Archive for the ‘Taking Action’ Category
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Last week I wrote a post on how high emotion leads to low intelligence and results very often in poor decisions. At the end I said that there are very few instances where emotions have a place in making decisions. In the time that followed, I got a couple of comments on the post, so I thought I’d take another stab at it. What I was trying to say last week was that really strong emotions, like when we are head-over-heels in love, or when we are so angry that steam is coming out of you ears, strongly affect the quality of our decisions. Very often we look back and regret the things we have done or said. These are the situations that the ‘high emotion – low intelligence’ comment refers to.
Emotions in themselves, when they do not take control of you, are actually vital to sound decision making. Reason and emotion go hand in hand. In 1848, there was a remarkable case of Phineas Gage in Vermont. Phineas Gage survived a head injury that took out his abilities to experience emotions, but left his reasoning capabilities perfectly intact. The accident made it very difficult for him to make any decisions, even trivial ones, whereas prior to the injury that was not the case.
We rely on emotions to tell us whether something ‘feels right’ or somehow just doesn’t. We trust that gut feeling and without it we seem unable to reason our way to a conclusion. So emotions are not bad unless they start to overtake you.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Irrational Behavior, Relationships, Response-ability, Success
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 25th, 2010
To me ‘emotional decision making’ is equivalent to ‘irrational decision making’. It is the best way that I can sum it up. I don’t remember where I first heard it, otherwise I’d give full credit, but I do recall someone saying that high emotion leads to low intelligence. Another great way to put it.
I recently had a chat about this with a couple of friends in relation to soccer. Refs use yellow cards to calm the players down and make sure that the game does not get out of hand. There were a few games that I have seen where refs lost control of the game by giving out too many yellow cards. At some point, the players start to intentionally be more physical and aggressive in their challenges, as to dare the ref to show another card. Since two yellow cards get you sent off leaving your team short-handed and earn you a next-game suspension, why would anyone want to dare the ref to give them a card? Well, simply because they are angry and frustrated with the ref and high emotional involvement leads to stupid decision making.
Soccer, obviously, is not the only place where this applies. We even have a different classification for murders that occur in ‘the heat of the moment’ and punish those offenders differently. So there is recognition in our society of emotional decision making and we try to account for that. However, the most valuable thing that you can do is to recognize that tendency in your own life, and give yourself time and space to cool off before making a decision. Easier said than done, but it is a very valuable skill to have. There are very few places where emotions have a place in making decisions.
Until Monday,
V
Tags: Action, Decision Making, Human Behavior, Irrational Behavior, Relationships, Response-ability, Success
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 3 Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
I am sure that most people who own their own businesses have faced this decision at some point or another, and probably more than once. It is the decision between taking on a project that is outside the main line of work and earning additional revenue, or declining the project and sticking to what the company is good at. It can be a challenging choice, especially if you are not over-booked or if you need some extra cash. Some people always follow the philosophy of “do whatever it takes to bring in revenue.” But that is a dangerous path to head down, since it can easily take away the necessary time from keeping your company focused and improving on your area of expertise.
We are all dealing with the same amount of time, so we can’t do anything about that. The only thing we can do is manage our time to the best of our abilities. Now if you are not sure what you want to do, maybe taking on anything that comes is a good idea. It should give you a good understanding of what is required for the completion of different tasks and projects. Once you know what you want to do, it can be tempting to go on tangents while you build up your customer base, but it will always take away from learning and developing your skills and knowledge in your field.
I don’t have any stats on this, but it would not surprise me if most business owners faced this type of dilemma on pretty regular basis. Even when the company is established, in order to grow it needs to expand. It can expand the services, or alternatively it can expand on the number of clients serviced. Again not an easy choice. This post is not intended to provide an answer, as I do not really have one; more importantly it is intended to draw your attention to the common dilemma. And I welcome any thoughts you may have on this.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, goals, Human Behavior, Money, Success, Time Management
Posted in Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
There is a phrase in an essay that was written by Cyril Parkinson and published in The Economist in the 50’s that is now called ‘The Parkinson’s Law’; the phrase goes like this, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
When I first read that, it hit me like a ton of bricks. “How true,” I thought. I wish I realized this back in school. If I had a month to write a paper, I’d think about it, and ponder, and review it multiple times, only to finish it the night before. If I had an evening to write a paper, I’d review it only once or twice, but it would still get done. It’s like that free space on the desk – it will get filled with something when it is available.
So what is the lesson here? Give yourself less time to get things done. You’ll still get them done, but it will take you less time to do them and you will stick to the essentials. I compare this to writing a one-page vs a ten-page paper on the same topic. In the former you need to stick to what matters most, while in the latter you can go on about things that are hardly important to fill the space. The same principle applies to doing tasks – when you have little time to do them, you’ll stick to the core essentials and forget about the not-so-important fluff.
Hope this helps you carve out a little more time out of your day…
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Cyril Parkinson, Human Behavior, Parkinson's Law, Personal Power, Success, Time Management
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
I seem to always be more productive when I have a lot of things on my plate and very little time to do them. Do any of you find that to be true in your lives as well?
There were so many times in my life when I was looking forward to a lighter work-load so that I could spend more time on this, that, or the other thing. When a break finally came in the form of a vacation or something else, I never got to the things that I wanted to do originally, even though I had more time. Somehow the abundance of ‘free’ time just seemed to make it very challenging to get anything done. The solution for me lies in scheduling.
I am most productive and most balanced when I follow a schedule. It was a lot easier back in the school days when a schedule was given to me. I knew when I had to get up, when I ate lunch, when I went to the gym, when I did homework, and when I saw my friends. When there is no one breathing down my neck, it takes a lot of discipline to make and follow a schedule, and so far, I have to admit, I have hardly been consistent with it. But I do know where the key to productivity now lies and what needs my attention. Does any of this ring true for you?
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, goals, Human Behavior, Personal Power, Scheduling, Success
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 18th, 2010
Yesterday I wrote about how making significant changes in life, especially changes in beliefs, is something that takes time, effort, and energy. In other words, it requires a great deal of focus. Focus is also essential in many other areas of your life where you want to get worthy results, and unfortunately, we have so many things fighting for our attention, that maintaining focus is becoming more and more challenging – we need to focus on being focused.
Focus allows you to concentrate your energy on the task at hand. When you are focused on the task, as opposed to having your mind occupied by other things, you complete it better, faster, and more accurately. The challenge is that we have many things that keep distracting us on the ongoing basis.
One of the worst offenders is email. Most people check their email every few minutes and email clients commonly make some sort of sound to notify you of a new message. That constantly distracts you from what you are doing and eats up a lot of your time during the day. Smart phones are not much better. Now you have phone calls, emails, text messages, and facebook and twitter updates that come to a single device that rings, blinks, and vibrates to notify you of life calling. I noticed that my smart phone was commanding my attention so frequently, that I turned off all notifications except for phone calls. I feel that it saves me at least an hour every day.
Take a look at how you spend your day and pay special attention to the different things that constantly grab your attention without a good reason. Work to minimize those distractions in order to create longer spans of time during which you can give your undivided attention to the important things. Then enjoy the benefits…
Until Monday,
V
Tags: Action, Energy, goals, Human Behavior, Personal Power, Success
Posted in Energy, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
We are a quick-fix society. Stephen Covey talks a lot about that in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and how that is a big roadblock to change. Unfortunately people do not like to hear that, and since it is a profitable business practice to tell people what they want to hear, most self-help books, courses, and seminars sell the quick-fix. The titles of books and their introductions constantly suggest, or even explicitly promote, a complete life overhaul virtually overnight. But it does not work like that, and the problem comes up when people start believing that changes in life are quick and easy. When people do not see the results the next day or two, they get discouraged and give up on the whole thing, labeling all of the self-development materials useless.
Changes that have a lasting, positive impact on your life are never quick and never easy – they take a lot of time and a lot of energy and dedication. Beliefs form a driving force in our lives, and they are the hardest thing to change. We form beliefs automatically and in many cases they do not serve us as well as they could. Unfortunately changing them is as not as easy as it was forming them in the first place. There are tools available, like affirmations and visualizations, that help the process along, but it is hardly a quick process.
So give yourself a reality check. Make sure you grasp the magnitude of the tasks before you. Do know that change is possible, but change is not an overnight thing.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Affirmation Triggers, Affirmations, goals, Human Behavior, intentions, Personal Power, Stephen Covey, Success
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
My advise – don’t worry so much about what other people think. I wrote several times on fear and how it is usually the primary offender in keeping us from taking action. I think, and I hope that you’ll agree, that a big component of fear is our concern about what others will think of our choices and our actions. Another way to think about it, is to consider how you would feel about a given choice if you knew, with absolute confidence, that no one would ever know about its success or failure. Whenever I try that to think about it that way, a lot of the fear goes away. But that is not what I want to talk about today.
We established that people care a great deal about what others think of them, which contributes to the feelings of fear, that I am sure we have all experienced. The interesting thing is that as you, and me, and my neighbour, and your friend, and your friend’s friend, and everyone else worries about what others think of them, they do not leave much time for worrying about others. That is where the notion that ‘you are the person who cares most about you’ comes from. Following that logic, it seems that people don’t really care that much about the choices of others, but they think that everyone else cares about their choices. What that says to me is that I should not care so much about what other think about my choices, since they likely won’t think much of them anyway.
Does that make sense? Your thoughts?
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Fear, Human Behavior, Irrational Behavior, Personal Power, Success
Posted in Psychology, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 4th, 2010
I was browsing the web the other day and came across this ‘online pdf manual’ that caught my attention. It wasn’t very expensive – $40 – with a full-refund guarantee. I’m not new to the Internet, so I know that there are legitimate people selling things online as well as crooks. I have no problem trusting big names online, but I am somewhat careful with the little guys. Once you send them the money, you never know what kind of product you’ll get back and whether or not they will honour their money-back guarantee. Even though it wasn’t one of the big companies, it also wasn’t one of those 10-mile long web pages with colourful fake testimonials from Jake N. and Mandy B. I thought about it for a few seconds and decided against the purchase in fear of wasting $40. And then it hit me…
How many times do I waste $40 in other ways? I have no problem going to a movie with friends or going out for dinner, which adds up quickly to well over $40. Sure, I get enjoyment out of it, but the benefit is short lived and in some ways can be considered a ‘waste’. But here I was contemplating whether or not to get this manual that may actually have some ongoing benefits for some time to come. When I noticed that, I thought how interesting it was that so much thought went into getting something unfamiliar of great potential benefit vs the amount of thought that went into saying ‘yes’ to a movie.
Has this happened to anyone else? Have you thought twice maybe about buying a $15 book, only to spend $20 at a coffee house 2 hours later?
Until Monday,
V
Tags: Human Behavior, Irrational Behavior
Posted in Psychology, Taking Action | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Do you consider yourself a risk taker in your personal life? How about in your professional life? Or are you careful all the time? There is definitely that trade off between staying safe and having some awesome experiences.
I know people who are very careful and always think twice before doing anything remotely dangerous. I actually used to be a lot more like that, except that at one point I said “what the hell, let’s do it”, and took my first leap of faith out of an airplane. To this day, that was arguably the best experience of my life. I took calculated risks a few more times that led to really awesome experiences – bungee jumping and riding a motorcycle are a couple of examples. There is an inherent risk that goes with such activities – I could hurt myself badly or even worse, and it is usually for those reasons that people never attempt anything remotely ‘dangerous’ and hold themselves back from experiencing something special.
Same type of behaviour easily carries over into other areas of life. One could be afraid of getting their heart broken and thus will stay away from any sort of romantic relationship. Or one could be concerned about the financial stability and never take a chance at a more exciting and fulfilling career.
What kind of risks have you taken that led to some wicked experiences? And on the flip side, what areas of life could you take more risks in to get some wicked experiences?
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Human Behavior, Inspiration, Personal Power, Relationships, Success
Posted in Psychology, Relationships, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »