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term="proof"/><category term="psychology"/><category term="purcell"/><category term="purpose"/><category term="quadrant"/><category term="quantum mechanics"/><category term="quark"/><category term="real you"/><category term="reward"/><category term="route"/><category term="rules"/><category term="seesaw"/><category term="senses"/><category term="share"/><category term="sheet music"/><category term="shortest route"/><category term="simple"/><category term="strange"/><category term="stress"/><category term="strong points"/><category term="success"/><category term="sun tze"/><category term="sure"/><category term="synchronicity"/><category term="targets"/><category term="team"/><category term="techniques"/><category term="test"/><category term="test drive"/><category term="thinkstyle"/><category term="thought"/><category term="threat"/><category term="time perspective"/><category term="too much"/><category term="trouble"/><category term="trust"/><category term="tune"/><category term="view"/><category term="viskarervaring"/><category term="watch it"/><category term="weak"/><category term="when"/><category term="wind"/><category term="windchill"/><category term="wing"/><category term="woman"/><category term="zorro"/><title type='text'>Philos</title><subtitle type='html'>Philosophical site about Meta-Philosophy. &#xa;Combining the best of Philosophy, Mathematics, Theology, Psychology, Physics, Art, Zen, Management and much more ...</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default?alt=atom&amp;redirect=false'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><link rel='next' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default?alt=atom&amp;start-index=26&amp;max-results=25&amp;redirect=false'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>106</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-6611160811944366729</id><published>2014-01-25T19:39:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2014-01-25T19:39:48.634+01:00</updated><title type='text'>How to get Something from Nothing?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: small; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;
2. <div style="font-style: normal;">
3. Finally I've decided to blog-out my - still not mature - thoughts on how Something can be created from Nothing.</div>
4. <div style="font-style: normal;">
5. <br /></div>
6. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: right; text-align: center;">
7. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrn7AaT5d6HPLfXhFO9NDJXjjxLxvNmxb-Zg8Jfi1E3_7WMJ8KfoniUE-mtgoYbEMfokdBtrRYS7UWogvVx77CzD_v3k6-tm6joyZGJIF5Tf5WrLn9YMrrSXQNZLyt2mjSYux/s1600/create-sometging-nothing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrn7AaT5d6HPLfXhFO9NDJXjjxLxvNmxb-Zg8Jfi1E3_7WMJ8KfoniUE-mtgoYbEMfokdBtrRYS7UWogvVx77CzD_v3k6-tm6joyZGJIF5Tf5WrLn9YMrrSXQNZLyt2mjSYux/s1600/create-sometging-nothing.png" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
8. <div>
9. It's all about philosophy and Math, but I'll try to keep it simple, as the most fundamental things in life <i>are</i> simple.</div>
10. <div style="font-style: normal;">
11. <br /></div>
12. <div style="font-style: normal;">
13. Also keep in mind that what follows is not necessarily 'true', but more a '<i>thought model</i>' helping to explain and to grasp the phenomenon of creating 'something out of nothing'.</div>
14. <div style="font-style: normal;">
15. <br /></div>
16. <div style="font-style: normal;">
17. <br /></div>
18. <div style="font-style: normal;">
19. <u><b><span style="color: #073763;">Basic Thoughts</span></b></u></div>
20. <div style="font-style: normal;">
21. Try to <i>imagine</i> Nothing....</div>
22. <div style="font-style: normal;">
23. <br /></div>
24. <div style="font-style: normal;">
25. After a few minutes of philosophizing you'll notice, it's not possible to imagine Nothing. All we can come up with, is the '<i>idea'</i> of Nothing, as Nothing is in fact 'No Thing'.</div>
26. <div style="font-style: normal;">
27. <br /></div>
28. <div>
29. Now, this <i style="font-style: normal;">idea</i> is exactly what 'was', 'is', and for ever 'will be': an '<i style="font-style: normal;">idea'. </i>Not a specific idea, but the concept of an <i style="font-style: normal;">idea</i>. That's enough. The concept of an <i style="font-style: normal;">idea</i>  doesn't exist in space or time, it's simply there. It's the metaphor of the concept of Nothing. It's <i>potential</i>.</div>
30. <div style="font-style: normal;">
31. <br /></div>
32. <div>
33. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: right; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
34. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40Xikw4YO0aspsMU-8k-1hzFE_rJCgLEj-htY_CiPZw49qbhcaKLcdpWV3WPi0l_a-pEZqpXai0LMiKP3I4RPAf0uUwy1z8tJp0U2dkNkLqduWWzOTSWe81UUkpHUSOogHsYH/s1600/image-imagination.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj40Xikw4YO0aspsMU-8k-1hzFE_rJCgLEj-htY_CiPZw49qbhcaKLcdpWV3WPi0l_a-pEZqpXai0LMiKP3I4RPAf0uUwy1z8tJp0U2dkNkLqduWWzOTSWe81UUkpHUSOogHsYH/s1600/image-imagination.png" height="185" width="200" /></a></div>
35. <i style="font-style: normal;">'Idea'</i> is the only word that not only is defined as a noun (passive, object), but '<i>at the same time</i>' also as a kind of verb (operator, action), as an<i style="font-style: normal;"> idea</i> is 'that what can be <i style="font-style: normal;">imagined'. </i>You<i style="font-style: normal;"> also 'have' </i>an idea.<br />
36. <div style="font-style: normal;">
37. <br /></div>
38. <div style="font-style: normal;">
39. Hence, an <i>idea</i> is passive and active at the same <i>time</i>. In self-reference terms the<i> idea</i> is the imagination of an<i> idea</i>.</div>
40. </div>
41. <div>
42. <br />
43. This<i style="font-style: normal;"> idea</i> is in fact what we call '<i>spirit'</i> in the wider sense of the word. It's an <i>intention</i>, it has the 'potential' (power) of 'creativity', of creating a (positive)<i> illusion</i>. In other words: it's the basis of 'creation'.</div>
44. <div style="font-style: normal;">
45. <br /></div>
46. <div style="font-style: normal;">
47. Let's define this general concept of  '<i>idea'</i> by the symbol '<i>i</i>'.</div>
48. <div style="font-style: normal;">
49. <br /></div>
50. <div style="font-style: normal;">
51. <br /></div>
52. <div style="font-style: normal;">
53. <b><u><span style="color: #073763;">The idea Mathematically expressed</span></u></b></div>
54. <div style="font-style: normal;">
55. As an <i>idea</i> is 'not real' but <i>imaginary</i>, the most logical mathematical translation of an<i> idea </i>(<i>i</i>) is the mathematical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginary_unit">unit imaginary number</a>, denoted as well as: '<i>i</i>'</div>
56. <div style="font-style: normal;">
57. <br /></div>
58. <div style="font-style: normal;">
59. '<i>i</i>' is a so called 'complex number' in mathematics with the core property that if you multiply it with itself, the product is "−1".</div>
60. <div style="font-style: normal;">
61. <br /></div>
62. <div style="font-style: normal;">
63. So <i>i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> </sup>= −1.</div>
64. <div style="font-style: normal;">
65. <br /></div>
66. <div style="font-style: normal;">
67. As we all now there's no real number that multiplied with itself is a negative number (−1). So (<i>i</i>) will do perfectly as mathematical translation, as we'll see further on.</div>
68. <div style="font-style: normal;">
69. <br /></div>
70. <div style="font-style: normal;">
71. <br /></div>
72. <div style="font-style: normal;">
73. <b><u><span style="color: #073763;">Next Step: How to create 'Something'</span></u></b></div>
74. <div style="font-style: normal;">
75. Now we've accepted the general concept of an idea (<i>i</i>), the question is : how to get from an idea (of Nothing) to Something if we have <i>Nothing</i> else but an <i>idea</i> (<i>i</i>).</div>
76. <div style="font-style: normal;">
77. <br /></div>
78. <div style="font-style: normal;">
79. The problem, or better expressed 'our luck' is <i>that</i> we have nothing else but an <i>idea</i> (<i>i</i>). Fortunately the concept of the <i>idea</i> (<i>i</i>) is as well singular as (not literally) plural and also object as well as operator, as the concept of ideas is still an <i>idea</i> and the imagination of an <i>idea</i> is also an <i>idea</i>.</div>
80. <div style="font-style: normal;">
81. <br /></div>
82. <div style="font-style: normal;">
83. So all it takes for an <i>idea</i> to create a 'next stage idea' is to apply the idea-concept on itself as an object and operator. It doesn't <i>matter</i> which one is the object or the operator, as object and operator on the idea-level are the same.</div>
84. <div style="font-style: normal;">
85. <br /></div>
86. <div style="font-style: normal;">
87. <b><u><span style="color: #783f04;">Creating Antimatter</span></u></b></div>
88. <div style="font-style: normal;">
89. O.K. Let's demonstrate what happens if we imply (the concept of) an <i>idea</i> on itself while applying some basic simple 'complex mathematics' as defined above:</div>
90. <div style="font-style: normal;">
91. <br /></div>
92. <div style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;">
93. <span style="color: #20124d;"><i>i i</i> = <i>i</i>(<i>i</i>) = <i>i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span> </sup>=  −1</span></div>
94. <div style="font-style: normal;">
95. <br /></div>
96. <div style="font-style: normal;">
97. As we can see, the result is a '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_number">real number</a>'. Not only is it real, but it's also negative.</div>
98. <div style="font-style: normal;">
99. We can and will interpret a positive real number as what we perceive in our world as 'space'. We can touch it and see it, it's real...</div>
100. <div style="font-style: normal;">
101. Therefore a negative real number can be interpreted as 'antimatter'.</div>
102. <div style="font-style: normal;">
103. <br /></div>
104. <div style="font-style: normal;">
105. So applying an idea on itself generates 'antimatter'</div>
106. <div style="font-style: normal;">
107. <br /></div>
108. <div style="font-style: normal;">
109. <b><u><span style="color: #783f04;">Creating Time</span></u></b></div>
110. <span style="font-style: normal;">Now let's go on by applying an </span><i>idea</i> on antimatter<br />
111. <div style="font-style: normal;">
112. Here it is:</div>
113. <div style="font-style: normal;">
114. <br /></div>
115. <div style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;">
116. <span style="color: #20124d;"><i>i i</i> <i>i </i>= <i>i</i>(<i>i</i>(<i>i</i>)) = <i>i</i>(<i>i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></sup>) = <i>i</i>(−1) = −<i>i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i></span></div>
117. <div style="font-style: normal;">
118. <br /></div>
119. <div>
120. This result ' −<i style="font-style: normal;">i</i>' can be interpreted as '<i>time</i>', as is also the case in the definition with regard to space-time by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minkowski_space" style="font-style: normal;">Minkowski.</a></div>
121. <div style="font-style: normal;">
122. <br /></div>
123. <div style="font-style: normal;">
124. As 'time'  = <span style="color: #20124d;">−</span><i style="color: #20124d;">i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> ,</span></i> we can also express time as a kind of idea (thought) in the past (as the sign of time is negative). In other words (free interpreted): time is the perception of thoughts in the past. </div>
125. <div style="font-style: normal;">
126. <br /></div>
127. <div style="font-style: normal;">
128. <b><u><span style="color: #7f6000;">Creating Space</span></u></b></div>
129. Now, in the last step we finally we can apply the concept of<i> idea</i> on 'time', resulting in:<br />
130. <div style="font-style: normal;">
131. <br /></div>
132. <div style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 139); font-style: normal; padding: 5px; width: 300px;">
133. <span style="color: #20124d;"><i>i i</i> <i>i </i><i>i </i>= <i>i</i>(<i>i</i> <i>i i</i>) = <i>i</i>(-<i>i</i>) = −<i>i<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i><sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span></sup> = 1</span></div>
134. <div style="font-style: normal;">
135. <br /></div>
136. <div>
137. This result can - as defined - be interpreted as '<i>space</i>'.</div>
138. <div style="font-style: normal;">
139. <br /></div>
140. <div style="font-style: normal;">
141. So space is more or less the result of thinking or thoughts about time.<br />
142. In other words, 'space' is our perception (= projected idea) of time in the 'present'.<br />
143. <br /></div>
144. <div>
145. Applying the <i>idea</i> on <i>space</i> again [ <i style="font-style: normal;">i</i>(1) = <i style="font-style: normal;">i</i> ] would result in the concept of '<i>idea</i><i style="font-style: normal;">'</i> again, which starts the cycle of creation from beginning again.</div>
146. <div style="font-style: normal;">
147. <br />
148. <br /></div>
149. <div style="font-style: normal;">
150. <b><u><span style="color: #073763;">Conclusion</span></u></b><br />
151. As I've demonstrated by applying a very simple model, we can construct a thought model that subsequently creates antimatter, time and space from the basic imaginary general concept of an 'idea'.</div>
152. <div style="font-style: normal;">
153. <b><u><span style="color: #073763;"><br /></span></u></b>
154. </div>
155. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: left; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
156. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFAkTwNZL3eTvoizjTiAkfg8fINeoFXcWHeLozBrerPvdoPbLMZ2k2eKmE5lf14c1-ONknNIxIzrLmKJusjs9DTp7IrPpz8u5Vp6rPNddqBDQA5Qhdy6hZQcAOsNr57xPzNvX/s1600/something-from-nothing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjFAkTwNZL3eTvoizjTiAkfg8fINeoFXcWHeLozBrerPvdoPbLMZ2k2eKmE5lf14c1-ONknNIxIzrLmKJusjs9DTp7IrPpz8u5Vp6rPNddqBDQA5Qhdy6hZQcAOsNr57xPzNvX/s1600/something-from-nothing.png" /></a></div>
157. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
158. </div>
159. <div style="font-style: normal;">
160. <br /></div>
161. <div>
162. <div style="font-style: normal;">
163. So all we need for creation is to apply and multiply our ideas.</div>
164. <div style="font-style: normal;">
165. <br /></div>
166. Realize and appreciate that you as a human being are also a 'divine' product of idea-creation. By applying  your ideas in the real world, you contribute to this 'world'. Hopefully a 'better' world in line with the <i>idea</i> ..... Just Do It! </div>
167. <div style="font-style: normal;">
168. <br /></div>
169. <div style="font-style: normal;">
170. Hope you liked this 'philosophy blog'. Please comment your thoughts and <i>ideas</i> on this!</div>
171. <div style="font-style: normal;">
172. <br /></div>
173. <div style="font-style: normal;">
174. <br /></div>
175. </div>
176. </content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/6611160811944366729/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=6611160811944366729' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/6611160811944366729'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/6611160811944366729'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2014/01/how-to-get-something-from-nothing.html' title='How to get Something from Nothing?'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKrn7AaT5d6HPLfXhFO9NDJXjjxLxvNmxb-Zg8Jfi1E3_7WMJ8KfoniUE-mtgoYbEMfokdBtrRYS7UWogvVx77CzD_v3k6-tm6joyZGJIF5Tf5WrLn9YMrrSXQNZLyt2mjSYux/s72-c/create-sometging-nothing.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-7894970266612980173</id><published>2011-10-15T18:44:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2011-10-15T18:44:33.663+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="opinion"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="view"/><title type='text'>What you see is true!</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;If your colleague, friend or relative disagrees with you, how do you respond?&lt;br /&gt;
177. <br />
178. <u style="color: blue;"><b>Your reality</b></u><br />
179. When we view or perceive (hear, smell, taste) something, this is reality to us.<br />
180. And indeed it is a kind of reality, <b><i>your</i></b> reality! As, given your '<i>filters</i>' like genes, education, physical (health) condition, background, position, circumstances, consciousness, and experiences (etc....), every human being can only perceive a small and often different glimpse of what reality really is.<br />
181. <br />
182. So, to put it in an other way: <br />
183. <b><br />
184. </b><br />
185. <div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">What you</span> <span style="color: #b45f06;">see is true</span><span style="color: #bf9000;">, but</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">what others</span> <span style="color: #351c75;">see</span> <span style="color: #741b47;">too!</span></b></div><br />
186. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-weP9BdyTql-9XMxwM7vAEsLwsRSQJuQgQBgBn1Jysd5PEbSsthw2G9OwiRWKautmzR_qWp32flgKiey6x-vzKSYSy4Vt4j4YqetLfrOfIcSbBOzICItfJE1C-_TrKeODT1o/s1600/different-view-on-the-world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-weP9BdyTql-9XMxwM7vAEsLwsRSQJuQgQBgBn1Jysd5PEbSsthw2G9OwiRWKautmzR_qWp32flgKiey6x-vzKSYSy4Vt4j4YqetLfrOfIcSbBOzICItfJE1C-_TrKeODT1o/s1600/different-view-on-the-world.jpg" /></a></div><br />
187. <u><b style="color: blue;">Consequences</b></u><br />
188. This implies that instead of trying to convince the other that your point of view is right, it's more constructive and fruitful to ask the other about his view and opinion. <br />
189. <br />
190. At first it will be difficult to understand the other and perhaps it even arouses aversion, but eventually you'll be able to better understand the other's point of view without the obligation that it necessarily has to become <i>your</i> point of view. <br />
191. <br />
192. This way you'll be able to enrich, grow and develop yourself to a more complete human being. This way of thinking opens new doors and gives space for new solutions and breakthroughs in a growing controversial world.<br />
193. <br />
194. &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/7894970266612980173/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=7894970266612980173' title='29 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7894970266612980173'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7894970266612980173'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-you-see-is-true.html' title='What you see is true!'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-weP9BdyTql-9XMxwM7vAEsLwsRSQJuQgQBgBn1Jysd5PEbSsthw2G9OwiRWKautmzR_qWp32flgKiey6x-vzKSYSy4Vt4j4YqetLfrOfIcSbBOzICItfJE1C-_TrKeODT1o/s72-c/different-view-on-the-world.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>29</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-165087672351348193</id><published>2011-09-09T10:13:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2011-09-09T10:13:34.716+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="emotion"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="perception"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="risk"/><title type='text'>Risk Perception</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Risk is all about perception, as the next story illustrates...&lt;br /&gt;
195. <br />
196. Finally you arrive at your hotel late that night....   The hotel manager has only two rooms left. These two rooms are exactly the same, except for one aspect: The fire alarm.....<br />
197. <br />
198. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://verydemotivational.memebase.com/2010/09/06/demotivational-posters-in-case-of-fire/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqq88sTGcR_Xuae5Q8YedCLYMs_HVoedU8zdG1HhoWKeghmd4kPuIWZkeh-vekW2yT_2rjnzVZeeEC04QJWtnncRNLa4bOmA7Y8UNKLiJvWnVwrShf3eVFcISbThhsKJOgY1Lg/s1600/philos-fire-exit.jpg" /></a></div>The manager tells you that in the event of a nighttime fire due to the usual causes, guests in Room 1, equipped with Alarm 1, have a  2% chance of dying. Guests in Room 2, equipped with Alarm 2, have only a 1% chance of dying.<br />
199. <br />
200. However - things in life are always complicated -  there's a slight problem.....<br />
201. <br />
202. According to the manager...... The wiring of Alarm 2 is such that it sometimes causes electrical fires that increase the risk of dying in a nighttime fire by an additional 0.01%.<br />
203. <br />
204. In other words, Alarm 1 is associated with a 2% risk of death and Alarm 2 is associated with a 1% + 0.01% (betrayal) risk of death.<br />
205. <br />
206. <div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>What room do you choose?</b></span></div><br />
207. <b style="color: blue;">Outcome</b><br />
208. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101061204,00.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV9D21JGJ_Dez9DwVHWkjwmtrFD_ZoeE1G9be8ZLeEO6UUFbC1KV2YxQYFclLR-OZY9zIOOTS3VSdF5WKoCSRfkHN1P3mcorWhVvW2DloKwAstjAo6laSMTIzq-23hP5bk_YqH/s200/time-cover-worry.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>According to a <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1755667">study by Gershoff and Koehler</a>, most participants choose the room with Alarm 1. This,  even though this room 1 has double the increased risk of fire death. Reason: most participants found the tiny risk of "betrayal" (product malfunction) much more frightening than the much larger risk of actually dying.  When people get upset by a tiny risk, they often paradoxically choose the much larger risk. <br />
209. <br />
210. Personally I think a more imaginable risk 'weighs' stronger than a non-specific abstract risk......<br />
211. <div style="color: blue;"><b><br />
212. </b></div><b style="color: blue;">Conclusion </b><br />
213. This simple example proofs that perception or emotion has a strong influence on risk decisions.<br />
214. <br />
215. Next time you have to make a decision on risk, try to make a rational guess. Than, act on this calculated guess and not on your 'risk feeling'.<br />
216. Nevertheless, keep in mind 'risk decisions' are often irrational, no matter how strong you prove that they are not. It seems we have to live with the fact that, regarding risk, we're all victim of the same emotional bias....<br />
217. <br />
218. Read more about this interesting subject on:<br />
219. <br />
220. - <a href="http://skepticalob.blogspot.com/2011/03/vaccination-and-betrayal-aversion.html">Vaccination and betrayal aversion (2011)</a><br />
221. - <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1755667">Safety First? The Role of Emotion in Safety Product Betrayal Aversion (2011)</a></div><div style="background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;">- <a href="http://journal.sjdm.org/9811/jdm9811.pdf">The Risk-as-feelings hypothesis in a Theory-of-planned-behaviour</a><br />
222. - <a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6323299,00.html">Behavioral economics: the missing link in the financial crisis-  </a><br />
223. - <a href="http://sharondrewmorgen.com/2009/10/decisions-are-never-emotional/">Decisions are Never Emotional </a><br />
224. - &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/09/irrational-risk.html&quot;&gt;Irrational Risk&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/165087672351348193/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=165087672351348193' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/165087672351348193'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/165087672351348193'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2011/09/risk-perception.html' title='Risk Perception'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqq88sTGcR_Xuae5Q8YedCLYMs_HVoedU8zdG1HhoWKeghmd4kPuIWZkeh-vekW2yT_2rjnzVZeeEC04QJWtnncRNLa4bOmA7Y8UNKLiJvWnVwrShf3eVFcISbThhsKJOgY1Lg/s72-c/philos-fire-exit.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-2636603330250267165</id><published>2011-07-01T17:05:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2011-07-09T13:25:39.634+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="risk"/><title type='text'>The Risk of bicycling</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font: small Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;You decided to start a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/mathematics-with-statistics&quot;&gt;3 year math study&lt;/a&gt; at City University in London. From your brand new apartment in Southall, it&#39;s a &lt;a href=&quot;http://maps.google.nl/maps?saddr=New+Barnet,+Barnet,+London,+Verenigd+Koninkrijk&amp;amp;daddr=Northampton+square,+London&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;sll=51.587736,-0.140762&amp;amp;sspn=0.165956,0.593262&amp;amp;geocode=FeoVFAMdwlb9_ykRFhxMJRh2SDFLS6AzzSjyRQ%3BFTA_EgMdEnP-_ykH9KtDWht2SDEUwVIgf3xHVQ&amp;amp;mra=luc&amp;amp;dirflg=w&amp;amp;doflg=ptk&amp;amp;z=11&quot;&gt;12.5 mile drive&lt;/a&gt;  to the University at Southhampton Street.&amp;nbsp; As a passionate cyclist you  consider the risk of cycling through London for the next three years. &lt;br /&gt;
225. <br />
226. Based on your googled " <a href="http://www2.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221549/227755/rrcgb2009.pdf">DFT's Reported Road Casualties 2009</a>"  research (resulting in a cycling death rate of 36 per billion vehicle  miles), you first conclude that the probability of getting killed in a  cycle accident during your three year study is relatively <a href="http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm">low</a> : 0.1% (≈ 3[years] × 365[days] × 25[miles] × (36 [Killed]  <span class="st">÷ </span>10<sup>9</sup>[vehicle miles]).<br />
227. <br />
228. <u style="color: #783f04;"><b>S</b><b>ubjective probability</b> </u><br />
229. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/03/cartoon-boris-promotes-london-cycle-hire-scheme.html" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMl9UsoOY0j0JTewj9tQSWUoF34II1jYjXSkEWp97lnQEOU7iMGXvsi6fHHETE3lXM0RHCCij3m_Shh2ogojW1v8lGOTwHhBiodvqW3Axk4tmxQOoTIHhRHiMdDUkq1dr6m0IP/s1600/biking-death-rate.jpg" /></a></div>After this factfinding you start to realize it's <b><i>YOU</i></b> getting on the bike and it's <b><i>YOUR</i></b> 0.1% risk of <b><i>DYING</i></b> <i> </i>in the next three years of your study....<br />
230. <br />
231. Hmmmm...this comes closer; it makes things a little different, doesn't it?  <br />
232. <br />
233. Its looks like '<b>subjective probability</b>' - on reflection - is perhaps somewhat different from '<b>objective probability</b>'.<br />
234. <br />
235. While your <a href="http://www.web-us.com/brain/lrbrain.html">left and right brain</a>  are still in a dormant paradoxical state of confusion, your left  (logical) brain already starts to cope with the needs of the right  (emotional) half that wants you on that bike at all costs!<br />
236. <br />
237. <u><b style="color: #783f04;">Russian Roulette</b></u><br />
238. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71F7BtrumFp-rIBfmq-t8uMeDeZYhhJUn9-F7FHZeXa7hYGeM8gxEuBnOXs8xBHBZ7P7oLYm_As49YTmHrKzXpkq0lf_jcgE8VzjHsN4mYUnQZkOZymzp7OLoelZVAvn5LwAr/s1600/risk-russian-roulette-orig.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71F7BtrumFp-rIBfmq-t8uMeDeZYhhJUn9-F7FHZeXa7hYGeM8gxEuBnOXs8xBHBZ7P7oLYm_As49YTmHrKzXpkq0lf_jcgE8VzjHsN4mYUnQZkOZymzp7OLoelZVAvn5LwAr/s1600/risk-russian-roulette-orig.jpg" /></a></div>Now  your left brain tells you not to get emotional, after all it is 'only'  an additional 0.1% risk. Already your left brain starts searching for  reference material to legitimate the decision you're about to take. <br />
239. <br />
240. Aha!....  Let's compare it with 'Russian Roulette', your left brain suggests.  Instead of 6 chambers we have thousand chambers with one bullet. Heeee,  that makes sense, you talk to yourself. <br />
241. <br />
242. With such a  1000 chambers Russian gun against my head I would pull the trigger   without hesitating....  Or wouldn't I?..... No.., to be completely  honest, <i>'I wouldn't risk it</i>', my right brain tells me.<br />
243. <br />
244. Hé...  my left brain now tells me my right brain is inconsistent: It wants me  on the bike but not to take part in a equal 'death probability game' of  Russian roulette. Why not?<br />
245. <br />
246. <u style="color: #783f04;"><b>In Control</b></u><br />
247. My  left half concludes it must be the 'feeling' of my right side that  makes me feel I'm 'in control' on my bike, but not in case of Russian  Roulette. That makes sense, tells my left brain me. Of course! Problem  solved! My right and left brain finally agree: It's only a small risk  and it's <i><b>I</b></i> who can <i><b>contro</b><b>l</b></i> the  outcome of a healthy drive.  Besides, this way the health benefits of  cycling massively outweigh the risks as well, my right brain convinces  me superfluous.<br />
248. <br />
249. <br />
250. A final check by my right brain tells me: If I can't trust myself, who can I?<br />
251. This rhetorical question is the smashing argument in stepping on the bike and to enjoy a wonderful ride through London City.<br />
252. As ever..., <br />
253. <div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 120%;"><a href="http://riskquotes.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-left-brain-is-always-right.html">My left brain is always right!</a></span></b></div><br />
254. <br />
255. <u style="color: #783f04;"><b>Aftermathematics</b></u><br />
256. After returning from my accidentless bike trip, I enjoy a drink with a colleague of mine, the  famous actuary <a href="http://www.blogymate.com/post.aspx?BlogID=276&t=Beautiful-404-page">Will Strike</a>  [who doesn't know him? ;-)].<br />
257. <br />
258. <br />
259. After  telling him my 'bike decision story' he friendly criticizes me for my  non-professional approach in this private decision problem. Will tells  me that I should not only have analyzed the probability (P), but also  the Impact (I) of my decision. Remember the equation: Risk=P×I?<br />
260. <br />
261. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cycle-heaven.co.uk/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpOMjD64cy_yGbs6A5vtjj6OAb1CCtgYK37VKvqijuEBfZe-OuzNzVHN-bjA8f1YrzuC00R1_XZzTLf1_R02wSQxJH_ehaypKb78JwCkv4eLES2Du0WY5XMsPevDR33uLd3-hW/s1600/cycle-heaven.jpg" /></a></div>Yes of course, Will is right. How could I forget? ..., the probability of getting a deathly accident was only 0.1%. <br />
262. <br />
263. Yet, <i>'when'</i>  a car hits you full, the probability of meeting St. Petrus at heaven's  gate is 100% and the Impact (I) is maximal (I=1; you're dead ...) <br />
264. <br />
265. Summarized:<br />
266. <br />
267. <div style="color: blue; text-align: center;"><b>Risk[death on bike;25 miles/day; 3 years] = <br />
268. Probability × Impact = 0.1% × 1=0.1%<br />
269. </b></div>From this outcome it's clear that, even though the  Impact is maximal (1=100%)  , on a '0% to 100% Risk scale' this 3 year  'London-Bike Risk Project' seems negligible  and by no means a risk that  would urge my full attention.<br />
270. <br />
271. I'm finally relieved...  it always makes a case stronger to have a taken decision verified by  another method. In this case the Risk=P×I method confirmed my decision  taken on basis of my left-right brain discussion.  Pff....<br />
272. <br />
273. <u style="color: #783f04;"><b>Afteraftermath</b></u><br />
274. The  next morning, after my subconscious brain washed the 'bike dishes' of  the day before, I wake up with new insights. Suddenly I realize I tried  to take my biking decision on the wrong variable: Probability, instead  of Impact. <br />
275. <br />
276. Actually, in both cases and without  realizing, I took my decision finally on basis of the Impact and the  possible 'Preventional Control' (not damage control !!!) I  could exert  before and during my bike trip.<br />
277. <br />
278. I had to conclude that  in cases of high Impact (I>0.9), nor my left-right brain chat,  nor the 'Risk=PxI' formula lead to a sound decision, because both are  too much based on probability instead of Impact. In other words:<br />
279. <br />
280. <div style="color: red; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>In case of high Impact, probability is irrelevant<br />
281. </b></span><br />
282. <br />
283. <div style="color: red; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>In case of high Impact, only control counts</b></span></div><br />
284. </div><br />
285. From now on this 'bike conclusion' will be engraved in my memory and I will apply it in my professional work as well. <br />
286. <br />
287. <br />
288. <div style="color: red;"><b><u><br />
289. </u></b></div><div style="border: 1px solid red; padding: 5px;"><b style="color: red;"><u>P.S. for disbelievers, the tough ones</u></b>!<br />
290. If you're convinced you <u>would</u>  take the risk of firing the 1000 chamber  Russian gun against your  head, you probably valuate the fun of the bicycle trip higher than  probability of the loss of your life or good health. <br />
291. <br />
292. In  this case, suppose someone would offer you an amount of money if you  would take part in a 1000 chamber Russian roulette instead of a bicycle  tour. At which amount would you settle?<br />
293. <br />
294. Let's assume  you would settle at € 10.000.000 (I wouldn't settle for less). In this  case you really value your bicycle trip!!!!  </div><br />
295. Interested? read more at &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/06/impact-or-probability.html&quot;&gt;Actuary-Info&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/2636603330250267165/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=2636603330250267165' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2636603330250267165'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2636603330250267165'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2011/07/risk-of-bicycling.html' title='The Risk of bicycling'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMl9UsoOY0j0JTewj9tQSWUoF34II1jYjXSkEWp97lnQEOU7iMGXvsi6fHHETE3lXM0RHCCij3m_Shh2ogojW1v8lGOTwHhBiodvqW3Axk4tmxQOoTIHhRHiMdDUkq1dr6m0IP/s72-c/biking-death-rate.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-6484852793780154430</id><published>2010-11-01T11:11:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2010-11-01T11:11:40.394+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="If"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="inspiration"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Wordle"/><title type='text'>IF</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;background-color: white; font-family: Georgia,Serif; width: 490px;&quot;&gt;One of the best inspirational poems ever written, is &#39;&lt;i style=&quot;color: blue; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: Georgia,&amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,serif; font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;IF&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&#39; , by Rudyard Kipling (1895):&lt;br /&gt;
296. <br />
297. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DstwexGHfmvr7cqKyuyqmm0wETc8uNx7Ra5EmOVZQ07GR8lOEUdFcXiEeLmcQKP5JRFC9DdcErBeGqiZ0ytaEhQASdwQpI53RwTNliEk02gw6qJ2-uRmpkMZzYRNrDkjgGLV/s1600/if-kipling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DstwexGHfmvr7cqKyuyqmm0wETc8uNx7Ra5EmOVZQ07GR8lOEUdFcXiEeLmcQKP5JRFC9DdcErBeGqiZ0ytaEhQASdwQpI53RwTNliEk02gw6qJ2-uRmpkMZzYRNrDkjgGLV/s1600/if-kipling.jpg" /></a></div><br />
298. So..., <i>'If'</i> you ever feel down or depressed, take up this poem, read it again and feel the energy coming back into your blood vessels....<br />
299. <div style="color: blue;"><u><b><br />
300. </b></u></div><div style="color: blue;"><u><b>Word Empowerment</b></u></div>This empowerment by words is also visible when a text, document or url is translated into Word-Picture. A wonderful application called <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">Wordle</a>, helps you to build these word-clouds.<br />
301. <br />
302. Here is a <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2655920/IF_%28Rudyard_Kipling_1865-1936%29_">Wordle example from Kipling's poem IF</a>:<br />
303. <br />
304. &lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2655920/IF_%28Rudyard_Kipling_1865-1936%29_&quot; style=&quot;clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; title=&quot;Wordle: IF (Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936) &quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1195G7QYkUlsCp9OXXM4z97cjLwNOZyx3DWV5RGhvA3zooASeB9trD6aAaqIvVOd6NEzsIak7r1ADb5WQLRvZCRkY9b86iQHyoBJQRt7IOND0Vy0WcsibNJBwS4EqwqluiRr2/s1600/kipling-if-poem-wordle.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Enjoy the IFs in your life!&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/6484852793780154430/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=6484852793780154430' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/6484852793780154430'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/6484852793780154430'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2010/11/if.html' title='IF'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DstwexGHfmvr7cqKyuyqmm0wETc8uNx7Ra5EmOVZQ07GR8lOEUdFcXiEeLmcQKP5JRFC9DdcErBeGqiZ0ytaEhQASdwQpI53RwTNliEk02gw6qJ2-uRmpkMZzYRNrDkjgGLV/s72-c/if-kipling.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-7250346411579594019</id><published>2009-08-27T21:16:00.001+02:00</published><updated>2009-08-27T21:17:26.115+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="life"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="paradox"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="route"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ship"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="shortest route"/><title type='text'>Route in life</title><content type='html'>&lt;div  style=&quot;width: 490px;font-family:Georgia,Serif;&quot;&gt;Do you also intent to follow the simplest, direct or easiest route in Life?&lt;br /&gt;Right you are....&lt;br /&gt;Going from A to B in life is like a risk management game.&lt;br /&gt;As the captain of your Body&amp;amp;Mind-Ship (BMS) heading for a New Land at Port Novaya Zemlya, you&#39;ll have three starting issues:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Three starting issues&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 0px;&quot; type=&quot;I&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your target (B): Know where you want to go in life&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your starting point (A): Know Where an Who you are in life&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Define your Route: Know How you want to go from A to B&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In terms of risk management there are two main targets:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Main Risk Management Targets&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 0px;&quot; type=&quot;I&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Long term Target&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reach your final target (Novvaya Zemlya)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Short term Target&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Avoid short time risks, tackle problems along the way (avoid ice floes)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, what kind of approach is right for reaching your goal?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you concentrate too much in life on your &#39;final goal&#39; or you want to achieve your goals too fast or too direct, you&#39;ll certainly hit a short term problem, like an ice floe, and end up crashed as a hero or a martyr.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt; If you concentrate too much on the short term problems in your life, you&#39;ll loose sight on your final goal and certainly fail to reach Novaya Zemlya.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;width: 500px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The solution of this paradox is (of course) to concentrate on the short term goals as well as keep an eye on the long term goal at the same time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;The optimal route?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what is the best strategy for finding the optimal route in life?&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at the next map to find out the best strategy for this ship. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-route.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy I: Don&#39;t think, go to your target in a straight line&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The most logical route from A to B would of course be a straight line. However following this line as a blind man would certainly lead to failure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy II: Keep as much is possible to the straight line&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As BMS captain might look like the &#39;best strategy&#39; solution. This is how we often directly respond in life when we do not succeed in getting what we want the way we planned it.&lt;br /&gt;Often this route is 2 to 3 times longer than the &#39;straight line route&#39; and does not always guarantee that you reach your goal in the labyrinth of life.&lt;br /&gt;As mostly in life , the best advice is....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(25, 25, 112);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Strategy III: Get help and plan!&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As BMS captain with the right attitude and perseverance to succeed, you consult your friends and foes and draw yourself the best possible &lt;a href=&quot;http://earth.esa.int/workshops/ers97/papers/sandven2/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;satellite map&lt;/a&gt;, so that you&#39;ll be able to oversee the &#39;seascape&#39; of your life, with all relevant problems, like ice foes ahead.&lt;br /&gt;Often this &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-ice-routing.gif&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;optimal ice route&lt;/a&gt; is 1.5 times longer than the &#39;straight line route&#39;, but it guarantees the highest success rate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/optimal-ice-routing.gif&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But what to do if you have no information at all? That&#39;s when thinking and mathematics come in, or it gets time for an alternative approach before you freeze in reaching for Novvaya Zemlya....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/7250346411579594019/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=7250346411579594019' title='36 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7250346411579594019'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7250346411579594019'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/08/route-in-life.html' title='Route in life'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>36</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-7431458145082027974</id><published>2009-08-27T20:34:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2015-07-06T22:14:28.295+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="course"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="moving"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ship"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="targets"/><title type='text'>Moving Targets</title><content type='html'>I once asked one of my business unit managers with regard to an important project, if he was still on course and how things were going.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He answered friendly:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(204, 51, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;My ship&#39;s on course......&lt;br /&gt;But the port moves !&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/3/3768752_e8d3697715_m.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes, when you are totally focused on achieving your predefined goals, when you&#39;re right on schedule and your project looks perfect......   You can be sure your project will fail. Why? Because while working on your project the &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;environment changes&lt;/span&gt;, so you need somebody in your project that constantly checks the defined project targets against the changing environment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So always, while working keep your head up!  </content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/7431458145082027974/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=7431458145082027974' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7431458145082027974'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7431458145082027974'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/08/moving-targets.html' title='Moving Targets'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-2146820642630043539</id><published>2009-08-16T08:37:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2009-08-16T08:38:24.707+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="definition"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="success"/><title type='text'>Success</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;We all want to be successful. But what is success?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Success could perhaps be defined as &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;achieving the Result you want&lt;/span&gt; by using your &lt;a href=&quot;http://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2009/07/actuary-core-qualities.html&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;core Qualities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; at the &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;right Time&lt;/span&gt; given the &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;right Circumstances&lt;/span&gt; (place,people,weather, atmosphere).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In formula: &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;R = Q x T x C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another way of looking at success has been defined by &lt;a href=&quot;http://blog.hevizi.com/archives/100&quot;&gt;Hevizi&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It’s not WHAT you know.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It is not WHO you know.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;strong&gt;It is not HOW you deliver.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;   &lt;b&gt;It is ALL of it.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the new world of tough competition for positions, careers and recognition it is important to remind ourselves that it takes 3 to be successful and compete.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We can look at this as the following formula:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;SUCCESS = IQ * EQ * XQ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Success explained&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A more sophisticated, humorous yet interesting approach of success has been defined by Alain de Botton in the next TED video. Alain examines our ideas of success and failure:&lt;br /&gt;Is what you define as success really your personal defined success or perhaps the unconscious copied succes definition of somebody else?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He points out that believing in winners and loosers is a narrow and wrong way of defining the world. On top of this, he gives randomness a place in the definition of success and stresses that there can be no success without loss....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html&quot;&gt;Philosophy of Success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object height=&quot;326&quot; width=&quot;446&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;wmode&quot; value=&quot;transparent&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;bgColor&quot; value=&quot;#ffffff&quot;&gt; &lt;param name=&quot;flashvars&quot; value=&quot;vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/AlaindeBotton_2009G-embed_high.flv&amp;amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlaindeBotton-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;amp;vw=432&amp;amp;vh=240&amp;amp;ap=0&amp;amp;ti=605&quot;&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf&quot; pluginspace=&quot;http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; wmode=&quot;transparent&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#ffffff&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; flashvars=&quot;vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/AlaindeBotton_2009G-embed_high.flv&amp;amp;su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/AlaindeBotton-2009G.embed_thumbnail.jpg&amp;amp;vw=432&amp;amp;vh=240&amp;amp;ap=0&amp;amp;ti=605&quot; height=&quot;326&quot; width=&quot;446&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wrapped up, success could be defined as being satisfied and happy with your choices, actions, gains and losses.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So never give up, discover the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.1000advices.com/guru/success_secrets.html&quot;&gt;secrets of success&lt;/a&gt; and enjoy it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Youtube Success Links:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s2G2C3Ts9A&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;Quest for success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwMXtWwqv6k&amp;amp;feature=channel&quot;&gt;Success by Deepak Chopra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;font-family:&#39;Times New Roman&#39;;font-size:16;&quot;  &gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;;font-family:Arial;font-size:18;&quot;  &gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;Apple-style-span&quot; style=&quot;font-weight: bold;font-family:Arial;font-size:18;&quot;  &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/2146820642630043539/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=2146820642630043539' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2146820642630043539'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2146820642630043539'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/08/success.html' title='Success'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-4472079584604173881</id><published>2009-06-21T09:06:00.001+02:00</published><updated>2009-06-21T09:07:32.409+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="accelerate"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="caravan"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="crisis  brake"/><title type='text'>Crisis: Don&#39;t slam the brakes on</title><content type='html'>Dutch Minister of Health, Ab Klink, recently stated the Dutch Cabinet:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 51, 153);&quot;&gt;My father always said: As your caravan starts to snake (roll), don&#39;t slam the breaks on, but (gently) accelerate.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although this wisdom could apply in certain circumstances, generally it&#39;s not true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cmkcq5T8kU9_n178YBivKGTeCYp7lAS3K0ArY0MD9FSmLTNJrRt31Qjfs8Db0msxxqVyTzRoibqedoKAObcZ14Fka8gL7pY1PRR7vpjlgncAYXthtj0uFDovKL2ndqAwTj6x/s1600-h/caravan-accident.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 156px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cmkcq5T8kU9_n178YBivKGTeCYp7lAS3K0ArY0MD9FSmLTNJrRt31Qjfs8Db0msxxqVyTzRoibqedoKAObcZ14Fka8gL7pY1PRR7vpjlgncAYXthtj0uFDovKL2ndqAwTj6x/s400/caravan-accident.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349671680726903218&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;When your caravan is snaking, it&#39;s best to follow the next &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.nl/books?id=uEu50Mpx_i0C&amp;amp;pg=PA363&amp;amp;lpg=PA363&amp;amp;dq=caravan+snake++%22increase+*+speed%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=9qDA2dOQ9B&amp;amp;sig=Ok-pr2I4UIzBAX68StWwbkvvqRo&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;ei=6oUvSu-jKtjLjAfVwOiSCw&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;ct=result&amp;amp;resnum=1&quot;&gt;DSA advice&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Don&#39;t brake harshly or you could loose control completely. Don&#39;t accelerate either, for the same reasons. Just simply ease off the accelerator until the unit is brought back under control.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes in relationships, with heart/mind problems or in crisis situations this is the best advice as well. Don&#39;t drop down or let go all things around you and don&#39;t try to force your way out. Simply let go the accelerator and wait for things to stabilize until you&#39;ll get grip on the situation again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In general, to prevent snaking life situations as much as possible, surround yourself with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/stabilisers.html&quot;&gt;stabilizers&lt;/a&gt;, e.g. &#39;good advice friends&#39;. Good friends keep each other on the road.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Links:&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.a-tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/stabilisers.html&quot;&gt;Caravan Rules of thumb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- &lt;a href=&quot;http://people.bath.ac.uk/en8cjk/Caravan.pdf&quot;&gt;Caravan Formules&lt;/a&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/4472079584604173881/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=4472079584604173881' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4472079584604173881'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4472079584604173881'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/06/crisis-dont-slam-brakes-on.html' title='Crisis: Don&#39;t slam the brakes on'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cmkcq5T8kU9_n178YBivKGTeCYp7lAS3K0ArY0MD9FSmLTNJrRt31Qjfs8Db0msxxqVyTzRoibqedoKAObcZ14Fka8gL7pY1PRR7vpjlgncAYXthtj0uFDovKL2ndqAwTj6x/s72-c/caravan-accident.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-4343447486040737292</id><published>2009-06-20T23:44:00.004+02:00</published><updated>2009-06-21T08:04:57.479+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Ariely"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="choice"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="decision"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="dummy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="influence"/><title type='text'>Influenced Decisions</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;We all think our decisions are made in a professional and rational manner.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Too bad, nothing is less is true! Decisions are strongly influenced by the way we present our proposals.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Influenced Decisions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyEU2SbzwcW-MQELUQqegXXluLJ9tbdOouOi4sspbo1zjq6S-iQUtDbT6L06diJCm2HcqiVEUNoC34bkcFB9lSWD40bQsuxccAU5laA0i0x1yWhO72bR_ewKTGztycOVPQ_Nv0/s1600-h/ariely.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 122px; height: 98px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyEU2SbzwcW-MQELUQqegXXluLJ9tbdOouOi4sspbo1zjq6S-iQUtDbT6L06diJCm2HcqiVEUNoC34bkcFB9lSWD40bQsuxccAU5laA0i0x1yWhO72bR_ewKTGztycOVPQ_Nv0/s400/ariely.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349511653863637362&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;In a splendid TED Video Presentation called &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions.html&quot;&gt;Are we in control of our own decisions&lt;/a&gt;&#39; (half an our fun and learning!) , &lt;a href=&quot;http://wapedia.mobi/en/Dan_ariely&quot;&gt;Dan Ariely&lt;/a&gt;, an Israeli professor of behavioral economics and head of the eRationality research group at the MIT Media Lab, shows the astonishing effect of how decisions can be fundamentally changed by adding dummies in proposals:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;First experiment&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ariely tested the next ad on the website of the Economist.com on a group of 100 MIT students:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-tRbQfEOh0SpHbgBdjmIQOfQvLYEBKT6HgTlcINfjuWHMFC0U14ybbgxJqezIRBJDPzKRzWcYu2nGHs4LPonRQdKynqZ3eCt9R5II_9eNSlb7JqYLeMwPH-boblZ4mBhpddvf/s1600/economist1.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349504615735893506&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;As expected, most students wanted the combo deal (84%). Students can read, so nobody wanted the middle option.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But now, if you have an option nobody wants, you can take it off. Right? So Ariely tested another version of this ad on another group of students, eliminating the middle option. This is what happened:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HrgJIJq5_cMFhffrsrnmFrErGM0dR59Xp3wEYL4vcqyF-45KYl_9XBD_th9i3kVLqU6I3N7F3O1kXhhap4RixyqoNK3ccnRqAIQywmpFFkzJulFePAw7dIPjxnSroxrTfLPL/s1600/economist2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349505063876648002&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;Now the most popular option (84%) suddenly became the least popular (32%). And the least popular (16%) became the most popular (68%) option.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What happened was that the &#39;useless&#39; option in the middle, was useless in the sense that nobody wanted it. But it wasn&#39;t useless in the sense that it helped people figure out what they wanted. In fact, relative to the option in the middle, which was get only the print for $125, the print and web for $125 looked like a fantastic deal. And as a consequence, people chose it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The general idea here is that we actually don&#39;t know our preferences that well. And because we don&#39;t know our preferences that well we&#39;re susceptible to all of these influences from the external forces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Second experiment&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;People believe that when they see somebody, they immediately know whether they like that person or not. Ariely decided to put this statement to the test.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;He showed his students a picture of Tom and a picture of Jerry (real people in practice). Then he asked &quot;Who do you want to date? Tom or Jerry?&quot; But for half the people he added a slightly less attractive (photoshopped) version of Jerry. For the other half of the students he added a slightly less attractive (ugly) version of Tom.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now the question was, will ugly Jerry and ugly Tom help their respective, more attractive brothers?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5hYo_lKndAS_Jyucyk52fapbKLdPUjX4jifciw56y7JQHw2N8WFANPgHgcw6K3yrapGzJpvMfturXg0LHKaNnLQadGiAilI94f3y9F31BqQKt5I-xR4i5OlEPqU7U4HldLf5/s1600/ted_dan_ariely-tom-jerry.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349505542600685106&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;The answer was absolutely &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;YES&lt;/span&gt;. When ugly Jerry was around, Jerry was popular. When ugly Tom was around, Tom was popular.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Conclusions: The Dummy Effect&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What can we conclude from these two experiments?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;When you let people chose between two options, their decision might be positively influenced by adding a third &#39;slightly less attractive version&#39; (the dummy) of the option you value as most favorable. So decisions are susceptible to options manipulation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Be aware of the Dummy-Effect when someone adds a dummy option in a choice you&#39;ll have to make. If your decision without the dummy is not the same as with the dummy option, try to investigate why. Don&#39;t take a decision until you&#39;ve found out why.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Both decisions, with or without dummies, are &#39;rational&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Therefore your &#39;rational decision&#39; depends more than you&#39;re inclined you think on the character, the completeness and the description of the options. Your personal preference becomes more or less irrelevant if the options are incomplete. So think twice about possible &#39;missing options&#39; before you take a final decision.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-size: 130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;From now on...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now that you&#39;ve become aware of this dummy-effect, life will never be the same again. You&#39;ve become conscious of the way the options in a proposal can influence a decision. This gives you the opportunity to take more enriched decisions. It also places you in a more responsible position when you develop proposals for others. Straight proposals will be &#39;cleaner&#39; than before (&#39;undummied&#39;) and also include an explanation about the way a proposal is structured and presented.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Links&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;- Book  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.predictablyirrational.com/&quot;&gt;Predictably Irrational&lt;/a&gt; by Dan Ariely&lt;br /&gt;- MIT &lt;a href=&quot;http://cfb.media.mit.edu/research/erationality&quot;&gt;Center for future banking&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/4343447486040737292/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=4343447486040737292' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4343447486040737292'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4343447486040737292'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/06/influenced-decisions.html' title='Influenced Decisions'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyEU2SbzwcW-MQELUQqegXXluLJ9tbdOouOi4sspbo1zjq6S-iQUtDbT6L06diJCm2HcqiVEUNoC34bkcFB9lSWD40bQsuxccAU5laA0i0x1yWhO72bR_ewKTGztycOVPQ_Nv0/s72-c/ariely.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-5075630631510877441</id><published>2009-04-25T23:49:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-25T23:50:18.040+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="application"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="interview"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="job"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="manageable"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="pitfalls"/><title type='text'>Job Application Interview</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt; Do you recognize the flabbergasted feeling that occurs when, after a &#39;splendid&#39; job interview, you come home with a positive feeling and the day after you are &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.black-collegian.com/career/rejected2006-2nd.shtml&quot;&gt;rejected&lt;/a&gt;?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although you thought you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/intervw.htm&quot;&gt;performed well&lt;/a&gt; in the interview, somewhere, somehow, you missed the boat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;What went wrong?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, apart from the general &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/132524/top_5_interview_pitfalls.html&quot;&gt;pitfalls&lt;/a&gt; in a job interview and the trivial explanations of a rejection, most probably things went wrong due to lack of proper communication.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Probably, when you&#39;re having an interview, you&#39;ll take notes.&lt;br /&gt;Because you&#39;re focused on getting the job, you&#39;re inclined to (only) write down the positive aspects of the job and the conversation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This will definitely give you a biased view on the outcome of the interview. You simply miss or underestimate the minor or negative remarks in the interview.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;How to solve this?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/actuary/application-curve.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is what you can do to get a more realistic idea about the outcome of the interview.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Listen&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First of all, make sure you listen well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Take Notes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be careful not just to write down your personally important or spectacular issues (e.g salary, benefits, car, etc), but especially note (and write down!) small remarks, advices or &#39;used adjectives&#39; of the interviewer.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Split in Negatives and Positives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Split your note paper in left and right, and put the positive issues (the Positives) on one side and the negative issues (the Negatives) on the other side.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Manage the Negatives&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Make sure to write down every single negative issue or negative adjective, no matter how small. Don&#39;t ignore these Negatives. By questioning, make sure you understand them right and manage them one by one. If you&#39;re not able to get those negatives from the table or to put them in quarantine, they might kill you in the end without you realizing it. So:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 0);&quot;&gt;Manage the Negatives instead of counting the Positives&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Feedback&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the end of the conversation ask for feedback and check by asking the interviewer to summarize your Positives and Negatives. If any Negatives are left, handle them with care right there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Don&#39;t fake&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t try to reason away negatives that are clear facts. If that would imply a rejection, be happy, because you are not qualified for this job and therefor wouldn&#39;t  be happy in this job as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Evaluating an interview is not simply balancing Positives with Negatives. Even a single Negative can screw it up.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;P/N-Method&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, this Positives/Negatives Method is not only applicable in case of a job interview, but can be used in every &quot;beauty parade&quot;, contract negotiation or proposal you try to defend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Next time, with a positive attitude, keep your &#39;sixth sense&#39; on the potential Negatives and manage them!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/5075630631510877441/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=5075630631510877441' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5075630631510877441'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5075630631510877441'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/job-application-interview.html' title='Job Application Interview'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-8383026505720012477</id><published>2009-04-16T23:15:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-17T08:39:44.293+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="future"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="past"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="present"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="thinkstyle"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="time perspective"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zen"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Zimbardo"/><title type='text'>Time Perspective</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;According to Philip Zimbardo, we all develop a specific attitude towards time (Time perspective).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Past, present or future orientated?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://fora.tv/2008/11/12/Philip_Zimbardo_Time_Paradox#chapter_11&quot;&gt;The Time paradox&lt;/a&gt; Zimbardo explains that people turn out to be primarily past, present or future orientated. Each perspective has a detailed possible orientation (focus):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot; onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLC4UWc3Bp1phXp8jvaLGda5m9AN8MzHPKSMdzEVgoTbZxWzhg4gmcdNeuwVN4YmUsNMyji8IJwiQI7zVniniT3cvzfq5-JGHA0NNDrtcQ-h1zL1AGAdCx0UsU9Kc8ktHYhlp/s1600-h/focustime.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 391px; height: 127px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLC4UWc3Bp1phXp8jvaLGda5m9AN8MzHPKSMdzEVgoTbZxWzhg4gmcdNeuwVN4YmUsNMyji8IJwiQI7zVniniT3cvzfq5-JGHA0NNDrtcQ-h1zL1AGAdCx0UsU9Kc8ktHYhlp/s400/focustime.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325256959865063170&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;It&#39;s clear that our now-actions strongly depend on our perception of the present and the future. This perception has has been influenced by how we perceived the past. Therefore, our future actions will be influenced by how we perceive the present - as it appears to us right now - as well.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Form this we may conclude that our future happiness is strongly defined by how (positive) we experience the &#39;now&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Experiencing the &#39;now&#39; as a positive and constructive phase in your life, even in times of &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/adversity-helps.html&quot;&gt;adversities&lt;/a&gt;, demands a conscious mind and a healthy style of thinking.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Healthy thinkstyle perspective&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Based on research and his own definition of a &#39;healthy thinkstyle&#39; in life , Zimbardo developed an ideal time perspective score (red dots):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUqZZ1PTeMxLtuk8ixhShmC9ki4ucItb4LFk8gWJYGcYHiWoOVP8zhR_vT3pd0C3wf5zP_q2QmcTe-AIGhSvJ2zpKNUH5zhIei4123JgNVe-pjvIAxj2aCzz1FvC2Iyjp0qK-/s1600-h/graph.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 320px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUqZZ1PTeMxLtuk8ixhShmC9ki4ucItb4LFk8gWJYGcYHiWoOVP8zhR_vT3pd0C3wf5zP_q2QmcTe-AIGhSvJ2zpKNUH5zhIei4123JgNVe-pjvIAxj2aCzz1FvC2Iyjp0qK-/s320/graph.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325260212138627346&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Take the test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you wonder what your Time perspective score is, take the test:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thetimeparadox.com/surveys/&quot;&gt;Take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Changing Time Perspective&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you grow up, your Time-perspective changes.&lt;br /&gt;When you&#39;re young, you&#39;re almost not influenced by your past and you don&#39;t worry about your future, you just live in the present and simply take what comes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you grow up, you&#39;ve learned from the past and become conscious of the consequences of your actions. You think about your future, feel responsibility and are able to postpone actual benefits in exchange for (more or increased) future benefits.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;http://jos.blogspot.googlepages.com/past-present-future.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;When we grow old, the past will influence and determine our actions more and more until our last phase in life, where future and present transform in a kind of transcendental state. In this stage your present and &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-to-decide.html&quot;&gt;decisions&lt;/a&gt; are from another order. Physically you&#39;re here on good old earth, but in a spiritual way you&#39;ve already risen to your new destiny.....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Zen-Present&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, back to the present., Zimbardo continues that living in the present can also be in a Zen-like perspective, illustrated by the next sanskrit verse:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow but a vision&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 51, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;But today &#39;well lived&#39; makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So it&#39;s you who can create a  heaven on earth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Use Zimbardo&#39;s time-perspective to be(come) like you wanna be.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/8383026505720012477/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=8383026505720012477' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8383026505720012477'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8383026505720012477'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/time-perspective.html' title='Time Perspective'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPLC4UWc3Bp1phXp8jvaLGda5m9AN8MzHPKSMdzEVgoTbZxWzhg4gmcdNeuwVN4YmUsNMyji8IJwiQI7zVniniT3cvzfq5-JGHA0NNDrtcQ-h1zL1AGAdCx0UsU9Kc8ktHYhlp/s72-c/focustime.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-5269122501833035818</id><published>2009-04-16T22:34:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-16T22:51:24.612+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="decide"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="decision"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="techniques"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="when"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zen"/><title type='text'>When to decide?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;In life you&#39;ll have to take all kind of decisions. Easy or tuff decisions, you&#39;ll always try to take the &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/10/zorro-decisions.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;right decision&lt;/a&gt; or the &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2004/09/making-best-choice.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;best choice&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;Even a &lt;a href=&quot;http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2006/09/power-of-indecision.html&quot;&gt;indecision&lt;/a&gt; is a kind of decision.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Although there&#39;s a list of traditional &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TED.htm&quot; title=&quot;Great!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Decision Making Techniques&lt;/a&gt;, the decision you take depends heavily on the moment of decision.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos33.flickr.com/35544787_44da8e931a.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;  Almost any personal &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.abelard.org/metalogic/metalogicB1.htm&quot; title=&quot;Enjoy this!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;decision process&lt;/a&gt; consists of several phases&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 205); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;Good Idea&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Often it &#39;starts with&#39; a good idea or an opportunity or possible decision (for solving a problem) that &#39;looks like&#39; a  &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://kcmo.ttms.org/Strategies/WhatsAGoodIdea/Home.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;good idea&lt;/a&gt;&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Deciding in this stage could be qualified as : Impulsive.&lt;br /&gt;For small decisions this &#39;way of deciding&#39; could work out fine. If the decision is successful, you enjoy it. It has the opportunity of incidentally creating a great unexpected success. If it turns out wrong, you just throw the idea away and you&#39;re not disappointed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(134, 2, 205); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;However&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In this phase you quickly focus on the possible disadvantages of this &#39;good idea&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;By deciding in this stage you reduce the amount of downside risk of your decision from your own perspective.&lt;br /&gt;Deciding in this face is more balanced and suits decisions with medium sized (personal) risks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(164, 2, 205); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;On the other Hand&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In this phase you focus on the advantages of the &#39;good idea&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Taking a decision in this phase, leads to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.mercola.com/2001/dec/12/decisions_emotions.htm&quot; title=&quot;Often clouded by emotions !&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;rational decisions&lt;/a&gt; with respect to your own environment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(205, 3, 159); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;But my Heart says&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now you take your &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.peterursbender.com/a-gut/gut.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;gutfeeling&lt;/a&gt;&#39; into the decision process.&lt;br /&gt;What your heart says, is taken into account.&lt;br /&gt;Deciding in this phase leads to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.charminghealth.com/negative-emotions/negative-emotions.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;emotional&lt;/a&gt; balanced decisions. Watch out for &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sensiblesoftware.com/articles/a/Is-It-Possible-to-Have-Too-Much-Emotional-Intelligence.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;too much emotional&lt;/a&gt; arguments in your final decision&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(205, 2, 93); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;What Others say&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In this stage you include &#39;what other people think or would decide&#39; in your decision.&lt;br /&gt;An &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.overclockers.com/articles809/index02.asp&quot; title=&quot;I know best?&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;advice&lt;/a&gt; of a good friend that knows you well could perhaps make you &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Consciousness/id/1916&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;conscious&lt;/a&gt; of your pitfalls or blind spots.&lt;br /&gt;Watch out for &#39;getting dependent&#39; in this stage. It&#39;s mostly wise to listen to our &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/living_loving/72954&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;true friends&lt;/a&gt;&#39;, keep &lt;a href=&quot;file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Jos%20Berkemeijer/Mijn%20documenten/oude-computer/Modblog/philos-site/making%20your%20own%20decisions&quot; title=&quot;How to do it!&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;making your own decisions&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(230, 2, 19); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;I must take a Decision&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Often we don&#39;t have to decide, but we feel we do.&lt;br /&gt;We get desperate. Weighting all facts of the idea or problem still on leads to a fifty-fifty situation.&lt;br /&gt;Deciding in this phase (deciding &#39;something&#39;), concerning ideas with big consequences, often leads to dividement, separation and chaos.&lt;br /&gt;Go back to what you would have had decided in the rational phase or become enlightened and decide nothing until destiny decides for you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(255, 165, 0); font-size: 10pt;&quot;&gt;The &lt;u&gt;Zen&lt;/u&gt; Phase&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When we are conscious of everything, we&#39;ll take no decisions at all. We know and accept that &#39;taking decisions&#39; is the same as sailing a boat in a tropical storm: It helps, it&#39;s certainly important, but the sea is in charge and &#39;decides&#39;. So be sure to choose the right sea!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sometimes there are other ways on how to decide, like:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://farrelcommunications.com/billspeaking.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Best Decisions a Person Can Make&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decide to decide&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decide to build character&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decide to pursue the best option&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decide to forgive&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Decide to always get better&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt; Anyhow, be conscious about the timing of decisions !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/5269122501833035818/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=5269122501833035818' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5269122501833035818'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5269122501833035818'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/when-to-decide.html' title='When to decide?'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-1674845815878177267</id><published>2009-04-16T21:55:00.002+02:00</published><updated>2009-04-16T22:03:35.867+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Adversity"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="wind"/><title type='text'>Adversity helps !</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Ever thought about:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;It seems your life is only dependent on your circumstances?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Does life happen to you?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Do you live life or does life lives you?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s look at the life of a sailor that has to sail his boat to the port.&lt;br /&gt;No matter what direction of the wind, a professional sailor is able to direct his boat to his destination, the port.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even with adverse wind he manages to do so by a technique called&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 80, 80);&quot;&gt;Tacking = zigzagging upwind&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hoofers.org/sailing/Manuals/tech_manual/techManual2.html&quot; title=&quot;Learn how to sail !&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos5.flickr.com/4660569_66f9c37a87.jpg&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The only problem with sailing is when&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 80, 80);&quot;&gt;There is no wind at all !&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s just like in our lives. When we don&#39;t encounter resistance, disagreement or disappointment, we will not be able to grow in life and we will not &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.delawareriptide.org/philosophy.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;reach our destination&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A healthy, right sized, quantity of resistances in our life, help us to see the obstacles in our lives that prohibit us from development or growth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos4.flickr.com/4663516_79ea7a92ee.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;How to lead your life boat through the storms.....................? It&#39;s just &#39;tacking&#39; and the &#39;right teammate&#39; that does it !&quot; border=&quot;2&quot; /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So let&#39;s hope our circumstances in life keep moving.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So let&#39;s hope our circumstances in life keep moving.&lt;br /&gt;Moving stairs at the fair    This helps us to make our necessary steps in life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos3.flickr.com/4661676_1773381cbd.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Moving stairs at the fair&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;It&#39;s just like climbing the &quot;moving stairs&quot; at the fair.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The circumstances (stairs) go up and down, and you have to make progress by making steps !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now in a close relation, keep in mind to let the wind blow between the two of you, simply to make it possible for the both of you to zigzag to your common port.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s conclude with some wise &quot;overcoming adversity&quot; quotes .....&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;table style=&quot;border-style: outset; border-color: rgb(80, 0, 80); font-size: 10pt; font-family: verdana; width: 400px;&quot; valign=&quot;TOP&quot; clear=&quot;ALL&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#f5f5dc&quot; cellpadding=&quot;8&quot;&gt; &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/OvercomingAd1.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 139);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Inspirational &quot;Overcoming Adversity&quot; Quotes&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; list-style-type: none;&quot;&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Myla Kabat-Zinn&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Norman Vincent Peale&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles and adds significance to all you do.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Napoleon Hill&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;Og Mandino&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(128, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;James Buckham&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/center&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So &lt;a href=&quot;http://quotations.about.com/cs/inspirationquotes/a/OvercomingAd1.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;overcoming adversity&lt;/a&gt; is a life challenge and adversity helps ! &lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/1674845815878177267/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=1674845815878177267' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/1674845815878177267'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/1674845815878177267'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/04/adversity-helps.html' title='Adversity helps !'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-4398882011701547533</id><published>2009-03-30T11:15:00.004+02:00</published><updated>2009-03-30T12:19:35.781+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="behavior"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="collective"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="first mover"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="morality"/><title type='text'>Collective Behavior</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Understanding collective and individual behavior are key to a successful life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a look at the next picture:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFEbYFLjiSLiLpx6MLQxWcHudhp7vSLi895qT848phjzFG6vtiS7NmG-kJlR-T3Mpj_o1f0mh4DbTu1cBRRSr4-UdVHTEml8OK3W4r4kknWrP5ODfmngrcKQqwySJquZTyzMN/s1600-h/fish-big-eat-small.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFEbYFLjiSLiLpx6MLQxWcHudhp7vSLi895qT848phjzFG6vtiS7NmG-kJlR-T3Mpj_o1f0mh4DbTu1cBRRSr4-UdVHTEml8OK3W4r4kknWrP5ODfmngrcKQqwySJquZTyzMN/s400/fish-big-eat-small.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318335811909233746&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It&#39;s clear that the little fish here, have a problem.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What&#39;s also clear, is that random actions of an individual fish are not likely going to change the situation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the next picture, by coordinating behavior, a way has been found to solve &#39;the problem&#39; :&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 270px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBURZyO4nYWdaYWsJijScmWS1AkviQXyuiW5yuTVU9DqrWGHrx-AYQaF_36FC3wJ3EJ_IneO_CtHzmwnDsfg5ENzLlfObPOY15l2_zFGsYiRV1KZu-BiQ-CgHvFtc1FFpEs0Qi/s400/fish-small-eat-big.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318337216798719074&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This solution looks very simple, the question is &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citizenjury.org/essays/collective.html&quot;&gt;how&lt;/a&gt; to organize this kind of collective &quot;big fish&quot; behavior?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The problem is that often first movers don&#39;t benefit from a collective approach in the first stage:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.neohouston.com/2009/03/antanas-mockus-and-a-multi-regulated-society/&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.neohouston.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/benefits-of-collective-action.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First movers  take a risk by sticking out their neck. The are not sure that their fellows will follow. They also take the risk that their actions turns against themselves.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It turns out that one way to get individuals to coordinate their behavior is through morality.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Morality&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our natural sympathy for other people, our fear of shame and even our feelings of guilt, are often enough to stimulate us to participate in a successful collective action.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Albeit it&#39;s discussable what the&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10559a.htm&quot;&gt; origins of morality&lt;/a&gt; are, it&#39;s clear that morality can help us to overcome that &#39;first mover period&#39;. Groups that use concepts like fairness, reciprocity, trust, guilt, and shame, often do better than rival groups.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Interested? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an excellent essay called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.citizenjury.org/essays/collective.html&quot;&gt;A Business Plan for Catalyzing Collective Action&lt;/a&gt; , &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thepoint.com/&quot;&gt;The Point&lt;/a&gt; explanes how how these cooperative mechanisms can be created.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Examples&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Collective rational or even emotional behavior often plays a decisive role in our society, as may be clear from the 2009 credit crisis turmoil and the escalating &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-tv/arianna-discusses-outrage_b_176130.html&quot;&gt;bonus madness&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/creating-a-life-plan.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;&quot; src=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/creating-a-life-plan.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Be aware of individual and collective behavior.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Study &quot;collective behavior mechanisms&quot; and certainly don&#39;t forget to integrate the key principles of this collective behavior into your personal &lt;a href=&quot;http://michaelhyatt.com/2008/06/creating-a-life-plan.html&quot;&gt;Life Plan&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/4398882011701547533/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=4398882011701547533' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4398882011701547533'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4398882011701547533'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/03/collective-behavior.html' title='Collective Behavior'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFEbYFLjiSLiLpx6MLQxWcHudhp7vSLi895qT848phjzFG6vtiS7NmG-kJlR-T3Mpj_o1f0mh4DbTu1cBRRSr4-UdVHTEml8OK3W4r4kknWrP5ODfmngrcKQqwySJquZTyzMN/s72-c/fish-big-eat-small.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-1317219085364084903</id><published>2009-02-27T22:11:00.010+01:00</published><updated>2009-02-28T11:41:19.816+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="boundaries"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="boundary"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bounded freedom"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Cloud"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="law"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="limit"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="relationships"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Townsend"/><title type='text'>Bounded Freedom</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Freedom is great. But there&#39;s no freedom or liberty without borders.&lt;br /&gt;Too much freedom will cause chaos, will damage others or even yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZyYFM5NTw1rW_YRxVR3J0_0n8InADLytf-Fdh_EAEmmC2vMVxfqVM4KsBeeSl1EFOx8eb-HgUL6yiyLIMAkVGDQ9ClemjJazCOkMXUXEXYztZVOvzoCZ26bdHy9VL323kBcYS/s1600-h/liberty.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZyYFM5NTw1rW_YRxVR3J0_0n8InADLytf-Fdh_EAEmmC2vMVxfqVM4KsBeeSl1EFOx8eb-HgUL6yiyLIMAkVGDQ9ClemjJazCOkMXUXEXYztZVOvzoCZ26bdHy9VL323kBcYS/s400/liberty.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307615308216948738&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boundaries are essential for developing ourselves and relationships with each other, for our ability to give and receive love, for spiritual growth, and for a healthy, balanced lifestyle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310585902&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 240px;&quot; src=&quot;http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PSx1y7%2BPL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, boundaries are often violated and we ask ourselves what we can do about it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-When-Take-Control-Your/dp/0310585902&quot;&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; &#39;When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life&#39;,  psychologists Cloud and Townsend show how to set reasonable boundaries in relationships.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cloudtownsend.com/&quot;&gt;website&lt;/a&gt;  you&#39;ll gain sound advice on boundary matters. On their website, just fill in a search word, click and simply watch the correspondent video (&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cloudtownsend.com/videoserver/video.php?clip=CCNT2495&quot;&gt;example&lt;/a&gt;) !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a shortcut, their &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kreitz/Christian/Boundaries/04ten_laws.pdf&quot;&gt;Ten Laws of Boundaries &lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 24px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Sowing and Reaping&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our actions have consequences. Someone will bear them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;Don’t interrupt this law by regularly bailing others out.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Responsibility&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are responsible &#39;to&#39;, not &#39;for&#39; each other. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are to love one another, not be one another.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Power&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We do not have power over other people. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We hardly have enough power over ourselves&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Respect&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If we wish our boundaries to be respected we must respect those of others. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For with the measure you use, you will be measured.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Motivation&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We must be free to say &#39;no&#39; before we can wholeheartedly say &#39;yes&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;“Acts of love” are worthless if we don’t feel to have a choice&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Evaluation&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We need to evaluate the effects our boundaries cause others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;Hurt and harm are not the same – pain may eventually lead to growth&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Proactivity&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boundaries must express what you stand for, not just what you are against. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Solve problems on the basis of your values, wants, and needs&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Envy&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We will never get what we want if we focus on what others have. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Envy keeps us empty and unfulfilled&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Activity&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We need to take the initiative to solve our problems. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don’t wait for your partner to take the first step&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Exposure&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Boundaries must be communicated. &lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Otherwise they are invisible to others&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;Applying these rules, looks simple, but is hard to do. However, they make the difference in life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The best freedom is &#39;Bounded Freedom&#39; !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/1317219085364084903/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=1317219085364084903' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/1317219085364084903'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/1317219085364084903'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/02/bounded-freedom.html' title='Bounded Freedom'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZyYFM5NTw1rW_YRxVR3J0_0n8InADLytf-Fdh_EAEmmC2vMVxfqVM4KsBeeSl1EFOx8eb-HgUL6yiyLIMAkVGDQ9ClemjJazCOkMXUXEXYztZVOvzoCZ26bdHy9VL323kBcYS/s72-c/liberty.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-5743598921788836825</id><published>2009-02-21T14:37:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2009-02-21T15:32:36.146+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="biased"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="context"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="exist"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="perceive"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="quantum mechanics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="real you"/><title type='text'>The Real YOU</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Perhaps it&#39;ll be disappointing and hard to acknowledge, but there&#39;s no objective &#39;Real  YOU&#39;. There&#39;s only the &#39;Perceived YOU&#39;, perceived by others or yourself and strongly dependent on the context you&#39;re operating in.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&#39;s the simple proof.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Read out loud, from top to bottom, the next three characters:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6JuPkF_j4wtQKs1qTDq68_jxX25KyN1FrDSvrqyYChtihZDL3YSGg6-MesP2BC7Up1B2QhA06tsgrUH5VHTPONbp5fm7YfUozhiCbemQPYQuC4NYnzlgzY95KKWgTlRyvUf0/s1600/abc.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305197682473631634&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This was quite simple, wasn&#39;t it?&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s go to step two.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now read out loud, from left to right, the next three characters:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtOUktUGKJIMLTEjOjUoPRQN-D3ksdnEJx6b4O72OHA01fsBE0HWuylitb4G_Aedn0vUiim_rvW3hdBRjo0fGpjJCtvhm2qQKOoPIxAhDhiDDcnnuSRNLO0JIHZ2vWwfAU6sP/s1600/121314.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305198852724760210&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now read out loud the character in the middle:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDjGRWT4Oe8deyXPMs9USPlWZhHzrQoFI6DtuTejVDKtKBKqLG5dk85W21VZ3rcBccwh4GVCsF4i5WtnPB9bOITuGENDEKgG66MGIyNk7I0HZuoeK0CPEIW7AuDJGUpDeCe-A/s1600/abc121314.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305200022753363586&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The middle character&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The character in the middle isn&#39;t just the letter &#39;B&#39; nor is it the number &#39;13&#39;, it has the potention of being both. Only when it is &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/supplement1.html&quot;&gt;perceived&lt;/a&gt;&#39;, it takes a definitive value (appearance), depending on the character context and the characteristics of the perceiver.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the context is a story or a literal phrase, the character will be perceived as the letter &quot;B&quot;. If the context consists of numbers, the character will be perceived as number &quot;13&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;No context?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What if there is no context (not possible) or very little and we show up just the character in the middle?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In general, apart from context, a perceiver P Rates or measures a target T on an attribute X can be &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/ReconceptualizingIndividualDifferencesinSelf-EnhancementBias_AnInterpersonalApproach%282004%29.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;R&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;(P,T,R) = Perceiver effect + Target effect + Relationship effect + Constant&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In case with no context and very little Target- or Relationship Effect, the perception depends (almost) totally on the identity and experiences of the perceiver (Perceiver Effect).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If the perceiver is a writer or has a non-science background, the character will probabely be perceived as the letter &quot;B&quot;. In case of a scientist, or mathematician, the character will mostly be seen as the number &quot;13&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The Real YOU&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now with you, yourself, it&#39;s just the same. There is no objective or context-independent &quot;Real YOU&quot;. There is no YOU without others. There&#39;s only the YOU that&#39;s perceived by others or yourself (self reflection).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So think twice about how you pick your context (friends, social environment, employer, town). If you don&#39;t like the way people perceive you, change or reprogram your habits and consider picking a new &#39;context&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Quantum mechanics&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact the same principles as in &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/Ryan_Lee.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;quantum mechanics&lt;/a&gt;&quot; apply:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you measure &#39;light&#39; as a wave, you&#39;ll perceive it as a wave. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you measure &#39;light&#39; as a particle, you&#39;ll perceive it as a particle. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If you would have &#39;measured&#39; it as anything els, like &#39;weight&#39;, &#39;energy&#39; or a &#39;potato&#39;, it would have been perceived as &#39;that&#39; as well.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;So the question is not whether &#39;light&#39; is a wave or a particle.  &#39;Light&#39; is neither, it has only &#39;wave&#39; of &#39;particle&#39; properties (attributes).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;Back to YOU&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s the same with people that have a perception of YOU. They&#39;ll value you at their biased percepted properties. Just like yourself, they&#39;ll never get to know the ultimate &#39;real you&#39;, it simply isn&#39;t there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So this means the real YOU is mainly the YOU IN OTHERS (apart from your &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/ReconceptualizingIndividualDifferencesinSelf-EnhancementBias_AnInterpersonalApproach%282004%29.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;narcissistic biased self&lt;/a&gt;). That&#39;s why it&#39;s so important to choose friends in life that believe in YOU.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Only real friends will accept you without conditions. They recognize and reflect your initial intentions in life ( You=Me principle) and therefore accept to live an fight with all of your good an bad (perceived) &#39;properties&#39; (personality, habits, etc).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);&quot;&gt;The real you is &#39;there&#39;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Don&#39;t get mixed up now you found out the &#39;real you&#39; doesn&#39;t &#39;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);&quot;&gt;exist&lt;/span&gt;&#39;. It only means the &#39;real you&#39; isn&#39;t perceivable, visible or knowable (only the attributes).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The real you is out there where no living human being has access to (let&#39;s cal it the &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/span&gt;-dimension). It&#39;s very valuable, enjoy it in life, it&#39;s a gift.......&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/5743598921788836825/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=5743598921788836825' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5743598921788836825'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/5743598921788836825'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/02/real-you.html' title='The Real YOU'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX6JuPkF_j4wtQKs1qTDq68_jxX25KyN1FrDSvrqyYChtihZDL3YSGg6-MesP2BC7Up1B2QhA06tsgrUH5VHTPONbp5fm7YfUozhiCbemQPYQuC4NYnzlgzY95KKWgTlRyvUf0/s72-c/abc.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-2448809998299731055</id><published>2009-02-02T00:53:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2009-02-02T00:55:45.662+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="crpss view"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="develop"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="improve"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="quadrant"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="strong points"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="weak"/><title type='text'>Cross View Quadrants</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When you&#39;re balanced in life, the &#39;art&#39; is to keep it that way.&lt;br /&gt;The Cross View Quadrant (CVQ) helps you to stay dynamically balanced.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/selfbettermentpics/Home/view-on-yourself.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is how CVQ helps:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Just ask your best friend(s) to write down your best and improvable (worst) capabilities (character, skills, competences) on paper.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Independently, write down yourself, what you think your best and most improvable capabilities are.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Now draw a cross table (4 quadrants) of the two papers.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How to deal with the four quadrants to keep balanced or improve your relationship?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;A.  Quadrant ++&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;font-size:85%;&quot; &gt;This quadrant contains your positive capabilities that you and your friend agree on. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Enjoy those capabilities and be sure to spend enough time with each other to keep sharing them with your friend.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, if both of you only find positive points and no differences, be aware. The risk that both of you are too entangled and have developed a &lt;a href=&quot;http://books.google.nl/books?id=hroFzzxW88cC&amp;amp;pg=PT269&amp;amp;lpg=PT269&amp;amp;dq=%22follies+a+deux%22&amp;amp;source=bl&amp;amp;ots=zrBe0sPKrp&amp;amp;sig=jc2ZtnEjrfvKPKAE3L3JOXHN9MY&amp;amp;hl=nl&amp;amp;sa=X&amp;amp;oi=book_result&amp;amp;resnum=1&amp;amp;ct=result&quot;&gt;follies a deux&lt;/a&gt; is substantial. If, in the future, the environment changes, differences will show up.&lt;br /&gt;Go back and try to find minor or weak qualities, if necessary &lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.blogspot.com/search?q=core+quadrant&quot;&gt;discover yourself&lt;/a&gt; with help of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/core-quality/core-quadrant-a.html&quot;&gt;core quality test&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;B.  Quadrant - -&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains your negative or most improvable capabilities you and your friend agree on.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Together with your friend try to find out, if it&#39;s realistic or desirable to improve your capabilities or not. If not, confirm, accept - and sometimes - even learn to enjoy them. If improvable, ask for your friends help and feedback to improve your capabilities.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;C.  Quadrant + -&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains positive capabilities that you think you have. However your friend doesn&#39;t recognize or mention them, or even thinks they&#39;re your weakest points.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are several ways to deal with this:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 0px 2px 3px 22px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You&#39;re sure of this strong point, but your friend doesn&#39;t like it&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Be sure this is really a strong capability, by checking with other friends. If so, learn to accept and respect your friends flavor. Keep this point in your pocket and save it for other friends. Don&#39;t try to convince your friend (in hours of discussions) of this strong quality of yours, it could start to undermine your relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Your friend criticizes your best quality as weak&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Try to find out if you&#39;re &#39;over the hill&#39; and what originally was a fine quality has become &#39;too much of a good thing&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Anyhow, keep more of this quality respectful in your pocket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You haven&#39;t been able to demonstrate your strong point yet&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Simply show it!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;D.  Quadrant - +&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;This quadrant contains positive capabilities your friend recognizes in you, but you don&#39;t think you have them, experience them as negative or are unconscious  about them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is the most trickiest quadrant. Let&#39;s discuss the options:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 0px 2px 3px 22px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You&#39;re unconscious of the strong points addressed&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If you were unconscious of the strong points addressed by your friend, think why? Now you are aware of this quality, enjoy it, don&#39;t go &#39;demonstrating&#39; it, but keep using it spontaneously and in a relaxed way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;You think this positive point is not (that of) a quality of yours&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It&#39;s tricky to mention and discuss this, certainly in a business relationship.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most promotions and appointments are done by &lt;a href=&quot;http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Boss-is-Calling---Understanding-the-Psychology-of-Bossism&amp;amp;id=1868387&quot;&gt;bossing&lt;/a&gt; bosses who think they know you well. They have a positive biased view on your capabilities. Moreover, they often select you because they notice that you have the same qualities as they have.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By discussing your qualities,  your boss could become disappointed because it now turns out he had the wrong view. He might also think that you and he are not &#39;on the same page&#39;, or he might even be offended.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if your boss thinks you&#39;re super intelligent, a top sales executive or a born leader, think twice before you disappoint him by denying or discussing it.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Try to listen and find out why your boss thinks the way he does. This might give you a new sight on yourself.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;Success in applying the CVQ in business and life!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/2448809998299731055/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=2448809998299731055' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2448809998299731055'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/2448809998299731055'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2009/02/cross-view-quadrants.html' title='Cross View Quadrants'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-8109814981632381602</id><published>2008-12-31T16:40:00.003+01:00</published><updated>2009-09-16T22:54:00.378+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="bad"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="born"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="good"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="mathematics"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="philosophy"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Polya&#39;s urn"/><title type='text'>Born Good or Bad? Polya helps</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Were you born &#39;Good&#39; or &#39;Bad&#39;? The answer to this question can be given with help of mathematics!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s start with a simple model. When you were born, you had only a limited number of experiences. Let&#39;s assume you came to earth quite neutral, with one &#39;Good&#39; (G) and one &quot;Bad&quot; (B) experience.&lt;br /&gt;At this point in time, your (still unconscious) attitude and therefore expectation of a &#39;Good&#39; (B) outcome of your next experience, will be 50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In line with the expression &quot;You&#39;ll always reap what you sow&quot; (&lt;a href=&quot;http://net.bible.org/verse.php?book=Gal&amp;amp;chapter=6&amp;amp;verse=7#&quot;&gt;Gal 6:7&lt;/a&gt;),  or associative translated &quot;You&#39;ll become what you X&quot; (with X =&#39;Think&#39;, &#39;Eat&#39;, &#39;Are&#39;, etc.)&quot;, your next experience will indeed turn out to be equally G or B.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s assume that &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Providence&quot;&gt;providence&lt;/a&gt; decided, the outcome is G. Now you&#39;ve become a more optimistic person. Your experience-bucket is filled with two G&#39;s and one B (experience), so your subjective &#39;colored&#39; outlook on G&#39;s is 66,66% (2/3=[2 G&#39;s/(2 G&#39;s + 1 B)]) . You also look back on a relatively Positive Life Score of PLS=66,66% G&#39;s.&lt;br /&gt;Would you have experienced a &#39;B score&#39; instead, it would be the other way around and as a potential pessimist your outlook and PLS would have been lowered to 33,33% .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But happily you&#39;re a 66,66% (!) G-Score-optimist and life goes on. According to the same principles, the probability of scoring a new G-experience is now 66,66% instead of 50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As you may already notice, your PLS will more and more develop according your personal historical G- an B-experience track record.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few questions that may rise, are:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Does your Positive Life Score (PLS) has a limit? And if so, what&#39;s that limit?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Once you&#39;re in a pessimistic phase, what are the changes of getting out?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here&#39;s were the help of a great mathematician, &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Polya&quot;&gt;George Pólya&lt;/a&gt;, comes in, by modeling the above situation in what is called:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urn_problem&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Polya&#39;s Urn model&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An urn contains G&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; Green (Good) and B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt; Black (Bad) balls. One ball is drawn randomly from the urn and is then placed back in the urn together with an (extra) ball of the same color.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Our Good&amp;amp;Bad exercise turns out to be a simplified two color Polya Urn Model (G&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;=1,B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;=1) that is part of a large family of General Urn Models.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Properties&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It turns out that this model has the following (translated)properties:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;On any given moment in your life &lt;span style=&quot;font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;if you do not know what kind of balls have been drawing before&lt;/span&gt;, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://catlin.casinocitytimes.com/articles/43829.html&quot;&gt;expectation&lt;/a&gt; of drawing a Good or Bad ball (experience)  is&lt;a href=&quot;http://everything2.com/e2node/Polya%2520urn%2520scheme&quot;&gt; always&lt;/a&gt; G&lt;sub&gt;0  &lt;/sub&gt;=G0/(G&lt;sub&gt;0 &lt;/sub&gt;+B&lt;sub&gt;0&lt;/sub&gt;) =50%.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;On any given moment in your life, gaining a Good or a Bad experience depends on the track record of G&amp;amp;B experiences in your life. So if you&#39;ve experienced G Good experiences and B Bad experiences, your changes of experiencing a next Good experience are equal to the track record of your Positive Life Score : PLS&lt;sub&gt;(G+B)&lt;/sub&gt;=G/(G+B)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The relative influence of a G or B experience on the PLS decreases rapidly as the number of total experiences increases. Your PLS has a definitive &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/Home/polya-urn/urn-model-matrix-337copy.pdf?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;limit&lt;/a&gt; in (life)time with equal changes of outcome on the interval [0,1].&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;As is clear from some simulations, the first 10 to 20 experiences in our life determine whether we&#39;ll become an optimist (PLS&lt;sub&gt;(∞)&lt;/sub&gt;&gt; 0.75) or an pessimist  (PLS&lt;sub&gt;(∞)&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;0,25). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lxy&amp;amp;chd=s:,fUfYUafilnjhjlmopprrpoppomnoppqrrqqrrsttt&amp;amp;chs=450x200&amp;amp;chxt=x,y&amp;amp;chm=o,D2B48C,0,-1,5,0&amp;amp;chxr=0,0,40%7C1,0,1&amp;amp;chds=0,40,0,1&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=lxy&amp;amp;chd=s:,fUPMUSPNMLKOSQPSRUVUUSSRQSUVUUTSUTTUUUUUT&amp;amp;chs=450x200&amp;amp;chxt=x,y&amp;amp;chm=o,D2B48C,0,-1,5,0&amp;amp;chxr=0,0,40%7C1,0,1&amp;amp;chds=0,40,0,1&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Moreover, the first 5 to 10 experiences in your life already determine the direction of our PLS in life. This means that our parents and teachers have an important role in guiding us in our baby and youngster phase to a positive balanced number of experiences (a more than average PLS).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For example if on a given moment in life you have had 4 Bad experiences and 1 Good, the probability of having a next Good experience is 20%. What&#39;s more frustrating is that the probability in this case to get in three steps to a 50% level is only about 3% (=1/5*2/6*3/7) . This illustrates the heavy responsibility of our parents and teachers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That&#39;s why it&#39;s for example so difficult to change your religion. Once the first 50 religion experiences have been brought in by your parents, it&#39;s hard to change from Budha to Allah or Christ, or the other way around.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Once a more than average PLS is achieved, we&#39;re more likely to absorb a Bad experience without getting unbalanced. Parents and teachers can &#39;let go&#39;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Keep in mind, Polya&#39;s Urn is only a think-model to help you to become aware of the important mechanisms that play a role in becoming &#39;who you are&#39; or &#39;what you&#39;ll be&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Change?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Once you become experienced in life and your PLS direction has been set, you can only change this by either a &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deprogramming&quot;&gt;Professional De or Re-programming&lt;/a&gt; (PDR) or a, what is called, Life Changing Experience (LCE). In PDR Bad experiences are taken away (i.e. out of the urn) and replaced by Good experiences, to regain trust and a higher confidence (PLS) level. In LCE&#39;s, your environmental or physical circumstances suddenly chance in such a way that you are forced to experience only just B (or just G) experiences. Another LCE  is created by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/%7Etanguay/7intro.htm&quot;&gt;change of context&lt;/a&gt;. What before were B experiences now turn out to be G experiences (or the other way around).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;What if?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There are many other aspects that could be studied in relation to the Polya model. For example:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;What would be the effect if an experience is not just only Good or Bad, but a mix. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What if a &#39;Good experience&#39; doesn&#39;t trigger extra positive confidence (an extra G) but a negative experience (an extra B). &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The answer in both cases is that almost always the PLS-limit=50% !, in other words: You&#39;ll become average.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But how does a little bit of extra Bad (or Good) influence the PLS limit? If you want to experiment (online) and learn more about Good and Bad, go and visit&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:180%;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://selfbetterment.50webs.com/mix/Polya/polya_friedman-urn.html&quot;&gt;Polya&#39;s Urn Experiment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;and look up the &lt;a href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/Home/polya-urn&quot;&gt;Math behind Polya&#39;s Urn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Math helps us to discover who we are or what we become...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/8109814981632381602/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=8109814981632381602' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8109814981632381602'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8109814981632381602'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/12/born-good-or-bad-polya-helps.html' title='Born Good or Bad? Polya helps'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-8065367931442072924</id><published>2008-12-15T21:58:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-12-15T21:59:24.318+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="beat"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="beatles"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="beatless"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="born"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="death"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="tune"/><title type='text'>Our beat</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;From the moment we were born, &#39;our beat&#39; has been set.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;No matter what we do or say, &#39;our beat&#39; in life go&#39;s on. No matter who we are or pretend to be, we&#39;re not able to oversing or shout down &#39;our beat&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazingoliveoil.com/olive-oil-for-hdl.html&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://8159955499954829120-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/ourheartbeats.jpg?attredirects=0&amp;amp;auth=ANoY7cr0RrgK3rp5OG2LDa74YvnEG_N8BQJaaKbWQ595u6Z1VN5VCqGA6oVH5m1M0SORCRQKnENXdVtgYhY16pM0MZXAqN-bfnNBTSYg2-muqCPPdihnqKShZ_QdAicubBDIors76n3jdaaaReo0NwWCOn4_WtBwDmQ05IwpyN2pt3ioKEDyRlAX6IFIdtDlQemPqGy4Rrb_PG8tl9tVG0YWmRs1nxca_y-fQ9oi4pJMrw9TQoyuFFc%3D&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In every phase of life we play a different tune. As baby sometimes clumsy, but charming. As a child ambitious, but still fuzzy. As adult classic and convincing, as if we have become &#39;our tune&#39; instead of &#39;our beat&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But we&#39;re neither the notes we play, nor the space between them. Our tune plays on the background and &#39;our beat&#39; keeps leading, whether we like it or not. Others may help us to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7F2X3rSSCU&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;find out in life&lt;/a&gt; what other tunes fit &#39;our beat&#39;, but they wont be able to change &#39;our beat&#39;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Until finally &#39;our beat&#39; slows down and we have to face our final moment, when &#39;our beat&#39; transforms our tunes, guided by angels, in a new &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbirjVeI_Pk&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;universal&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;image&lt;/a&gt;, that&#39;ll &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywg-PdeGVL0&amp;amp;feature=related&quot;&gt;beat(le)s&lt;/a&gt; you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You won&#39;t stay &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ktpercussion.com/articles/article02rhythm.html&quot;&gt;beatles&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, and you can&#39;t beat &#39;your beat&#39; in life, but you may try.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now with this in mind listen to the next song. Can you distinguish the tune from the beat, the baby form the adult, life form death?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.muziboo.com/swf/new_player.swf&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; flashvars=&quot;song_id=10941&quot; height=&quot;112&quot; width=&quot;272&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;size: 0.8em;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.muziboo.com/music/try-me/10941&quot;&gt;Try me&lt;/a&gt; |&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Your life in 5.16 minutes...&lt;br /&gt;(&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:85%;&quot;&gt;Play it loud on professional stereo equipment&lt;/span&gt;)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/8065367931442072924/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=8065367931442072924' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8065367931442072924'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/8065367931442072924'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/12/our-beat.html' title='Our beat'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-3131468462851519393</id><published>2008-11-19T14:30:00.002+01:00</published><updated>2008-11-20T07:52:54.681+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Aerodynamic"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="balloon"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="career"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="formula"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="performance equation"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Style"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="wing"/><title type='text'>Aerodynamic Career Style?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;Careers follow the laws of &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerodynamics&quot;&gt;aerodynamics&lt;/a&gt;. There are two main  opposite style types of making career. You may choose to become a &quot;Balloon Career Maker&quot;(BCM)  or a &quot;Wing Career Maker (WCM).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/lift.jpg?attredirects=0&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;&quot; src=&quot;http://sites.google.com/site/boooming/selfbettermentpics/lift.jpg?attredirects=0&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s start with the most traditional way to make career&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;The Wing Career Maker (WCM)&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a WCM you use the aerodynamic &lt;a href=&quot;http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/lifteq.html&quot;&gt;Lift&lt;/a&gt; effect to get higher on the career ladder.&lt;br /&gt;Although the lift of an airplane is a &lt;a href=&quot;http://mb-soft.com/public2/lift.html&quot;&gt;combination of several effects&lt;/a&gt;, a substantial part is what&#39;s called the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.aquaphoenix.com/lecture/ideas-flow/page2.html&quot;&gt;Bernoulli Effect&lt;/a&gt;. In short, the &lt;a href=&quot;http://science.howstuffworks.com/airplane8.htm&quot;&gt;airplane gets lifted&lt;/a&gt; because the curved shape (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfoil&quot;&gt;airfoil&lt;/a&gt;) of a wing forces the air that flows above the wing to a higher velocity than the air under the wing. Depending on the shape and the angle of the wing, this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=airplane.htm&amp;amp;url=http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil2.html&quot;&gt;causes&lt;/a&gt; a low pressure above the wing and a high pressure under the wing. The result is the desired lift. In formula : &lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;&quot; &gt;L = K &lt;span style=&quot;font-family:arial;&quot;&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; v&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; . A&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(L = Lift, K = shape dependent constant, v= velocity, A =wing Area)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The WCM works just like that. By being more productive (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= increase speed v&lt;/span&gt;), creating support for his ideas and actions (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;=  create a larger area A&lt;/span&gt;), the &#39;beginning manager&#39; relieves (the stress of) his superior managers (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= under pressure above the wing&lt;/span&gt;) and - at the same time - puts pressure on his employees to perform (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= High pressure under the wing&lt;/span&gt;). The result is he gets promoted (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= lifted&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As the formula shows, &#39;being more productive&#39; has an emerging quadratic effect, while &#39;creating support&#39; only has a simple single multiplier effect on promotion.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By being conscious of the lift formula effects, the WCM has the opportunity to change his management style (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= shape&lt;/span&gt;) and approach (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;=angle&lt;/span&gt;) in a way that he may reduce and calibrate the employee &#39;pressure effect&#39; to a healthy (optimal) level. Reduction however, will have a negative effect on his career speed. On the other hand this healthy pressure level will motivate his employees for better performance and eventually lead to better company results on the long term.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The crucial question here is, does senior management have sight and steer on these &#39;long term&#39; effects or are they only managing short time result? In the first case, promotion will lay ahead.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Now let&#39;s look at the opposite style.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;The Balloon Career Maker (BCM)&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The BCM makes use of another aerodynamic effect called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.overflite.com/thermo.html&quot;&gt;Hot Air Balloon Lift&lt;/a&gt;. The heated air inside a balloon weighs less than the surrounding ambient air displaced by the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/%7Eet181/balloon/balloon.html&quot;&gt;balloon&lt;/a&gt;. The difference in the air weights is the gross lift. In &lt;a href=&quot;http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/1997/PV1997_1484.pdf&quot;&gt;formula&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size:130%;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;L = V.g.(ρ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt; - ρ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(L = Lift, V= Balloon Volume, g = gravity constant, ρ&lt;sub&gt;i&lt;/sub&gt; = density inside, ρ&lt;sub&gt;a&lt;/sub&gt; = density ambient )&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As BCM you don&#39;t seem to worry about your productivity and career speed. You focus on your desires and needs. You cultivate the fire that&#39;s burning within you (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= heating of the air&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;You invest (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;=heat&lt;/span&gt;) in yourself through study and training and expose your skills to your environment  (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= the air gets hot&lt;/span&gt;).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a consequence you&#39;ll get noticed by higher management, who&#39;ll recognize your knowledge. Your star will rise (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 102, 102);&quot;&gt;= Volume increases&lt;/span&gt;), you&#39;ll get promoted (&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(153, 153, 153);&quot;&gt;=Lift&lt;/span&gt;),because you&#39;re a professional help instead of a higher management threat.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;What&#39;s best?&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There&#39;s no &#39;best way&#39; to make career. Just be who you are and try to take advantage of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.drjack.info/BLIP/INFO/parameter_details.html&quot;&gt;thermal updrafts&lt;/a&gt; so that you may &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newtonsapple.tv/TeacherGuide.php?id=1660&quot;&gt;fly&lt;/a&gt;, rise and fall, like a thermal plane without working like a hound dog or studying like a madman. Enjoy life, be a &lt;a href=&quot;http://science.howstuffworks.com/glider3.htm&quot;&gt;glider&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/3131468462851519393/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=3131468462851519393' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3131468462851519393'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3131468462851519393'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/11/aerodynamic-career-style.html' title='Aerodynamic Career Style?'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-3552134738972297530</id><published>2008-10-31T17:29:00.000+01:00</published><updated>2008-10-31T17:30:56.614+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="confirmation bias"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="decision"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="team"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="zorro"/><title type='text'>Zorro Decisions</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;In times of change, success depends, more than ever,  on taking the right decisions that have the support of your team or family.&lt;br /&gt;Because of the importance of such decisions, by nature we&#39;re not inclined to take any alternative or more risky solutions. Instead we  go on &#39;Save&#39; and base our decision on our passed experiences and our preferred and  filtered ways of taking in information and making decisions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As team or family member we  all are selective in what we see or hear. More over, in changing times most of us avoid unnecessary conflict. Neither do we like extra challenge, as our bow cannot always be bent. We&#39;re captured in what is called our &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias&quot;&gt;confirmation bias&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To prevent possible failures in decision making, it&#39;s important to include the different views and (decision) qualities of our team (family) members in a balanced way.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To help to make better and more considered decisions, we may use the so called &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.actionlearningteams.co.uk/&quot;&gt;Z-Technique,&lt;/a&gt; that &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.actionlearningteams.co.uk/index.html&quot;&gt;Sue Nash&lt;/a&gt; uses in her action learning programs. This technique is based on the &lt;em&gt;Myers Briggs Type Indicator (&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator&quot;&gt;MBTI&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To remember it better,  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveroesler&quot;&gt;Steve Roesler &lt;/a&gt;, related this technique, that he called &#39;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/2008/09/decisions-makin.html&quot;&gt;Decision z&lt;/a&gt;&#39;, to the tv and movie character &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro&quot;&gt;Zorro&lt;/a&gt;. So we might call it the &#39;Zorro Decision&#39; technique.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://jos.blogspot.googlepages.com/zorro-decisions.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Zorro Decision technique is based on 4 steps:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(8, 34, 8);&quot; type=&quot;1&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Sensing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Walk through and write down &lt;strong style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt;all possible facts and factual&lt;/strong&gt; details.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Intuition &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Take a&lt;strong style=&quot;font-weight: normal;&quot;&gt; &#39;big picture&#39;&lt;/strong&gt; approach to think &#39;long term&#39;.&lt;br /&gt;Write down all opportunities, possibilities, and connections between cause and effect.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Thinking&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Write down and discuss all possible solutions. Each with their pros and cons, risks, benefits, consequences and likelihood.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;Feeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What impact does the decision have on other stakeholders or group members ( the &#39;people factor&#39;) How will you feel about the result? Will it gain support or meet opposition?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlw9woRpkUnnSHUut_hA8WGygqVrMd6TdsfNpG9Bt99_0In5sI2QuBxEuzQwkVCwU6mW5oCUy4zc0_CSi8m6U6sxGEyYUihLT_iEfjL0dQinxJ3dLkSD6lKy49eBcNjt7PUSgT/s1600-h/zorro-decision_z001_2.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlw9woRpkUnnSHUut_hA8WGygqVrMd6TdsfNpG9Bt99_0In5sI2QuBxEuzQwkVCwU6mW5oCUy4zc0_CSi8m6U6sxGEyYUihLT_iEfjL0dQinxJ3dLkSD6lKy49eBcNjt7PUSgT/s400/zorro-decision_z001_2.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263350221970762658&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Remember Zorro next time you&#39;re about to take a group decision!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sources: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.actionlearningteams.co.uk/index.html&quot;&gt;Sue Nash Consulting&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/2008/09/decisions-makin.html&quot;&gt;Roesler Consulting Group&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/3552134738972297530/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=3552134738972297530' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3552134738972297530'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3552134738972297530'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/10/zorro-decisions.html' title='Zorro Decisions'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlw9woRpkUnnSHUut_hA8WGygqVrMd6TdsfNpG9Bt99_0In5sI2QuBxEuzQwkVCwU6mW5oCUy4zc0_CSi8m6U6sxGEyYUihLT_iEfjL0dQinxJ3dLkSD6lKy49eBcNjt7PUSgT/s72-c/zorro-decision_z001_2.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-4392357847882842155</id><published>2008-10-28T22:47:00.001+01:00</published><updated>2008-10-30T09:56:46.110+01:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="complex"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="credit crisis"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="manageable"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="simple"/><title type='text'>Manageable?</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;In order to succeed in a certain action, we often develop an action plan, a process that defines sub-actions in terms of who, what, when and where.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To guarantee that we succeed as much as possible, we have to maximize the control of this process of sub-actions. Make the process manageable.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur=&quot;try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}&quot; href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneRpxd0x9JHlmUD9WPKjNSZWLfBHFA88Z9RjZA_A9uaD3Yz3hNiA4rHJCJJBZKX3I_6t_j9WaYBM8AahrzobDuM45WX26FZ3IETK6K2qHlw2uWk3JJTVslwUDulxYz3CKSNOk/s1600-h/complex.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneRpxd0x9JHlmUD9WPKjNSZWLfBHFA88Z9RjZA_A9uaD3Yz3hNiA4rHJCJJBZKX3I_6t_j9WaYBM8AahrzobDuM45WX26FZ3IETK6K2qHlw2uWk3JJTVslwUDulxYz3CKSNOk/s400/complex.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262288390833589778&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.noop.nl/2008/08/simple-vs-complicated-vs-complex-vs-chaotic.html&quot;&gt;managing this process&lt;/a&gt; it&#39;s important to identify the nature and co-dependency of your  sub-actions.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In general it&#39;s important to characterize sub-actions as follows:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table style=&quot;width: 480px; height: 122px;&quot; summary=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; cellpadding=&quot;2&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-align: left;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Characteristic&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Understandable&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;98&quot;&gt;Predictable&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;81&quot;&gt;Solvable&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Simple&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;++&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;98&quot;&gt;++&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;81&quot;&gt;++&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Complicated&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;98&quot;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;81&quot;&gt;++&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Complex&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;-&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;98&quot;&gt;-&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;81&quot;&gt;+&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Chaotic&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;98&quot;&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot; width=&quot;81&quot;&gt;-&lt;/td&gt;  &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Examples&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table style=&quot;width: 480px; height: 248px;&quot; summary=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; cellpadding=&quot;2&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;  &lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot; width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Characteristic&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;font-weight: bold;&quot; width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Example&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt; Description&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Simple&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Doorbell&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot;&gt;Single component/ process with defined output&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Complicated&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Watch&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot;&gt;Several components working together with defined output&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://deepfreeze9.blogspot.com/2007/09/software-complex-vs-complicated.html&quot;&gt;Complex&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Weather&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot;&gt;Many interdependent components with hardly predictable output.&lt;/td&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt;  &lt;tr&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;129&quot;&gt;Chaotic&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td width=&quot;132&quot;&gt;Clouds (form)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;   &lt;td style=&quot;vertical-align: top;&quot;&gt;No sub components to identify, output unpredictable&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;     &lt;/tr&gt; &lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Always analyze and characterize the components or sub actions of your action plan.&lt;br /&gt;Not doing so will certainly cause trouble.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;Example&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of the causes of the 2008 credit crisis is that we try to manage an in essential &#39;chaotic process&#39; as a &#39;complicated process&#39;. More traditional regulation rules (or governance back up) won&#39;t stabilize the banking system on the long run (in fact they make it worse), because these rules would imply that the nature of the financial markets is known and can be captured in a controllable mathematical linear system.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Financial markets are complex and chaotic systems, just like the weather. This implicates that regulation should be much more focused on &quot;Plan B&quot; measures than on detailed rule based regulation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This means that regulation has to be formulated in such a way that Banks, instead of proving more and more that they will &#39;never&#39; be insolvent (e.g. calculated risk=0,5%, that can&#39;t be calculated!), are forced to deliver Plan B&#39;s in which they state how they&#39;ll act in the &#39;unexpected&#39; case of insolvency or iliquidity (average at least once in 200 years).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just like you&#39;ve got an umbrella in your car (Plan B), because you know that even though the weather forecast was &#39;sunny&#39;, you never can tell precisely when it&#39;s going to rain.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most processes in life turn out to be chaotic on the long run. Analyze and control them, but don&#39;t forget to (always) carry your &quot;Plan B&quot; in your pocket.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr width=&quot;80%&quot; color=&quot;#800000&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/4392357847882842155/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=4392357847882842155' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4392357847882842155'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/4392357847882842155'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/10/manageable.html' title='Manageable?'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneRpxd0x9JHlmUD9WPKjNSZWLfBHFA88Z9RjZA_A9uaD3Yz3hNiA4rHJCJJBZKX3I_6t_j9WaYBM8AahrzobDuM45WX26FZ3IETK6K2qHlw2uWk3JJTVslwUDulxYz3CKSNOk/s72-c/complex.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-3824108096949364232</id><published>2008-10-10T19:59:00.000+02:00</published><updated>2008-10-10T20:01:24.995+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="ability"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="motivation"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="performance"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="performance equation"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="purcell"/><title type='text'>Performance equation</title><content type='html'>&lt;div xmlns=&quot;http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;What&#39;s result, what&#39;s performance, how can you manage it and does HR really help?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Difference between Result and Performance&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s first distinguish between Result and Performance, simply stated:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Performance = Result / Potential&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, after setting the goals (i.e. the expected Results) the Potential (maximal Result that can be achieved) will almost certainly change due to all kind of changing external, non controllable  or non influenceable, circumstances.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Performance related rewards and agreements should therefore always be made for different Potential-scenario&#39;s (bandwidth).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Board members, directors, employees, colleagues, friends, our kids, in short &#39;the contractor&#39;, should always be judged and rewarded on their actual performance and not on the results.&lt;br /&gt;One of the main questions in this process is: Can the contractor control or influence the Potential?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;Example &lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You committed to sell 100 books this year, being 0,1% of the national book market (Potential = 0,1% x 100.000 = 100)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table summary=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; cellpadding=&quot;5&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;Potential&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Result&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;Performance&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;100&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;100&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;100%&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;50&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;75&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;150%&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td&gt;200&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;150&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td&gt;75%&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From this it&#39;s clear that if national book sales (potential) would slink to 50%, selling 75 books results in a 150% performance. You would have done a great job, given the Circumstances!&lt;br /&gt;The reverse, of course, is also true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;Performance: rule of thumb&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a personal level, Performance could - as rule of thumb - be &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://blogs.salon.com/0002007///2005/02/14.html&quot;&gt;defined&lt;/a&gt; as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;What you get done&lt;br /&gt;=&lt;br /&gt;[What you have]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;small&gt;x&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[What you do with it]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;small&gt;x&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[When, Where and How you do it]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Research done by &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.bath.ac.uk/werc/pdf/LovettLecturer2004.pdf&quot;&gt;John Purcell&lt;/a&gt;, Boxall and others, based on original marketing research of &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://msbcdrom.usc.edu/digitalmeasures/macinnis/intellcont/integrative_framework89-1.pdf&quot;&gt;Jaworski&lt;/a&gt;(1989), show that successful firms have better people and better processes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It seems that High Performing Organizations create success based on three pillars:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Human Capital Advantage (HCA)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Organization Process Advantage (OPA)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Organization Citizenship behaviour (OCB)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;The AMO model&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Professional &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.bath.ac.uk/werc/pdf/LovettLecturer2004.pdf&quot;&gt;people management&lt;/a&gt; is vital in creating these advantages.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Research and practise led to the development of the so called AMO Model.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;P = f (A, M, O)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With P = Performance, A = Ability, M = Motivation and O = Opportunity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://jos.blogspot.googlepages.com/amo-400.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Simply said,people perform well when:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;they are able to do so&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;they have the motivation to do so&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;their (work) environment supports and stimulates them&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Although the relationship (e.g. covariance, etc.) between the AMO elements (A, M,O) can be complex, it&#39;s clear that if one of them is zero, the Performance itself will also be zero. That&#39;s why the AMO equation is sometimes simplified as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;P = A x M x O&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;The performance equation&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Another similar development by &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.dsperformancegroup.com/?submit=About&quot;&gt;Douglas Peters&lt;/a&gt; led to &quot;&lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.dsperformancegroup.com/docs/equation.pdf&quot;&gt;The Performance Equation&lt;/a&gt;&quot;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;P = At * ([ K + S ]/ ER)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Where P=performance, At=Attitude, K=Knowledge, S=Skills and ER= Environmental Roadblocks.&lt;br /&gt;Peters sets Attitude in place of Motivation, combines Skills and Knowledge in Ability and defines ER as negative (opposite) aspect of Opportunity&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;Motivation revealed&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Motivation is one of the most important drivers behind &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://courses.csusm.edu/mgmt302db/Lussier3eCH12.ppt&quot;&gt;High performance&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Let&#39;s dig in to the several aspects of &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivation/motivate.html&quot;&gt;Motivation&lt;/a&gt;. Motivation has been analyzed by Victor Vroom. &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_vroom_expectancy_theory.html&quot;&gt;Vroom&#39;s Expectancy Theory&lt;/a&gt; (1964) is based upon the following three beliefs:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;square&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Valence &lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The employee&#39;s defined (outcome) value of extrinsic rewards [money, promotion, time-off, benefits] or intrinsic rewards [satisfaction].&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Expectancy &lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The employee&#39;s confidence end expectation of what they are capable of doing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;u&gt;Instrumentality &lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The perception of employees whether they will actually get what they desire even if it has been promised by a manager.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Vroom states that these three aspects interact psychologically to create a motivational force such that the employee acts in ways that bring pleasure and avoid pain.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So according Vroom Motivation could be defined as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;M = E x I x V&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Or in words, Motivation =&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px; padding: 0px;&quot; type=&quot;circle&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;Expectancy: Perceived Probability of Success x&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Instrumentality: Connection of Success and Reward  x&lt;/li&gt;  &lt;li&gt;Valence: Value of Obtaining Goal&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;Opportunity&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Opportunity can be seen as everything in the environment that is necessary, supports, helps or sometimes blocks (negative opportunity) the performance of the contractor.&lt;br /&gt;Charlie Cook &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;http://courses.csusm.edu/mgmt302db/Lussier3eCH12.ppt&quot;&gt;defines&lt;/a&gt; Opportunities as Resources.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In fact Opportunities could be defined as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 350px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;O = R x H x C&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With O = Opportunity, R = Resources, H = Help or support, C = Circumstances&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Just to demonstrate: If you planned a BBQ and got enough meat (R) and matches (H), but it&#39;s raining cats and dogs (C), it&#39;s not what you would call a big opportunity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(102, 0, 0);&quot;&gt;&lt;small&gt;&lt;b&gt;Wrapping up &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/small&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wrapping up all Insights, Performance could be defined as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;border: 1px solid blue; padding: 10px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana; width: 420px; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;P =  A x M x O = S . K . E . I . V . R . H . C&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With: S=Skills, K=Knowledge, E=Expectancy,I=Instrumentality, V=Valence, R=Resources, H=Help or support and C=Circumstances&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://jos.blogspot.googlepages.com/performance-jb.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Remember Performance is everywhere, not only in business.&lt;br /&gt;Success in performing!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/3824108096949364232/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=3824108096949364232' title='8 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3824108096949364232'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/3824108096949364232'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/10/performance-equation.html' title='Performance equation'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>8</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7933576.post-7741199488952829396</id><published>2008-10-09T12:40:00.008+02:00</published><updated>2008-10-09T13:04:44.692+02:00</updated><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="change"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="chaos"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="collapse"/><category scheme="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#" term="Langton&#39;s ant"/><title type='text'>The Collapse of Chaos in your life</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style=&quot;width: 490px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Perhaps you think that if you have a consistent life-philosophy, your control your life and no great changes will take place?&lt;br /&gt;Well,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(123, 13, 81);&quot;&gt;you&#39;re probably wrong !&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even if we act in a stable consistent way, we keep interfering with our environment and our environment responses to us.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At first this response seems meaningless and of no value. You think you&#39;re consequent and your work and achievements in life seem relatively stable, perhaps a little bit chaotic and of no great significance. But in repeating the right things endlessly&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;color: rgb(123, 13, 81);&quot;&gt;Something will change&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This change often will not appear as an evolution in your life, but as a kind of revolution, suddenly and most often unexpected.&lt;br /&gt;Fore example, when you study, you&#39;ll probably once in a while think: what progress am I making?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But don&#39;t worry, if you keep on your track, there&#39;ll be a day your future suddenly comes to you (out of the blue: as a kind of emergent property) instead of &quot;the you trying to make your future&quot; in this &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.annanardella.it/ant.html&quot; title=&quot;Play and see the principles of the game of life through a mathematical model !&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Game of Life&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos8.flickr.com/7496943_14e30a63a0.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;The solution : Langton&#39;s ant !&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A good demonstration of this principle is&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;table   style=&quot;width: 398px; height: 890px;font-family:verdana;font-size:10pt;&quot; valign=&quot;TOP&quot; clear=&quot;ALL&quot; bg=&quot;&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; cellpadding=&quot;8&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width=&quot;400&quot;&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: rgb(0, 0, 139);&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.annanardella.it/ant.html&quot; title=&quot;See and play it&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;big&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;Langton&#39;s ant&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/big&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Langton&#39;s ant is an virtual ant that starts out on a grid containing black and white cells, and then follows the following set of rules.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 3px 2px 3px 18px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;If the ant is on a black square, it turns right 90° and moves forward one unit. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;If the ant is on a white square, it turns left 90° and moves forward one unit. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;When the ant leaves a square, it inverts the color.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LangtonsAnt.html&quot; title=&quot;Click for the source !&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://mathworld.wolfram.com/images/gifs/langant.gif&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The result is a quite complicated and apparently chaotic, but relatively stable, motion. But after about 10.000 moves the ant starts to build a broad diagonal &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.annanardella.it/ant.html&quot; title=&quot;See it for yourself&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;highway&lt;/a&gt;&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.theory.org/software/&quot; title=&quot;Theory and art ; just click !&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://photos6.flickr.com/7496944_24bfbb3f6f.jpg&quot; border=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So keep on your track and wait for&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140178740/emergpropeconwas/103-5566637-7235068&quot; title=&quot;More about this book&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The collapse of chaos&lt;/a&gt; in your life&lt;/center&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;hr color=&quot;#800000&quot; width=&quot;80%&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/feeds/7741199488952829396/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7933576&amp;postID=7741199488952829396' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7741199488952829396'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/7933576/posts/default/7741199488952829396'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://metaphilos.blogspot.com/2008/10/collapse-of-chaos-in-your-life.html' title='The Collapse of Chaos in your life'/><author><name>Maggid</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/01922778308627968310</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='https://img1.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>

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