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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Cutting Through The Confusion: Seeing Good Qualities in People

by Rick Baker
On May 30, 2013

Intertwined with our spirits and minds, each of us possesses 3 human qualities: Drive, Intelligence, and Self-Control.

Drive

Drive has 2 components: Emotions, which are hereditary vestiges, and Desires, which come in two forms - pleasure/gratification seeking and pain/difficulty avoidance.

Put another way:

  • Emotions are subconscious drives inherent in us, and all other human beings, designed to protect us from danger. Each of us has to figure out how to cope with Emotions.
  • Desires are aimed at achieving positive rewards and avoiding negative outcomes. Desires are conscious drives, specific to each of us and linked to each individual's Intelligence and Self-Control....and Goals.

Intelligence

Intelligence has 4 components:

  • Self-Knowledge, 
  • Innate Talent, 
  • Knowledge about People, and 
  • Wisdom covering self and interactions with other People in Situations

Intelligence spans a wide range from the rational/logical to the irrational/emotional...with feelings dancing in between.

Each of us experiences Intelligence 2 ways, and only 2 ways:

  1. by Thinking &
  2. by Taking Action.

Self-Control

Self-Control seems to be a thing played out between spirit and mind....between logic and emotion...between right and wrong...between Good Habits and Bad Habits, between short- and long-term goals. Self-Control is much easier said than done. Coupled with clarity of thought, Self-Control (power of will) presents to each of us an exquisite & life-long series of mind-challenges.

This donkey has a burr

by Rick Baker
On May 28, 2013

 

In days of old, asses were wild creatures that looked similar to horses, but with long ears.

Nowadays, when we hear the word 'ass' we tend to think of the thing we sit on, [regardless of what's under it].

When Mankind domesticated asses, we created what we now know as donkeys, [see picture above].

Human beings have a habit of using animal names to describe one another. When we call a person an ass, we mean the person is difficult to take. When we call a person a donkey, it means the person is stubborn or stupid. And, we use both words to describe people who annoy us.

After everything asses and donkeys have done for Mankind over the last few millennia...we repay them by using their names to ridicule one another!

I wonder if this is an example of anthropomorphism...or, is it the exact opposite...like zoomorphism?

And, when did we start doing these cross-species insults?

 

PS: an article about no carrots, no sticks...& no donkeys.

 

Tags:

Beyond Business

Thought Tweet #743

by Rick Baker
On May 22, 2013

Thought Tweet #743 Procrastination can be OK...as long as you are not almost going through the motions.

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Some people have mastered the art of procrastinating for success

Somehow, intuitively, or through self-analysis, they know certain actions go against their grain. So, either consciously or non-consciously, they don't do. They don't almost do. They just don't do. And, they don't fret about it.

Tags:

Beyond Business | Humour | Thought Tweets

Thought Tweet #735

by Rick Baker
On May 10, 2013

Thought Tweet #735 Slightly annoyed people used to say, "Get a Life". Reality TV has taken the sting out of that admonition.


The Thinking Behind The Tweet

It's now incredibly easy to 'get a life'. Our TV remotes provide us a full range of lives...numerous reality choices with many variations on how to annoy other people - annoying co-workers, annoying family members, annoying aspiring singers & aspiring dancers & aspiring entrepreneurs...annoying all types of people in all types of real-life situations...all available at the flick of a switch.

Question:

Do you spend more time (A) annoying other people or (B) watching people you don't know annoying other people you don't know on TV?

And, for those who are not avid practitioners in the art of annoying others...

Do you spend more time (A) solving your own problems or (B) watching other people struggle with their problems on TV?

Thought Tweet #732

by Rick Baker
On May 7, 2013

Thought Tweet #732 "...the parasites live where the great have little secret sores."

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

According to history or legend, when the great Henry Ford was caught in a very compromising situation he said, "Never complain, never explain". We cannot believe everything we read, so - perhaps Henry Ford was never in that compromising situation and even if he was perhaps he never said that never-never quip. And, perhaps Henry Ford was simply making timely use of the wisdom expressed earlier by the great British statesman, Benjamin Disraeli?

Regardless, Disraeli or Ford or both, "Never complain, never explain" makes for an interesting story-example of what makes great men great.

 

PS: "...the parasites live where the great have little secret sores."

Many people have a negative impression of Friedrich Nietzsche. I'm not one of them. Just after Disraeli's death, when Ford was a young man, Nietzsche wrote those words. ['This Spoke Zarathustra'...written in 4 parts, during the 1880's]

Tags:

Beyond Business | Hero Worship | Thought Tweets

Thought Tweet #728

by Rick Baker
On May 1, 2013

Thought Tweet #728 Show & Tell...Pick Show!

 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

In our younger days, our grade-school teachers tried to teach us how to Show & Tell.

[Perhaps due to the latency effect] Many of us only picked up the last half of the lesson.

It is really tough to lead by example when you are long on Tell and short on Show.

 

Tags:

Beyond Business | Leaders' Thoughts | Thought Tweets

Copyright © 2012. W.F.C (Rick) Baker. All Rights Reserved.