Scott, Author at Scott's Thinking

How Do You Pick Your Team?

Posted on September 12, 2020

It used to be where you were born. For some it was who their father supported. How do you pick your team? It’s not always so straightforward anymore.

Sometimes you need to break with traditional ways to make progress. Traditions can be excellent and welcome, like welcoming in the new year. Though some we can do without ever witnessing again.

Today people can pick their sports team, and other alliances, quite freely. This is a blessing and a curse. As there are no historical ties encouraging you to support one over another, you may not feel securely tied to anything.

Some will choose by colour of uniform. Others by their winning record. Yet others choose because they side with the underdog. If you think about it, that could be how we subconsciously find a mate, political party or even which company to work for.

Once you select your side, then you need to embed deep. Learn the songs and the rivalries. Buy the uniform and wear the gear. You get quite fully invested in it. These are now your people. And your cross town rival with all their supporters are your arch enemy.

And once you’ve chosen a side and become invested, it is very hard to leave, never mind switch to the opposition.

How do you pick your team?

Action Time

Move At Pace

Posted on September 11, 2020

Sometimes you feel sluggish. Or perhaps its the people around you. Maybe you are a bit directionless. That’s ok. Move at pace though once you have a clear vision and are committed.

If you know where you want to go, you may as well get there quickly. It is amazing how much quicker people will decide, move and complete once they are clear on their direction.

Which makes sense. There may not be a lot of value in racing around if you have no focused destination. So rest, reflect and consider your situation and where you might like to go in those circumstances. And as you get a stronger vision, you will start to move more quickly.

You will gain momentum. That will build up and press you forward even faster. This is demonstrated well the three days before you go on holiday. Work items get delegated, delivered or deleted at great speed.

In addition, you do start to copy the speed of those around you. So, once again, be selective with who are in your flock. It’s ok to shuffle and sway when you are on a beach holiday. But when it is time to get the work done, you will want to be around people who move at pace!

Action Time

Always Allow Two Weeks

Posted on September 10, 2020

Do you ever feel like things are down to the wire? Like you are up against time once again? My suggestion is to always allow two weeks.

There are a lot of things going on in life. And unexpected delays can occur. Actually, its not necessarily unexpected delays in my experience. It is more often delays, or actual timeframes, that could be expected.

For example, sending Christmas gifts overseas in late December and expecting them to get there on time is unnecessary stress. It is just very unlikely it will happen.

Last year, to send to Canada, using international standard mail, you needed to post before the 14th December from the UK. But you have to buy the gift and wrap and send it. And then wait in a queue at the post office. So allow two weeks for all of that before the deadline.

If you are getting a mortgage, always add two weeks to whatever the timeline is. Some people give you an accurate, or even a conservative, estimate of the time it will take. However, many will aim for the fastest time it has ever happened. That can lead to disappointment and unnecessary stress.

You always need to add a contingency. Always allow two weeks.

Action Gratitude Observe Reframe your thoughts

Catch People Doing Something Well

Posted on September 9, 2020

It’s so easy to criticise. Especially if you continue to practice doing it. Of greater benefit to one and all is to catch people doing something well.

I think I read about this in a parenting book many years ago. It really struck me. Although we want to guide our children and others well, it can mean we provide a disproportionate amount of negative feedback.

What builds confidence and leads to greater capability is hearing good and positive feedback. For most kids, they will do 99% of things in the good zone. Check whether you are giving 99% of your feedback on those good things they are doing.

This is the same with colleagues, other family members, the government, health care workers, police and teachers.

Every day, one hundred thousand things have to go right, at the right time. That’s just for things to go smoothly. If one thing isn’t right, try not to focus on that. Focus on all the other things going well.

There are various ways to address this. One is to recognise several of the good things that they have done, especially any they did particularly well. Often you can leave it there. A lot of times they already know what they could have done better.

Catch people doing something well and you’ll see more smiles.

Gratitude Reframe your thoughts Time

That Is A Lot Of Birthdays

Posted on September 8, 2020

Every once in a while, people we know celebrate their birthday. Today, roughly 21.4 million people will celebrate. That is a lot of birthdays!

The world population is now over 7.8 billion according to Worldometer. It really is hard to imagine that number of people. And they are all quite similar to you. They breathe, eat, use the loo, require sleep and have some income or way of sustaining themselves.

In addition, more than than 7.8 billion will celebrate a birthday in the next 12 months. The reason for this is that the world’s net population growth is currently about 81,000,000 each year.

So where could you host a big party for all of the people celebrating their birthday on the 8th September? Imagine the largest stadium you have ever been in. Was it an 18,000 seater arena? Maybe a 100,000 seater football stadium?

Let’s imagine the 100,000 seater stadium. There are only 11 of these in the world. Stadiums like Michigan, Tiger and Motera along with the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Camp Nou, Wembley and Twickenham are massive but don’t have a 100,000 seat capacity.

Picture how big those stadiums are. And all the people in them. Now picture 214 of those stadiums filled to capacity. That’s how many people would be celebrating their birthday on a given day.

That is a lot of birthdays!

Action Observe Think About It

Addressing Your Bias

Posted on September 7, 2020

Most people have a bias. Yes, even you. Maybe for some things, you might remain neutral. But what if I say, “Trump”? Addressing your bias, whenever you have one, is a useful endeavour.

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
Epictetus

How you react to something reveals your bias. And the more you practice looking for the bias in others, the more you will see it. The bias will come through in body language and the words people use.

As I mentioned in my previous post about fire, everything is neutral until you give it energy in one direction or another. Be careful what you give your energy to.

If you are serious about understanding where your biased thoughts are, try accessing a different information source for one week.

For example. if you usually source from the Guardian or CNN, try Fox News and vice versa. If you are more conservative and pro-Trump, you may be watching Candace Owens or the Hodge Twins. This would mean you would switch with those more left leaning that may be reading The Atlantic or The Washington Post.

I have found YouTube quite interesting in this challenge. It’s algorithm exposes you to things that you wouldn’t normally see if you usually go direct to apps.

Addressing your bias can be a fun and enlightening experience.

Gratitude Reframe your thoughts

Life Is A Value Hierarchy

Posted on September 6, 2020

Throughout your life, you will need to choose between two or more options of value. Life is a value hierarchy and you are the constant decision maker.

A simple example of this is what to eat for breakfast. You may have the luxury of choosing between eggs royale or Cheerios. Some people will have more exciting choices and some far fewer. Some don’t have anything to choose from.

Whatever your situation, you then need to make a choice. First you make a choice of your preferred meal. Second, you make a choice about how you see your situation. What’s fascinating is how people perceive their situation.

Some will have all the best cooked, freshest food in the world and be happy. Others will find something to disparage. Those with poor, few or no choices, can find happiness or discontent too.

Extrapolate this out to all of the decisions you make in a day. You are constantly deciding what is more important and less important. Then you decide how you feel about it. Be careful though. Those decisions about how to feel about things, soon will become a habit.

You might not notice, but you may stop appreciating your moments of good fortune. Things may start to seem commonplace. You may become disenfranchised with imperfection.

Life is a value hierarchy. But you are at the controls.

Action Think About It

Achieving Your Goal

Posted on September 5, 2020

What a great feeling! It doesn’t matter if it is a small or simple goal or a grand, complex one. Achieving your goal usually leaves you feeling amazing.

Try setting yourself a simple goal to start. This is especially useful when embarking on something new. By making it simple and specific, you are more likely to achieve it. And you are more likely to know you achieved it if it is specific.

For example, I set my alarm for 05:30 this morning. I wanted to shift back to an earlier start to my day. It was great. I was able to get up, do my morning routine, get a little work done and be out running by 06:39. It felt so good to have achieved several things before 07:00. And it all started with a simple goal of waking up at 05:30.

From that point, many other small goals were achievable. However, if I had not set that first simple goal, I would not have been able to achieve the others. Or at least not as early in the day as I had done them.

One of the secrets to achieving your goal or goals is to gather momentum. Break a larger task down into smaller, simpler goals. It feels so good to achieve each one, your momentum will carry you through to the finish in no time.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts Time Weight loss

Turn Up The Heat!

Posted on September 4, 2020

Ok, it’s been an unusual start to the year so far. Things may have been out of kilter or offline. However, now it is time to turn up the heat!

I mentioned the other day how it is time to accelerate to the finish. We don’t have a lot of time left to get the things done we want completed this year. So you need to start taking massive action. Lean into these final few months and make the most of them.

Turn up the heat! Get things moving today. Work an hour longer today. Wake up 30 minutes earlier tomorrow and go for that walk or jog you’ve been thinking about. I know you may be reading this on a Saturday morning. That does not mean chill out. That does not mean have a lie in. Double down on those weekend days.

Start a new habit now. Or as soon as you finish reading this. You will create a new bit of dynamism in your life. That will help you shift in other areas too. Work on your Art of Now! Do it, delegate it or dump it. The important piece though is to get moving now.

Act now! Turn up the heat!

Observe Reframe your thoughts

How You See Things

Posted on September 3, 2020

I find it fascinating watching people discuss a topic. Often they will use facts and reasonable points but reach different conclusions. How you see things is a massive determinant in your life.

The US initial jobless claims have been announced by the US Department of Labour. It noted that the weekly claims were down about 110,000. It was roughly 1 million last week. This week it was 880,000. The comparable week in 2019 was circa 179,000.

So some people have noted that there is a downward trend in the weekly jobless claims, which there is. Other people noted that, compared to last year, the jobless claims are about 4.5 times higher, which it is. Both parties are right but they choose different data to make their point.

Some people will emphasise that things are getting better. They may want the incumbent President re-elected so promote the good news. Or their business may depend on the economy improving so they are sounding optimistic in the hopes others will be too. The opposite is also true. In addition, if you want or need more government money, you may highlight the negative numbers.

How you see things is not always clear cut. You often see things to suit the narrative you have in your mind already. With a cloudy vision, you can make decisions detrimental to your future.