Category Archives: Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Take a Chance

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Sometimes the door may be open but we ask ourselves, “Is it safe to go through?”  Everything we do contains some risk, choosing to be too risk-averse can result in missed rewards.

Surprisingly, human nature will drive many of us to work harder to get through closed doors.  The hidden and mysterious is often appealing and we work hard to break down those doors.

Risk Aversion

When we are not sure of the reward, that is the value equation is not crystal clear and it is possible moving forward through the door might require more effort than it is worth.

In these cases, although the path is open to us and we could follow it our consideration of the potential negative impacts can derail us and we hold back.

Carpe Diem.  The ancient Romans produced many great phases and “Seize the Day” was one of them for me.   Of course, this should not be done blindly throwing caution to the wind but taking an opportunity, going through the open door should not be ignored without due consideration.

Without Failure

When I pause to consider if I should take a chance one factor for me is the knowledge that if I don’t try I will not magically attain my desired goal.

Failure however will not destroy me, albeit unpleasant.  While the chance I pass up obviously relieves me from the associated risk and danger of failure, what am I missing out on?

On the whole giving it a go is more satisfying than sitting on the sidelines.

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Pushing Until you Succeed

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The beatings will stop when morale improves.  This somewhat humorous statement highlights a conundrum of changing group or individual behavior.

Care needs to be taken to ensure the approach to make changes and successfully achieve the desired goals does not contradict the overall objective.

Using Pressure to Attain Calm

Pushing for a quality result, or a wholesale change in culture or perspective needs to be accomplished in a way consistent with the expected outcomes.

A pressure cooker environment might drive results but if the intention is to do so in a way the participants are relaxed, calm and enjoying themselves, obviously the two goals diverge.

Pushing Yourselves or Others

Motivation is required to succeed.  At a high level, motivation is either a push, pull or combination of the two.

Pushing is by it’s nature, demanding and does rely on pressure and anxiety somewhat to drive results.  This approach can backfire if the stress level gets too high.  Many of us just shutdown when that happens.

The pull approach is often more difficult to set-up and must be enticing enough to the target audience to get results.  A pul could be overlooked or even ignored.

The Middle Ground

As with most things balance is a great approach.  In this case combining push and pull techniques can have the advantage of  attention getting without the negative aspect of consequences.

Most people prefer to make their own choice, or at least believe they chose freely.  Influencing people in a way that initiates self motivation is usually far more effective than flogging.

 

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Big Brother

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In 1997 Sweden implemented a traffic safety idea called vision zero.  Vision Zero is basically the adoption of a long-term goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries.

Sweden currently has the lowest rate of traffic fatalities in the world.  Canada adopted vision zero as a federal strategy in 2016. The City of Edmonton in Canada is stepping up the bar toward the achievement of vision zero goals.

Speed Enforcement

Unlike many other jurisdictions throughout Canada, the City of Edmonton has chosen to move to more aggressive automated enforcement of speed limits.

Apparently speed is a factor in all collisions.   Sure, logically for a collision to occur there must be movement, hence vehicle speed is not zero.

However, as an argument for strict enforcement of vehicle speed limits, it does not cut it for me.  There are numerous other factors impacting accidents and short of not moving at all speed is not necessarily or even primarily the cause.

Cash Grab or Safety

For me,  justifying the feeding the city coffers faster (through automating the collection of speeding fines) using the vision zero objectives is clearly an obfustication of reality.

Speeding fines are lucrative and the city wants to increase revenue.  They introduced a fleet of speed enforcement trucks with photo radar which will be regularly situated at enforcement sites throughout the city.

With enforcement zones published weekly on the web and trucks bright yellow and left in the open, the city is couching this revenue generator as a vision zero safety program.

How gullible do they think we are.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Bad Behaviour

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No matter what kind of soap you use, or how much, it is unlikely you can clean up the impacts of bad behavior.   The best way to ensure there is no fallout from the way you behave is to not behave badly in the first place.

Sometimes we stretch our behavioral limits beyond both cultural and social standards.  When acting outside of the norms you can be viewed as behaving badly (albeit a somewhat subjective measure).

Impacts/ Consequences

Our behavior has a real impact.   We can negatively (or positively) affect how others view us but also we could act in ways that cause others pain or harm them in some way (of course we can do good as well).

The things we do and how we act matter.   In some cases, these actions can have irrevocable results.  Bad behavior usually leads to negative outcomes while we may work hard to make amends or fix the damage, in reality, the past status quo can never be truly restored.

The results of bad behavior can never be fully cleaned up, regardless of how apologetic or remorseful we are.  It is more effective to avoid acting in ways that could harm your reputation.

The Simple Approach

Most often, if not always behaving badly stems from emotional override.  Our logic and restraint are overridden by a flood of emotions.

We feel it coming on and know what we are experiencing but for many, we are unable to hold back our passion, excitement, anger, frustration, etc.

The simple solution is to adopt a personal belief bad behavior has no value or benefit and must be avoided at all costs.  When you start to cycle up the bad behavior curve, stop, ignore everything around you.

Force yourself into a state of relaxation, take several deep breaths and then start again from the bottom – and stay there.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Tell me

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Sharing information could result in a loss of control.   This principle is intuitive and is a key underlying factor in shaping our behavior when it comes to telling others stuff.

The catchphrase “Information is power” refers to using it as a lever to enable increase our capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events (i.e., exercise power).

Associating the loss of control with a lessening of personal power is a reason information is often not shared.

Overcoming the Loss of Control

While it can often open opportunities for collaboration leading to better results, given the impacts on both our control and power base it is more likely to hold back providing others information freely.

Strategic dissemination of information is often viewed as the best approach largely because of fear.  That is fear of loss of control.  In reality, giving up this control and frequently lead to better results.

The power of diversity comes into play when we leverage ideas and support of others.  Harnessing different thinking can be a great way to resolve the issue or come up with innovative approaches.

Share and Get Rewarded

Although our instinctual behaviour is to be cautious when sharing our personal information the downside is missing on the potential rewards by sharing freely.

Taking advantage of others resolves the dangers of the unknown things that you don’t know but others do.  Share with others and they will tell you what they know.

The advantage gained by sharing usually far exceeds the cost of giving up some control.

 

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Free Will

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When you come to a fork in the road, choose free will. Free will represents the exercise of power to act without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion.

It may seem at times the choice is not yours to make due to arbitrary constraints, external pressures, forced needs or just happenstance.  Ultimately though, choosing free will is always the best choice.

Use the Power Within

Each of us has the ability to create and use earned power.  We all have the ability to select, influence and change an outcome (i.e., the exercise of free will) even when we are not specifically granted that authority.

This is not the default state though and the exercise of free will requires skill and effort.  When you are presented with options and need to decide your personal approach, the exercise of free will can be the most satisfying but also may be the most difficult approach.

For me, the mantra is “I choose free will”.

It is Satisfying

The most powerful argument for the exercise of free will is the associated pleasure it gives you.  It feels good to take charge of our destiny and while not usually the easiest path it is certainly the most personally fulfilling.

Of course, as will all things balance is key.  Taking charge and blatantly exercising your free will can harm relationships with others and the overall result could be catastrophic.

So do take care, but don’t dodge undertaking the use of your free will because it is too hard.  Ultimately it is worth it.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Consequences

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Managing behavior based on consequences is a widely used approach.  The concept relies on fear as a motivator.  That is, behave accordingly or suffer.

Intuitively we believe fear has urgency and can drive behavioral change.   In some cases this true but often through the process of rationalization, we mitigate the fear and thus are not motivated to alter our behavior.

Rationalization

When advised, “stop smoking, it will kill you” many people consider and develop a fear defense by focusing on the positive.  Smoking might kill others but it won’t kill me.

A number of psychology studies conducted on cigarette package warnings (fear tactic) are all conclusive that these warnings have no impact on smokers’ behavior.

It is human nature to focus on the positive, that is things that make us feel good and avoid scary and unpleasant things as much as possible.

For Example

A neat example of this is investor behavior.  A recent analytic study compared investment account log-ins over a five year period with reported market highs and lows (based on the S&P 500 index).

High markets corresponded with high log-ins and low markets with a low volume of balance checking.  Basically, when the news is bad we just don’t want to know, classic avoidance.

Motivating Change

The bottom line, positive behavior changes are best motivated by instant reward, fact-based analysis, comparison and competitive incentive (others are doing it so I should too) NOT consequences.

When you want to make a change, or you would like to help someone else change, remember to focus on the positive, reward them (or yourself) at the moment and consider the fact-based analysis and what others are doing.

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Taking Charge

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Within the social context of life, all of us have the opportunity to assume control or responsibility for events and actions both internal and external to us.

We can take charge of a group, an event or activity or simply accept full personal control of our own actions.  Taking control removes the ability to blame other people or things.  Nothing made you act beyond your own volition.

Guiding the Result

In a group situation, in the interests of efficiency, it is often helpful if one person acts as a facilitator.  The guidance provided by the recognized authority enables all to act consistently and effectively.

Consider a security guard or first responder providing direction to others in an emergency situation.  Without them, panic could reign and chaos would result.

Sometimes the appointed leader or person in charge is not always obvious.  These cases represent an opportunity for us to step up and exercise leadership, even though we have not been granted the privilege.

For the Greater Good

Being granted authority to take charge (or not) shouldn’t be a limiting factor relative to your decision to step forward and help.  Think of the greater good.

When there is a leadership vacuum the groups’ ability to perform is greatly diminished.  This is not to denigrate the value of collaborative functioning as a whole, that is the hallmark of a high performing team.

However, there are times when group action requires a queue.   Often people are wondering, should I act, what will others think, who is going first, should it be me?

These are great opportunities for you to take charge.  You can influence the result for the betterment of everyone.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Stretch Yourself

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Reaching outside your comfort zone, that is stretching your skills and capabilities beyond the norm can be uncomfortable.  Also though, it could be very rewarding.

Living within your boundaries is an option.  You are likely to meet all your basic needs with minimal stress and effort.  You probably won’t exceed expectations, both your own and others but you should be comfortable.

Motivation

For those that stretch themselves and drive for the exceptional there must be some motivation.  Gold medal winning athletes stretch for the top pushing themselves to exceed,

This drive to break out of the mundane starts with self motivation.  Without being able to create and internal desire to excel, given the effort required, it is unlikely you will take on the challenge.

The key to personal success is determining why you want it, how much it is worth for you and then turn that into mental motivation.   Typically in your mind the objective becomes something you must have. That is where your motivation begins.

Confidence

Desire though powerful is not enough alone to get you focused on a stretch goal.  You must believe you can do it.  Also you need a foundational belief that constantly raising the bar is the best approach.

That is, don’t sit on your laurels.  The question to ask yourself is what is the next big thing?  How can I continue to push beyond the limits?

You may believe you are happy in your comfort zone but as soon as you begin to push out of the zone you will wonder why you were every squatting there in the first place.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

New Decade?

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Does popular belief determine truth or is it factually based?  I have always loved mathematics as it is indisputably factually.  Two plus two equals four.

Or does it.  Is the rule of math a human creation or a thing that is intrinsically true?  (In case you are wondering about this post it will be my new years first stab at deep philosophy, or is it the new decade?)

Therein Lies the Rub

Is the year twenty-twenty the first of a new decade or the last of a retiring decade?  I have read articles in the press welcoming the new decade.

Alternatively an internet search muddies the waters with definitive explanations of how 2020 is the first year of the decade and the last year of the decade.

There are references to the common calendar, the Julian and Georgian calendars and other perspectives as well.

Just Count It

For me, this is a mathematical problem which is entirely based on counting.  The issue arises relative to the rules associated with counting.

Simply put, if the number of things cannot include zero (a latter day concept invented by Greek mathematicians) than a decade starts with one and ends with ten.

By this logic, twenty-twenty is the tenth year and so the end, not the start of a decade.  (This logic of course presupposes full agreement that a decade consists of a count of ten, although I am sure someone will argue this)

On the Other Hand

If zero is a counting place holder, that is year zero counts than a decade runs from zero to nine and twenty-twenty is year zero and so the start of a decade.

So when does the new decade begin?  You can decide.  It seems it is a personal choice.