quadrant contains your positive capabilities that you and your friend agree on.

Enjoy those capabilities and be sure to spend enough time with each other to keep sharing them with your friend.

However, if both of you only find positive points and no differences, be aware. The risk that both of you are too entangled and have developed a follies a deux is substantial. If, in the future, the environment changes, differences will show up.
Go back and try to find minor or weak qualities, if necessary discover yourself with help of the core quality test.

B. Quadrant - -
This quadrant contains your negative or most improvable capabilities you and your friend agree on.

Together with your friend try to find out, if it's realistic or desirable to improve your capabilities or not. If not, confirm, accept - and sometimes - even learn to enjoy them. If improvable, ask for your friends help and feedback to improve your capabilities.

C. Quadrant + -
This quadrant contains positive capabilities that you think you have. However your friend doesn't recognize or mention them, or even thinks they're your weakest points.

There are several ways to deal with this:

You're sure of this strong point, but your friend doesn't like it
Be sure this is really a strong capability, by checking with other friends. If so, learn to accept and respect your friends flavor. Keep this point in your pocket and save it for other friends. Don't try to convince your friend (in hours of discussions) of this strong quality of yours, it could start to undermine your relationship.
Your friend criticizes your best quality as weak
Try to find out if you're 'over the hill' and what originally was a fine quality has become 'too much of a good thing'.
Anyhow, keep more of this quality respectful in your pocket.
You haven't been able to demonstrate your strong point yet
Simply show it!

D. Quadrant - +
This quadrant contains positive capabilities your friend recognizes in you, but you don't think you have them, experience them as negative or are unconscious about them.

This is the most trickiest quadrant. Let's discuss the options:

You're unconscious of the strong points addressed
If you were unconscious of the strong points addressed by your friend, think why? Now you are aware of this quality, enjoy it, don't go 'demonstrating' it, but keep using it spontaneously and in a relaxed way.
You think this positive point is not (that of) a quality of yours
It's tricky to mention and discuss this, certainly in a business relationship.

Most promotions and appointments are done by bossing bosses who think they know you well. They have a positive biased view on your capabilities. Moreover, they often select you because they notice that you have the same qualities as they have.

By discussing your qualities, your boss could become disappointed because it now turns out he had the wrong view. He might also think that you and he are not 'on the same page', or he might even be offended.

So if your boss thinks you're super intelligent, a top sales executive or a born leader, think twice before you disappoint him by denying or discussing it.

Try to listen and find out why your boss thinks the way he does. This might give you a new sight on yourself.

Success in applying the CVQ in business and life!

Born Good or Bad? Polya helps

2008-12-31T16:40:00.003+01:00

Were you born 'Good' or 'Bad'? The answer to this question can be given with help of mathematics!

Let's start with a simple model. When you were born, you had only a limited number of experiences. Let's assume you came to earth quite neutral, with one 'Good' (G) and one "Bad" (B) experience.
At this point in time, your (still unconscious) attitude and therefore expectation of a 'Good' (B) outcome of your next experience, will be 50%.

In line with the expression "You'll always reap what you sow" (Gal 6:7), or associative translated "You'll become what you X" (with X ='Think', 'Eat', 'Are', etc.)", your next experience will indeed turn out to be equally G or B.

Let's assume that providence decided, the outcome is G. Now you've become a more optimistic person. Your experience-bucket is filled with two G's and one B (experience), so your subjective 'colored' outlook on G's is 66,66% (2/3=[2 G's/(2 G's + 1 B)]) . You also look back on a relatively Positive Life Score of PLS=66,66% G's.
Would you have experienced a 'B score' instead, it would be the other way around and as a potential pessimist your outlook and PLS would have been lowered to 33,33% .

But happily you're a 66,66% (!) G-Score-optimist and life goes on. According to the same principles, the probability of scoring a new G-experience is now 66,66% instead of 50%.

As you may already notice, your PLS will more and more develop according your personal historical G- an B-experience track record.

A few questions that may rise, are:

Does your Positive Life Score (PLS) has a limit? And if so, what's that limit?
Once you're in a pessimistic phase, what are the changes of getting out?

Here's were the help of a great mathematician, George Pólya, comes in, by modeling the above situation in what is called:

Polya's Urn model
An urn contains G₀ Green (Good) and B₀ Black (Bad) balls. One ball is drawn randomly from the urn and is then placed back in the urn together with an (extra) ball of the same color.

Our Good&Bad exercise turns out to be a simplified two color Polya Urn Model (G₀=1,B₀=1) that is part of a large family of General Urn Models.

Properties
It turns out that this model has the following (translated)properties:

On any given moment in your life if you do not know what kind of balls have been drawing before, the expectation of drawing a Good or Bad ball (experience) is always G₀=G0/(G₀+B₀) =50%.
On any given moment in your life, gaining a Good or a Bad experience depends on the track record of G&B experiences in your life. So if you've experienced G Good experiences and B Bad experiences, your changes of experiencing a next Good experience are equal to the track record of your Positive Life Score : PLS_(G+B)=G/(G+B)
The relative influence of a G or B experience on the PLS decreases rapidly as the number of total experiences increases. Your PLS has a definitive limit in (life)time with equal changes of outcome on the interval [0,1].
As is clear from some simulations, the first 10 to 20 experiences in our life determine whether we'll become an optimist (PLS_(∞)> 0.75) or an pessimist (PLS_(∞)<0,25).
Moreover, the first 5 to 10 experiences in your life already determine the direction of our PLS in life. This means that our parents and teachers have an important role in guiding us in our baby and youngster phase to a positive balanced number of experiences (a more than average PLS).

For example if on a given moment in life you have had 4 Bad experiences and 1 Good, the probability of having a next Good experience is 20%. What's more frustrating is that the probability in this case to get in three steps to a 50% level is only about 3% (=1/5*2/6*3/7) . This illustrates the heavy responsibility of our parents and teachers.

That's why it's for example so difficult to change your religion. Once the first 50 religion experiences have been brought in by your parents, it's hard to change from Budha to Allah or Christ, or the other way around.
Once a more than average PLS is achieved, we're more likely to absorb a Bad experience without getting unbalanced. Parents and teachers can 'let go'.

Keep in mind, Polya's Urn is only a think-model to help you to become aware of the important mechanisms that play a role in becoming 'who you are' or 'what you'll be'.

Change?
Once you become experienced in life and your PLS direction has been set, you can only change this by either a Professional De or Re-programming (PDR) or a, what is called, Life Changing Experience (LCE). In PDR Bad experiences are taken away (i.e. out of the urn) and replaced by Good experiences, to regain trust and a higher confidence (PLS) level. In LCE's, your environmental or physical circumstances suddenly chance in such a way that you are forced to experience only just B (or just G) experiences. Another LCE is created by the change of context. What before were B experiences now turn out to be G experiences (or the other way around).

What if?
There are many other aspects that could be studied in relation to the Polya model. For example:

What would be the effect if an experience is not just only Good or Bad, but a mix.
What if a 'Good experience' doesn't trigger extra positive confidence (an extra G) but a negative experience (an extra B).

The answer in both cases is that almost always the PLS-limit=50% !, in other words: You'll become average.

But how does a little bit of extra Bad (or Good) influence the PLS limit? If you want to experiment (online) and learn more about Good and Bad, go and visit

Polya's Urn Experiment

and look up the Math behind Polya's Urn

Math helps us to discover who we are or what we become...

Our beat

2008-12-15T21:58:00.000+01:00

From the moment we were born, 'our beat' has been set.

No matter what we do or say, 'our beat' in life go's on. No matter who we are or pretend to be, we're not able to oversing or shout down 'our beat'.

In every phase of life we play a different tune. As baby sometimes clumsy, but charming. As a child ambitious, but still fuzzy. As adult classic and convincing, as if we have become 'our tune' instead of 'our beat'.

But we're neither the notes we play, nor the space between them. Our tune plays on the background and 'our beat' keeps leading, whether we like it or not. Others may help us to find out in life what other tunes fit 'our beat', but they wont be able to change 'our beat'

Until finally 'our beat' slows down and we have to face our final moment, when 'our beat' transforms our tunes, guided by angels, in a new universal image, that'll beat(le)s you.

You won't stay beatless, and you can't beat 'your beat' in life, but you may try.

Now with this in mind listen to the next song. Can you distinguish the tune from the beat, the baby form the adult, life form death?

Try me |

Your life in 5.16 minutes...
(Play it loud on professional stereo equipment)

Aerodynamic Career Style?

2008-11-19T14:30:00.002+01:00

Careers follow the laws of aerodynamics. There are two main opposite style types of making career. You may choose to become a "Balloon Career Maker"(BCM) or a "Wing Career Maker (WCM).

Let's start with the most traditional way to make career

The Wing Career Maker (WCM)
As a WCM you use the aerodynamic Lift effect to get higher on the career ladder.
Although the lift of an airplane is a combination of several effects, a substantial part is what's called the Bernoulli Effect. In short, the airplane gets lifted because the curved shape (airfoil) of a wing forces the air that flows above the wing to a higher velocity than the air under the wing. Depending on the shape and the angle of the wing, this causes a low pressure above the wing and a high pressure under the wing. The result is the desired lift. In formula :

L = K . v² . A

(L = Lift, K = shape dependent constant, v= velocity, A =wing Area)

The WCM works just like that. By being more productive (= increase speed v), creating support for his ideas and actions (= create a larger area A), the 'beginning manager' relieves (the stress of) his superior managers (= under pressure above the wing) and - at the same time - puts pressure on his employees to perform (= High pressure under the wing). The result is he gets promoted (= lifted).

As the formula shows, 'being more productive' has an emerging quadratic effect, while 'creating support' only has a simple single multiplier effect on promotion.

By being conscious of the lift formula effects, the WCM has the opportunity to change his management style (= shape) and approach (=angle) in a way that he may reduce and calibrate the employee 'pressure effect' to a healthy (optimal) level. Reduction however, will have a negative effect on his career speed. On the other hand this healthy pressure level will motivate his employees for better performance and eventually lead to better company results on the long term.

The crucial question here is, does senior management have sight and steer on these 'long term' effects or are they only managing short time result? In the first case, promotion will lay ahead.

Now let's look at the opposite style.

The Balloon Career Maker (BCM)
The BCM makes use of another aerodynamic effect called Hot Air Balloon Lift. The heated air inside a balloon weighs less than the surrounding ambient air displaced by the balloon. The difference in the air weights is the gross lift. In formula:

L = V.g.(ρ_a - ρ_i)

(L = Lift, V= Balloon Volume, g = gravity constant, ρ_i = density inside, ρ_a = density ambient )

As BCM you don't seem to worry about your productivity and career speed. You focus on your desires and needs. You cultivate the fire that's burning within you (= heating of the air).
You invest (=heat) in yourself through study and training and expose your skills to your environment (= the air gets hot).

As a consequence you'll get noticed by higher management, who'll recognize your knowledge. Your star will rise (= Volume increases), you'll get promoted (=Lift),because you're a professional help instead of a higher management threat.

What's best?
There's no 'best way' to make career. Just be who you are and try to take advantage of thermal updrafts so that you may fly, rise and fall, like a thermal plane without working like a hound dog or studying like a madman. Enjoy life, be a glider!

Zorro Decisions

2008-10-31T17:29:00.000+01:00

In times of change, success depends, more than ever, on taking the right decisions that have the support of your team or family.
Because of the importance of such decisions, by nature we're not inclined to take any alternative or more risky solutions. Instead we go on 'Save' and base our decision on our passed experiences and our preferred and filtered ways of taking in information and making decisions.

As team or family member we all are selective in what we see or hear. More over, in changing times most of us avoid unnecessary conflict. Neither do we like extra challenge, as our bow cannot always be bent. We're captured in what is called our confirmation bias.

To prevent possible failures in decision making, it's important to include the different views and (decision) qualities of our team (family) members in a balanced way.

To help to make better and more considered decisions, we may use the so called Z-Technique, that Sue Nash uses in her action learning programs. This technique is based on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

To remember it better, Steve Roesler , related this technique, that he called 'Decision z', to the tv and movie character Zorro. So we might call it the 'Zorro Decision' technique.

The Zorro Decision technique is based on 4 steps:

Sensing
Walk through and write down all possible facts and factual details.
Intuition
Take a 'big picture' approach to think 'long term'.
Write down all opportunities, possibilities, and connections between cause and effect.
Thinking
Write down and discuss all possible solutions. Each with their pros and cons, risks, benefits, consequences and likelihood.
Feeling
What impact does the decision have on other stakeholders or group members ( the 'people factor') How will you feel about the result? Will it gain support or meet opposition?

Remember Zorro next time you're about to take a group decision!

Sources: Sue Nash Consulting, Roesler Consulting Group

Manageable?

2008-10-28T22:47:00.001+01:00

In order to succeed in a certain action, we often develop an action plan, a process that defines sub-actions in terms of who, what, when and where.

To guarantee that we succeed as much as possible, we have to maximize the control of this process of sub-actions. Make the process manageable.

In managing this process it's important to identify the nature and co-dependency of your sub-actions.

In general it's important to characterize sub-actions as follows:

Characteristic	Understandable	Predictable	Solvable
Simple	++	++	++
Complicated	+	+	++
Complex	-	-	+
Chaotic	--	--	-

Examples

Characteristic	Example	Description
Simple	Doorbell	Single component/ process with defined output
Complicated	Watch	Several components working together with defined output
Complex	Weather	Many interdependent components with hardly predictable output.
Chaotic	Clouds (form)	No sub components to identify, output unpredictable

Always analyze and characterize the components or sub actions of your action plan.
Not doing so will certainly cause trouble.

Example
One of the causes of the 2008 credit crisis is that we try to manage an in essential 'chaotic process' as a 'complicated process'. More traditional regulation rules (or governance back up) won't stabilize the banking system on the long run (in fact they make it worse), because these rules would imply that the nature of the financial markets is known and can be captured in a controllable mathematical linear system.

Financial markets are complex and chaotic systems, just like the weather. This implicates that regulation should be much more focused on "Plan B" measures than on detailed rule based regulation.

This means that regulation has to be formulated in such a way that Banks, instead of proving more and more that they will 'never' be insolvent (e.g. calculated risk=0,5%, that can't be calculated!), are forced to deliver Plan B's in which they state how they'll act in the 'unexpected' case of insolvency or iliquidity (average at least once in 200 years).

Just like you've got an umbrella in your car (Plan B), because you know that even though the weather forecast was 'sunny', you never can tell precisely when it's going to rain.

Most processes in life turn out to be chaotic on the long run. Analyze and control them, but don't forget to (always) carry your "Plan B" in your pocket.

Performance equation

2008-10-10T19:59:00.000+02:00

What's result, what's performance, how can you manage it and does HR really help?

Difference between Result and Performance
Let's first distinguish between Result and Performance, simply stated:

Performance = Result / Potential

However, after setting the goals (i.e. the expected Results) the Potential (maximal Result that can be achieved) will almost certainly change due to all kind of changing external, non controllable or non influenceable, circumstances.

Performance related rewards and agreements should therefore always be made for different Potential-scenario's (bandwidth).

Board members, directors, employees, colleagues, friends, our kids, in short 'the contractor', should always be judged and rewarded on their actual performance and not on the results.
One of the main questions in this process is: Can the contractor control or influence the Potential?

Example
You committed to sell 100 books this year, being 0,1% of the national book market (Potential = 0,1% x 100.000 = 100)

Potential	Result	Performance
100	100	100%
50	75	150%
200	150	75%

From this it's clear that if national book sales (potential) would slink to 50%, selling 75 books results in a 150% performance. You would have done a great job, given the Circumstances!
The reverse, of course, is also true.

Performance: rule of thumb
On a personal level, Performance could - as rule of thumb - be defined as:

What you get done
=
[What you have]
x
[What you do with it]
x
[When, Where and How you do it]

Research done by John Purcell, Boxall and others, based on original marketing research of Jaworski(1989), show that successful firms have better people and better processes.

It seems that High Performing Organizations create success based on three pillars:

Human Capital Advantage (HCA)
Organization Process Advantage (OPA)
Organization Citizenship behaviour (OCB)

The AMO model
Professional people management is vital in creating these advantages.

Research and practise led to the development of the so called AMO Model.

P = f (A, M, O)

With P = Performance, A = Ability, M = Motivation and O = Opportunity.

Simply said,people perform well when:

they are able to do so
they have the motivation to do so
their (work) environment supports and stimulates them

Although the relationship (e.g. covariance, etc.) between the AMO elements (A, M,O) can be complex, it's clear that if one of them is zero, the Performance itself will also be zero. That's why the AMO equation is sometimes simplified as:

P = A x M x O

The performance equation
Another similar development by Douglas Peters led to "The Performance Equation":

P = At * ([ K + S ]/ ER)

Where P=performance, At=Attitude, K=Knowledge, S=Skills and ER= Environmental Roadblocks.
Peters sets Attitude in place of Motivation, combines Skills and Knowledge in Ability and defines ER as negative (opposite) aspect of Opportunity

Motivation revealed
Motivation is one of the most important drivers behind High performance.

Let's dig in to the several aspects of Motivation. Motivation has been analyzed by Victor Vroom. Vroom's Expectancy Theory (1964) is based upon the following three beliefs:

Valence
The employee's defined (outcome) value of extrinsic rewards [money, promotion, time-off, benefits] or intrinsic rewards [satisfaction].
Expectancy
The employee's confidence end expectation of what they are capable of doing.
Instrumentality
The perception of employees whether they will actually get what they desire even if it has been promised by a manager.

Vroom states that these three aspects interact psychologically to create a motivational force such that the employee acts in ways that bring pleasure and avoid pain.

So according Vroom Motivation could be defined as:

M = E x I x V

Or in words, Motivation =

Expectancy: Perceived Probability of Success x
Instrumentality: Connection of Success and Reward x
Valence: Value of Obtaining Goal

Opportunity
Opportunity can be seen as everything in the environment that is necessary, supports, helps or sometimes blocks (negative opportunity) the performance of the contractor.
Charlie Cook defines Opportunities as Resources.

In fact Opportunities could be defined as:

O = R x H x C

With O = Opportunity, R = Resources, H = Help or support, C = Circumstances

Just to demonstrate: If you planned a BBQ and got enough meat (R) and matches (H), but it's raining cats and dogs (C), it's not what you would call a big opportunity.

Wrapping up
Wrapping up all Insights, Performance could be defined as:

P = A x M x O = S . K . E . I . V . R . H . C

With: S=Skills, K=Knowledge, E=Expectancy,I=Instrumentality, V=Valence, R=Resources, H=Help or support and C=Circumstances

Remember Performance is everywhere, not only in business.
Success in performing!

The Collapse of Chaos in your life

2008-10-09T12:40:00.008+02:00

Perhaps you think that if you have a consistent life-philosophy, your control your life and no great changes will take place?
Well,
you're probably wrong !
Even if we act in a stable consistent way, we keep interfering with our environment and our environment responses to us.

At first this response seems meaningless and of no value. You think you're consequent and your work and achievements in life seem relatively stable, perhaps a little bit chaotic and of no great significance. But in repeating the right things endlessly

Something will change
This change often will not appear as an evolution in your life, but as a kind of revolution, suddenly and most often unexpected.
Fore example, when you study, you'll probably once in a while think: what progress am I making?

But don't worry, if you keep on your track, there'll be a day your future suddenly comes to you (out of the blue: as a kind of emergent property) instead of "the you trying to make your future" in this Game of Life.

A good demonstration of this principle is

Langton's ant
Langton's ant is an virtual ant that starts out on a grid containing black and white cells, and then follows the following set of rules.

If the ant is on a black square, it turns right 90° and moves forward one unit.
If the ant is on a white square, it turns left 90° and moves forward one unit.
When the ant leaves a square, it inverts the color.

The result is a quite complicated and apparently chaotic, but relatively stable, motion. But after about 10.000 moves the ant starts to build a broad diagonal "highway".

So keep on your track and wait for

The collapse of chaos in your life

Everything under control?

2008-09-28T19:38:00.001+02:00

Why is it we always have to control things?
Of course you need a certain amount of control to achieve your goals.
But too much control limits your creativity and output.

This is perfectly demonstrated by a quote of the famous Formula 1 driver Mario Andretti

If everything seems under control,
you're just not going fast enough !

So one of the secrets in life is to determine the right amount of control.

Control plays an important role in our life, as is demonstrated in the next quotes

Control Quotes

Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over

You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you

If you don't control your mind, someone else will

Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do

The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you.

No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change

So, control your life but not too much !

We're all experts!

2008-08-06T12:57:00.000+02:00

Ever heard of the Dunning Kruger Effect (DKE)?

DKE is simply said:

Novices overestimate their performance,
Experts underestimate their performance.

According to nobel prize winners Dunning & Kruger (1999), people tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities and performance.

This overestimation mainly occurs when people are unskilled (novices: +500% overestimation !).

Novices (unskilled) have a dual burden:

They reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices
Their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize this

This also explains why self-assessments often fail. In general people are thinking they're really doing a great job.

According to Krajč & Ortmann (2007), the bad judgements (metacognity inability) that leads to flawed self-assessments, could be better explained as 'unbiased judgements based on biased information'.

Highly skilled people, the experts, suffer from the opposite. They tend to underestimate (10%) their performance.

However it's been proved that feedback, training and making people conscious of DKE, reduces the effect.

Just look around, DKE is omni-present:

We're all sports experts (soccer, golf, darts)
We all know how to raise kids
Most employees have a 'common sense' opinion about marketing, branding, HR
We're all employee and family coaches
We all understand the risks of war, nuclear power, skiing

So teach and be aware of what you really know, develop (your skills) in what you would want to know, get help an get sight on what you'll never know, be open to feedback and don't forget to enjoy life in the meantime.

Test Drive Paradox

2008-07-01T23:02:00.000+02:00

Does a test drive help, selling a car?

Let's take a look at what could be called the 'test drive paradox'!

Test drive paradox

E-factor :
The longer the test drive, the higher the closing rate
This is the Emotional factor. The longer you sit in the driver's seat, touch the car's interior, the more you're subconsciously convincing yourself that this car is yours. This is effect is called "taking mental ownership".

R-factor :
The longer the test drive, the lower the closing rate

In practice it's the initial state of a potential buyer that determines the change of the closing ratio during a test drive.

Let's distinguish two types of buyers:

Buyer type: Enthusiastic
This type is superenthusiastic. He loves the car, no matter what. In fact he doesn't need a test drive at all.
During a test ride he might become even more enthusiastic. The E-factor certainly applies here, but has done his work before the test drive. Only with extreme long test drives there's a risk (R-Factor) of lower closing rates concerning 'this' car..

Buyer type:Neutral
For this buyer type a test drive makes sense. A well trained car seller or a free 24 hour test car could do miracles. In any case it's the art of right timing to end the test drive and close the deal.
After this moment, closing rates dramatically go down.

Although perhaps tempting, don't apply 'car test driving' and closing rates on relationships or marriage. Don't take your partner for a test drive.

Just keep in mind that in every situation, something that is a mild distraction on a short test drive, it is likely to be infuriating on a long-distance trip.

Like a fly on a fly swatter

2008-06-27T15:15:00.001+02:00

In times of threat, suppression or intimidation, what's best to do?

The simplified options are:

Fight, oppose
Defend
Negotiate, compromise
Run, try to escape

However, in certain cases there's another option...

The fly swatter
Imagine you're a (butter)fly and are hounded by a fly swatter.

The first three options certainly won't help. Remains, few chances to escape.

But there's an alternative unnatural approach that could help.

Simply enter the lion's den and take a seat on the fly swatter instead of trying to escape it.

Please notice that you are not attacking the person behind the fly swatter, you just take place on the instrument that is used to beat you.

Sure, it'll take courage to execute such a strategy, but success is within reach.

Remember this new strategy next time you're suppressed or intimidated.

Law of Risk Reality

2008-06-19T00:12:00.000+02:00

Good friends help us to develop ourselves. Over the years we learn who we can trust and what kind of situations we are able to manage and control.

Law of Risk Reality
No matter how strong our relationship, believe or professional skills have developed or grown, there is a constant increasing 'second non visible reality', the so called "Risk Reality", growing around us that will eventually become reality in a split second if we loose our carefulness or take our acquired abilities or relationships for granted.

Some simple examples as an illustration:

You too, Brutus?
On March 15, 44 BC, Julius Ceasar was killed by a group of senators. His last words "You too Brutus?" illustrate that, although he was a more than experienced leader, he had completely underestimated the situation and his relationship with Brutus.
Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin illustrated in his life that he could challenge almost every dangerous situation with animals.He died in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray barb.

One moment of not paying attention or one critical situation that didn't fit in his large experience record, became fatal. In Time Magazine it was explained that the stinging of Irwin by the stingray was "a one-in-a-million thing.

Often, some time before your Risk Reality World finally becomes Reality, small special signals or warnings have been on your way, but you ignored them. Either because you literally did not see them or because you denied or underestimated them.

So without becoming too suspicious, anxious or cautious, always keep in mind the "Law of Risk Reality". Stay aware, keep your senses and third eye open and accept and enjoy your limits.

Fish Cart Experience

2008-05-20T00:02:00.000+02:00

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation when you feel that something is wrong. However, before you're able to think what kind of situation you are getting in, you realize it's already too late: you're on the fish cart.

This experience is called "Fish Cart Experience", translated from the unofficial Dutch word "Viskarervaring".

The expression was introduced by a Dutch psychologist called Han Fortmann (1912-1970) and remained vivid by one of the best Dutch organization consultants, Kees Swarttouw, who unfortunately died on May 13, 2008.

The Fish Cart Experience (FCE) happens when we unconsciously act like other people, are uncritical and unaware of what is happening around us.

When we follow an idea or leader without critical thinking, we often end up on the fish cart.

In these situations we are acting just like a school of fish, concentrating on each other, instead of being critical and foreseeing the (changing) circumstances.

Ending up on the fish cart, is so to say the price we have to pay for unconscious behavior.

To prevent the FCE, the key words are "positive critical thinking".

There are ten types of critical thinking skills (Hay) identified:

Distinguishing between facts and opinions

Distinguishing relevant information or claims from irrelevant information or claims

Understanding the factual basis for statements

Understanding if a source is credible

Identifying arguments or claims that are ambiguous

Identifying hidden assumptions

Identifying bias

Detecting fallacies in decision making and judgment

Understanding logical inconsistencies

Understanding the strength of an argument or claim

So remember, always maintain positive critical thinking next time you're having a wonderful 'group experience' with your friends, family or colleagues. Always stay alert and, in case of doubt, jump of while you still can.

Greener grass proof

2008-04-26T16:06:00.001+02:00

Why is it that:

The grass looks always greener on the other side of the fence?

Well, here's the final scientific proof.

Because you see the grass of your neighbor under a different angle (smaller) than your own grass (that's nearby), you relatively see more grass than the ground or irregularities between it.
So the grass of your neighbor is probably not greener at all.

It's the same with other things in your life. When you notice to many details or problems, you won't be able to enjoy or achieve things. Stick to the headlines and the important details, forget about the rest.

Enjoy looking under different angels at things in your life.
And don't forget to enjoy your own life-garden or that of your neighbor.

To enjoy things doesn't mean you have to own them.

Commitment or Contribution?

2008-04-12T09:21:00.001+02:00

People often say that they are 'committed' because they are truly convinced that they are delivering 'their part of the job', their contribution.

But there's a great difference between commitment and contribution, that can be simply explained by the fable of Bacon and eggs.

Bacon and Eggs Fable

A pig and a chicken were discussing the essence of a farmer’s breakfast.
The chicken said “That's obviously 'Eggs'” and the pig said “It must be Bacon”.

After a long discussion the pig finally concluded, “When it comes to breakfast, you merely provide a contribution. I, however, make a full commitment.”

What about your friends or partners, do they make a contribution, offering lip service or are they really committed?

Find out and find the difference between real friendship and acquaintanceship.

Share your dreams

2008-03-24T13:43:00.000+01:00

Some people are anxious to share their dreams.
But nothing is wrong with that. And with good friends you can even share your deeper thoughts.
So good friends may contribute to fulfill your dreams.

But suppose you've got a brand new idea or activity that you're (only) good at.
Don't worry to share this either.

Sharing good plans and ideas are just like giving away 'sheet music' of Bach:

It looks easy to play, But it isn't !
Still difficult to accept?

Imagine a fugue by Bach that's played by a fireman. Or the fire of your burning house that had to be extinguished by Bach.
What would the performance be in both cases?
Be confident about yourself.

Share your dreams and ideas and things will come your way !

Columbus Egg

2008-03-18T23:18:00.000+01:00

We often try to perform,living by the rules.

Rules are often developed based upon experiences, the past.
To capture the future, set for new directions, 'old rules' sometimes get in the way.

One step further is the Master, who sets the rules needed to achieve new goals.

A great example of such a master is Christofer Columbus, who discovered America in 1492.

The egg of Columbus

Just after his first voyage, Columbus was at a party.

There, somebody told him that if he had not discovered America, someone else would have.

Without reply, Columbus took an egg and said, "He who can make this egg stand here on the table without support, he was the first to discover the Indies."

Each person on the table attempted to make the egg stand, but no one succeeded.

Then Columbus took the egg in his hand an with a smart stroke upon the table, it remained upright.

As is clear, Columbus in one single action proved:

He (only) had the capabilities of succeeding in utopic goals
Once somebody discovered something new in a simple way, that doesn't mean it wasn't hard to discover
To succeed, if neccesary, you'll have to change the rules (stroke the egg)
Tough situations urge for thinking out of the box

Remember, sometimes you cannot make an omelette without breaking the egg.

Next time your goals look unreacheable or you don't have enough time or patience, simply try changing the rules.

Career Decision Matrix

2008-03-04T22:34:00.002+01:00

Rewarding employees looks simple. If someone "makes the numbers", simply reward him or her. When exceeding the numbers simply give an extra bonus or promote someone.

If someone doesn't deliver the promised targets, simply fire that person.

Unfortunately it's not that easy...

Lack of attitude
What if your employee "makes the numbers" but doesn't show the right attitude and/or doesn't demonstrate the company values.

Although it seems hard to decide: Fire that employee. Not firing, will result in 'copy behavior' of other employees, with chaos or possible mutiny as a result.

Not delivering the numbers
What about the reversed situation, when someone is showing the right attitude and company values, but doesn't (yet) deliver the promised numbers?

Give him or her a second or third chance.

Next time you reward someone, take into account his or her attitude.

Permission paradox

2008-03-02T23:12:00.005+01:00

You recognize these situations?:

You apply for a 'manager job', but are turned down because you don't have any 'manager experience' However, you can not seem to gain manager experience without first being a manager.

You've got your drivers license, but your father or partner doesn't allow you to drive his car. He's afraid you might damage it. You can only proof you will not damage the car by driving it.

These situations are examples of what is called the

Permission Paradox

The permission paradox with regard to career management is described and promoted by Spencer Stuart on bases of the book 'The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers'.

It's one of the great Catch-22s in business.

In general it's simply stated: “You can't get the permission (job) without the experience and you can't get the experience without the permission (job).”

In practice you can overcome the paradox. Let's mention a few methods for gaining permission.

If you want something, just ask

Demonstrate competence or required behavior in areas that form the building blocks for new future roles

To gain associative or expert permission, get the relevant credentials

Ensure that both parties get something from the relationship

Of course there are more, (discussable) strategies to avoid the permission paradox.

But anyway, unlock your potential, be aware of the paradox and don't accept a 'no' for an answer: do something!

Seesaw principles in Life

2008-02-23T17:20:00.005+01:00

What can we learn in life from a simple seesaw?
Take a look at the next picture.

What can we conclude? Can you deduct any principals from this picture?

Before discussing some principles it's interesting to study and to be aware of the mathematical equation and the corresponding 'relational equivalents' that are behind balanced seesaws.
A seesaw with one person (L) on the left several persons on the right is in balance when:

M_L . D_L = Σ M_x . D_x

with
M_P = the weight of person P
D_P = the distance of person P to the center of the seesaw

For non-mathematicians, this formula simply states that in order to 'play' and keep balance, the sum of the "weights" times the "distances"(to the center) of the people on the right of the seesaw, have to equal the same sum of people on the left (in this case only one).

Some simple conclusions from this formula are:

To keep balance on your own (no persons on the right of the seesaw), you'll have to sit in the center of the seesaw (D_L=0)

Two persons, L and M, of equally weight must take place at the same distance from the center (D_L=D_M)

In order to balance more persons of equally weight on the right, the person on left has to take place at a larger distance from the center

Now let's relate this formula to relationships in real life.

Balance
Read the word "Balance" as being "balanced in life". Things in life run smooth, are stable and can be influenced and managed

Distance
Translate the physical entity "distance" to real life as either "physical, emotional distance", or the "amount of connection" between people

With this knowledge, please study the picture again.

Although the number of possible associations is enormous, some interesting examples can be given in the next three :

Seesaw Principles

Solo
When you're on your own, it's hard to keep balance in life
- If you move, there's no one to keep you in balance
- You depend solely on your own view and interpretation of things
- You've got no one to discuss things with
- You're fully focused on keeping balance and making no mistakes
- You are not able to watch, enjoy, relax or remark things around you

Partnership
Partnership gives stability in life.
- To maintain balance you'll have to keep the right distance between two partners. "Right" means often not exactly identical but weighted with each other's competencies, positive and negative characteristics, preferences and wishes.
- Even if your partner differs from you, you can still bring the seesaw back into balance by letting him give in or pulling him closer to you (bringing him closer to the middle of the seesaw).It's obvious: Don't give in yourself, things will get more worse. Of course you may also increase your own distance to get into a balanced position. After balancing, this could invite the other (he or she feels more save) to come closer after all, in which case you can also come closer to establish a new balance.
- Even if you live or work with a partner that's totally different, you'll be able to find the right balance, by increasing the distance (meet less often, use telephone or write letters instead of physical meeting(s), move away, take a holiday or break, etc).
- By applying seesaw principles it's possible to create a sort of lever with which you can increase your force.

Management
Managers have to keep distance.
- Although you are perhaps a real 'people manager' or a 'family organizer', if you work with larger groups (more than two people on the right side of the seesaw), always increase and manage your distance in such way that mutual respect can be maintained.
- If the situation urges you to work more closely together, create sub groups or plan individual one-to-one meetings.

Next time you're having difficulty in keeping your balance, remember the Seesaw Principles.

Flow Chart Control

2007-09-15T17:25:00.000+02:00

You're having success on success, your life 'flows by'. It's fun, challenging and exciting. Then... suddenly things start to go wrong and your not in your flow anymore. You're out of control. What happened?

When your challenges and skills are in balance things run smooth in life. This is called Flow

Managing and controlling your personal ´flow chart´, is done by consecutively increasing challenges and skills step by step.
To achieve higher goals we cannot simply set higher challenges. In case of too much challenge, the healthy amount of challenge (arousel) emerges to to stress and finally to anxiety. We often blame the world, but in fact we've to blame ourselves. Bring down the stress, relax or take time to improve your skills (school, training, or reprogramming at an older age in life) until you feel that challenge and skills are rebalanced again.

This principle of balance between challenge and sills is described in Mr. Mihaly Csiksczentmihalyi's book 'Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience".

A summary of Csiksczentmihalyi's teachings is given by the next interesting paradoxes and insights:

Happiness
We cannot reach happiness by consciously searching for it. Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot by pursued; it must ensure....as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a course greater than oneself." (p. 2)

The Paradox of Control
What people enjoy is not the sense of being in control, but the sense of exercising control in difficult situations. It is not possible to experience a feeling of control unless one is willing to give up the safety of protective routines." (p. 61)
Achieve control over one's consciousness, overcoming the common perception that our lives are shaped by forces beyond our control. Everyone has experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like. This is what we mean by optimal experience (or flow)

Best moment paradox
Contrary to what we usually believe, moments like these, the best moments of our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times... The best moments occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile...in the long run optimal experiences add up to a sense of mastery - or perhaps better, a sense of participation in determining the content of life - that comes as close to what is usually meant by happiness as anything else we can conceivably imagine." (pp. 2-3)

The Purpose of Consciousness
The Purpose of Consciousness is to represent information about what is happening outside and inside the organism in such a way that it can be evaluated and acted upon by the body (p. 24).However, it is noted that consciousness also shapes and filters what enters our consciousness, thus determining what we experience as our life.

Optimal Experiences

The Transformation of Time
One of the most common descriptions of 'optimal experience' is that time no longer seems to pass the way it ordinarily does...

The Paradox of Work
In our studies we have often encountered a strange inner conflict in the way people relate to the way they make their living. On the one hand, our subjects usually report that they have had some of their most positive experiences while on the job. From this response it would follow that they would wish to be working, that their motivation on the job would be high. Instead, even when they feel good, people generally say that they would prefer not to be working, that their motivation on the job is low. The converse is also true: when supposedly enjoying their hard-earned leisure, people generally report surprisingly low moods; yet they keep on wishing for more leisure." (p. 158)

The quality of life

The quality of life depends on two factors: how we experience work, and our relations with other people

How to catch a fly?

2007-08-25T23:42:00.001+02:00

Recognize that feeling of the returning irritating fly that keeps you busy? You wave your hand, you 'swat' a bit, but mister fly keeps coming back. And what's worse, swats don't help. Your fly is faster than your hand or the fly swatter.

Fly catching methods
Flies have a very highly-evolved evasion reaction which helps to ensure their survival. On the internet you may find several methods for catching such a persistent fly. Of course you can use a fly swatter.

However..., you''l have to get up from your chair and find your fly swatter to conclude that flies don't usually show up when your swatter is around. The alternative is the so called 'desperately clapping both hands method'. This method fails most of the time and increases your bad temper level. If - by accident – it is successful, you'll have to get up anyway to wash your hands.

New fly catching method
Just by accident I found out a new way to catch a fly with a newspaper or (one) hand.

I noticed that if the fly was on the table and I blew softly (starting very soft, followed by increased blowing), it would not fly away. In fact the fly would secure his position by sticking his feet to the table. As "sticking his feet to the table" and 'flying away' are two opposite - not combinable - actions, you've got enough time to swat the fly with your hand or newspaper.

Background
This new technique of swatting flies finds his background in one of the many principles of the famous book The Art of War', written by the legendary Chinese general, military theorist and philosopher Sun Tze.

Attack when the enemy is not prepared and strike where he least expects it.

However keep in mind that Sun Tzu believed that the best strategy is to "win without fighting".

So fly, be a spider, make your web and find that new way in life....

Watch yourself

2007-08-23T00:12:00.001+02:00

Sometimes, in a case of force majeur, it's simply not enough to rely on your natural reactions and verbal capabilities. They probably wont help you.

What to do in case your mother suddenly dies, you get fired unexpected, your best friend suddenly gives up on you or your surgeon tells you you're seriously ill?

Lesson one : in these cases, stay cool and try to relax.

Lesson two : Think yourself in the upper corner of the room, outside yourself, and watch yourself. Be your own spectator.

From this position steer yourself and try to see yourself from different angles in a different perspective.
This simple method will help you to overcome crisis situations and creates a situation where you are able to manage yourself from a distance.

In these situations it becomes clear that you are the boss of your physical body as well as your mind. So it's not your body or mind that's in the corner , it's the real you! Enjoy that you are your own 'puppet on a string'.

Reach the Top

2007-08-18T22:08:00.000+02:00

We often think that, to reach the Top or to achieve a specific goal, we need that very special person, or a specific tool.
For simple goals in life, like 'repairing the water closet', that's true.

In case of more complicated or ambitious goals, it's not that simple.

Take the example of climbing one of the highest mountains in the world, e.g. the Himalaya.

To achieve an ambitious goal like that, it takes different instruments and help, depending on the phase you're in:

Going to Tibet, your feet won't help you, you'll need an airplane

Climbing to the sub top, the airplane isn't of any use, you'll need the help of sherpa's

Climbing the last 100 meters to the top, you don't need sherpa's, you'll need oxygen masks

Beside this, it's clear that in these cases you'll need to develop a plan and divide the preparation tasks between the team members.

As you notice, just like climbing the K2, every new phase (in time or life) on the way to your (whatever) personal defined goal, urges a different kind of help.

Although this Himalaya example looks very simple, we often don't act up on this insight.

Some simple examples:

We think the luxury car we bought will also help us in case we have to transport grass-patches.

We try to break down the wall with the help of a nail hammer instead of buying a brick hammer.

When filling in a vacancy, we keep searching for a candidate that is a 'sheep with five legs'.

After happy holidays with a new person we met, we automatically assume that this person shall become your best friend

You think that because your wife is a good mother, she will also have the skills to be your best business partner.

You think that because your husband is good at fixing a bicycle, he will also fix your TV set

We assume (implicit) that a successful manager in 'Greenfield operations', will also be successful in case of a grown business.

Possible reasons for this blind sight are:

We like to stick to our positive experiences and translate or extrapolate the current developments linear to the future

We like to be 'penny wise', but are (in fact) 'pound foolish'

We don't want to disappoint our friends or family or we have unrealistic expectations about them

So don't get stuck in the old axiom that"

if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to approach every problem in life as if it were a nail

Looking from another perspective. If circumstances, times or goals change and you no longer fit in an organizations' or a relationships' mission or goal, quitting, divorcing or getting fired is sometimes the best solution. These situations have in general nothing to do with worries like 'I wasn't good enough' or 'People don't appreciate me'. Pick up your hat and create new steps in life.

So stay awake to reach the top and dare to change people, instruments, your vision or yourself, if your goal urges you.

Purpose and meaning

2007-08-09T00:06:00.000+02:00

Two powerful drivers in our live are 'Purpose' and 'Meaning'.

Don't mix them up or you'll get into trouble.

Team targets
When you set the right targets (Purposes) in life, it will inspire and encourage people in helping (you) to achieve them.

However, don't expect that everyone is behind that target for the same reason. People get inspired in many different ways. Don't disturb personal dreams of team members. Dreams give that essential 'meaning to life'. Create awareness within a team that it's inspiring and useful that individual members give meaning in different ways. This recognition will stabilize the team process and increase the team output.

Personal targets
When setting personal targets in life, ask yourself what this target means (reasons why you get enthusiastic) to you in life.
If you can't sum up easy several different sorts of meanings (motivators), it will be risky to go after the target. If, for example, you've got only one motivator, only a slight disturbance in your meaning (new insights) will result in doubt about wetter you are on the right track and behind the right target.

Some practical examples...

Play chess
Target : Checkmate other king
Meaning examples : Fun to play check, to be a winner, to learn to think strategically, etc.

Develop technological society
Target : Set First man on the moon
Meanings examples : Realize almost impossible things, integrate different sciences, fun, explore the universe, develop new materials, etc.

The difference between purpose and meaning is well illustrated in this parable by Massimo Pigliucci:

Difference Purpose & Meaning

Suppose you enter a restaurant and are given a menu to pore over. The purpose of that menu is to make it possible for you to eat at the place. The meaning of the menu is to present you with a series of choices to fulfill that purpose. If you don't understand the language in which the menu is written, the menu has purpose but no meaning. If the menu is made of pictures of the food items available and you start to eat the menu, you are confusing purpose with meaning!

So to understand your friends better in life, listen well to them when they talk about their purpose in life and never forget to ask what that purpose means to them. Never mix up purpose and meaning again.

The way you look

2007-07-21T11:09:00.001+02:00

Recognizing selling opportunities all has to do with attitude and thinking in opportunities instead of threats.

The next short story illustrates this just fine:

Selling shoes in Africa

A shoe company's sales manager was sent to Africa to sell shoes. Shortly after he arrived, he called his boss and said: “I'm coming back right away. There's nothing to sell. Nobody wears shoes here."

So, the shoe company immediately sents in a new sales manager who also immediately calls back home with the message: “Please send every shoe you have! Nobody is wearing shoes here!”

So remember this sales manager next time before you turn down any opportunity.

Counter intuitive decisions

2007-06-09T11:03:00.000+02:00

When to decide upon your intuition?

Normally you take decisions based upon the interaction between your brain ( = the computer?), your actual senses (Sensors = eyes, ears, etc) and the conscious experiences, facts and believes, so called data (CD = Conscious Data) that are memorized (stored) in your head.

By deduction and induction your brain finally leads you to the best possible decision through interaction with these senses and data.

But there are other forms of decision making, based upon instinct or intuition.

Instinctive decisions

Our DNA has been build up and modified over a number of generations. When you where born this anchored DNA information emerges from every cell in your body and leads you on exactly the right moment to the right response. It's generated from your subconscious, present in every cell of your body and occurs without any specific interference of your brain.
Some simple examples of human instinctive response for newborns are:

Breathing
Naturally swim when placed in water
Naturally turn to suckle

Intuitive decisions

Intuitive decisions are decisions you finally take upon your 'gut feeling'.

There are 3 types of intuitive decisions, based upon the time you have to take a decision:

Decision time limited to split second
In these cases (attack, fire) you take the decision on basis of your instinct (reflex), without interference of your brain.
Remember these instinct decisions are not always right. For example, if your car starts to skid or swerve, although your instinct is telling you, never slam on the breaks!.
Decision time in minutes
Now you take the decision upon a combination of your instinct, your senses and the nearby experiences filed in your head. Your brain combines this information and you try to take a 'sensible' decision.
However, recent research has shown that in case of a combination of instinct and short brain interaction participants performed better when given almost no time to think.
Decision time in days
Just like when you have to decide in minutes, you are now even more able to think about your final decision. In this case you can take along the advices of other people (friends, professional help, foes, etc) and do some desk research to take into account some new facts.
This process of deciding leads to the "I've done everything I could" decision type and may include all kind of aspects such as fairness, believes and clairvoyance.
However, also in this situation decisions can turn out wrong. First of all you cannot take all the varying circumstances into account. Secondly, the logic of your Brain isn't always right and often tightly connected to what your intuition or sum up of experiences is telling you.

Counter intuitive decisions
A good example of misleading your brain and intuition at the same time is the so called Monty Hall problem, sometimes also called 'three door problem'.

Monthy Hall Problem

The set of Monty Hall's game show "Let's Make a Deal" has three closed doors. Behind one of these doors is a first prize, a car. Behind the other two doors are goats. The contestant does not know where the car is, but Monty Hall does.

The contestant picks a door and Monty opens one of the remaining doors, one he knows doesn't hide the car. If the contestant has already chosen the correct door, Monty is equally likely to open either of the two remaining doors.
After Monty has shown a goat behind the door that he opens, the contestant is always given the option to switch doors.

What's the contestant's best strategy? Stay with her choice or switch to the remaining door?

The answer to this problem is simple but counterintuitive:
Switching gives you a 2/3 change of winning. Staying with your original choice a 1/3 change.

If you doubt this:

Try it yourself by means of simulation
Imagine there are a hundred doors, you picked one and Monty opens the 98 other doors with a goat and keeps one door closed. Would you switch now?

The shown examples make clear that intuition and logical thought are often different modes of the functioning of the brain as a whole.
Let's conclude that it's best to use your intuition in 'split seconds decisions' and in cases where your reasoning, research and conversations do not lead to a convincing logical final decision.
However stay alert on the fact that even when your mind and intuition agree on a decision, the outcome can be wrong.
So, if possible, let your brain decide when to use your intuition.

Are you your Mood?

2007-04-30T00:31:00.000+02:00

What is it in life that when we start something with a positive mind, full of optimism, we always seem to have to go through a lot of trouble to achieve our goals.

Wetter we like to achieve something or start a new friendship, there seems to be something like

The Law of the positive change cycle
The popular version of this law is something like

The way it go's

Now sometimes we're not able to make our own choices and things around us "happen to us", so it seems.
In these cases there's no positive cycle, but a negative one.

In any case it's important to be conscious of the phase you're in. Every phase has it's meaning and purpose to make you grow.

Try to make the difference between "being a moodshaker" yourself or being the spectator and watch your "mood shake".
Are you "your mood" or is your mood an instrument and is there a difference between your mood and yourself? Think about it !

What is a miracle?

2007-04-22T23:55:00.001+02:00

What is a miracle?

A miracle is an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature. In other words one could say that anything that can be explained by our knowledge of nature is not a miracle.
However, when we try to 'explain things', we always come to a point we have to give up. In fact nothing can be "explained" fully.

This means that in fact everything in life is a miracle. It's just a kind of attitude to see things as a miracle.

The more miracles we're able to see in life, the more our conventional expectations in life will alter !
A Miracle could be defined by:

Multi Interpretable Reality Altering Conventional Life Expectations

So miracles don't always have to be like "walking on the water". Even everyday events like the creation or birth of a child, is a miracle.
Yes, the biggest Miracle is:

You

Etymology
The word mirror is etymologically related to mirare (to gaze), and to miracle or wonder; behind these lies the Sanskrit smi, or smile. In this construction, reflection, wonderment and greeting are all components of the act of gazing.
The word "Miracle" derives from the Latin word "Mirari" meaning to wonder, which is derived from the Sanskrit word "Smaya" (to wonder).The root of "Smaya" is the "Smi" ( smile ).

So to create a miracle, all you have to do is
Smile!

Or are there more conditions to create a miracle.

To create a miracle
Be a Miracle
Success !

Are you Fuzzy?

2006-12-19T19:57:00.000+01:00

Can you imagine a three sided die instead of a six sided? Think about that...
Meanwhile, we - human beings - often like to divide the world in opposites. Things seem to be either true or untrue.

Examples:

Friend or Foe?
Black or White?
Number or Word?
Head or Tail?

But most of the times our world can't be split up like that.

Coins: Heads or Tails
Even an action like throwing a coin with two possible outcomes, Head or Tail, reaches its limits when you realize that there's - no matter how small it is - a change that the coin might land on its edge.
So we can view at things by

Thinking on the edge

Now we may realize that there three outcomes in tossing a coin:

Heads, Tails & Undecided

In mathematics this creates a new world of Logic, where the outcome of a logical process no longer consists of two possibilities, but three:
- Head => 1 = True
- Tail => 0 = Untrue
- Edge => 1/2 = Undecided

This idea introduces us in a special part of the mathematical world of symbolic logic called:
Three-valued-logic

This three valued logic has other truth tables than the traditional two valued system.

In The Netherlands we've got the words "God be with us" on the edge of our Euro-coins.
What makes three valued logic interesting is that there can be no 'true' or 'untrue', no 'head' or 'tails' of a coin unless it has a certain 'thickness'.
It's just like in our lives, by God we're able to distinguish between good and bad. He makes us think, he's so to say 'our edge'.

Dices
As the thickness of our coin increases, the probability of landing on its edge increases also and the coin looks more like a die.
If you still have doubts about wetter we are making sense here instead of theoretical nonsense, keep reading.
Its perhaps easy to design dices that consist of 4,6,8,12, 20 or even 30 sides.
They are called

Polyhedral Dice

But lets stretch the limits now....
Can you design a three sided die?
Well here it is:

So it turns out that a three sided die is a cylinder, in fact a 'thick coin' you could say.

The question on how to design a three-sided fair die or coin is a complicated mathematical matter, that basic comes down to the fact that the 'diameter' should be equal tot the 'thickness' of the coin.

A three-sided fair coin is defined to be a cylinder which, when flipped like a coin, has an equal probability of landing on heads, tails or the edge

Now let's take it one step further.

Sometimes things are not absolutely true, but more relatively. Fore example, when you ask wetter something is heavy or light or when something is hot or cold.
Here is where

Fuzzy Logic
comes in.

There's nothing really fuzzy about Fuzzy Logic, it's a more sophisticated way of valuing 'how much' something is true.
Fuzzy Logic is for example used in a

Fuzzy thermostat.

The conventional thermostat works with an on-off switch, the fuzzy thermostat in- or decreases the speed of the fan bit by bit and uses feedback.

But what are you? Is everything true or untrue in your life and do you respond therefore in a two- or maybe "three valued way" (including undecided) to your friends?

Or are you 'fuzzy enough' to try things gradually in your life and do you learn from feedback?

Trust or distrust?

2006-12-18T22:17:00.000+01:00

Without trust you can't live.

Trust is THE basic element in business, management, friendship, love and life.

Now 'Trust' is not an easy subject. For example: Research showed that women and men both lie about three times every 15 minutes in a simple conversation. So you could ask yourself,

What is Trust?

There can be no trust unless you give it first.
And even with someone you fully trust, you'll have to cope with distrust.
If you think you won't.. Just the fact you 'thought about it' or red this line proves you'll have to deal with distrust.

Let's look at some properties of these trust relationships:

Trust relationships:

are bipolar
Trust and Distrust

include ambivalence
Degrees of [dis]trust
Simultaneous trust and distrust

are multifaceted
We can both trust and distrust the same person in different contexts

Trust relationships are also two dimensional:

Let's look at how you can manage trust and distrust in the same relationship.

From this matrix we may conclude the next rules of thumb:

'Just' managing distrust, won't bring more trust.

If there is not enough trust, trying to manage distrust will escalate and lead to apathy and frustration. Once you're in this position, your relationship gets 'locked' and the both of you won't be able to manage your trust anymore.
Always start managing trust first.
In a situation with "low distrust" by giving 'more freedom', 'stimulating each other' and 'creating happy moments'.
In a situation with "high distrust" first by 'creating rules' and 'agreements' and (re)gain confidence in each other.

That's not all folks! It's just the start. Trust me.

A little stress helps!

2006-12-08T16:07:00.000+01:00

There's an old Dutch saying that states

Too forbids

It's just like with stress.

We all need a little stress to achieve a good performance. Nothing is wrong with that.
When there's no stress at all, we get bored an it gets difficult to motivate yourself.
So:
Too little stress can be stressful too

But on raising the level of stress we'll soon reach our maximal performance: We feel great.
After that, more stress will not increase our performance level anymore.

When you raise your expectations and you feel that your performance is not increasing anymore, try to stabilize.

These excessive levels of stress occur in the following circumstances:

When you think that what is being asked of you is beyond your perceived abilities
When too much is asked of you in too short a space of time
When unnecessary obstacles are put in the way of achieving goals

Get stressed, but too forbids ........

Genesis 1:2

2006-11-28T22:52:00.000+01:00

Quark-gluon blob surprises particle physicists

The Universe consisted of a perfect liquid in its first moments, according to results from an atom-smashing experiment.

This new scientific discovery shines a new light on Genesis 1:2

Only Thoughts

2006-11-28T22:41:00.000+01:00

Ever heard about the famous philosopher and mathematician René Descartes?
He made this worldchanging statement:

I think, therefore I exist

But what's the definition of "I"? In fact there is no sound definition of the real "I". The so called "I" is a kind of illusion (state of consciousness). At least when you agree on the 'No Ego Theory'.

A more logical correct statement would have been:

I think, therefore thoughts exist

Isn't it strange that just that one thing you can't grasp - Thoughts - is also just the only thing you're sure of that it exists !
On everything in life you can have different views, levels of consciousness or different forms of awareness. But thoughts are just thoughts. In fact thoughts are the one and only 'reality'.

Descartes' Error
Now it's argued that Descartes was not right because he separated mind and body in his thinking ( Descartes' Error ). In this line of thinking the original statement should be turned around ( I exist, therefore I think), because thoughts come from the mind and what the mind thinks comes from the body.

Much more likely is that our mind interprets what's coming in from the senses. This interpretation is done by the brain by means of 'universal thought-principles'. These principles are the same (universal) for all living beings. They also create the material world ( Genesis 1:2 ).
Dependent on the development of the brain and the degree of consciousness it achieves, 'universal thoughts' have more 'meaning' and are being recognized as 'thoughts'.

In fact all is created by 'only universal thoughts', on which I'll come back later.

Thought you'd understand this !

Readability

2006-11-23T20:43:00.001+01:00

Whether you're writing a report, letter or making a powerpoint presentation, to be successful you'll have to tune your message to the adressed target group.

The two most important issues to tackle are 'readability' and 'text-level'.

The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test is a simple test to measure the readability and level of your text.

There are two simple test formulae:

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

Flesch Reading Ease Score

FRES = 206.835 – (1.015 x ASL) – (84.6 x ASW)

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

FKGL = (.39 x ASL) + (11.8 x ASW) – 15.59

With:
ASL = average sentence length (number of words divided by the number of sentences)
ASW = average number of syllables per word (number of syllables divided by number of words)

Texts with a FRES-score of 90-100 are easily understandable by an average 5th grader and scores of 0-30 are best understood by college graduates.
Some examples of readability index scores of magazines:
- Reader's Digest Magazine :FRES = 65
- Time magazine: FRES = 52
- Harvard Law Review: FRES = 30

The FRES-test has become a U.S. governmental standard. Many government agencies require documents or forms to meet specific readability levels. Most states require insurance forms to score 40-50 on the test.

It's easy to test your text online or even in a Microsoft Word-Document.

This text resulted in scores: FRES = 38 and FKGL = 11.

So remember: Checking readability helps, and will turn you into a better writer.

Watch it !

2006-11-21T23:56:00.000+01:00

The true value of things is in our mind.

Take this simple example:

Grandpa's watch

Just before he died your Grandpa gave you his watch. It is of great value to you.

Over the years, one by one, most parts of this watch have been replaced by your local watchmaker.

Last week, without realizing it, you replaced the last original piece of the watch.

One morning the local watchmaker knocks at your door. It turns out he saved and repaired all original parts of your grandpa's watch over the years.

Perversely he has put them all together to make another watch. Your watch.

But it's not your watch! Your watch is in your pocket isn't it?

The question is: which watch is your watch?

From this simple example it's clear that 'your watch' as such doesn't exist.
"Your watch' only exists in your head, or to be precise, in your mind.

Now let's add some more information...
In 1954 a scientist called Aebersold concluded that 98 percent of the 10 to the power of 28 atoms of the body are replaced annually.

In practice this implicates that (just like your grandpa's watch) after 6 or 7 years all the atoms in your body are replaced.

However, you stay you, don't you? So the concept of the real 'YOU' 'exists' in your mind, as the physical and mental 'YOU' are changing constantly.

In fact, as Deepak Chopra stated, 'YOU' are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 'You', or your mind, don't have a local address.

Keep care of the 'real you' and watch it!

Getting Chilly?

2006-11-12T23:39:00.000+01:00

Strange. Yesterday the temperature was the same as today, a nice 20°C. Yet it feels much colder, due to the higher speed of the wind.

The temperature you experience or feel depends on the real temperature ( T_a ) you measure and the speed of the wind ( V ).

The more wind, the more cooler. This effect is called :

The windchill Effect

Wind chill is the meteorological index that combines the effects of wind speed and temperature. The wind makes you feel colder for two reasons. First, it blows away a thin layer of warm air that normally surrounds your body. Second, it draws away heat by quickly evaporating any moisture that forms on your skin. That's why you feel chilled when you step out of the shower. The stronger the wind, the greater the evaporation and the colder you feel.

There's even a formula to calculate the Windchill temperature:

T_wc = 13.112 + 0.6215 T_a -11.37 V^0.16 + 0.3965 T_a V^0.16

When you're on your ski's on a winter-sports holiday, you'll probably have recognized this effect.

Windchill chart Air Temperature (°C)
W i n d S p e e d Km/h		0	-5	-10	-15	-20	-25	-30
	10	-3	-9	-15	-21	-27	-33	-39
	20	-5	-12	-18	-24	-31	-37	-43
	30	-7	-13	-20	-26	-33	-39	-46
	40	-7	-14	-21	-27	-30	-41	-48
	50	-8	-15	-22	-29	-35	-42	-49
	60	-9	-16	-23	-30	-37	-43	-50

But the apparent temperature does not only depend upon the speed of the wind, it's also influenced by humidity an the radiation of the sun.

Read more about this at:

CochraneWx Weather Terminology

Now compare this windchill effect with taking decisions in your "real life".
How often do you act solely upon your last experience, when dealing with a new opportunity?
Did you count (new) external influences - like "the wind" - in?
And don't blow too hard yourself, it might feel others "chilly" or catch a cold.

Remember anyhow:

Cold Love

If you can't catch a cold from someone who doesn't have one,

how can you get love from someone who doesn't have it?

Are you sure?

2006-11-10T20:30:00.000+01:00

The only thing you can be sure of in this life, is that nothing is sure at all (and even that's unsure).

Just like in that wonderful song called "Upside out" by Victoria Tolstoy.

Lyrics Upside out
Victoria Tolstoy
Wonder if it's really cold in summer?
Am I still here when you are gone?
Wonder if an old man's really old when
Minutes make a real long song

Refr.
I wonder why I never see the wonders?
It doesn't matter how I try
The more I think the less I know I know but...
...there's one thing I know for sure,
I'm sure I'm not sure at all...
....but only sometimes

Wonder what is longer time or distance?
Does it begin right where it ends
I wonder if I reach, if you don't listen
Some say I do, but it depends

Don't you see wonders too in your life?
What's the probability a wonder or miracle occurs anyhow?

First we have to distinguish between 'subjective miracles' (the ones You yourself can't explain) and 'objective miracles'(the ones even the best scientists can't explain).

The probability of a 'miracle' could be defined as

P = M / N

Where M = the number of inexplicable events that happen

and N = The number of events that happen

From this definition we could conclude that:

'The less we understand of this world' or 'the more we are focussed or conscious of measuring a miracle', the more the probability of a (subjective) miracle increases.
This last aspect explains why goodhearted, god- and miracle-focussed people experience more miracles then other people.
Miracles are a product of the mind.
For one who understands everything in life (i.e. God), there are no miracles, because everything is explicable.

Now for the more god- and miracle-critical people among us, you would agree that - as you are not all-knowing (God) - there will be always events that you cannot explain.

Suppose the change of a miracle in your life is: P= 0.001 = 1/1000
Than a simple rule (derived from a geometric distribution) states that if you would measure (1000 = 1/P) events in your life, there is a probability of about 63% that a miracle happens.

By the way, this rule of thumb can be applied for everything that happens in life.

If something has a probability of P% of happening, try it N=1/P times and you'll be a 63% sure it will happen.
Try it (2 x N) times and you'll be about 90% (more exactly: about 86%) sure it happens.

Rule of thumb
- Example -
John seldom breaks a glass when he does the dishes.
Only (on average) once on the 100 times this happens
(P= 1/100).

After John has done the dishes a 100 (N= 1/P) times he can be a 63% sure he's broken one glass at least.

After John has done the dishes 200 times, John's wife can be a 90% sure that he will have broken one of their glasses.

Now back to our probability of miracles with regard to our real pessimists on this subject.

Suppose the probability of a miracle (1/N) tends to zero and the number of possibilities (N) increases to infinity.

It can be mathematically proven that even in this situation the probability of a miracle is about 63%.

That's surprising, isn't it?

So keep trying and miracles will happen!

Zero Sum Thinking

2006-11-07T23:17:00.000+01:00

Ever heard about a Zero Sum? We all grew up by what's called

Zero Sum Thinking

Zero Sum Thinking (ZST) is the view that one party's gain is another party's loss

Simple illustrations of ZST are:

If I get the biggest piece of the cake, you won't
If I get this job, you won't
Producing more cars leads to more air pollution
Because the rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Playing check or tic tac toe
If I get happy, you'll feel bad

By playing all kind of "zero sum games" as a child, ZST has become a part of our life. Often an unconscious part.

Zero Sum Games are a part of the game-theory or economic game theory. They fundamentally influenced our way of thinking when we were young.

For some people, like Colin Powell, Zero Sum Thinking even became an obsession.

Often later on in life, we discover that there is much more than ZST

Non Zero Sum Thinking
.

If you are a stubborn pessimist, Non Zero Sum Thinking will lead to Negative Sum Thinking. You think that everything you do in life is worthless. You think you only create damage to others and the world. Life eventually will become a hell for you. A hell created by yourself, a self fulfilling prophecy.

However, let's practise

Positive Sum Thinking

Yeah, Positive Sum Thinking (PST) means that you search for ways where not only you, but all parties benefit from a certain action. PST creates value.
This "creating more value" can be done in many ways, like cooperation, innovation, creation, sharing, caring or investing.

In fact PST could be defined as a fundamental kind of attitude in life.
You either believe that everything in this universe adds up to nothing or know that if all advantages (created value) are crossed off against the disadvantages (damage), something positive is left.
That something positive is "what you are doing it for" in life. In fact that "something positive" is life, is love, is you and me in the heart. It makes the difference.

Remember when you face a new challenge...., Start PST............

Ich bin wie Du

2006-11-07T22:05:00.000+01:00

Ich bin wie Du, is the title of a German song (demo) and means "I am like you". It's sung by Marianne Rosenberg in 1975/1976.

If you're familiar with German, here is the text:

Ich bin wie Du

Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Sand und Meer
darum brauch ich dich so sehr.
Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Tag und Nacht
füreinander immer nur da
für immer nur da.

Und du weißt
dennoch lass ich dir die Freiheit

weil man sich dann leichter treu bleibt
ich genauso wie du

grade das
das macht unsre Liebe anders

das macht unsre Liebe so anders und ich finde das gut.

Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Sand und Meer
darum brauch ich dich so sehr.
Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Tag und Nacht
füreinander immer nur da
für immer nur da.

Was auch kommt
wir beide werden uns nie trennen

wir lernen uns nur besser kennen.
Ich genauso wie du
grade das
das macht unsre Liebe anders

das macht unsre Liebe so anders und ich finde das gut.

Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Sand und Meer
darum brauch ich dich so sehr.
Ich bin wie du
wir sind wie Tag und Nacht
füreinander immer nur da
für immer nur da.

There are two essential points in this text:

I am like you, Ich bin wie Du
Real love = Freedom, (..lass ich dir die Freiheit)

We all "like to be" like someone we admire, respect or see as a teacher.

Whether it's Christ, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Kennedy, Buddha or Mohammed, we all have our own Messengers of Light.

"Ich bin wie Du" appeals to this strong feeling.

But what - for example - if Marianne Rosenberg would really resemble someone like Christ.

What's left of you after life?

If she really would succeed in becoming like Christ, what would be the difference between Marianne and Christ in a spiritual way?

In this sense, all the things that are left at the end of our life that don't resemble the universal spiritual origin, will eventually die.

In this sense we will all live for ever in Christ, because we are "by definition" in Christ in eternal sense.

No love without freedom

The other lesson in this song is that love is directly connected to "Freedom". In other words, there can be no real love without freedom.

This Freedom is a gift in our life we need to handle with great care. It gives us the opportunity to discover life and to experience what a great miracle and what the meaning of life is.

Real love and "freedom of love" gives the opportunity for personal growth, it's unconditional. Not only for ourselves, but also for each other. That means we even can Screw Up things sometimes.

At last: "Ich bin, We Do"

I am my eye

2006-11-06T22:34:00.001+01:00

Your eyes are one of your most important senses.

The 'way' you see things, tells a lot of who you are. In a way you could say:

I am my eye

Now look around you. You'll probably think you see the world as clear as possible !
However, you're wrong. Some animals, like raptors, birds like the eagle or the hawk, can see up to 8 times more clearly than the sharpest human eye.

We call this ability to see things more clearly:

Visual Acuity

Now - according to shamanic insights - there's a interesting difference in the "sight process" between the hawk and the eagle, while they're hunting.
When a hawk sees a Mouse, he dives directly for it.
Now the eagle. When hunting (at great heights), the eagle only sees the whole pattern. He sees movement in the general pattern and dives for the movement, learning only later that it is the mouse he's hunting for.
What we are talking about here is Specificity and Wholeness.

What can we learn from this?
When solving problems, don't just try to look as a hawk, but also try to look as an eagle at this specific problem.
The combination of the both may solve your problems in a different way.

More on this subject on:

Hawk and Eagle—both are singing

A great example of this principle of combining awareness and sharpness is the next story:

The Cathedral

There was once a man passing by a construction site. He stopped and asked one of the tradesmen what he was doing.
The worker replied gruffly, "I'm laying bricks, can't you see that?"

The man watched a while longer and then asked another worker what he was doing. "I'm just earning a living," he replied.

A third time the man asked a worker and the response was much different, "I'm building a cathedral."

Grasp Time !

2006-11-04T21:02:00.000+01:00

Sometimes we've to take time to realize what we want in life.

It's just like the growing of the grass in your garden. You can't force it !
And in your life, just like the grass, (too much) "pulling" doesn't really help.

That's why it isn't always sunshine in our lifes, we need some rain to grow as well.

Even if we do the right things, that doesn't mean that we do the things right. So be the sun and the rain for others, when you'll have to be.

Thinkabouts:

After a few hot sunny days, don't you long for the rain?
While it rains all day, don't you long for the sun and see it through the drops?

So accept the given sunshine and rain in you life and grasp the time.

Green & Clean

2006-11-02T22:25:00.000+01:00

One of the most impressive stories that illustrate the principles of management and delegation is given by Stephen Covey in his fantastic book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People .

In this story called Green and Clean he illustrates four general principles that are important when you divide tasks. Wetter this is in your family or at your job. Wetter you're the boss or the employee. These principles lead to success!

Green & Clean
We were having a family meeting to divide the tasks in our family. My seven-year-old son, Stephen, volunteered to take care of the yard. Before I actually gave him a job, I took him next door to our neighbor's. "Look, son," I said. "See how our neighbor's yard is green and clean? That's what we're after: green and clean.	Set Target Set simple targets in a few words that everyone understand. No difficult or pagewide target definitions.
"Now before you decide whether or not you're going to take the job, let me tell you a few more things. Because when you take the job, I don't do it anymore. It's your job. I trust you to do the job, to get it done. Now who's going to be your boss?" "You, Dad?" "No, not me. You're the boss."	Define responsibility Delegate and clearly define the responsibility and mandate at the right level. Cut of dependent behavior.
"Now, guess who your helper is." "Who?" "I am," I said. "You boss me." "You tell me how I can help." "I'll do anything you want me to do."	Offer help Only after the target is set and the responsibility is defined: start helping Don't start helping in an earlier state. Otherwise things will end up in a mess.
Two weeks went and nothing happened. The yard was going down the drain. As I rounded the corner, I saw my son at the park across the street playing. I faked a smile and yelled across the street, "How's the yard coming?" Then we walked around the yard together. His chin began to quiver and tears welled up in his eyes.	Accept failure Delegating is a process. Accept that you don't succeed at once. Keep patience. Stand up as many times as necessary.
Than he finally asked for help. I helped him two or three more times that entire summer. After that, he himself took care of that yard . He kept it greener and cleaner than it had ever been.	Success Final Acceptance and taking responsibility. Using the above principles finally leads to the success you both wanted.

Covey is no narrow-minded or soft management-guru. On his website he states:

Human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled

They are four dimensional
body, mind, heart, and spirit

Dr. Stephen R. Covey
The 8th Habit
From Effectiveness to Greatness

As you see, the principles are all based on constructive communication.

Apply these simple principles everywhere and things will become a lot simpler in life.

Don't get boiled !

2006-11-01T22:06:00.000+01:00

Sometimes your environment changes so slowly that you don't notice. Or maybe you slowly adapt to the changing circumstances. Sometimes you think "I can cope with that" or "that's no problem, I can live with this or that disadvantage".
Then suddenly.... it's too late. You're stuck. You suddenly realize you're in the wrong situation, you've failed to notice and it's too late to get out.

This effect is called

The boiling frog syndrome

The Boiling Frog Syndrome

If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, he'll jump out. But if you place a frog into a pot of lukewarm water and slowly turn up the heat, it will boil to death.

Always be conscious of small changes in your environment. Little things people say, or small changes in behavior of people.
If you don't want to get caught in the boiled frog syndrome, listen to your friends. They see not only you but also your environment.
Try to learn to see yourself in your own environment.

And be aware that if things keep getting hotter in life:

Get out while you still can

Remember don't get frogged!

What Crisis?

2006-10-31T20:52:00.000+01:00

The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters

So in Chinese crisis means something like

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity

Let's apply this to daily life.

No matter how great the danger in a crisis is, it also means a change of circumstances that gives room for new opportunities.

Try to see them when you're in the middle of a crisis.

Even better, just like in a storm :

Try to stay in the eye of the storm.
After all, as you know it is still in the eye in the storm.

This reminds us at the words of Rudyard Kipling in his famous poem "IF" on my blog "Never give up".

So when you're in the middle of crisis :

Don't run
Set time still (Let time do the work)
Keep your head together
Wait for the opportunity, no matter how hard it is

Some more tips on how to behave in crisis situations you'll find on

APPROACHING A CONFLICT SITUATION

Godly Formula

2006-10-30T23:14:00.000+01:00

Perhaps you've heard about special numbers like e or π. They are called irrational numbers.
To write out these numbers it would take an infinite number of decimals:

π = 3.1415926.............
e = 2.7182818........

Although there are many approximations or summation-like formula's for these numbers, we're not able to express them in an easy manner.

Another strange number is the imaginary number i . This number is defined as the square root of minus one, in formula: i = Ö-1

Now although it's impossible to describe these numbers in an easy way, there is a remarkable simple formula in mathematics that describes an almost holy relationship between these extraordinary numbers :
e^{i π}= -1

It was the famous mathematician Euler that revealed this formula, called Euler's identity.

It's not at all surprising that Euler not only studied mathematics but also philosophy and theology.

Not only is his formula of a "godly beauty", it also triggers the mind to reveal it still hidden secrets.

You feel before you think!

2006-10-28T12:34:00.001+02:00

Yeah, we feel before we actually start thinking. This is not one of those arbitrary statements, but a fact that is used in one of the Topics in American Legal Theory.

Now because - through your senses - your brain gets first activated by feelings and reflexes, the action you take after you thought about what you saw and your feelings is a mixture of feelings and logical thinking.

{ Feeling <==> Thinking } => Action

In fact feeling, thinking and action are a continuous cycle of the way we live each day and fed by Positive Action. Although moderate drinkers tend to have better health and live longer, you don't need a Martini a day to practice this.

All you need is to develop a good self-esteem.

Try to manage the process of strengthening your self-esteem. Be challenged by trying to grade up your 'self-esteem level' and diminish the flow-amplitude of continuous super-positive or super-negative thoughts to a enjoyable wave-level, instead of living in a daily self-esteem rollercoaster.

Talk to yourself in a positive way. Self talk is not for lunatics, but an excellent power and way to grow and maintaining your health.

Don't remember to feel before you think: You don't have to!

Are you Good or Bad?

2006-10-27T17:23:00.001+02:00

Why is it that it's so hard to do "only good" ?
It's because

Good and bad go together

You can't separate Good and Bad form each other, no matter how hard you try.

Although this is hard to believe, it's easy to proof.

Proof
Imagine 'Good = White' and 'Bad = Black'.
Now if you do something good in a bad environment it's clearly visible as "good".
If the environment is good as well, good things wouldn't show up. You couldn't be conscious of good things because there would be no difference.

So good and bad are linked to each other and what is perceived as "good" depends on the circumstances, the environment.
Stay Good in a Bad environment.

Synchronicity

2006-10-26T08:15:00.000+02:00

Ever had this experience: You try to telephone someone and at that very same time (s)he's trying to call you.

Coincidence, telepathy or Synchronicity?

Mathematical view
From a mathematical point of view this could perhaps more or less be explained:

Suppose you call someone every day and a attempt to connect takes about 20 seconds.
Then you've got a probability of 0.023% ( 20 seconds / [24 hours x 3600 seconds] ) the two of you call at the same time

Since you probably don't call at night or during work, this probability increases to 0,185% if you take a 3 hour period as possible call-time instead of 24 hours.
This ruffly gives a change of about 49% (= 1 - [1-0,185%]^365) in a year that this simultaneously calling takes place at least once.

But what about if your '20 years ago emigrated friend' Carl, who you've not seen since, calls you one day, while you at the same time try to call him?
Now we are getting short of simple mathematics.

This phenomena is called

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is an explanatory principle, according to its creator, Carl Jung. Synchronicity explains "meaningful coincidences," such as a beetle flying into Jung's room while a patient was describing a dream about a scarab.

Synchronicity explained

There are many attempts to explain Synchronicity. From intuition to quantum mechanics.

Perhaps the most natural explanation for synchronicity between two people is that they, one way or the another, think in more or less the same way.
By thinking the same way, we mean that their thoughts, thought-patterns or feelings get stimulated by the same stimuli or events.

Going back to Carl. Perhaps you both heard the CNN-news with a news-item that the both of you shared in your youth.
This stimuli encouraged the both of you to take the telephone. Not at once, but after an hour, because you both developed the habit in your life to wait before making a impulsive move.

So in fact your life-, habits- and/or thought--wave-patterns are more or less the same and this increases the probability of synchronicity a lot.

Synchronicity on events in your live
The same thing could be said about Synchronicity concerning merely events.
You just bought a new car, a Ford. Suddenly you notice one of your college's is also driving a Ford. The next day you see even more Fords.
This has nothing to do with probability. It's just how your conscience works. You're exited about something and suddenly your conscience is more focussed on noticing associative or similar events.
"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

You also have the synchronicity of the I Ching . The I Ching is not a fortune-telling book. By the hexagrams of the I Ching your mind can mirror the question you ask in such a way that it's easier to get your problem more clear, in order to take the right decision.

Jung
The vision stated above is not in accordance with Jung's vision or the correspondent parallel quantum-vision on the universe that has been developed recent decennia in physics.
The complex reality in which we live can at a deeper level only be described in statistical terms. But that doesn't mean there is no 'causality'.
There is causality, but we are unable to describe it because of it's complexity.

Or to say it with Einstein's words:

God doesn't play dice

Einstein's vision was however proved to be wrong by Bell's Theorem. But this prove was based on the assumption that 'measurements which are made far apart (at spacelike distances) cannot affect each other'.
Perhaps reality is so complex that communication faster than light is possible.
In fact every border or axiom we as humans formulate (e.g. maximum speed = speed of light) limits our view on reality.

Play dice, but keep searching for the deeper and higher realities !

After all: Synchronicity is only

Resonance of thought

More, much more on Resonance or Synchronicity in the future !

Are you serendipitous?

2006-10-26T08:08:00.000+02:00

What a strange word "serendipitous". It comes from the word Serendipity.
Serendipity (from serendib) is like

"while searching for something, discovering something else"

Something like "casual discovery".

One of the nicest examples is that of the discovery of the telephone by Graham Bell.

The Telephone

Bell's mother and wife where deaf.
In an approach to create a multiple telegraph for teaching the deaf, he discovered not the "multiple telegraph", but the telephone.

Another nice example is that of the discovery of the yellow "Post-it Notes":

Post-It Notes

In the 1960's at 3M, developers were trying to find a powerful glue.
The chemist assigned to the project, Spence Silver, often experimented with variations in formulas--one resulting in a substance that would only weakly stick and could be easily pulled apart.
He worked on it for ten years but despite improvements in its stickiness, it went undeveloped.

In 1974 Arthur Fry, one of Silver's co-workers, was trying to make a bookmark stick in his church songbook and in a flash of recognition discovered the application:

Post-It Notes

Silver later stated, "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."

Serendipity asks for an "open mind".
It demands an attitude that at the same time - while you're absolutely focused on an subject en doing your outmost best to find or create something new - you recognize an other possibility and have the skills to completely "let go" the subject you where searching for.
This special "state of mind" helps us joyful true our lifes.

Let's try to get serendipitous !

Your Butterfly Effect

2006-10-24T20:59:00.000+02:00

In chaos theory it's been proven that:

Little events can have big consequences

This phenomenon is in Chaos Theory known as

The Butterfly Effect

Imagine a butterfly on one side of the world flaps its wings. This tiny event causes a hurricane in another part of the world.

Although it can be somehow proved that certain small events cause or influence great phenomena's, we are not able to define a direct relationship (model) between them.
There are so many events that influence the process, that no matter how much we understand of the principles behind the events, we will never be able to model them completely.

Butterfly effects in your own life

Do you recognize The Butterfly Effect in your own world and life?

You explicitly didn't tell anyone it was your birthday today, yet in the evening your room is unexpected filled with uninvited guests.
In a conversation with a good friend you mention something unimportant. Your friend suddenly gets angry.
You try to sell your old television set to Mr. Unknown. But he's not enthusiastic. Then you smile and give up. A few minutes later Mr. Unknown decides to buy without any logical argument.
You do your job the best you can, but you never applied or asked for a promotion. After 5 years you suddenly are offered a major promotion from a concurring company.

It's really an art to discover how small events or actions may influence your life.
Try to achieve events or results by a minimum of force, talk, arguing, and use a maximum of "butterfly effects".
Although you'll not be able to explain how it works, you'll see that Butterflies actually can do the work in your life.

Good luck with your Butterfly Effect. Enjoy Butterflies !

Are You Normal?

2006-10-22T11:02:00.000+02:00

An interesting question you could ask yourself:

Are you normal
The answer is simple

Nobody is normal
Everybody is special. Be happy you're not 'normal'.

So in a way we all have ( at a certain level ) some disorders (diseases) like:

Disorders

Paranoid
Schizoid
Schizotypal
Antisocial
Borderline
Histrionic
Narcissistic
Avoidant
Dependent
Obsessive-Compulsive

If you doubt this, just

Test your level of disorder

This test is not like a inkblot-, personality- or stress-test, but serious work.
Accept and enjoy that you're not normal.

Zen thinking altitude

2006-10-20T22:05:00.000+02:00

How high can you reach? What's your ultimate altitude?

With respect to what Jesse Jackson or Donald Trump are saying about that, I state that

Aptitude + Attitude = Altitude

In other words: the level that you reach is a combination of your natural given talents (aptitude) and your attitude.

To raise your altitude, you'll have to change and improve your attitude by learning.

This "learning" is well demonstrated by the English language trainer, Sreenadhachary, at a workshop on the "Importance of English Language in M.N.C.s".
Sreenadhachary trains Indian man and woman in learning English with simple principles:

A positive frame of mind and learning from mistakes are both needed to improve
Good learners make mistakes unknowingly and correct themselves knowingly
The glory lies not in avoiding a fall but in getting up every time you fall down

Sreenadhachary uses several other techniques to achieve that job aspirants improve their accent and try to speak English in the way an Englishman does.

However one general rule could be added:

"To Speak English", "Think English"

In fact this rule could be generally applied to an higher altitude and new principle or formula:

"To XXX YYY", "Think as YYY"

Where you could substitute for XXX verbs like "help", "fight", etc.
For YYY you could substitute all kind of nouns like "English", "your best friend", "God", "your enemy", etc.

By substituting different verbs verbs for XXX, you'll first conclude that it doesn't apply, but on a deeper thinking-level you'll grasp it, learn from it and know what to do.

A nice application of this Zen-like-thinking is a Sun Tzu like quote like:

To beat your enemy, think like your enemy

Be sure not to mesh up with the pitfall that "thinking like" is the same as "becoming-like".
By "thinking like thousand different people", you don't become like one of them, they'll all enrich you on your path, YOU !

However.. see what happens if you substitute "Think" by "Be" or "Become like" (i.e. "to beat your enemy, become your enemy"). Dare you?

Remember, it's your decision to change your attitude and to decide to make this day a beautiful day

Are you Alice?

2006-10-19T20:48:00.000+02:00

We are as Alice in wonderland. Trained by education and experiences the past turns into present. But we have to go forward in life and take new steps.

Led by our will and ready to learn each day, we are able to transform "present" into "future present" and are open to experience new ways!
Often in the things we are afraid of we can find the hidden challenges to become who we're meant to be.

Or to put it in an other way:

Alice in Mirror

It seems that the desire to really find oneself is at the heart of the mirror story. Although very often we are just as deep or shallow on the other side, we keep trying to uncover some spectacular unknown quality that makes us who we are.

Grace Slick

So don't expect too much, but wonder just like Alice how your new life emerges.

Hear it with your eyes!

2006-10-15T22:12:00.001+02:00

Ever heard about

The McGurk Effect

Simply said, this effect is

Your ears hear the word "BA"
Your eyes see the word "GA"
Combining the two: Your mind thinks it hears the word "DA"

BA+GA=DA

If you, just like me, doubt this,

Try McGurk

After this experience you'll have to recognize that:

What you hear is influenced by what you see
You may say one thing, but everybody else - who sees and hears you -is hearing something completely else.

The fact that BA + GA creates a new perception of DA, also indicates that our mind creates a new reality (DA).
This may be explained by fuzzy logics. Shortly said: If BA and GA in our mind each create a subconscious weak GA, the combination of BA an GA creates a strong conscious DA.
This subscribes the effect that when you say to someone "I like you" but (unconsciously) think "I don't like you", the hearer of this message actually not hears ILY but something else.

This also explains why if we are talking to people face to face we sometimes "don't believe them", "doubt them" or "feel" that something is not right.

What is true for the combination of hearing and seeing, will probably also be true for the combination of "all your senses".
It all has to do with perception. Try to find out how the combination of hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting and smelling creates a new world in yourself.

So try to use all your senses in "your kitchen", when communicating with others. This will lead to a richer life. Enjoy it.

Expect the Unexpected

2006-10-15T12:30:00.000+02:00

Ever heard about Heraclitus?

He was a Greek philosopher who lived 2,500 years ago. He announced an everlasting Word (Logos) according to which all things are one, in some sense. Opposites are necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges.

His epigrams (= concise, clever, often paradoxical statements) are often used for creative and new approaches to problem solving.

Reed more about Heraclitus and its epigrams in the book:

Expect the Unexpected or You Won't Find It
by Roger von Oech.

Here are some free translated examples of Heraclitus epigrams.

Choose one for yourself and think about it in relation to the question or problem you like to solve.

Unless you expect the unexpected, you will never find truth.	Every beast is driven to pasture by a blow.
I searched into myself.	Most don’t note the things they encounter, nor grasp them when they note them, though they think they do.
The bones, connected by joints, are at once a whole and not a whole.	It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wished.
The inner nature of things loves to hide.	Even the finest drink separates if not stirred.
Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.	In a circle, the beginning and endpoint are the same.
It is by disease that health is pleasant, by evil good, by hunger satiety, and by weariness rest.	If every thing were smoke, it is by smell that we would distinguish them.
Seekers after gold dig up earth and find little.	It is by changing that things find rest.
The way up and the way down are one and the same.	Dogs will bark at any person they do not know.
Donkeys would prefer hay to gold.	One cannot step into the same river twice.

In this way "always expect the unexpected" becomes a way of enjoying your life !

Stress Ohm's Law

2006-10-13T20:39:00.000+02:00

At highschool -do you remember? - we all heard about Ohm's law:

V = I x R
Where where: V = voltage in volts (V), I = current in amps (A) and R = resistance in ohms (Ω)

Now let's translate this law to daily life !
You could interpret the voltage (V) as tension, strain or simply Stress.
Interpret the current (I) as the amount of inspiration
The resistance (Ω) is simply your natural resistance; It's the way you always did the tings you did, think the thoughts you thought, it's your resistance to change.

So now our formula in real life looks something like

Stress = Inspiration x Resistance
To play around a bit with this formula:

By lowering your resistance you're able to be more inspirational and creative at the same stress level. You'll be able to see received inspiration as an opportunity and not as a demand. In other words you'll be able to cope with much more demands in your life.

If you have too much stress, you could lower your actual stress level by lowering your resistance. Give in sooner. You could of course be stubborn, stick to your resistance level and lower your inspiration level (received or created by others or yourself). But this approach will soon lead to a depressive and non-inspirational lonely lifestyle

Now let's add another electric formula : Watt's Law

P = I² x R
In daily life translation this means:

Power = Inspiration² x Resistance

Playing around with this formula leads to:

Generating or receiving more inspiration squares the output (power) you deliver ! So get inspired as much as you can, but keep in mind ohm's law and take care that your maximum stress level (R x I) is not exceeded.

Don't lower your stress level in such way that your resistance approaches zero. In this case you'll have no output or power at all !. So don't do this unless you like to become a Zen Buddhist.
So it's clear that we need a certain amount of resistance.

Either way, manage your resistance to maximize your output and get on your flow !

Word of Mouth

2006-09-16T22:29:00.000+02:00

Are you aware of the effects of what you say? One of the oldest and most impacting ways of communication, is spreading your view by

Word of Mouth
Matthew 15:11
The words you speak are a projection of your deepest self. Your spoken words come back and you and may pollute or heal you.

Already in the bible (Matthew 15:11) Jesus states that instead of discussing whether unclean foods (entering the mouth) defile a person, the words that come out of a person's mouth (could) defile him more.
However, be good of heart, so that good words come out of your mouth (Luke 6:45) to generate good things in life.

WOM Marketing
Word of Mouth (WOM) is serious business. Be aware that your spoken words could effect or infect your environment.

Just like a viral infection, your words can become contagiousness (sticky) and are (in)directly widely spread around.

In the world of (viral) marketing this is what in the book named "The Tipping Point", Gladwell calls:

The Stickiness Factor
Marketing research on products and brands, showed that (product or brand) success is closely related to a handful of 'stickiness' key drivers:

Excellence: perceived as best of breed
Uniqueness: clear one-of-a-kind differentiation
Aesthetics: perceived aesthetic appeal
Association: generates positive associations
Engagement: fosters emotional involvement
Functional value: addresses functional needs
Nostalgic value: evokes sentimental linkages
Personification: has character, personality
Cost: perceived value for money

Whether you like to successful transfer a message, sell a product or "sell" yourself (like a brand), rate your message, product or yourself to the above list of 'sticky key drivers' and see how you can do better.

The more key drivers qualities are fulfilled, the more success you'll have.

WOM Formula
There's even a WOM formula that states that (the success of) WOM is a function of originality (O) and usefulness (U).

WOM = O x U

This formula has been extended by Alain Thys to:

WOM = O x U x S^C

With:

O = Originality
U = Usefulness
S = Seed, covers the amount of initial locations you can seed your message(i.e. the number of customers, bloggers, etc.)
C = Credibility, determines the relative value of these seed locations.

WOM HR in the office
Another WOM application can be given in the Human Resource (HR) field (Authentic Word of Mouth Marketing Innovations)
The way employees in a company respond and translate 'messages' and 'information' in the organization to other employees, depends on their 'Social Abilities' and their positive or negative 'Work Experiences'.

When making cultural changes in companies we may distinguish between these several kind of employees:

Quadrant A
Employees in Quadrant A do not feel positive or engaged at work. This group also tends to not have a large social circle, which means that even if they are complaining about the workplace, it will have limited effect. However, do not underestimate these people as many of them many not be extremely social in person but are social on the internet, where they can have an enormous impact. Especially if this group has tech skills, work hard to make them feel engaged and frequently ask them what they like about the job.
Quadrant B
Employees in Quadrant B generally like the job and have a positive opinion of it, but do not care to share that fact with a wide circle. This group should be encouraged to speak about the job more. If they are not comfortable with engaging more people in person, you can make them an online advocate of the company and train them in blogging, social networks and other online social tools where they can meet more people without feeling uncomfortable. They can also be mentored to go to more public events.
Quadrant C
Employees in Quadrant C are dangerous to your company. These highly social but negative people will spread negative stories, talk about company weaknesses and flaws in management. In the best of situations, you should try to move these employees to a more positive feeling for the company. Care must be taken that these people do not get left unchecked until they have severely damaged the company image, which as a social insider, is not difficult to do.
Quadrant D
Employees in Quadrant D should get paid double. These are the people that add energy and excitement to the company and they act as a latent but effective salesperson whenever they encounter someone. These are the people that, even years after they have left your business, will still be talking about it to new people.
The key with employees in D is to recognize them, encourage them and challenge them to do even more. Give them the stories and access to information that will make it even easier for them. Turn up their volume.

Realize the power of WOM, use it!

Power of indecision

2006-09-10T14:23:00.000+02:00

You always take a decision, even if you don't. In fact, every (non)decision or (non)action changes the world and has a deep impact on your life and that of others.
Once you are aware of this immense effect, don't let this make you indecisive.

Try to define your next move, make a decision.

Not taking the right decisions at the right moment, might lead to a Lost Choice.

Even if you make decisions easily, in particular cases it's better to take the decision 'not to decide' (yet) and to wait and ask the universe for help.
Sometimes your intentions, dreams or wishes are too ambitious or difficult to achieve (at once). You can not dictate the universe to follow the exact path you've defined in reaching your goal.
This, all together, means that must give the universe time to respond or to calibrate.

Following this approach doesn't imply that you have to sit back passively and wait for the universe to deliver you the 'pot of gold at the end of the rainbow'.
No, this situation requests for a receptive approach where you listen to what the universe answers. These often inconceivable 'universal answers' hold the key to refine or redefine your ambition or wishes.
At the same time, use the universal answers to check or adjust the rightfulness of your intentions. You and the Universe have to be 'on the same page' to be successful.

Once you've gone through all these processes, you're ready to make your 'next move' to step forward in small steps, knowing and trusting that the Universe will help you at the right moment (the present) with the right gift (the presents).

It's just like Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) states in this impacting "you can't always get what you want song:"

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need...
Mick Jagger

Realize that, to "make it happen", you'll have to follow the law of attraction, that states:

“What we continually think about...,
eventually will manifest in our lives.”
Robert Collier 1885-1950

Notice that this quote uses the word "'manifest' and not 'happen'!

So try to recognize the song of the universe, just like scientists are studying the song of a volcano (mp3) to predict volcano eruptions by correlating (Mozart's) music with precise stages of volcanic activity.
Use the power of indecision: sing and dance to the music of the universe, your composition, your life.

Multiple Guess

2006-09-01T23:17:00.000+02:00

Maybe you're not a real "Multiple Choice Professional". Or even worse, after you've invested hours, days or months in serious study, you haven't been able to pass this simple Multiple Choice Test (MCT).

In other words, smoke gets in your eyes. You're on the way of becoming a real MCT 'desperado' and are now considering - although you're serious and honest at heart - less honorable MCT passing-strategies like "always pick the longest answer" or "don't study at all, just guess".

On the other hand some of your friends pass MCT's without any effort, difficulty or study. They appear to have a natural talent for passing MCT's. Is this talent based upon 'intelligent guessing' or are they just lucky ?

What should you do? More study with the risk to overstudy, learn some more MCT tricks, change your view or just "go lucky" and put your trust on "multiple guess"?

The answers...
To become a real MTC professional, here are the answers you need:

Study the right way
Start with a positive attitude. Doing your best!
Study and read to improve your vocabulary.
Improve your test-taking skills
Instead of the popular MCT tricks, apply proven techniques and suggestions to improve your test-taking skills.

To develop that MCT gutfeeling, exercise it:
- Learningskills program (10 minutes)
Practice Multiple Choice Test.
- Rules for intelligent guessing
Last resort to improve your 'multiple guess'
abilities.
Random guessing : Forget about it !
Developing MCT's has become a real science. Most tests are constructed in such a way that random guessing in general doesn't work.

Not convinced?
You're still not convinced that study and applying MCT-techniques are the right way to succeed?
Lucky you! The probability of guessing exactly 'k' answers right (successes) in a MCT with 'n' questions and 'a' answers per question is given by the mathematical formula:

with p=1/a and q=1-p

Applying this formula in a MCT calculator gives you the opportunity to convince yourself that guessing won't help you. So

Calculate your MCT Luck !
with this calculator and see what your chances are to pass a MCT just by random guessing.

Guess what, study your Luck

Self-Creation

2006-08-18T21:29:00.000+02:00

Are you trying to find your ultimate true inner self?

STOP
you'll end up with nothing!

What is This Thing Called Self?
Just try this little exercise.

Disidentification Exercise

Draw up a list of ten things that you are.
Things that are important about you, about your self. Like: "I am a wife... I am intelligent... etc.
Now, one by one, cross off each item on the list and try to imagine what you would be without that aspect of self.
When all items are crossed off, what's left?
Who or what are you when all aspects of your self-as-structure have been chiseled away.
You return to pure awareness, pure mind. It's a self without content, it's "no-self."

Inner and outer self
Now we've (un)learned a bit about our "inner self", what about our "outer self" ?
Is our "outer self" always the same or is it influenced by our environment?
For example, are the 'you at home' and 'the you in cyberspace' the same?

A Jewish Canadian sociologist named Erving Goffman studied these questions in his 1959 book

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Think about these Key Questions:

Are you always the same in every situation?
In what circumstances would you present yourself differently?
What remains constant about you regardless of your circumstances?

Goffman's answers the question of how an individual in everyday situations presents himself in the presence of people?
He uses the metaphor of "Theatrical Performance" to explain people's social behavior
People are constantly involved in different dramas, changing their roles and performances in different situations.

According to Goffman:

Life is like a stage
We are the actors on this stage
We act out our ‘scripts’
We pick out our ‘costumes’
We manage our impression on the audience

So on Goffman's stage called 'Life' we act in front and backstage zones.
Back stage we are relaxed and natural, Front stage is our professional persona, using rules and scripts to act out our roles in public.

Now let's go back to the real YOU en conclude that although you've become what you are :

Life isn't about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself...
George Bernard Shaw

So go out and create yourself !

Readability

2006-07-01T09:23:00.000+02:00

No Worries !

2006-05-11T09:41:00.000+02:00

We often wonder why things happen and how we can influence them.
Well, there's just one simple answer to that.

Give what you want to receive

This simple principle in life is all it takes.

But there's one thing to keep in mind. Don't give with the single selfishly intention to receive.
Give with the right intention, because you care that others may receive what they need for( 'Cup of cold water' - principle ). To make other people grow and enjoy.

Luke 6:38“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Now, have an "open mind" on what you'll receive, because it will be much bigger than what you gave away. And if your intentions were not right and you're focussed on the receiving, you might not recognize this multiplier gift.

Of course it's also the other way around. So keep in mind what you want in life.

Finally, don't worry if you think nothing is happening.

Just like Simon Webbe told you:

No Worries, your life is gonna change

Cut the Knot !

2006-04-16T22:13:00.000+02:00

Sometimes it's hard to take decisions.
However, problems in life can be looked upon as knots.

Just like real problems in life

the stuck knots are sometimes hard to undo.
there are a lot of different knot types

Now what can we learn from knots to solve problems in real life?

Stage 1 Analyze
First of all, before undoing (= solving) a knot (= problem), try to analyze it before just starting to pull (= attack) on the knot.
Pulling without analyzing might work, but often makes things worse. So always analyze first.

Stage 2 Work out action plan
Make an action plan and work this out.
Often you can undo knots in more than one way.
In general there are five different forms of (sequential) action plans

Action Plan 1 : Analytical Approach
Think on how the rope got into a knot anyway.
Undo the knot in small steps (don't force) by slightly loosen up the knot (rope) and 'working backwards".
Decide on which end of the rope to start. Sub-analyze after each step and go on

Action Plan 2 : Trial and Error
Without a direct plan, by trial and error, but still with firmness, strength, gentleness and infinite perseverance, loosen up the knot and try to to shake the knot repeatedly.

Action Plan 3 : Make things worse
When analytic approach and trail and error fail, and nothing helps, just take the risk of making things worse. Pull both ends of the rope at the same time in order to find out if the knot undoes itself!
Just like with knots in ropes, our problems often disappear by (the risk of) making them larger.
Even knots that you can undo in this way, may seem stuck at first. Simply loosen up the knot a bit. This diminishes the resistance of the rope. After that just pull.

Action Plan 4: Wait
Do nothing and wait a limited amount of time to see if the circumstances change or you might get other ideas or help.
Often when there's no tension on the knot, it loosens up itself so you can undo it.

Action Plan 5: Cut the knot
When every action plan until now has failed use the method Alexander the Great used by slicing the Gordian Knot with his sword.
So in these cases simply Cut the Knot.
This means that when patience and perseverance have failed, end the problem in a rigorous way.

When all the above methods have failed and you still got this problem, the only way to fight it is to recognize the problem is within yourself.

The famous philosopher Wittgenstein suggested that some problems are in fact knots in our head, often created by asking ourselves the wrong sorts of questions.

Now in the end it all comes down to you. You must decide to

Cut the knot or not

Wetter it is the knot outside or in your head (or both), don't let it drive you nuts.

Out of Luck

2006-04-16T20:58:00.000+02:00

Sometimes when all runs smoothly in life, you suddenly run out of luck. Your usual "count on your blue eyes" approach fails and someone gives you a black eye instead.

In more romantic relationship terms formulated : "you get the mitten" or in plain slang language, you "get sacked on the spot"

But there is no such thing as "running out of Luck" if you're lucky to have a learning attitude.
As a little kid you didn't mind to fall and stand up, why should you now? Just take small steps to limit the downside risk of a deep fall.

Luck
A formal definition of luck which is the Yiddish word

Mazel

With: M = Place, Z = Time and L = Speech.

So, luck is being in the right place at the right time and saying the right things.

Emanuel Parzen

How is it possible that even if we feel and think something is the 'right thing to do' at the 'right place and moment in time' and speaking the 'right words', Luck doesn't show up?
Now this is were "expectations" are coming in.

Managing the expectations
Generally spoken you can define Luck as receiving more than the sum of what you had invested and expected.

In formula :

L = R - I - E
With: L= Luck, R = Results,
I = Investments & E = Expectations

Simple conclusions from this formula:

Simply manage your expectations to zero and you'll feel lucky if your results exceed your investments.
But this only works if your Results don't depend on you Expectations (e.g. playing in a lottery)

If the results are solely and partial (p<1) r =" p.E" l =" (p-1).E">
In these cases only if the Results exceed the expectations by far ( P>1; e.g. 'unconditional love') Luck could be at your door. The psychological price (I+E = risk) we have to pay for this approach, has to even out an extremely uncertain large Result (R = p.E).

Reality: Un-Expected Results
This risk of not getting a 'pay off' is enlarged by the fact that our reality is not only created by our own intentions and thoughts.

Our reality is the mixed up result (an echo) of all thoughts and intentions in the universe and contains unexpected Results that exceed our expectations. By recognizing and accepting these unexpected Results and translating them into desirable and therefore acceptable Results ( enlarged R ) we create a positive 'pay off'.

Now from behind your blue eyes, get your first Lucky Strike !

What borders you?

2006-03-23T23:56:00.000+01:00

To develop ourselves in life, we have to cross borders. Not only geographical or physical borders, but also the borders of our mind.
Sometimes we are not even aware of our borders. We (unconsciously) take our world for granted.
So think about your borders. Do they help you in your development or do they bother you and are they an obstruction?

In other words:

What borders you?

Borders in our mind
When we get conscious of our boundaries, and want to get rid of them, our first reaction is that we want to change the borders themselves. In order to grow we think we have to change the outside situation, our environment, our friends.
But in most cases the best solution to grow is not to fight the borders, but to transform yourself.

Overcoming Real Borders
Now let's expand this way of thinking to the real big borders in society.
Take for example the Berlin Wall.

To tear down this wall, a single personal transformation of an individual human being is not enough.
To achieve this, the transformation of many people is necessary, including the so called 'leaders of the pack'.
Such transformations take time and can only be achieved by collective faith.

Compare the falling of the Berlin Wall with the destruction of the walls of Jericho.

Jericho: Hebrews 11:30-31

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

The theory behind it is that not the sound of the trumpets (shofars) destroyed the walls, but the low frequency and monotone vibrations (pulses, sum of individual sound waves) caused by the monotone stomping of the feet of the crowd, produced enough power (amplitude) to achieve this.
This could only be achieved if every member of the crowd had enough faith (to believe this result could be achieved) and therefore the discipline to act in one way.

How to change things
When we try to change a situation we have to deal with the next situations

	Balanced	Unbalanced
Stable	Unchangeable e.g. Universal Love	Hard to change e.g. Fall Berlin Wall
Unstable	Easy to change e.g. melting of ice	Chaotic e.g. weather

Now it becomes clear why in some situations it takes time to realize changes while in other situations a change appears after a single small action.

In a chaotic situation, first try to stabilize the situation and find a new balance

If we want to change situations like destructing the Berlin Wall, the first thing we need is acceptance. Acceptance of the fact that you as an individual (at first) are not able to breakdown this wall.

Only after this step faith can be created that this wall can be destroyed. Not by a direct individual breakdown, but by a well tuned set of collective actions 'around' this wall. Collective faith, concentration and repeating monotone actions will "vibe" the wall down, using the simple universal forces.

Learn to recognize situations that are stable, but not in balance. Use faith to get them balanced.