Things that you remember are what make up your life

Nice concept in this article about how our brains manipulate our perception of time.

NY Mag: How Your Brain Controls the Speed of Time

The article explains that your brain doesn't actually speed up in moments of danger. This is how it does it:

What this tells us is that our brains don’t speed up when we’re in danger. Instead, the rush of fear hormones causes the brain to retain richer memories of what’s happening. This is related to the “flashbulb effect” that enables us to remember every color, sound, and smell of an emotionally powerful event. This is obviously useful from an evolutionary perspective: If you survive a life-or-death encounter, it could prove useful someday to remember exactly how you did it.

I really liked the way the author closes the article:

There’s an important big-picture upshot to all of this. If you want to live a long time, you should stick to a hard-and-fast regimen of regular exercise and healthy food. Your sleep schedule should run like a Swiss railroad. But if you want your life to seem like it’s lasting a long time, pack it with surprises. Experience intense emotions in unfamiliar environments. Connect with strangers and eat weird things. Scream, laugh, cry. These are the things you remember — and the things you remember are what make up your life.

Easy path to persuasion

Original post:  Jul 11, 2013

Yesterday, I had a fascinating discussion. My work with a customer intersected with work that another group performs with that same customer. I was trying to explain how what I was doing would actually help spotlight the work that the other team was performing, but I was having a difficult time conveying the message. Unfortunately, I was late for another meeting and had to cut short our conversation.

That discussion led to a one-on-one with a key member of the other team. I was able to explain in greater detail what I was doing. We came to a mutual understanding. In the meantime, that key member also explained to me the difficulty in convincing others to take a course of action that should be a "no-brainer."

Every organization has a bias towards inaction. If you try to get someone to do something that is outside of their standard procedure, you notice that they start to get very uncomfortable. It is very rare to find someone who is comfortable with expanding their span of action without the express written consent of their superiors. If that is the case, how can you ever hope to persuade anyone to do anything?

According to this article in Forbes, one way to persuade others is to make the choice "easy." That doesn't necessarily mean that what they have to do is easy. The person you are trying to persuade just needs to think that what they have to do is easy. The perception is the key.

Roger Dooley gives the example of an experiment with volunteers reading two different sets of text with the same material. One is in a brush script which makes the reader work harder to understand it. The other is in a clearer, easier-to-read font. Those who read the clearer font thought they could complete the task twice as fast as the group that read the brush script!

Here is the link to the full article:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2013/04/22/the-easy-path-to-persuasion/

Something for nothing

Original post:  Jul 2, 2013

Five Guys is a fast-food restaurant famous for their artery-clogging menu. They have delicious hamburgers and fresh french fries. They also deploy a sophisticated psychological ploy that helps make their food even more irresistable.

When you order french fries, the person filling your order will take out the paper cup. They will fill the cup with fries. They will then open the paper bag and place the cup in the bag. They will then take another small scoop of fries and throw that in over the top of the cup so that they spill over into the bag.

That extra flourish at the end gives you the illusion of getting something for nothing. Who doesn't like free? While they have likely priced the serving to include the additional fries, they still leave the customer with the impression that they are receiving more value for their money.

Over the weekend, I read an article that discussed two ways of describing the same quarter-pound hamburger. One version sold the burger as a standard menu item. The other called it an "extra large." It turns out that people felt like they were getting more of a bargain when the burger was described as greater than normal (even though the serving was exactly the same size).

It's interesting to note how much our perception of value drives our purchasing decisions.

Obvious...in hindsight

Original post:  May 31, 2012

We often filter out some of our ideas. Perhaps it is because we think that some of them are so obvious that they must have been thought of before. At other times, we convince ourselves that there must be someone else working on it if the idea were any good.

Ironically, some of the best ideas ultimately turn out to be fairly straightforward--once they have become commonplace. Up until that time, they are subject to the constant drumbeat of naysayers and skeptics.

Clayton Christensen, the inventor of the term "disruptive innovation," is quoted as saying that he thought the iPhone would be derivative. Instead, it has completely upended the market for mobile phones.

What do you see in the picture below?

Whether you see a young woman turning her head or an older matron depends, ultimately, on you. Once you have "seen" both pictures it is nearly impossible to imagine that you ever thought there was only one view. In actual fact, the picture itself never changes. It remains what it always was.

I am starting to think that most of the challenge with innovation is not coming up with the ideas. It's that the road to reality is a constant struggle. Most of them can't survive the journey.

Can't see the value

Original post:  October 4, 2011

Value has a very amorphous description. It can mean very different things to different people.

Much of value is tied to perception. There can be two items of very different objective quality. However, if the consumer does not perceive any meaningful difference in the value of that product, they will be unwilling to pay more.

One example might be in diamonds. It takes a jeweler's loupe to be able to determine the difference between the finest grades of diamonds. A flawless diamond may cost ten or a hundred times one with a few tiny occlusions. If the customer doesn't perceive the difference, they won't pay extra.

A well-tailored suit may cost ten times as much as one off the rack. It may feature lots of special attention in unseen areas (stronger seams, higher quality fabrics, better overall construction). It might mean something to someone who wears a suit every day or appreciates the subtle differences between worsted wool and a polyester blend. It may mean nothing to someone who wears khakis every dat to work.

Sometimes what we don't see really can hurt us. It's nearly impossible for the lay person to be able to look at a structure and determine whether or not it meets building codes. When a disaster strikes, the extra money spent for little changes like hurricane-proof hangers for beams and joists might actually return their cost many times over!

I know that I often struggle in understanding the value in areas outside my own circle of knowledge. It's important to keep in mind as we work with other departments across the company.

Days are long, years are short

Original post:  September 7, 2011

My wife and I dropped off our five-year old for his first day at kindergarten this morning. Amidst all of the commotion, I found my mind drifting back to a memory that still seemed fresh of bringing him home from the hospital those many years prior.

Somewhere along the way, a fellow parent shared advice about raising children with me. That empty nester fondly told me "the days are long, but the years are short." It's taken some time, but I think that phrase now rings true to me.

There were many sleepless nights and messy diaper changes where I wondered if the pain of the moment would ever end. They always would. Looking back, the excruciating pain is nearly completely forgotten, but the truth is that they felt interminable at the time they were happening.

How does this relate to my work life?

One goal I try to set for myself is to get something positive accomplished daily. Sometimes it is a major achievement. Most often, they are fairly simple "wins." As long as I am making some type of forward progress, I am content. While it may not seem like a high bar, it can actually be quite a challenge to sustain that rate over time. Over the course of time, the pain of the many long days is forgotten and you can look back over the short years and smile contentedly (as you wonder where all the gray hairs came from)!