2 Secrets to the Good Life

Barking Up the Wrong Tree offered some very interesting advice. One Harvard professor promises his students that if they take these two precepts from ancient Chinese philosophers seriously, it will actually change their lives.

The first is:  The Little Things Matter

In order for us to be good, we have to start by doing good.

The second?  Don't Make Life Plans. Cultivate Opportunity.

When you hold too tightly to a plan, you risk missing out on these things. And when you wake up one day in that future, you will feel boxed in by a life that, at best, reflects only a piece of who you thought you were at one moment in time.

I think there is much truth in that!

Rather than going into all of this thinking, “I can be anything I want to be,” the approach you’re taking is “I don’t know yet what I can become.” You don’t know where any of this might take you; it’s not possible to know that now. But what you learn about yourself and what excites you won’t be abstract; it will be very concrete knowledge born of practical experience… You become the fruit of your labor.

I like the way the article closes

“Doing the right things and feeling engaged as new opportunities keep coming your way.”

Sounds like a plan.  Here is a link to the full article:   Bakadesuyo: The Good Life

Something to try with the boys

There are ways to speed up the process of becoming an expert.

Barking up the wrong tree: How to be an expert

The Power of Touch

Great post from "Barking Up the Wrong Tree" on the Power of Touch:

Bakadesuyo: The Power of Touch

Be consistently good

Original post:  Oct 22, 2015

We're all seeking for success. Everyone wants to be a winner. While no one can guarantee that we will reach the ultimate prizes that we seek, we can certainly maximize our chances by giving our best efforts.

In this article, "Secrets to Success: 6 Tips From the Most Successful People", you might be able to pick up a tip or two that can help you increase your odds of winning.

The first tip talks about the need to be creative. I found it rather eye-opening. The city of Chicago in the 1800s was suffering from serious disease because of its sewage problems. They also realized that they couldn't dig tunnels under the city for new sewers with the existing technology. Ellis Chesbrough came up with a novel solution:

But here Chesbrough’s unique history helped him come up with an alternate scenario, reminding him of a tool he had seen as a young man working the railway: the jackscrew, a device used to lift multiton locomotives onto the tracks. If you couldn’t dig down to create a proper grade for drainage, why not use jackscrews to lift the city up? Aided by the young George Pullman, who would later make a fortune building railway cars, Chesbrough launched one of the most ambitious engineering projects of the nineteenth century. Building by building, Chicago was lifted by an army of men with jackscrews. As the jackscrews raised the buildings inch by inch, workmen would dig holes under the building foundations and install thick timbers to support them, while masons scrambled to build a new footing under the structure. Sewer lines were inserted beneath buildings with main lines running down the center of streets, which were then buried in landfill that had been dredged out of the Chicago River, raising the entire city almost ten feet on average.

Nothing was shut down. As a 750-ton hotel was lifted, people went about their lives inside — perhaps only taking a second to marvel at the surreal experience going on beneath them.

The title of this post is picked up from tip #2. Steve Martin, the brilliant comic, discusses the importance of honing our craft through diligence and hard work in his autobiography:

I learned a lesson: It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.

Here is a summary of the tips for success on a grand scale:

• When the going gets tough, the tough get creative. Don’t do more, do different. Lift a city.
• Don’t be great, be consistently good. Don’t worry about the big break, worry about being good enough.
• Use rejection as motivation. And remember the compliments you receive. You’re charming, right?
• Working hard is the best way to network. Bring coffee and tea.
• Don’t wait for permission. Don’t poison anyone, but test and prove.
• If you can’t be #1, be clever. Energizing others with style can beat “the best way.” (Mimes are nodding right now.)

Never be frustrated again

Original post:  Apr 5, 2015

Courtesy of the blog "Barking Up the Wrong Tree", here is some advice that can help you maintain your composure when everything around you seems to be falling apart.

When most of us are confronted by unfavorable events, it's only natural to grow frustrated. Think of all the times when we might be stuck in traffic or headed nowhere in the slowest line. Instead of allowing ourselves to blow a gasket, Albert Ellis proposes a different solution. He urges us to turn to concepts originally found in stoicism to adjust our beliefs.

You’re stuck in traffic and that makes you angry, right? Wrong.

Traffic happens. But you think it shouldn’t happen to you. And the thing that’s making you miserable is that word “should.”

Here’s an example. I say, “This headache remedy probably won’t work but give it a shot.” So you try it. And it doesn’t work. You’re not frustrated.

Okay, same situation but I say, “This always works.” It fails. Now you’re annoyed. What changed? Your expectation.

Or you tell a five-year old to stop yelling. They don’t listen. You don’t get that bothered. After all, the kid is five.

But if you tell me to stop yelling and I don’t listen, you get angry. What’s different? “Eric should stop. He’s an adult.”

Again, nothing changed but your belief.

Mr. Ellis proposes a simple ABCD system:

A is adversity. Traffic is awful.

B is your beliefs. And often they’re irrational. “This shouldn’t happen to me.”  Well, guess what, Bubba? It is happening.

C is consequences. You get angry, frustrated or depressed.

In very few cases can you change A. But you can change B. And that will change C. So let’s bring in the 4th letter.

D: Dispute your irrational beliefs. “Wait a second. When did the universe guarantee me a trouble-free existence? It didn’t. Traffic has happened before. It will happen again. And I will survive.”

There is much more to the article that helps to explain how recognizing our irrational beliefs can help us adjust our thinking and reduce our frustrations. You can find the full article here:  The Secret To Never Being Frustrated Again

As an added bonus, there is a reference to the name of my blog explained near the end of the article.

I've always thought that we usually find the things that we are looking for. Sometimes we just need to learn to look for the things that we find!

How to be a better writer

Original post:  Nov 17, 2014

No matter how well you think you write, there are always ways that you can improve. Whether it's reports or e-mail, we are likely to receive tremendous amounts of the information that we need in our lives through the written word. This article covers some important tips from Steven Pinker. Here is an introduction to him from the article:

Steven is a cognitive scientist and linguist at Harvard. He’s also on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.

Steven was recently ranked as one of the top 100 most eminent psychologists of the modern era.

His latest book is The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. And it’s great.

I think the most important lesson is to take the time to incorporate these rules into a system that can help you convey your message to your target audience as quickly and efficiently as possible. Transferring ideas to others can often be one of the hardest things we attempt to do on a regular basis! Do your best to make that task as effective as you can.

Here is a quick summary of the article:

1. Be visual and conversational. Be concrete, make your reader see and stop trying to impress.
2. Beware “the curse of knowledge.” Have someone read your work and tell you if it makes sense. Your own brain cannot be trusted.
3. Don’t bury the lead. Clarity beats suspense. If they don’t know what it’s about they can’t follow along.
4. You don’t have to play by the rules, but try. If you play it straight 99% of the time, that 1% will really shine.
5. Read Read Read. The English language is too complex to learn from one book. Never stop learning.
6. Good writing means revising. Never hit “send” or “print” without reviewing your work — preferably multiple times.

Here is the link to the full article:  How To Be A Better Writer: 6 Tips From Harvard’s Steven Pinker

How to be resilient

Original post:  Jul 14, 2014

In these turbulent times, there are no guarantees. We may not know what lies ahead. What might be best is to find a way to overcome our doubts and fears and stand resilient in the face of the future.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree shared this recent post which might help:  How To Be Resilient: 8 Steps To Success When Life Gets Hard

Here is a quick summary:

Sum Up

So when life is daunting and we need resilience, keep in mind:

1. Perceive And Believe
2. Manage Your Emotions
3. Be A Quitter
4. Be Delusional
5. Prepare… Even If It’s Too Late For Preparation
6. Stay Busy, Busy, Busy
7. Make It A Game
8. Get Help And Give Help

To live full lives some amount of difficulty is essential.

Happy thoughts

Original post:  Jun 16, 2014

There is a lot of uncertainty in the world. Given some recent developments, it can be natural to wonder about the days to come. While we watch those events unfold based on events outside our control, there might be something we can do to improve what we can control. With that in mind, here are some tips that can lead to more happiness in your life:

Here are the first three:

1. Show gratitude.
2. Spend as much time as possible with people you like.
3. Money is good. Many other things are better.

My personal favorite is the point on avoiding life's greatest regrets.

Take a look for yourself:  Happy Thoughts: Here are the things proven to make you happier:

Let's close with a little Pharrell: