What is it?

It’s not what you see that matters, you are impacted more by what you think you see.  One of your brain’s key functions in interpreting the data received via your eyes.

Vision is the ability to perceive things with your eyes (i.e., sight).  What you see is based on perception, not the truth.  However, from a personal perspective what you perceive is the reality of the moment so perhaps it is the truth.

Avoiding Confusion

We co-habit the world with a multitude of other people.  If everything we see is subject to personal interpretation rampant confusion will reign.

From birth we learn from our parents and others how to recognize and provide common labels.  For example we don’t see the colour green and label it as such.  It is learned.

The basic parameters for interpreting things, from labels to the definition of what it is, (e.g., thats an animal) is all part of the learning experience.

Perception/Perspective

Although we learn common names and meanings for the things we see obviously the learned items form just a baseline.  It is not possible for every single thing you in your lifetime to be identified and taught.

This need to figure out and define what we are seeing (i.e., not seen or experienced before) applies to everyone.  Hence there are times when we use our baseline knowledge to decide what we are seeing.

Our perception will have commonalities but each of us could see the same data input and arrive and dramatically different conclusions as to what we see.

When viewing and describing things to others keep in mind there is always room for interpretation and open discussion to clarify can help avoid confusion.

 

 

Success

Your accomplishments are a key part of what defines you, both to yourself and to others.   These successes are dependent on your belief the purpose or aim has been accomplished.

To be successful begins with understanding what success looks like (i.e., your purpose or aim).  If you are not perfectly clear on the goal or objective (what you are trying to achieve) how will you know if you achieved it?

In Isolation

In reality, however, if your only measure of success is personal and subjective without considering the views of others, you might not be as successful as you think.

Taken in isolation believing in the achievement of personal success can still be of value to you, however, it might not be a singularly defining factor from another perspective.

That is you may consider your achievements as important and valuable.  This can be personally motivating and lead to self-aggrandizement.

Unfortunately, if it is not a common view.  This leads to the question, “Have you been successful if it is not validated by others and from alternate perspectives?”

Your Happiness

Is success what you define it to be or is it defined by those around you?  Perhaps this is best answered by the rhetorical question,  “Who is in charge of your happiness?”

Remember those around you do not define your goals, they may influence them but you own them.  Living within the context of others approval might be needed to supplement your personal success but it should not be over powering.

 

Navigating the Maze

I visited a corn maze on the weekend.  It was an interesting experience and got me thinking about the parallels to life.  Things like traveling down one path only to be blocked.

All around me are 8-foot tall corn stalks with narrowly defined paths through them.  Daylight trickles down from above, enough to see clearly but the question remains, which way to go?

Following the Clues

Like life, a maze is simply a network of defined pathways with clues as to the best path but ultimately a bit of a puzzle through which one has to find a way through.

In the case of the maze, the objective is to get out.  In the case of life, the end is inevitable (you will get out at some point) but the objective is similar, select the optimal paths to achieve the best outcomes.

The main question, both for the maze and life  is how to achieve the objectives?  What clues will guide you to ensure the achievement of your objective?  That is, how do you avoid wandering around aimlessly in the maze, fearful and hoping for the best.

The answers are a bit philosophical.

  • not just listening, hearing
  • more than seeing, understanding
  • don’t just touch, truly feel
  • seeking the delicious taste not just the ordinary

Escape

In life you will not leave the maze until death, what is most significant for you is the quality, enjoyment and pleasure you take from the journey.

My trip through the earthly maze this past weekend was worthwhile because I made it so.

Patience

Patience enables the fallen to become mighty once again.  All of us will experience highs and lows throughout our lifetimes.  Remaining permanently at the bottom of a cycle is unlikely.

Sometimes just exercising our capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset is all that is needed before we rise up again.

Hope/ Optimism

Being hopeful about future outcomes leading to confidence in your future success is key to the practice of patience.  Waiting for good things to happen is easier when you are confident they will.

You may not be positive you will rise again to a level of greatness you once had or even exceed that of the past.  Pushing hard to achieve this might work however there is likely a time when a combination of patience and well-timed effort will serve you better.

Savour the Opportunity

There is a common English saying “what goes around, comes around”.   This, of course, can refer to both good and bad things returning but it does underscore the point that patience will probably lead to something.

Your objective is for your plans to lead to something good.  Careful consideration and planning makes achievement of your goals more likely and the patience to plan is a key part of that.

Take your time, remain optimistic, most likely things will come around.  Your time to rise and be mighty will arrive.  Wait for it, be patient, watch for the opportunities and take them when when it makes sense.

Form versus Function

I rearranged the furniture at my home on the weekend.  The exercise highlighted for me the critical distinction between form and function.

The rooms in my home generally have a function, for example sleeping (bedroom) cooking (kitchen), entertaining (living room), relaxing (recreation room) study (den) or reading (library).

The room is defined by the activity or purpose intended by the design or form of the room.  That is the things in the room (e.g. sink/stove, TV, fireplace and so on)

Optimization

When the form/design matches the intended function the use of something (in this case my rooms but this can be generic to anything) is natural and provides the best results.

This, of course, is one of the key product concepts that is promoted by Apple and believed to be a key to the companies success.  The products form matches function leading to enhanced overall usability.

My weekend exercise in furniture rearranging highlighted this for me.  By moving things like the TV and painting easel to different rooms, while changing the location of other items, the entire functionality of several rooms was altered, for the better.

Ah-Ha Moment

For me, this represented somewhat of a revelation.  Simply by considering alternate possibilities and ideas on how to combine and integrate the various aspects of form and function I was able to achieve a great enhancement.

The obvious or default situation is not necessarily best and the through a little brainstorming can lead to the germ of an idea.   This can ultimately result in significant improvement.

The chance to change “for the better” is often there waiting you just have to take it.

Power and Organization

Organizational structures can be used to grant individuals a power base.  That is to say by dint of your location in the structure you have associated power to make decision and demand tasks (typically related to those lower in the structure than you.)

For example if you are granted the role of CEO in a corporation typically you would be near the top of the organization structure and have significant power associated with your role.

Power without Organizational Role

It is normal to have our individual power to provide direction and get things done enhanced by our organizational role but being a powerful leader is not dependent on it.

The power to get things done through and with others exists in all of us and while positional power is a nice boost sometimes the results of efforts derived from collaboration and  joint influences are far more rewarding.  And of better quality.

 Personal Power

Getting others to join you in doing things or behaving in a particular requires an exercise of your personal power.  Your capabilities ultimately depend on your own ability to influence and collaborate.

Leading purely using role based power seldom works effectively and has a high probability of failure.  Position based power usually relies on consequences over persuasion.

This consequence approach has limited value and duration.  Typically it is unsustainable.  Buy-in of others rarely stems from fear over the longer term.

The practise of personal power is a fine line between directive and collaborative methods and the right balance can produce amazing results.

 

 

Panic

It is probably not a desirable event but on occasion, most if not all of us will experience sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.

Panic probably has a purpose although I am not sure how valuable it is given the often associated illogical or irrational behavior which is driven by the shock/stress associated with the fearful event.

Keep Calm, Carry On

During the second world war, the British Government prepared a campaign to use in the event of an invasion by Germany.  The tag line was “keep calm and carry on”.

The premise was, panic is not a useful behavior in a crisis.   England was not invaded and the campaign was never run although leftover posters were found a decade ago and the motto has become a popular phrase for modern posters, coffee mugs, etc.

Why Panic

Panic is driven by strong emotions.  Most typically is fear of undesirable consequences.  The greater the impact of the bad things we visualize potentially the greater the magnitude of our panic.

For me avoiding panic starts with a logical consideration of why it occurred in the first place.   Panic is an innate natural behavior for prioritization.

Prioritization is critical to determining when to react, how quickly and how forcefully.  In this context, panic makes sense in that it could help us prioritize the need for immediate action.

Avoiding Panic

The downside arises from emotional underpinning.   Our prioritization might not be logical and the reaction might not be the most appropriate.

That is urgency drives us to “GO” even when a little forethought might be more appropriate to arrive at the best resolution.

Simple to avoid, stop, ask why you are panicking, consider options, pick the best one and move on.

 

Masters of Reality

Manipulation of the truth can alter your reality.  Those that morph the truth make their perspectives matter.  They can overcome logic and common sense.

You may be unduly influenced by these so-called masters of reality and need to guard against overt levels of influence in order to retain your personal perspective and identity

Influence or Manipulation

All of us tend to attempt to elicit change in others’ perspectives (on and off) together with their associated behaviors, typically to our benefit.  This practice of exerting control can be considered natural and reasonable behavior, or not depending on intent.

Influence occurs when we openly have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.  Manipulation is the exerting of control on a person or situation cleverly, unfairly, or unscrupulously.

Integrity

Those of us with strong personal values, being honest and having strong moral principles can sometimes be at a disadvantage relative to those that don’t.

If honest, moral behavior which conforms to cultural norms is not high on your list of personal values it becomes easier for you to manipulate others in that manipulative behavior typically requires some level of moral suspension.

Being of good character with high personal standards does not mean you need to be a target for the manipulators but it does require you to be on greater guard to identify when someone is playing politics for their own gain.

It is important, from a self preservation perspective to guard against those that seek control through manipulation.

Unexpected Consequences

Speaking with veracity means conforming to the facts and being accurate in your statements.  Telling the truth depends on facts and reality.

Recently the University of Alberta launched a marketing campaign to increase awareness of the institutions broad base of research.  The tag line was truth matters.

Open Minds

The program defined truth as “…….the work of generations. Its pursuit is an arduous and necessary task that requires grit to stick to the evidence even when it seems elusive or challenges older ideas.”

I believe the underlying concept is to accentuate the fact  all research is of value whether we agree with it or not.  Consider the simple case of the shape of the earth.

If researchers had not been persistent in proving the earth to be round, in the face of great opposition and persecution, where would we be today?  (Possibly stuck in isolation lest we fall off the flat earth)

Consequences

Believing and promoting the truth as if it really matters, sadly, has consequences.  These can be greatly exaggerated reactions exacerbated by social media.

Last weekend we experienced an example of this when a top executive of the U of A resigned because a billboard advertisement  within the overall truth matters campaign was misconstrued.

Social media quickly picked up on the topic of the billboard, research that showed benefits of global warming, as supporting global warming. Of course this was ridiculous, the add was simply intended to expose and celebrate research, in and of itself.

For an institutions that promotes truth as something that matters this over reaction really makes it appear that those in charge really believe the opposite, that is truth is less important than perceptions, misconceptions and beliefs.

Sad and scary.