Archives July 2020

Do or do not. There is no try.

He should have continued: And silence that voice inside your head filling you with self doubt arising from errors of the past, present ego insecurities and anxiety for the actual results you could get.

Of course, for Yoda, that would end up in an intelligible phrase. Maybe that is why he didn’t say it. And for him, in his wisdom, it could be so obvious that he decided to skip it.

So if you are looking into waking up one hour earlier (which may sound so silly but may be really hard) or starting a new business (which may sound really hard in it actually mega hard), when acting upon a decision already made, any baggage we may carry from the past must be left behind, or it will deflect our focus and energies, increasing the probabilities for failure.

We must be so present that any doubt, second thought or hesitation must be treated as the enemy. It is to be silenced. And the word try is to be eliminated from our vocabulary, since now it means half assed efforts.

This new hyped desire of lots of people to become more developed human beings is super laudable.

Lots of people think that by being better human beings in an individualistic way is enough to change the world. It all starts there, it is true, but it is no suficient.

There is a lot forces out there working tirelessly to maintain the status quo. Evenfurther, they are actively trying to amass more power. And historically, these people have been better at hoarding and using power to keep other from doing it. They are more effective at it than those that wish a better present and future.

So, if you are serious about improving the world, that little but determinant factor must be in your to do list.

Even if you have the best of intentions. Even if you are aware of the issue at hand. Even if you have thinked through the possible solution. Even then one must go and do an extra but mandatory exercise.

One must know the consequences of a course of action before it is implemented.

Paraphrasing Daniel Schmachtenberger: The 2nd and 3rd order consequences of a decision or plan must be analyzed in order to be aware fo what your actions could cause.

The contrary forces and their possible actions and resources are to be understood.

Finally, the amount of force (or violence) needed to put into action also must be analyzed. Here, the dream could turn into a nightmare.

Now think if you were to execute the plan and the contrary forces acted in response, and the 2nd & 3rd level consequences happened, would the results still be positive? If not, you better stop and rethink.

Anything less than the previous analysis would not just be stupid, but irresponsible.

Standing in the observation deck, a frustrated Captain Picard was looking at the fading stars passing by . He was upset because he couldn’t find the answer to a particular predicament. The thing is, he didn’t even knew what the question was and he was already trying to solve it.

Business is useless. We are used to work hard and even look like we are working hard to please our boss, our partners and even our own ego.

Make a pause. Take a minute and ask yourself: Is it really the right question the one I am trying to solve? Do I have to rephrase it? Or maybe I have to go back to square one and find the right question to solve?

In order to be able to condition the brain to pursue and accomplish your goals, you must ignite the dopamine reward system. it will open the possibility of creating neural highways to reinforce those behaviors that will eventually drive the brain to move in the desired direction.

So early in the morning one must have the goals of the day clearly understood. It would be great to be able to visualize them and then act upon them so when they are accomplished the epinephrine and the dopamine will be timely released.

Move and just keep moving is the name of the game here.

The brain needs to feel it is moving in the desired direction. Need to feel accomplishments and also need to reward itself once those goals have been accomplished.

That is the virtual circle you must work on. So to feel motivated it is best to move early, have a clear set of goals, push away any distractors and act upon those goals.

Solving problems by analogy. I have been doing it at superb performance levels for almost 16 years now. At least intentionally, but sadly, not consciously.

As a consultant you become pretty agile to look for info, synthesize it and then draw fast conclusions in order to be able to help your clients.

This approach does help. It has huge value of its own. But how about those times when the client has the need to disrupt itself and the industry he’s into? When it is a matter of life or death to the business, his wealth, his reputation and yours?

Then first principles must come into action. Decomposing the problem and it’s elements into their most fundamental constituents. Then you can start with the real innovation.

It is not a guarantee of success, however, it will enhance your odds at finding true innovation. The problem with first principles thinking is you have seldom the time to invest in the process (it is so much slower than working with analogies). Also the client must see the value in the resources invested (of course money, but also time and mental energy).

The solution will be much more valuable, impactful and meaningful but the whole team, as well as the sponsor must buy completely into the idea of a deeper understanding, by working so much more before a viable solution is on the table.