Green & Clean

One of the most impressive stories that illustrate the principles of management and delegation is given by Stephen Covey in his fantastic book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People .

In this story called Green and Clean he illustrates four general principles that are important when you divide tasks. Wetter this is in your family or at your job. Wetter you're the boss or the employee. These principles lead to success!

Green & Clean
We were having a family meeting to divide the tasks in our family. My seven-year-old son, Stephen, volunteered to take care of the yard. Before I actually gave him a job, I took him next door to our neighbor's. "Look, son," I said. "See how our neighbor's yard is green and clean? That's what we're after: green and clean.	Set Target Set simple targets in a few words that everyone understand. No difficult or pagewide target definitions.
"Now before you decide whether or not you're going to take the job, let me tell you a few more things. Because when you take the job, I don't do it anymore. It's your job. I trust you to do the job, to get it done. Now who's going to be your boss?" "You, Dad?" "No, not me. You're the boss."	Define responsibility Delegate and clearly define the responsibility and mandate at the right level. Cut of dependent behavior.
"Now, guess who your helper is." "Who?" "I am," I said. "You boss me." "You tell me how I can help." "I'll do anything you want me to do."	Offer help Only after the target is set and the responsibility is defined: start helping Don't start helping in an earlier state. Otherwise things will end up in a mess.
Two weeks went and nothing happened. The yard was going down the drain. As I rounded the corner, I saw my son at the park across the street playing. I faked a smile and yelled across the street, "How's the yard coming?" Then we walked around the yard together. His chin began to quiver and tears welled up in his eyes.	Accept failure Delegating is a process. Accept that you don't succeed at once. Keep patience. Stand up as many times as necessary.
Than he finally asked for help. I helped him two or three more times that entire summer. After that, he himself took care of that yard . He kept it greener and cleaner than it had ever been.	Success Final Acceptance and taking responsibility. Using the above principles finally leads to the success you both wanted.

Covey is no narrow-minded or soft management-guru. On his website he states:

Human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled

They are four dimensional
body, mind, heart, and spirit

Dr. Stephen R. Covey
The 8th Habit
From Effectiveness to Greatness

As you see, the principles are all based on constructive communication.

Apply these simple principles everywhere and things will become a lot simpler in life.

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Everything under control?

Why is it we always have to control things?
Of course you need a certain amount of control to achieve your goals.
But too much control limits your creativity and output.

This is perfectly demonstrated by a quote of the famous Formula 1 driver Mario Andretti

If everything seems under control,
you're just not going fast enough !



So one of the secrets in life is to determine the right amount of control.

Control plays an important role in our life, as is demonstrated in the next quotes

Control Quotes Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you If you don't control your mind, someone else will Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you. No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change

So, control your life but not too much !

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We're all experts!

Ever heard of the Dunning Kruger Effect (DKE)?

DKE is simply said:

Novices overestimate their performance,
Experts underestimate their performance.

According to nobel prize winners Dunning & Kruger (1999), people tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities and performance.

This overestimation mainly occurs when people are unskilled (novices: +500% overestimation !).


Novices (unskilled) have a dual burden:

• They reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices
  
• Their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize this

This also explains why self-assessments often fail. In general people are thinking they're really doing a great job.

According to Krajč & Ortmann (2007), the bad judgements (metacognity inability) that leads to flawed self-assessments, could be better explained as 'unbiased judgements based on biased information'.

Highly skilled people, the experts, suffer from the opposite. They tend to underestimate (10%) their performance.

However it's been proved that feedback, training and making people conscious of DKE, reduces the effect.

Just look around, DKE is omni-present:

• We're all sports experts (soccer, golf, darts)
  
• We all know how to raise kids
  
• Most employees have a 'common sense' opinion about marketing, branding, HR
• We're all employee and family coaches
  
• We all understand the risks of war, nuclear power, skiing

So teach and be aware of what you really know, develop (your skills) in what you would want to know, get help an get sight on what you'll never know, be open to feedback and don't forget to enjoy life in the meantime.

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How high can you reach?

How high can you reach? What's your ultimate altitude?

With respect to what Jesse Jackson or Donald Trump are saying about that, I state that




Aptitude + Attitude = Altitude






In other words: the level that you reach is a combination of your natural given talents (aptitude) and your attitude.

To raise your altitude, you'll have to change and improve your attitude by learning.

This "learning" is well demonstrated by the English language trainer, Sreenadhachary, at a workshop on the "Importance of English Language in M.N.C.s".
Sreenadhachary trains Indian man and woman in learning English with simple principles:

• A positive frame of mind and learning from mistakes are both needed to improve
• Good learners make mistakes unknowingly and correct themselves knowingly
• The glory lies not in avoiding a fall but in getting up every time you fall down

Sreenadhachary uses several other techniques to achieve that job aspirants improve their accent and try to speak English in the way an Englishman does.

However one general rule could be added:




"To Speak English", "Think English"

In fact this rule could be generally applied to an higher altitude and new principle or formula:



"To XXX YYY", "Think as YYY"

Where you could substitute for XXX verbs like "help", "fight", etc.
For YYY you could substitute all kind of nouns like "English", "your best friend", "God", "your enemy", etc.

By substituting different verbs verbs for XXX, you'll first conclude that it doesn't apply, but on a deeper thinking-level you'll grasp it, learn from it and know what to do.




A nice application of this Zen-like-thinking is a Sun Tzu like quote like:



To beat your enemy, think like your enemy

Be sure not to mesh up with the pitfall that "thinking like" is the same as "becoming-like".
By "thinking like thousand different people", you don't become like one of them, they'll all enrich you on your path, YOU !

However.. see what happens if you substitute "Think" by "Be" or "Become like" (i.e. "to beat your enemy, become your enemy"). Dare you?

Remember, it's your decision to change your attitude and to decide to make this day a beautiful day

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Test Drive Paradox

Does a test drive help, selling a car?

Let's take a look at what could be called the 'test drive paradox'!

Test drive paradox

• E-factor :
  The longer the test drive, the higher the closing rate
  This is the Emotional factor. The longer you sit in the driver's seat, touch the car's interior, the more you're subconsciously convincing yourself that this car is yours. This is effect is called "taking mental ownership".
  


• R-factor :
  The longer the test drive, the lower the closing rate
This is the Rational factor. The longer the test drive, the more chance you'll discover vehicle problems or things you don't like.

Of course also the opposite is also possible: You discover more positive things and the closing rates increases. But because car buyers, on average, tend to be very critical and focussed on finding shortfalls, negativity wins on the long term.

In practice it's the initial state of a potential buyer that determines the change of the closing ratio during a test drive.

Let's distinguish two types of buyers:

• Buyer type: Enthusiastic
  This type is superenthusiastic. He loves the car, no matter what. In fact he doesn't need a test drive at all.
  During a test ride he might become even more enthusiastic. The E-factor certainly applies here, but has done his work before the test drive. Only with extreme long test drives there's a risk (R-Factor) of lower closing rates concerning 'this' car..


• Buyer type:Neutral
  For this buyer type a test drive makes sense. A well trained car seller or a free 24 hour test car could do miracles. In any case it's the art of right timing to end the test drive and close the deal.
  After this moment, closing rates dramatically go down.

Although perhaps tempting, don't apply 'car test driving' and closing rates on relationships or marriage. Don't take your partner for a test drive.

Just keep in mind that in every situation, something that is a mild distraction on a short test drive, it is likely to be infuriating on a long-distance trip.

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Like a fly on a fly swatter

In times of threat, suppression or intimidation, what's best to do?

The simplified options are:

• Fight, oppose
• Defend
• Negotiate, compromise
• Run, try to escape

However, in certain cases there's another option...

The fly swatter
Imagine you're a (butter)fly and are hounded by a fly swatter.

The first three options certainly won't help. Remains, few chances to escape.

But there's an alternative unnatural approach that could help.

Simply enter the lion's den and take a seat on the fly swatter instead of trying to escape it.

Please notice that you are not attacking the person behind the fly swatter, you just take place on the instrument that is used to beat you.

Sure, it'll take courage to execute such a strategy, but success is within reach.

Remember this new strategy next time you're suppressed or intimidated.

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How to catch a fly?

Recognize that feeling of the returning irritating fly that keeps you busy? You wave your hand, you 'swat' a bit, but mister fly keeps coming back. And what's worse, swats don't help. Your fly is faster than your hand or the fly swatter.

Fly catching methods
Flies have a very highly-evolved evasion reaction which helps to ensure their survival. On the internet you may find several methods for catching such a persistent fly. Of course you can use a fly swatter.

However..., you''l have to get up from your chair and find your fly swatter to conclude that flies don't usually show up when your swatter is around. The alternative is the so called 'desperately clapping both hands method'. This method fails most of the time and increases your bad temper level. If - by accident – it is successful, you'll have to get up anyway to wash your hands.

New fly catching method
Just by accident I found out a new way to catch a fly with a newspaper or (one) hand.

I noticed that if the fly was on the table and I blew softly (starting very soft, followed by increased blowing), it would not fly away. In fact the fly would secure his position by sticking his feet to the table. As "sticking his feet to the table" and 'flying away' are two opposite - not combinable - actions, you've got enough time to swat the fly with your hand or newspaper.


Background
This new technique of swatting flies finds his background in one of the many principles of the famous book The Art of War', written by the legendary Chinese general, military theorist and philosopher Sun Tze.

Attack when the enemy is not prepared and strike where he least expects it.

However keep in mind that Sun Tzu believed that the best strategy is to "win without fighting".

So fly, be a spider, make your web and find that new way in life....

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Law of Risk Reality

Good friends help us to develop ourselves. Over the years we learn who we can trust and what kind of situations we are able to manage and control.

Law of Risk Reality
No matter how strong our relationship, believe or professional skills have developed or grown, there is a constant increasing 'second non visible reality', the so called "Risk Reality", growing around us that will eventually become reality in a split second if we loose our carefulness or take our acquired abilities or relationships for granted.

Some simple examples as an illustration:

• You too, Brutus?
  On March 15, 44 BC, Julius Ceasar was killed by a group of senators. His last words "You too Brutus?" illustrate that, although he was a more than experienced leader, he had completely underestimated the situation and his relationship with Brutus.
  
  
• Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin
  Steve Irwin illustrated in his life that he could challenge almost every dangerous situation with animals.He died in 2006 after his chest was fatally pierced by a stingray barb.
  
  One moment of not paying attention or one critical situation that didn't fit in his large experience record, became fatal. In Time Magazine it was explained that the stinging of Irwin by the stingray was "a one-in-a-million thing.

Often, some time before your Risk Reality World finally becomes Reality, small special signals or warnings have been on your way, but you ignored them. Either because you literally did not see them or because you denied or underestimated them.

So without becoming too suspicious, anxious or cautious, always keep in mind the "Law of Risk Reality". Stay aware, keep your senses and third eye open and accept and enjoy your limits.

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