Archive for June, 2010
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 »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
You heard that before, right? So this post is more on the ‘morality’ of things. I am going to go out on a limb here and state that everyone has broken rules at one point or another. So what makes it OK to break the rules? Are all the rules meant to be broken? If not, what determines whether it is OK to break a rule or not? I am just curious. I am not expecting any confessions here; instead I’d like to find out where different people stand on the concept of ‘rules’.
When it comes to the rules themselves, do we even need them? What I mean is, do we need rules to tell us how to behave, or do we have some sort of intrinsic understanding of what is OK and not OK to do? I’ve heard an argument, that I personally don’t agree with, that people need religion to tell them what is right and what is wrong, implying that if we did not have the ‘ten commandments’, we would not know that it is not OK to kill another. So if we do know that it is not right to do certain things, why have written rules for them? And if we do not, then maybe it’s not all that bad?
As you can see, there are a lot more questions in this post than answers. Again, I’m curious as to what the different opinions are, so the questions are there to get your mental juices flowing.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Action, Human Behavior, Irrational Behavior, Personal Power, Religion
Posted in Psychology | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 28th, 2010
So this is what I know – there is really only one thing happening – the eternal flow of Energy into form, through form, and out of form. Energy is the fundamental building block of all the things seen and unseen and It is the only thing that is common to everything. The flow of Energy is mysterious and the precise mechanisms can be questioned, but one thing is for sure – it does so according to Law, and like all laws in the Universe, It is impersonal and can only do. It responds with a resounding ‘YES’ to everything that is subjected to It. I also know that since I am an individualized manifestation of Energy, I too am subject to the same Law. To think otherwise would be to think an impossibility. With this in mind, I choose to be a force for love, happiness, joy, health, and abundance in my world. With unconditional gratitude I release my vision to the Universe and allow it to manifest. With confidence that it is already so, I say ‘Thanks’, I let go, and let it be. And so it is.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Ernest Holmes, Science Of Mind, Spiritual Mind Treatment
Posted in Spiritual Mind Treatment | 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 »
Monday, June 21st, 2010
Life is full of beauty, energy, and wonder. Everything in the world appears to be intertwined and interconnected resembling an incredible organism. Knowing that I am alive in this world, I recognize that I am linked with everything else around me and that my thoughts and actions influence things outside of my immediate reach. I recognize that my beliefs are the driving force in my interpretations of life which constantly shape my experiences. I believe in growth, in opportunity, in love and joy, in expansion and in purpose. The more I look for those things in my life, the more I find them, as my mind is trained to recognize them. I am grateful to be alive and to enjoy all the gifts life has to offer. I release my good vibrations and allow them to come back into my life in multitude of ways. I let go and I let it be. And so it is.
Until next time,
V
Tags: Ernest Holmes, Science Of Mind, Spiritual Mind Treatment
Posted in Spiritual Mind Treatment | 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 »