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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Live & Learn

by Rick Baker
On Jun 18, 2015

When it comes to predicting future performance, the best advice comes from past performance. If there is no advice to be heard from past performance then you know you have no true guidance. And, you understand some exploration is required…some testing is required. Only when testing and measuring is complete will you be able to obtain advice from past performance.

Tags:

Measure & Monitor | Solutions & Opportunities | Thinking as in Think and Grow Rich

Bite-sized Success

by Rick Baker
On Oct 21, 2014

Most people fail because they quit. Most people quit because they get frustrated. Most people get frustrated because they don't know how to measure success. Most people don't know how to measure success because they never took time to think about how they might be able to accomplish that measurement.

Most people don't break work down into bite-sized tasks which can be measured.

When we break success into bite-sized pieces we can measure it. When we measure actions we can see and celebrate our small successes. When we celebrate small successes we self motivate. When we self motivate we increase our chances of ultimate success.

When we measure them and know our small successes are accumulating we gain confidence.

When we gain confidence we increase the likelihood of ultimate success.

This is the sort of logic that allows us to understand the value embedded in goals, especially when vivid long-term vision is meshed with measurable short-term goals.

Crystallize your thoughts & desires...clearly communicate details of Goals, Tasks & Actions. Then Do & Measure the Actions.

by Rick Baker
On Aug 25, 2014

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

And Practice: if Practice doesn't make perfect then what does?

Practice clarifying your desires.

Practice clarifying your Goals.

Practice communicating about your desires and Goals.

Practice defining the details of Tasks, with emphasis on the Tasks that yield the results you desire.

Practice taking Talent to the Tasks - i.e., Practice the best, most-focused-for-success Actions.

Practice communicating about Talents & Strengths and about Tasks and Actions.

Practice Measuring Actions.

Practice Measuring results.

These are the ways to better- and best-in-class performance.

These are the ways to Skills.

These are the ways to business success.

Don't let your desire for metrics and measures overrule your need to exercise common sense.

by Rick Baker
On Jul 31, 2014

[No text]

Tags:

Measure & Monitor | Thought Tweets

Stress - how do you measure it?

by Rick Baker
On Feb 12, 2014

Lately, a lot of people have been talking with me about stress. 

Some people know they are under extreme amounts of stress. 

Other people really don't know how much stress they are experiencing. They know lots of things are keeping them busy and lots of things and people are annoying or troubling them. But, they don't know whether or not they are under an unhealthy level of stress.

I recall reading about the work of JJ Kim and DM Diamond, recognized stress experts. Here's a link to an introduction/sample of their work.

Kim & Diamond provide a framework for understanding stress. We may not want to openly admit it...wait a minute...maybe denial contributes to stress levels.

You know you are under stress when:

  1. You experience an aroused physiological response to 
  2. Something you would prefer to avoid which is
  3. To some degree beyond your control.
At first thought, it would seem most of us have the ability to know when our bodies undergo changes. Certainly, most of us know our bodies undergo changes when we are frightened or experience an intrusion or surprise that we would prefer to avoid. However, perhaps we have experienced an annoying thing or person for so long and with such regularity we lose track of the fact our blood pressure has risen or our heart rates have increased. Perhaps stress creeps up on us and causes a stacking of little bricks of stress?

Most of us know when we would prefer to avoid a thing or a person. Sometimes we are overly tolerant, putting up with the annoyance...wait a minute...Maybe that contributes to our stress levels. Say, for example, you work in an office environment and one of your co-workers is a first-rate nuisance. Sometimes we choose to be polite in the face of annoyances...Could that contribute to stress levels too? Yes, it likely adds at least a brick or two of stress. 

And, say you feel you have no control over that nuisance co-worker: the co-worker doesn't report to you and doesn't report to your boss. Yet, your cubicle offers no escape route or hiding spot. This could be delivering bricks of stress to you...

***

Some thoughts about Control...that 3rd Kim/Diamond criteria for stress.

There's an argument to be made - we have virtually no control over anything. I cannot control you. You cannot control me. Neither of us can control that nuisance co-worker. That nuisance co-worker's boss cannot control that nuisance co-worker. You and I and the nuisance co-worker and our bosses cannot control today's weather, or tomorrow's weather, or next week's sales, or...

There's an argument to be made - as Napoleon Hill and many others have done - you and I have ultimate control because we possess the ability to control our thoughts. We do not have to be annoyed by things or people...we can choose to not be annoyed. We can choose to remove our need to control. We can choose to remove our ability to experience stress.

***

Egos are magnets for stress. That's a factor to consider.
 
 
***

Thinking and writing about stress...a great way to not experience it.
 

Tags:

Attitude: Creating Positive Attitude | Emotions & Feelings @ Work | Measure & Monitor

Put your foot down...say "No" to "No"

by Rick Baker
On Oct 15, 2013

Beliefs: some good, some not-so-good

Beliefs intertwine with perceptions and patterns in your brain. Then beliefs manifest their influence, acting as your 'internal filters'. These filters guide your view of the world. These filters guide your behaviour. Your beliefs become deeply-held in your subconscious mind. From that strong base, your beliefs generate your habits…some good, some bad. Your beliefs determine your appetite for new things, your attitude toward change, and your ability to replace bad habits with good habits.

Do you know the true nature and depths of your beliefs?

Have you taken the time to 'dig deep' and understand your most-powerful beliefs?

These beliefs, your strong-and-deeply-rooted beliefs, govern your life: deep beliefs are the roots of your greatest joys; deep beliefs are the roots of your darkest fears.

Your deepest and most-strongly-held beliefs aid your efforts toward certain goals while they resist your efforts toward other goals. In these ways, your beliefs are fundamental to your life. They are fundamental to how you feel during your life and they are fundamental to whether or not you achieve the success you desire.

Where did your beliefs come from?

When it comes to questions like this, all of us are students. None of us know with certainty why or how we have beliefs. Yet, certain things make sense to us. As examples:

·         We perceive things and our perceptions of those things are taken to our brains

·         Our brains file vast amounts of information in memory, for future reference

·         Our brains like to simplify our lives so they sort things into patterns/concepts

·         With repetition bits and pieces of information solidify into bigger pieces and then into patterns

·         Diversity of perceptions expand and complicate perceptions, building a hierarchy of sorted/related patterns [and concepts]

An illustration...

When we are infants we hear our parents say the word "No". That's an audio perception. As our parents repeat the word "No" we learn "No" is an important part of our lives. Simple repetition of that spoken word causes neurons in our brains to construct deeper "No" pathways. Recognizing the importance of "No", our infant brains begin to build a "No" pattern. Our infant brains quickly pick up diverse perceptions that will feed into the "No" pattern. A parent may show an angry face while saying the word "No". The visual body language signal and the verbal sound signal send 2 separate messages, both of which feed into the growing "No" pattern in our infant brains. We notice/perceive that different situations precede our parents’ "No" messages. We perceive more diversity, more repetition and the "No" pattern becomes stronger, deeper, and more-nuanced. Even as infants we have a very broad and deep understanding of the word “No”. We recognize its sound, we recognize what it looks like when it is written, we recognize the facial expressions and the various forms of body language that accompany the word “No”, and we know the word “No” is expressed to us as a result of a wide range of different situations.

We learn our parents are not the only ones who deliver "No" messages to us. Other family members, to varying degrees, deliver "No" messages. We meet neighbours who have little people of their own and both those neighbours and the toddlers they bring into our lives add more "No" to our perceptions.

Why all this discussion around the word “No”?

That question begs the questions…

Do you understand how the pattern/concept “No” has fed negatives into your belief system?

Do you understand the extent the pattern/concept “No” throttles your efforts toward your desired goals & success?

Do you understand how to go about repairing the damage the word “No” has done to you belief system?

Are you willing to make an effort to find out?

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