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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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What mental-attitude flavour do you choose: Positivity, Negativity, or Indifference?

by Rick Baker
On May 1, 2017

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

The cornerstone of our personality, our mental attitude, shows up as the general flavour of our thoughts...as illustrated in our actions/behaviour.

Sorting Out Your Decisions Before You Make Them

by Rick Baker
On Apr 24, 2017

On the Nature of Decisions

Every one of us makes numerous decisions every day.

Many of our decisions are small, like - “What shirt should I wear today?” Some of our decisions are larger with more serious consequences, like – “How should I go about firing this employee?”

Some decisions trigger strong and challenging emotional responses, like – “Should I tell this person my true feelings?”

Other decisions involve trade-offs between goals, like – “Should I stick to my diet or eat that chocolate-dipped ice-cream cone?” 1 [Often these decisions pit short-term rewards against long-term rewards.]

Some decisions involve massive risks involving money, reputation, relationships, etc.

Decisions involve the study of past and present data and the forecasting of future outcomes.

This is just a sampling of the ways you can sort decisions before you make them. If you take the time, and it will be a surprisingly large amount of time, to analyze the decisions you make in a 24-hour day then you will discover the wide variety of decisions you make. You will be able to consider the ‘nature’ of your decisions and you will be able to categorize your decisions by their ‘nature’ and confirm the frequency of each major type of decision.

But – odds are you will never do that 24-hour exercise.

Perhaps, you will buy into sorting your decisions into two types/natures: easy decisions & tough decisions? This simple sorting will be a very good first step toward understanding then planning the types of decisions you face regularly.

On the Method of Decisions

There are also numerous ways to make decisions.

Decisions can be knee-jerks and blinks, relying on unconscious responses, emotional waves and intuition.

Decisions can be crafted by masters and orchestrated by maestros. Capturing this in a shorter description - when we make decisions we can “Plan the Work and Work the Plan” [paraphrasing Napoleon Hill].

This article is about planned decisions, which can be sorted into 3 'methods' 2:

Consultative and consensus decisions involve trade-offs, as examples:

As psychologists and judges will confirm:

  • the ‘nature’ of the decision is important,
  • the decision outcome is important, and
  • the procedure or ‘method’ used to create the decision is important...especially if you want people to "buy-in".

Sorting Decisions by ‘Nature’ and ‘Method’

Simple tools exist to help people think through and sort out their decisions - examples include Pareto's Principle [80/20 Rule], Covey's Time Management Matrix and Berne's Transactional AnalysisMuch time and effort can be saved by using these simple 1-page tools to sort out the best ways to make decisions. Also, these tools can be used to reduce decision-making conflicts and increase decision buy-in. It is a good idea to have a number of these tools in your decision-making toolkit. You can use them to set your personal decision-making rules and you can use them to communicate with others on your decision-making teams.

Here’s a starter tool you and your decision-makers can use to create a picture of the way you sort decisions by 'nature' and 'method' -

 

Footnotes

  1. As a general rule: when decisions align with goals they promote good habits; when decisions do not align with goals they promote bad habits.
  2. Brian Tracy recommended these categories. 

Here I go...Telling you about Asking

by Rick Baker
On Apr 20, 2017

I’m telling you that you must cut down on telling people what to do and start asking more questions.

Isn’t that oxymoronic?

Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?

Isn’t that an ego out of control?

Maybe...I don’t think so…could I be wrong?

But, could my ego-denial be due to my attribution bias impairing my perceptions and skewing my judgement?

Regardless, perhaps there is a seed of wisdom in my argument that questions deserve a larger share of your mind-space, your thoughts, and your interactions with people? Perhaps, you can agree your attribution bias causes you to be harsher than required when opining on other people’s work? Perhaps, you can try to step away from your attribution bias and consider asking more questions? Perhaps, you can listen attentively while people respond to your questions? And, perhaps you can observe people more carefully, seeking out their ‘positives’ rather than their ‘negatives’?

Perhaps, you can deliver more pats on all those backs?

Visions, Biases & Evolution

by Rick Baker
On Apr 17, 2017

We have wonderful dreams and ambitions…there’s no end to our visions of better things in the future. And, behind these dreams and ambitions, our motives are admirable – all around helping people, solving tough problems and building fun, cool and valuable things.

As we identify opportunities and conceive solutions, we are prone to trick ourselves. According to psychologists, we are predisposed to a wide range of biases. These biases skew our thinking, causing us to be over-anxious, over-confident and hold many other troubled mindsets between these extremes. If you were to fully research all the 100’s of psychological biases then you would probably be so frazzled you’d have trouble thinking anything positive about the future, let alone envisioning bright future changes. 

So – we don’t want to dwell on these biases. 

We just want to mention one of the biases – the tendency to be over-confident about our ability to predict the future…i.e., the ‘overconfidence effect’.

Psychologists tell us we are prone to be over-confident when we forecast the future. This causes us to over-estimate the success we will experience when we create a new product or service. While psychologists illustrate the problems this natural bias can generate, there are other ways to think about it. 

For example -

Scientists tout evolution. To a large degree, the concept of evolution is accepted by non-scientists. Along that vein, scientists and non-scientists alike can ‘blame’ evolution for our tendency to be over-confident about our ability to predict the future. And, consistent with evolution concepts, we can conclude this tendency must exist to help us adapt and survive. 

If we were not naturally blessed with the tendency to have over-confident thoughts about the future then we would be less inclined to envision better futures, set goals around our visions and be persistent in action aimed at our visions.

The where would we be?

[We’d be hobbled with low-confidence and submerged in fatalistic, status-quo thoughts.]

 

 

 

Building Self-confidence

by Rick Baker
On Mar 28, 2017

A strong desire to achieve promotes self-confidence.

Positive self-image and high self-esteem promote self-confidence. 

Sense of purpose and goals promote self-confidence. 

A commitment to take action promotes self-confidence. 

Affirmations promote self-confidence. 

Strong personal values for fair play promote self-confidence. 

Positive thinking, especially about other people, promote self-confidence.

Willingness to serve others promotes self-confidence.   

Truthfulness promotes self-confidence.

A keen sense of justice promotes self-confidence. 

'Planning your work and working your plan' - that also promotes self-confidence. 

These are some of the important messages Napoleon Hill embedded in his Self-confidence Formula. Hill understood self-confidence is a fragile thing...easily disrupted...time-consuming to build...energy-consuming to hold fast. 

Self-confidence is a habit. It is a good habit. 

Good habits don't just happen. Good habits require planning. Good habits require ongoing work. 

What matters is what you're going to do next.

by Rick Baker
On Mar 2, 2017

It doesn't matter what you've done or what you know or even who you know.

What matters is what you're going to do next and, of more importance, whether or not people are positively influenced by what you do next.

Sure, from time to time, it's fun to reminisce about the glory days. On the other hand, the glory days are not here again until you make it so. And as you make it so you may not be able to do it the same way it happened the last time.

As Dylan taught us - the times they are a-changin'.  

You will need to adapt and accommodate to the current situations.

As Darwin taught us - "Survival goes not to the strongest or the most intelligent but to the one who is most adaptable to change."  

Yes, it is true, what you know is important to a degree.

Better stated, what you know contains potential value. Specialized knowledge is of particular value. The extent of the value of your knowledge is determined by your ability to identify opportunities and do constructive things to convert those opportunities into positive changes [desired by other people].

Your future success boils down to how you intend to put your strengths - that is, how you intend to put your talents, knowledge, and skills - to good use in the future.

Your future success depends on whether or not you can positively influence other people to help you achieve the goals you envision.

Your future success depends on what you're going to do next: positive change happens one action-step at a time.

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