Scott's Thinking - Page 149 of 173

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.

Action Time

Plan Your Day Out

Posted on September 2, 2020

Distractions are your challenge. They may be from friends, work colleagues, children, illness, phone calls, post etc. Plan your day out. Allow some contingency time for distractions. Though it is best to limit your distractions to as few as possible. None is even better.

Take a piece of paper and write out your day. From the minute you intend to wake up until the minute you intend to go to sleep. Write it out in 15 minute intervals. Unless one activity is going to take up a longer period of time. Then write that amount of time. For example:

06:00 – 06:15 Wake up. 6 Minute miracle morning. Change for run.

06:15 – 06:30 Stretch. Loo break. Put on trainers, headphones and prepare apps.

06:30 – 07:00 Run. Listen to X podcast/audiobook/YouTube channel

Allow for ten minute breaks. Sometimes these will be used to relax. Other times they will act as catch up zones. These help get you back on track when a distraction has put you behind by five or 10 minutes.

Allow for one full hour in your day for unforeseen events. These could be phone calls you have to take from a child, parent, boss, tax inspector or a person dropping by your desk or home.

Plan your day out before you go to bed. Track how close your plan is to reality. It’s fascinating.

Action Time

Accelerate To The Finish

Posted on September 1, 2020

There are four months remaining until New Year’s Eve and we ring in 2021. That really means we have 3 months to accelerate to the finish. For a lot of people, December is filled with shopping, parties, family, preparations, holidays, school events, Christmas and New Year’s itself.

Given all of those events in December, very little else gets done. So if you are trying to make things happen with a business, strengthen a new habit or finish a project, aim to finish by 30 November.

That gives you 13 weeks to get it all sorted before December descends on us. That is plenty of time to do many things. That is roughly 65 weekdays and 26 weekend days. 91 days altogether. The other 245 days are gone.

However, you need to be focused now. Every minute needs to count. There is no longer any time to assume you can get started later or do it later. You may even have to sacrifice a little! You may need to give up on some of the scrolling, watching and time with friends.

This is your last chance to win back 2020. Make it a great year, despite the unforeseen challenges that Covid brought to everyone. You can accelerate to the finish over the next 91 days and make this year a resounding success.

Plan the details, focus on the outcome and take disciplined action. Go!

Action Reframe your thoughts

Personal Accountability Is Critical

Posted on August 31, 2020

You can have reasons or results. You can be someone who produces or gives excuses. Everyone can deliver or wither. Personal accountability is critical.

It may be a good idea to decide which way you want to live your life. And you may also want to consider how you are perceived. Do you want to point to any possible hurdle in life and blame it for your lack of success? Another way is to reach down, overcome the obstacle and succeed despite it.

Perhaps a child is not getting decent grades at school. Should we blame the teacher, the school, the system or the leaders of the country? Starting with the child might be a better option. Is the child capable of better grades? Are they putting in the time and focused effort that that child needs to in order to achieve the higher grades expected?

There is a generally accepted ‘better way’ to do almost anything these days. You can find these online easily. Not only is there one ‘better way’, frequently you will be able to find many very good options to choose from. To get from London to Paris you could drive, fly or take the train. There are also pros and cons for each.

Personal accountability is critical. Get the results despite the hurdles.