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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Thought Tweet #798.5

by Rick Baker
On Aug 7, 2013

Thought Tweet #798.5 Get present, Stay present. Be present on paper. (A salute to My Journal)

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

When I write stuff in My Journal I find it helps me focus and concentrate...and remember.

My Journal helps me be present. Some take 'being present' for granted. I do not. And, I see other people who shouldn't.

My Journal helps me stay present...it's a tool for focus and concentration.

My Journal: something I can use excessively and feel good about it.

[...and, did I mention...My Journal helps me remember things?]

 

PS: My Journal is a web-based tool, created for me by my son and partner, Jack.

Tags:

Beyond Business | Thought Tweets

Did our ancestors have thicker skin?

by Rick Baker
On Aug 1, 2013

Our skin is about a millimetre thick.

That's thick enough to protect our soft and vulnerable internal things from most damage.

Yet, far too often, it is not thick enough to protect our soft and vulnerable egos. Somehow, the opinions of others can pierce our thin skin, offend our egos, and distract, dampen, and damage our spirits.

Why does this happen?

How does this happen?

Has this always been the case?

Or -

Did our ancestors have thicker skin?

Did our ancestors view criticism as a noble form of communication? Was there a time when many people, perhaps even whole tribes or communities, had skin that thick?

If so, what happened?

How did people's skin become thinner?

Is it the larger the community the thinner the skin?

Is it the more-advanced the civilization the thinner the skin?

Is it the more the possessions the less the skin?

The more the stuff the less the skin?

And -

Why don't more people take the time to do some self-analysis, obtain some help, and thicken up their skin?

Do people see thin skin as an inevitable part of their destiny...pre-determined, evolution-engineered?

Do they blame their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents and so on?

Or - 

Do they wonder - Did our ancestors have thicker skin?

Thinking about Process...and Creativity

by Rick Baker
On Jul 25, 2013

All aspects of everything we do, whether creative or not, involve process. Thought involves process. Emptying a dishwasher involves process. Innovation involves process. Eating a chocolate bar involves process. Going to the moon involves process.

Not eating a chocolate bar, to the extent we do it with thought, involves process.

Creativity involves process – always.

On a micro scale: our bodies are laced with processes – electrical, chemical, and mechanical. On a macro scale:  the methods that put men on the moon were complicated processes.

Creativity and innovation are results of combinations of processes our bodies perform. That applies at the micro level and at the macro level.

I think that's an important point for a number of reasons.

If creativity happens without process then processes do not influence creativity. In addition, anyone who believes he or she can teach or learn creativity is a wrong-thinker.

Clearly, there is much evidence to confirm creativity involves processes and in the absence of processes there can be no creativity. The same applies to innovation, (which is part of a process that starts with curiosity and creativity). Perhaps the strongest proof of this is the fact that the human body relies upon electricity to exist. Without micro electrical processes our brains and bodies would cease to function let alone be creative. From that micro level, moving from inside to outside, we can see much evidence that creativity relies on other processes. As one next-step-out example, we must eat to fuel the electrical processes that energize our bodies and our brains. As an example of another-step-out, our brain cells rely on blood flow. Without blood flow our brain cells quickly die…taking our ability to think creatively with them. So, our brain processes rely on our heart processes.

As another step out toward macro – the neurons in our brains operate under processes. (see for example, Ray Kurzweil's recent book 'How to Create a Mind') These neuronal processes are (at least) guided by our DNA. DNA is all about process. (see Richard Dawkins' recent book 'The Magic of Reality')

Our senses deliver perceptions to our brains and our brains house that information…for future use. Human beings learn through a process of perceiving, storing, recognizing patterns, retrieving, etc. And, creativity relies on all those processes.

Here's a different view about creativity vis-à-vis right and wrong: creativity is not about right and wrong. If it can be summed up in one word, creativity is about 'new'. People have different perceptions…because people are different.

When people perceive and think the same way and accept a situation, there is little ability to experience creativity. When people perceive and think different ways and accept a situation, creativity has a much easier time presenting itself. When people judge others as wrong, the likelihood of creativity arising or evolving into invention or innovation drops. When people accept others as being different and are OK not judging the differences as right or wrong, minds tend to be more open to new ideas…and creativity, invention, and innovation have an opportunity to flourish. 

Thought Tweet #787.5

by Rick Baker
On Jul 23, 2013

Thought Tweet #787.5 You don't see yourself the way others see you. Need proof? Look in a mirror. See - you already got it backwards.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

When we invented mirrors we invented a useful tool...they allow us to check out our hair and fix our make-up before we leave the house in the morning. When you time a bit of time to think about it...isn't it a little annoying that when we get those things right we also get them backwards. The other 7,000,000,000 or so see us the exact opposite way. 

Tags:

Beyond Business | Humour | Thought Tweets

Thought Tweet #781

by Rick Baker
On Jul 15, 2013

Thought Tweet #781 People eat sour fruit sparingly. Yet they complain about it much.

  

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Sometimes sour fruit is the best thing to consume. The British found that out several centuries ago and the practice of eating limes was encouraged by Scottish Dr. James Lind. He helped the British Navy understand limes and lime juice prevented sailors from the pain and suffering of scurvy. This fact was known prior to the arrival of Dr. Lind. And, the benefit of limes was well understood when he documented proof. Yet, the practice of eating limes to prevent scurvy was not adopted by the British Navy until some time later.

The first sailors who ate limes were ridiculed. By fellow sailors and pirates alike.

To this day the legacy of ridicule lives on in the form of a derogatory/racist ancestor of the word lime.

To this day, people resist when others try to force them to eat sour fruit.

So, take care when you try to unload sour fruit on your people.

Care taken while introducing sour fruit is inversely proportional to the amount of complaining that introduction generates. The greater the care, the lesser the complaints.

Tags:

Beyond Business | Criticism: Constructive Criticism is an Oxymoron | Humour | Thought Tweets

Cavemen: another tribute

by Rick Baker
On Jul 12, 2013

Cavemen had it tough.

Yes, I know some are trying to make it look like cavemen had it cushy. 

Don`t believe it.

Cavemen had it tough.

When major problems arose they had to pull up their big-boy loin cloths and face the challenges.

Cavemen faced a simple choice: meet the challenge or lose...and often losing meant death.

Imagine how tough it must have been to watch your next-door cave-neighbour do things better than you...hunt better than you, gather better than you, build a better fire...let alone have a more elegant and ergonomic cave. How tough was that on the lizard brain?

So, if you believe in the 'theory of evolution', take comfort in the amazing genes that survived all those challenges and lived long enough to create you. You are made of good resilient stuff.

If you don't believe in the 'theory of evolution', take comfort in knowing it could be worse. You don't have to live in a cold, dark cave. And, Mother Nature outside your home and around your office ain't gonna eat you. If not evolution, at least time has blessed you.

PS: Either way it seems to me we owe a debt to those cave-people who walked this planet before us. They paved the path in so many ways. And, they did it the good-old-fashioned way - without designer shoes. Head-to-toe hardship...literally. Amazing!

PPS: When I used the word 'literally' above I was not trying to imply cave-people were particularly literate. I mean - that sort of thinking is not etched in stone.

link to earlier Cavemen articles (i.e., the Missing Link)

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Beyond Business

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