tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62094588854753387582024-02-07T04:14:36.132+02:00Less Is MoreThe purpose of the site is to improve the quality of life by minimizing the unnecessary waste of human life so that the reader can invest in the things that produce the greatest joy and benefit. Most of it will be an updated version of a Finnish version of the book called Less Is More. The basic less-is-more principle works best for social phenomena in life. TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.comBlogger478125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-47069421943536614822023-02-26T11:50:00.003+02:002023-02-26T11:50:46.105+02:00Strengths and Weaknesses part 3. Weaknesses<p>Weaknesses are the opposite of
strengths on a mental level. They are not necessarily things you are
bad at. You may be good, but your weaknesses are mental. You don't
expect something or get satisfaction from doing it. After doing it,
you feel tired and indifferent, and you don't look forward to doing
it with pleasure, but try to avoid it. You can try to improve your
weaknesses, but they are also your repetitive thought patterns, so
you have to reprogram your brain and it's hard. One of my weaknesses
is meeting half-acquaintances. I try to avoid them until the end. I'd
rather walk away from another person than go towards them. The mere
thought of this event makes me anxious. Dealing with weaknesses is
challenging. There are ways to avoid and reduce their role. The first
five that come to mind are:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Do not do it</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Develop yourself in it</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Partner up with someone</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Develop a support system</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Change your weakness into strength</p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />As I already mentioned, I use the
first method to avoid encounters with half-acquaintances. I spend
more time avoiding them than I would spend on the encounters
themselves. This is not reasonable, but I have to admit that I don't
always act rationally. I try to strive for it, but weaknesses are
often unconscious behaviors. You can't avoid all things. Then develop
your weakness. This requires greater mental effort. That's why
investing time in this doesn't make sense if you don't have to. This
wastes resources from your more useful activities.<br /><br />You often
need other people to overcome a weakness. There are many people in
your close circle whose strengths are your weaknesses. At workplaces,
it is worth investing in forming such partnerships. You can help
those close to you with your strengths if they are their weaknesses.
Developing a support system takes time. You can use tools to develop
the system. Automate your actions if you lack the desire for
something. If you want to save money regularly, set up a continuous
direct account transfer for saving. Sometimes you may have a weakness
that you can hide with your strengths. You can get rid of the tension
by imagining that you are somewhere else. A stand up comedian can
create a sketch character by exaggerating his weaknesses. He thinks
about the role on stage, imagining that he is just acting.<br /><br />If
you cannot avoid or work around your weaknesses, you must improve
them to tolerable levels. You can't let them ruin your whole life.
Get over yourself and improve them. Your journey may be painful, but
your weaknesses may produce the greatest waste in life. You can
achieve great results with smaller effort. The advantages and
disadvantages of strengths and weaknesses vary from person to person.
You have to work things out yourself. Remember that by changing a few
critical things, you can achieve big results, whether they are about
strengths or weaknesses.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-57598574165303182012023-02-20T13:11:00.001+02:002023-02-20T13:11:06.939+02:00Strengths and Weaknesses part 2 Strengths<p> Your strengths are combinations of your
knowledge, skills and talents. You need them all to bring out the
best in you. Of these three, the most important part and the one that
clearly sets you apart from the rest is talent, i.e. repetitive
thinking patterns. They are your unique talents. You are different
because the impulses of your brain are brought in different ways.
Acquiring knowledge and skills are essential, but they can also be
acquired by others. It is impossible to copy your personal filter.
You are different from others, so find your own strengths. They have
common features.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />I use four different parts in the book. The
last three are more or less psychic similarities and success tells
about how well the strengths come out:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Success</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Instinct</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Growth</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Need</p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />Success is the most obvious
feature. Success tells you that you have some ability. There is still
a long way to go from ability to strength. I can drop anything and
catch any item myself before it hits the ground better than most
people. It is difficult for me to refine this ability into a
strength. If you know how I can do this, please tell me. The mere
ability to do something and succeed in it is not enough if certain
psychological criteria are not met.<br /><br /><br />Utilizing strengths
based on instinct is more common than conscious action. This says a
lot about the uniqueness of the strengths. You act strongly on your
instincts. It is a condition of your existence. Instincts make you
volunteer for things you're good at.<br /><br /><br />Growth means the
ability to learn things very quickly and to refine one's ability to
do things quickly. Abilities are things that seem easy to you. They
do not require your special concentration but feel natural. You can
lose track of time during them. This means the so-called flow state.
In this case, you will be happy and you will accomplish a lot without
realizing it. Growth takes place by utilizing strengths.<br /><br /><br />A
need means how you feel a moment after an action. You are e.g.
satisfied, happy and you feel that you have reached a peaceful state
of being. Strive for the same state over and over again. You feel
mentally strong even though you are physically exhausted. Your need
to do something was stronger as a child. Then, you mostly try to do
things that feel good. As an adult, you will have many mental
obstacles that reduce the need. Strengths are the things you do that
make you feel strong, and your weaknesses are the things that make
you feel weak. You can be good at something, but still feel mentally
drained. This is a sign of your weakness. Use your strengths because
they work with less effort. Utilizing them gives you an edge over
those who don't.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-46396280680569875012023-02-11T13:09:00.005+02:002023-02-11T13:09:41.357+02:00Strengths and weaknesses part 1. Knowledge, skill, and talent<p> You have strengths and weaknesses.
Their meaning for you is personal. You might focus on doing things
through your strengths, while others focus on improving their
weaknesses. For some reason, most of us believe that developing our
weaknesses is more important than our strengths. You can get the
performance of a Skoda by successfully tuning your truck, but you
should focus on tuning your Ferrari. The latter is a wiser option,
because in today's world, you cannot do without your
strengths.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /><br /><b>Knowledge, skill and talent</b><br /><br /><br />You
can learn the first two. Talents are natural abilities that you
cannot learn. You can refine them. Your talents refer to your natural
and repetitive thinking patterns and cannot be taught. A talented
accountant has e.g. the noble skill of being , i.e. he wants to get
all the numbers right. Due to different levels of talent, students
starting from the same starting point produce different results. The
top level can only be reached if the talent coincides with what one
does. This does not mean that learning is not useful for the gifted.
Of the strengths, talent forms the essential parts. Knowledge and
skills can be acquired, but unique thinking patterns cannot be
acquired.<br /><br /><br />Knowledge means things you are aware of. You can
gather information yourself and it can be taught to you. Information
can be divided into two parts: facts and information based on
experience. You have read the facts and your knowledge based on
experiences are the things you have learned along the way. Facts can
and should be taught. Knowledge based on experiences is learned by
thinking about what was done and how the action has affected either
you or others or by following the actions of others. A skill is how
you do something. The best way to learn a skill is to break it down
into pieces and put them together. The best way to learn is to
practice by doing it consciously. Each skill and its parts should be
learned in the right way at the right time in the right
order.<br /><br /><br /><br />Talent can be divided into three different
categories. Motivational talent explains why you do something. It
tells you the reason why you do what you do. Thinking talent tells
you how you think, i.e. how you consider options or how you draw
conclusions. The unifying talent tells you who you trust, who you
work with and who you reject. Talent is made up of the connections in
the brain that control its activity. Thinking patterns are different
from others because all brains have billions of connections that work
in different ways. They are different for everyone. Connections are
mostly formed during the first three years of life, and by sixteen
years, half of your connections are dead. Connections form mental
networks that filter the information the brain receives. The network
decides how to react to certain situations.<br /><br /><br />If you don't
know about your talents, find them by following your natural
reactions. They are reactions you cannot learn. They are at their
best in stressful situations. In addition to natural reactions, you
can think about things that you constantly miss. In addition, you can
think about things that give you satisfaction and things you learn
quickly. The things you were interested in as a child are probably
the ones you are talented at. You have felt an attraction to them
even at an older age. You'll learn faster the skills you're good at.
Embracing them comes more naturally to you than to others.
Satisfaction is also a sign of your talent, because those things have
the strongest connections in your brain. Think about the things that
make you happiest. It is one of the best tips for finding
talent.<br /><br /><br />Anders Ericsson made a study that proved that
talent alone is not enough for success. The end result was that
getting to the top requires an average of 10,000 hours of focused and
purposeful training. The average does not tell about individuals. In
reality, the number of hours varied from a few thousand to twenty
thousand. The need for hours depends largely on talent. When the
number of hours in question is so large, it is clear that without
talent, few people can cope with that amount of work. Since the
amount of talent tells about repeated thought patterns, such an
amount of hours is almost impossible to perform without talent. The
interest in doing something ends quickly without the satisfaction of
doing it, which is one of the hallmarks of talent.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-52588694600865147672023-01-31T14:00:00.001+02:002023-01-31T14:00:09.334+02:00Changing habits<p> You can begin to make changes to your
habits when you understand their anatomy and how you create new
habits. Your old habits are automated in your brain, so changing them
is harder than creating new ones. You have to understand how habits
are formed in order to change them. Your habits never leave your
brain, so changing them is your only chance. Changing habits requires
four steps:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Identify the routine</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Try different rewards</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Isolate the clue</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Make a plan for execution</p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />Identifying the routine is the
easiest part because it is a habit that needs changing, such as
biting nails, eating sweets or shopping. Trying out rewards takes
more work. The real reward may not be immediately noticed. The reward
can only last for milliseconds, like a momentary change in hormone
balance. Finding the right reward is the most important thing,
because without it, the habit is not born. Sensations produced by the
different rewards must be observed. You can either use the person
following your routine or alternatively write down first feelings
after receiving each award. This process can take longer, so don't be
discouraged if you don't see the prize right away. The longer you
wait after trying the reward, the more likely you are to make a
mistake. Make a plan where you mark the prizes you tested and how you
make your observations.<br /><br />Once you find the right reward, you
can start isolating the clue. They have similarities. They can be
linked to a place, a company, a mental/physical state, the time of
the clock or a previous activity. The clue is likely a combination of
factors. The best way to isolate a clue is to write down all the
events and conditions day after day. Let's use the example of buying
sugary treats after a working day.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Physical clue (store or kiosk
logo)</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Location (proximity to your
grocery store or kiosk on your commute)</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Company (alone or with significant
other / children)</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Condition (hunger, fatigue after
work)</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Time (17.05 weekdays)<br /><br />
</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">What to do beforehand (Travelling in a
full and noisy means of transportation) Repeat marking the clues
until you notice similarities. Note that these five things are not
always the same. Clues can also be about single factors. After
completing the first three parts, you can begin to change the habit.
Understand that not all habits change easily. Reprogramming your
brain is difficult. It can take a long time. You need to make a plan
for change that you will implement for a long time. Since you
implement your habit as follows: you notice the cue, you perform the
routine to get the desired reward, for example, when buying treats,
your plan must be:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When I am tired after a day of
working and jump a bus full of people and can see a store logo
(clue)</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I Walk in and buy a product x
instead of a product y (altered routine) to get a reward z</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In this case, a product x is something
delicious and unhealthy, while the substitute y is, for example, a
banana. The received reward is the feeling from the right level of
blood sugar. Repeat the aforementioned plan until you have automated
it. It will take some time. The more often you have repeated the
habit you want to change, the more repetitions it will need to
achieve the change.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Improving chances of success</b><br /><br />Change
your habits one at a time. That way you have the best chance of
success. Be patient because changes take time. The first days after
the decision are easier because you are at your most determined.
According to American professors who study habits, the worst moments
come about three weeks after starting. When you start, modify your
environment in such a way that it favors change and keeps temptations
away. You can't just put treats in the cupboard at home and rely on
willpower or buy them at the store and trust that you won't start
eating them. Throw the temptations in the trash or donate to better
homes. Don't give yourself easy opportunities to fail. Changing your
environment is the single most important thing. Without it, the
chances of success decrease. Later, the role of your environment will
decrease.<br /><br />The longer you try to change a habit, the more
likely you are to fail at first attempt. Be prepared for momentary
failures by thinking in advance how you will react to them. The first
one doesn't mean you've killed your chance for change. Failures make
you human. According to US researchers, it takes an average of seven
attempts to quit smoking. Be kind to yourself when you fail and
decide in advance that you will try again immediately after the trip.
Make a plan for the trip as well.<br /><br />Each habit is different and
their formation has not yet been studied much. A study conducted at
the University of London in 2009 has reached some conclusions. The
study measured habit formation to the point where 95% automation was
achieved. In other words, at that point the habit required no effort.
The study measured changes in students' exercise habits and diets. In
the study, the average result was 66 days, with the results varying
between 18 and 254 days.</p><br /><p></p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-12456361495331897602023-01-26T15:49:00.001+02:002023-01-26T15:49:31.744+02:00Habits and creating new ones<p>On average, about forty percent of the
things you do are habits. It is impossible to determine the exact
number to any individual because it would require a constant
monitoring of brain activity. Most of the habits you just perform.
Some of them are helpful and some harmful. Their sum can be anything.
My personal experience is that changing even one bad habit can have a
big positive impact. Why modification and not elimination? For the
simple reason that habits are almost impossible to remove, as we will
see later. Different habits have similarities and being aware of them
can be beneficial. Noticing the similarities will improve chances of
changing the worst habits and developing new ones.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />The
definition of a habit is roughly: it means a choice made in the past
that you continue to make without thinking about it. Habits are
formed by tasks that take place in your brain. Your brain is
constantly conserving energy. The longer you perform tasks, the less
the brain needs to consume. Habits can be called processes where the
brain turns a series of tasks into routines. There are hundreds of
task sets every day. Habits are either simple or complex. They form
because your brain is constantly working to conserve energy. They
reduce wasted energy and make it easier to focus on more difficult
things. This means that habits don't go away, they are in our brains
to stay. They can be changed by reprogramming brains. They need to be
understood in order to change them.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">During habits, there are two clear
spikes in energy consumption in the brain. They are spotting a clue
and getting a reward. Routines consume less energy the more often and
longer you perform them. Clues can be anything, such as a certain
time or a place. Also, visual clues such as candy shelves can trigger
routines. Routines can be simple actions like nail biting or complex
like analyzing investments. Their duration can be anything from
milliseconds to many hours or even days. Rewards range from feel-good
feelings such as pride to physical changes or hormone production. The
size of the reward produces a constant desire and need to do the
routine. The main reason for forming a habit is the reward.
Understanding the anatomy of habits makes it possible to create new
habits and change old ones.<br /><br /><b>Creating new habits</b><br /><br />There
are three parts to creating new habits:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ol>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Coming up with a clear clue</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Defining a routine</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Definition of an award<br /><br /><br />
</p>
</li></ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">All parts above are required to create
a habit. The more complicated the routine is, the more precisely it
must be defined, including clues and rewards. If you want to learn
how to perform a new habit in the morning, you should bring the
instrument with which you want to perform the habit visible on your
bedside table or another place as a clue. You can bring a toothbrush
if you want to learn to brush your teeth in the morning as well. If
you want to start going for a morning run, bring your sneakers to
bedroom door or some other visible place where you can see them when
you rise up from the bed before going to sleep. The reward can be any
thing that makes you feel good. It can be the good feeling you get
from sports or the old great jeans that don't fit you anymore. The
main thing is that the award makes you feel good. A big enough reward
is the only chance to create a new habit successfully. The cue must
create a desire for the reward that you get from the routine, i.e. it
must be related to the routine and the reward in one way or another.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Creating new habits is much easier than changing the current ones. Next text is about the latter.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">-TT</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-78778166723089254422023-01-20T14:26:00.007+02:002023-01-20T14:26:49.372+02:00Focus on producing the most value to you<p>Think about whether you can be good
enough at something to be in the top ten percent. The answer is yes.
It is not easy. There is no simple answer to getting there. The most
effective ten percent wouldn't exist if it were easy. The process
leading to it is not simple, even if there is a simple answer to the
question. Top performers have the greatest efficiency. Peak
efficiency means you can make more money doing less hours. This
happens by doing the right things. These people generate the most
added value for you and others. You can't be good at everything. You
have to make wise choices.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />It is better for you to be
excellent at a few things than to be mediocre at many things. You
should also know some things more than others. It is better than
knowing as much about many things as others. Focus on core areas of
expertise. Keep improving them. You're never done. Others will pass
you by if you stay where you are. Nowadays, we are talking about ten
thousand hours of focused training if you want to be a top performer.
I agree to some extent. I believe there are shortcuts that reduce the
number of hours. I also believe that ten thousand hours are not
enough without talent. It can even mean double the number of hours.
This may not be enough without talent if the competition is tough.<br /><br />I
don't think that constant training is enough to get to the top of the
world if you don't have passion for what you do. Focus on your
passions because they bring you the most joy and benefit. It's easier
for you to enjoy the merry-go-round of good things through your
passions. There are exceptions. One of them was Andre Agassi, whose
father forced him to practice tennis so much that he hated it. I
recommend Agassi's biography to you, where he goes through all the
emotional scales that top artists experience during their lifetime.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-83794936201260481452023-01-15T10:54:00.000+02:002023-01-15T10:54:00.038+02:00Choose for whom and with whom you work<p>Work for a company or client that
returns a large part of the added value you produce. In addition,
work with people who can increase the value of your work with their
contribution. These things rise above the rest when you focus on
increasing the relative benefit of your work. Focus on getting a
sufficient part of the added value you produce for yourself. You have
a better chance of doing this by working for yourself. Make sure that
your employer or client pays primarily for the results. As an
entrepreneur, don't attract too many customers. Focus on a small
number of big customers. Make sure that your customers are ready to
sign long contracts and focus primarily on the most important things.
According to the principle of less is more, the income from a few
customers is greater than from others. Never bet on just one
customer.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />As an employee, you must be in a workplace where
people who add value are rewarded. Then you can get paid according to
your results. Work in a place where you have a lot of power over your
work. Only then can you focus on the work from which you and your
employer will reap the greatest benefits. Choose the freedom to do
your job as you see fit. If you lack freedom and have to rely on
others to figure out what you can do or how to do things, you won't
be able to work as efficiently as possible. Focus primarily on
results, not your workload, and work in a place where getting results
is the single most important thing.<br /><br />Who you work with is
important. Free riders or difficult people will affect your results.
There are huge differences in people's work performance. The top 1%
who are capable of peak performance achieve much more than the least
efficient 1%. Top performers make great results even compared to
mediocrity. They get more done than you think. You can learn from
them and get closer to their performance by working with them. For
example, in team sports, you perform better when you play with better
players. When you play with the worse ones, you also become worse.
Although a team is only as strong as its weakest links, they also get
better when they play with better ones.<br /><br />Studies have been
conducted on the effectiveness of top workers. One involved thousands
of employees, from mail carriers to partners in large law firms. The
support was provided by John Hunter from Michigan State University
and Frank Schmidt and Michael Judiesch from the University of Iowa.
It compared top performers with the least efficient percent and
average workers. The study found that the value of top performers
increases with the increasing demands of work.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ul>
<ul>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In simple jobs, such as the
professions of machine operators and office rats, those belonging
to the best percent achieved three times more than the worst.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In moderately difficult tasks,
such as retail sales and mechanics, the best were twelve times
more efficient than the worst percent.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The most demanding professions,
such as insurance agents, sales negotiators, doctors and lawyers,
were studied by comparing the most efficient percentage with
average performers. On average, the best accomplish more than two
average workers.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Those who belong to the best
percent of programmers achieve the work input of almost thirteen
mediocre people.<br /><br /><br />
</p>
</li></ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">As you can see from the figures above,
at least one study proves the claim that the most efficient employees
are by far the biggest producers of net worth. Cherish their hard
work. Make sure that they are paid well. Don't whine about pay
equality. In practice, top performers must reap the most benefits of
their effectiveness themselves. You're not a top performer if you
can't find evidence of your top performance. In this case, get into
their sphere of influence.<br /><br />Aim to find top performers as an
entrepreneur. Their results far exceed their costs. Pay them a lot
because they are wanted. You can also try to look for people who have
the potential to become top performers. You can get even more benefit
from them compared to your costs. Top performers have their own
thought patterns and have often come up with other, better ways of
doing things. Don't immediately reject a person who behaves or thinks
strangely about you.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-86634456367939019912023-01-08T11:19:00.000+02:002023-01-08T11:19:01.773+02:00Productivity vs Efficiency<p>Your productivity increases when you do
things better than before. Your efficiency increases as you reach
your goal faster. The difference between productivity and efficiency
can be seen in the fact that in efficiency thinking you wonder if you
need to do something at all. Increasing efficiency means selective
laziness. By focusing on it, you decide whether you are doing things
that are useful for you or whether you are doing mandatory things
only to reach their minimum effective dose.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">'<br />People can be
roughly divided into four different groups in terms of work ethic and
intelligence. Stupid and lazy is not useful. Still, remember that
intelligence comes in many forms and you can get more out of stupid
and lazy in the right task. Hardworking and stupid is the most
dangerous combination. They cause damage by focusing on the wrong
things. They can be workaholics without achieving any benefits.
Stupid and diligent people can cause damage, because the mistakes
they produce are impossible to correct. Doing pointless and useless
things well does not make them important, and spending a lot of time
on pointless things does not add value.<br /><br />Hardworking and lazy
are the best people. They probably maximize what they do better than
others because they do not want to do unnecessary work. Hardworking
and smart is a relatively good combination because they rarely make
big mistakes or do a lot of useless tasks. People in this group can
learn to be lazy because they have enough capacity to learn to be
more efficient. Maximizing efficiency is done by focusing on the
things that produce the greatest benefits. Strive to maximize
efficiency, especially at work. Think before you act. Even
hard-working and lazy people don't always understand the most
important things. Often this is due to emotions. However, don't
overthink because your instincts are often right and overthinking
causes indecision, creating inefficiency.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-90342714922696922962023-01-03T11:15:00.001+02:002023-01-03T11:15:24.842+02:00Work, relative vs the absolute benefit<p>Hello and happy new year to everyone! </p><p>In the next few months I will put some more material to this blog. It is mostly the material before in Finnish.</p><p>It is all about the ratio of effort put
to the work and the benefit obtained from it. The benefit is most
commonly measured in money. Consider other things, such as
meaningfulness. It is difficult to measure because it is individual.
In most cases, you will reap the greatest benefit by employing
yourself. When working for others, most of your time is spent
producing the greatest benefit for some intermediary or to the
owners. You have to produce more than your employer pays in wages and
side costs of employment. If this is not the case, you must at least
convince your employer of your contribution.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">A small number of employees produce the
greatest benefit. Make yourself invaluable if you want to keep your
job in an uncertain economic situation. It might be hard for you to
understand it. It could result in losing your job. Employers can also
choose the wrong employees to leave. Don't be lulled into your own
irreplaceability. Your excellence may be a concept that others do not
recognize.<br /><br />One way to improve the relative benefit is to
reduce the time spent on work through working remotely. It improves
your relative income through two mechanisms. The first is the
reduction of time spent commuting. The second is an opportunity to
increase efficiency. The longer the commute takes and the more it
costs, the more the relative income rises. Travel expenses often
don't matter much because you can deduct them on taxes. Employers
rarely compensate for the time you lose commuting, so reducing it is
an essential part of the benefits of remote work.<br /> <br />Increasing
remote work is a good opportunity for knowledge workers. They can
often do their work without arriving at the workplace. Some employers
take advantage of this opportunity. Remote work is often a matter of
negotiation. Getting an agreement from an employer may require a
trial period. Use it effectively, because employers may not believe
in its benefits. Practice doing remote work many times before the
test time so that you can produce good results. Also, remember to
tell your boss that he can end the probationary period at any time if
he wants to. Make sure that you can minimize reasons for your boss to
refuse a probationary period.<br /> <br />Don't leave room for failure,
because you may have to wait a long time for the second test period.
You are in a better negotiating position well after the results, when
you start discussing the continuation of remote work. Carry out your
remote work without interruption. Manage the necessary things
efficiently. Your employer must benefit from remote work more than
your normal job. <br /> <br />The benefits of remote work in terms of
productivity are best seen as the opportunity to focus on the most
important tasks without interruptions. They can produce a mandatory
refocusing in tasks that require precision, which can last as long as
45 minutes. This is due to the reprogramming of your brain, which
does not happen immediately. The duration depends on the difficulty
and differences of the tasks and the quality of the interruption.
Find a place where there will be no interruptions. For the majority,
working at home is not the best idea.<br /><br />Focus on the most
important tasks when working remotely. According to some studies,
unnecessary interruptions can take up to a quarter of the working
day. Eliminating interruptions can cut up to two hours from your work
day. Find yourself a place where there will be no interruptions. This
is not a home for most people because there are self-inflicted
distractions.<br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Another mechanism that improves the
efficiency of remote work is the ability to choose one's work tasks,
doing them at the best possible time. You can eliminate unnecessary
work when you decide for yourself. You can more easily avoid
pointless meetings when working remotely. When you work remotely, you
don't have to focus on less useful tasks that others offer when
you're at your most efficient. This is especially true for those who
take orders from others.<br /><br />The third mechanism is that you can
choose how and where you do your work. Many workplaces have
established ways that have been used for ages, even though they are
ineffective. Not all working methods are suitable for everyone. In
remote work, you get to choose your own way of working. It doesn't
matter where you do your work. You too have your own place where your
work goes best. Try many places and draw your own conclusions.<br /><br />The
biggest disadvantage of telecommuting can be greater responsibility.
It might not be right for you. Working remotely requires more from
yourself. Not everyone is able to take responsibility for their work
for long periods of time. In addition, telecommuting can reduce the
influence of external factors, which is beneficial in creative
fields. On the other hand, the free time increased by remote work
improves the opportunities to seek them elsewhere.<br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">For an entrepreneur, the relative
benefit is a different matter, because he pays the same amount of his
profits in proportion as the profits increase. The entrepreneur also
has to take into account the cost of the employees. Everyone should
generate more income than they consume the company's resources. In
Finland, the amount of money is about twice the salary. The threshold
for hiring is higher than in many other countries.<br /><br />Although
the majority of employees should produce added value compared to
their costs, this is not the case. A small number of employees
produce the greatest added value. Make sure your employer knows the
added value you bring. Don't expect fame and glory. Make sure others
see your value. As an entrepreneur, you have to think about whether
the customers bring more income than what they waste your resources.
According to the principle of less is more, a small number of
customers generate the biggest profits and losses. This also applies
to individual products and services. For example, Apple's iPhones
generate more than half of the turnover and an even larger part of
the profits.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-68652893692273626142022-10-20T13:49:00.003+03:002022-10-20T13:49:54.865+03:00Cycles for Investors / Sijoittajan Syklit<p>My <span style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px;">book Cycles for Investors will be published in about a year for free at investorscycles.blogspot.com</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16.8px;">Kirjani "Sijoittajan Syklit" julkaistaan seuraavan vuoden aikana ilmaiseksi osoitteessa sijoittajansyklit.blogspot.com</span></span></p><p>-Tommi T</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-23662224466813498762022-06-24T11:35:00.000+03:002022-06-24T11:35:03.497+03:00New book, Cycles for Investor published in Amazon<p>My new English book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cycles-Investors-Tommi-Taavila/dp/B0B2TVM2D5/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2W4L1RYAMML1H&keywords=Tommi+Taavila&qid=1656058935&s=books&sprefix=tommi+taavila%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C200&sr=1-6">Cycles for Investors</a> is published in Amazon. You can also purchase it in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sijoittajan-Syklit-Finnish-Tommi-Taavila/dp/B09JJGVDHR/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656059572&sr=1-4">Finnish</a>. It does not promise you superior investment returns, magic formulas to achieve them or help you make exact forecasts about the markets. Instead, it gives you tools to increase your odds to avoid greatest insanity in the markets like buying during bubbles on margin, or selling close to the markets bottoms. It helps you to better understand intermediate and long term cycles related to the financial markets.</p><p><b>About the content of the book</b></p><p>The main parts of the content are the deeper anatomy of the
cycles, the cycles related to the national economies, the cycles
related to the financial markets and the life cycles of companies. It
also addresses the intersection of three important economic cycles
and the real estate and commodity cycles. The deeper anatomy of the
cycles deals with their psychological profile as well as the factors
that shape extremes. National economic cycles include e.g. the cycle
of economic development and the cycle of a leading economic country.
Financial market cycles include e.g. long debt cycles and stock
market cycles. Life cycles related to companies include e.g.
technology adoption cycle and industry life cycle. Real estate and
commodity cycles have been treated only superficially due to the
author’s lack of understanding.<br /><br />
</p><p>In addition, it explains how an investor can identify the
conditions of booms and bubbles prior to collapses. Efforts have been
made to present cycles by multiplying their course by
cause-and-effect relationships, mostly without numbers. More
important than numbers is to understand the course of the cycles and
the factors that interact to drive the cycles consistently. The book
has focused at least on medium cycles. In perceiving them, numbers
can be more misleading if cause-and-effect relationships or the
course of cycles are not properly understood.<br /><br />
</p><p>In today’s world, everything affects everything, so the cycles
in the book are more or less related. In particular, the cycles of
the national economies and the financial markets are often highly
interdependent. Business cycles are also dependent on national
economies and financial markets. The latter do not decide the fate of
individual companies. It can be said that some companies are not
affected.<br /><br /><br />
</p><p>The book deals with the anatomy of cycles and the following cycles
and life cycles:<br /><br /><br />
</p><ul>
<li><p>Long psychological / socioeconomic cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Economic development cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Leading economy cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Reserve currency cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Long and short debt cycles</p>
</li><li><p>Stock market cycles</p>
</li><li><p>Technology life cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Industry life cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Business life cycle</p>
</li><li><p>Real estate cycle</p>
</li></ul><p><br />
</p><p>The main purpose of the book is to improve the reader’s chances
of increasing investment returns by better understanding the cycles
related to economics and investments. Improving revenue is most
likely to happen by reducing the number of stupid decisions made by
readers than by providing magical insights. Warren Buffett and
Charlie Munger have often mentioned that they are not particularly
wise, but avoid stupidity better than others. This makes sense for
the sake of mathematical facts alone. As most people know, a 50%
decrease requires a 100% increase, and so on.<br /><br />
</p><p>The focus is on the extremes and extremes of the cycles, i.e.
mainly bubbles, peaks, bottoms, possible crashes, beginnings, and
endings. Other parts are less important. One reason for emphasizing
the extremes is that, in my view, many long-term cycles are at or
near the end or just past them. The ends and the beginnings refer to
those cycles without peaks and bottoms. This is the case, for
example, with a long psychological / socio-economic cycle. Extremes
are also the moments when the biggest differences are made in
investment returns.</p><p>In my experience, the book’s publishing platform doesn’t
produce clear graphs, so I’ve left them out. I have reduced the
time and effort of the reader by keeping the book short. The book is
supposed to follow the principle: “the price is what you pay and
the value is what you get” In my experience, the number of pages
does not match the benefits of non-fiction books.<br /><br />
</p><p>The book is not for novice investors. It does not explain
everything in detail. The reader needs to know what the basic
concepts like P / E ratio, Return on Equity and Earnings Per Share mean. A broader
understanding of the economy is desirable but not essential. An open
mind is also important because the book calls into question many
things that at least economists consider true. Independent thinking
is also essential. No book offers absolute truth about the economy
because it cannot be found. The world is too complex for today’s
computing power. This book does not offer it either, as the author
knows his limitations.<br /><br />
</p><p>
</p><p>The book contains a few investment ideas. If they are found, they
are vague in the style of "substances used for intoxication can
be a good investment in Awakening." (An explanation of the
former can be found later.) The book does not contain exact
predictions of what is to come, but it gives a broad explanation of
what may happen or what is the most likely option for the future. It
does not predict when anything will happen.</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-20293799650004460392022-04-12T14:55:00.003+03:002022-04-27T17:39:22.708+03:00Learning from the best + Blood, Sweat and Tears<p>The best in their fields are rarely
products of the system for everybody. They mostly go through their
own paths. No system can develop an individual better than taking
personal needs into account in the best possible way. Often they want
to share their path with others or someone else wants to know the
secret to their success. With this, you can get better too. This can
happen in many different ways. Learn from the opportunity if you get
one. Today, the easiest option is to take advantage of videos,
interviews, or books.</p><p style="font-weight: normal;">If you want to get to the top then you
can’t gather advice from mediocre people. Not even good individuals
can help you with that. Focus only on the information provided by top
individuals. Absolute best is often difficult to measure. It can be
considered a matter of taste. A good gauge e.g. the arts have sales
volumes and sums of money from individual works. Don’t copy one hit
wonders but the ones that have been at the top for a long time.
Without long-term success, it can only be about happiness. Explore
talent from many different fields. Often, many things unite many
things. The clearest examples are a passion for an object of interest
and following one’s own path. In addition to them, there are many
other commonalities, but they are the most important.<br /><br />It is
easy for you to follow the development paths of the champions in your
field today. You can find a lot of their interviews on the internet.
They have shared their life through biographies as well.
Autobiographies are the best options. Two of the best I have read are
”Open” from Andre Agassi and ”On Writing” by Stephen King On
Writing. They tell about how their thoughts on their lives and
professions have been thrown from one emotional state to another. The
failures that are necessary for everyone are best highlighted in
autobiographies. They are widely available from libraries or at low
prices online. <br /> <br /><b>Blood, sweat and tears</b><br /><br />Staying
put is not your problem if you are happy with your situation and are
able to arrange it so that you do not have any problems. Today, this
is not easy. Escape from your comfort zone often enough if you want
to move forward. This may not require extra work from you but new
ways of doing things. Without resistance, there will be no
development. It occurs in many forms and can be divided into external
and internal resistance. Development often happens by hitting your
head on the wall over and over again until you succeed.<br /><br />Your
ego is your biggest problem when you stay put. Going to areas of
discomfort is your biggest hurdle. It makes you believe you don’t
need a change. You are often the victim of your habits. Routines wire
your brain without you noticing. You’ll have a hard time getting up
if you’ve been staying on your couch for a long time. You need to
transcend yourself and endure a certain amount of pain in order to
develop into excellence. Top athletes have to put everything and a
little extra into the game. Few are willing to go far enough.
However, development requires crossing your borders in one way or
another. It requires a head-on struggle. It is not a question of
quantity but of power. Increasing the amount of exercise above a
certain point does not help because the limits of development come
into play.<br /><br />Your battle inside your head can also be due to
pressure from your environment and friends. It can also be called
external pressure, but you decide how you feel about it. The most
important way to reduce external pressure is to find out the reasons
for the opposition. If your changes don’t suit everyone then reduce
their company. External pressures can also become unknown. For some,
this pressure is easier to deal with, but it is unique. You need to
understand that you cannot live up to the expectations of others if
you want to get the most out of your life. In the world of pioneers,
the resistance is tougher because no one has done the same things
before. By pioneers I mean e.g. top scientists and record-breaking
athletes.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Understand
that development is not just an uphill but it includes downhills and
long journeys on a flat. Many times running towards the wall often
makes the mind quit as well. Sometimes you should go around the wall
or try a completely different route. Failure in one battle does not
mean losing the war. Setbacks are necessary because without them you
may never try in the most sensible way. They can hurt, but still
don’t give up. That is the surest way to fail. You can prepare for
setbacks mentally, physically, and financially. The masters and
pioneers in their field have always been a little crazy and have
suffered from it.<br /><br />The lives of the mediocre people can be much
easier and recommended for many. The crazy often do more and going to
the frontiers of nonsense can produce disasters. However, don’t
underestimate them because they are moving the world forward. You
learn well from failures, so don’t be afraid of them. They will be
for everyone. How you react to them will determine your future
success.</span></span></p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-63194744915216013142022-04-05T15:02:00.003+03:002022-04-05T15:02:53.036+03:00Everybody has intelligence<p>Not all people are endowed with
the same intellectual gifts. You may not be aware of your strengths
but focus on things you don’t benefit from. Utilizing ingenuity is
easier than ever. You can make yourself more easily known to the
public, e.g. Via Youtube. This means e.g. an easier and more
lucrative path for the best musicians and other performers. The flip
side of the coin is the increase in the number of competitors. The
following sections are intended to explain to you how strength ranges
or intelligences can be broken down. The division makes them easier
to understand. Intelligence can be divided in many different ways. In
the book, I use seven different types of intelligence from Harward
Professor Howard Gardner. They give a clear picture of people’s
intelligence. You can be smart in many ways. Different intelligences
are not mutually exclusive. Gardner's intelligences are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Logical-mathematical</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Linguistic</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Musical</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Bodily-kinesthetic</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Spatial</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Interpersonal</span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Intrapersonal</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><br />Logically-mathematically
intelligent people analyze problems logically, know how to use math,
and study things scientifically. Such intelligence is most favored at
the expense of others. Unfortunately, many of the gifted in this area
are put to solve problems for which they do not have enough
intelligence.<br /><br />Linguistic intelligence describes the ability to
understand and produce both spoken and written language fluently.
Learning foreign languages is also easier. Lawyers, speakers,
writers, and poets are linguistically average. Such genius is
emphasized in education in Finland. The Finnish way of teaching
foreign languages through grammar may not be right, because the
most important thing abroad, i.e. speaking a foreign language, is
forgotten.<br /><br />Musical intelligence means being able to perform
music either by playing or singing and understanding how well someone
else practices their musicality. Gardner believes this is the most
questionable area of intelligence because he says musicality is close
to linguistic genius.<br /><br />Physically intelligent people have the
ability to use a body or part of it to solve problems. Physically
gifted are certain top athletes, such as gymnasts. Good builders,
surgeons, and mechanics are also physically gifted.<br /><br />Spatially
intelligent refers to the ability to detect and manipulate large or
smaller spaces. The rulers of large spaces are e.g. pilots and air
traffic controllers. Rulers of smaller forms can be found e.g.
sculptors, chess players and architects.<br /><br />Intrapersonally
intelligent people are able to understand the intentions,
motivations, desires of others and are good at working with other
people. The best examples are good salesmen, teachers, nurses,
politicians and Actors. Their role in society is often
underestimated, even though you are helpless without social skills.
My personal opinion of Finns is that we are not socially talented.
This may be due in part to teaching us to believe in
it.<br /><br />Interpersonally intelligent people feel good about
themselves are able to understand themselves, create the behaviors
that are best for them, understand their desires, fears and
abilities. They take advantage of the above to regulate their lives
for the best they see fit. I consider this skill to be the most
important.<br /><br />Defining the seven intelligences is not the only
right way. More important than considering the accuracy of the
classification is to evaluate how different forms of intelligence
describe you. If you are a complete failure in some intelligence then
you should learn how to improve it. It doesn’t become your strength
even with hard training. It will make your life a lot easier as your
biggest problems will diminish. Only the things you are really
talented can get the most out of with the least amount of input. Of
course, the smart ones have to practice. Becoming good requires less
practice from them. Invest in things where you are the smartest. You
get the most out of them. No one is intelligent in everything. Do not
strive for the best in all things. It reduces your overall benefits
and you do unnecessary work. It makes sense to move from a
full-length to a mediocre one, because then you get great benefits
with less investment.<br /><br />You should always invest in
self-knowledge. Without understanding oneself, one does not know
one’s areas of strength and punches one’s head in the wall
unnecessarily. Examples of this are singers aspiring to compete in
Idols, who sound like they are scratching a metal surface with a
screwdriver. When one of the judges tells the truth then it is left
unbelievable and barked by the professionals. Self-knowledge also
helps when you are praised in vain by loved ones. Unnecessary praise
can cause great harm. Don’t neglect to develop this skill. You can
take it for granted, but it’s not for everyone.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-85965451283068568952022-03-29T15:16:00.000+03:002022-03-29T15:16:55.076+03:00Simplicity also requires prioritization<p>Simplicity also requires
prioritization. You have your passions and order of priorities. The
most important things are often overshadowed, because your time is
often determined by external factors. Focus on prioritizing the tasks
you are left with after elimination. You can’t do many jobs
efficiently at the same time, so you’re forced to prioritize. For
most, even one job is too much. Remember, prioritization is your
responsibility because others don’t know you better. Don't follow
the herd. You live in a world of choices. Choosing the right things
will improve your chances of getting the most out of yourself. Think
about priorities. Things to prioritize have common denominators,
although they vary by personality. Think carefully about your
priorities. Some are self-explanatory and others are
surprising.</p><p><span style="font-weight: normal;">Think of yourself first. The most important tasks
are the ones that take you forward and that you’ve always wanted to
do or try. Figure out things that produce results and more joy. They
are based on the less is more principle or those with great
potential. Also, things that require your creativity or are
considered impossible by others will rank high. The only way to do
some things is to prioritize tasks with high value. Prioritize them
at the expense of your routine. Eliminating vanities is more
important than prioritizing because they have a greater impact on
quality of life. Start prioritizing step by step. You will probably
fail in everything if you try to do too many things at once. Don’t
forget that loneliness can be a virtue. Don’t forget it, even if
the desire to change all things right now is great.<br /><br /></span><b>The
most important task</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br />Don’t
forget that even the most important tasks have their order. Outline
the most important thing for each day and prioritize it. Always put
it first. Determine it through maximum benefit. Also assign a purpose
to the task, because without good reason, the task is not the most
important one. If you can't get the most important task done in one
day, divide it into parts. Prioritize smaller parts. Set aside your
most efficient hours for the most important task. They vary depending
on the personality. Most are most effective 2-4 hours after waking
up. They have had time to shed their sleep and their worst fatigue
has subsided. You will find your best working hours best by testing,
i.e. doing the most important tasks at different times.<br /><br />In
addition to reserving the most efficient working time, minimize
potential disruption to the most important tasks. Close email
notifications, set the phone to silent, and focus on the most
important task. This may be easier said than done. Still, try to
minimize interference. This will greatly increase your efficiency.
Set a deadline for the most important task. If you book a longer time
period for your most important tasks than a day, set aside moments on
your calendar for your most important tasks. I do not recommend a
vague definition of the most important tasks, such as “I will
graduate as an engineer next year”. In this case, the priorities
may be unclear and leave too much room for interpretation.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">When
you define the most important tasks, you must first determine the
next physical task and what you want to accomplish. The relevance of
the next physical task is to make the most important task easier
to do. Example: You have a toothache that interferes with your daily
life. In this case, your most important task is to make an
appointment and go to the dentist. The first physical task is to look
up a dentist's number. In reality, the first physical task is
probably to open a browser or computer. Mark the desired result as a
hole patch and end of the toothache. Apply this mindset to every
major task. Simplify the thing you want to do. Often the most
important task is multifaceted. Therefore, clearly define the desired
outcome. Determine the desired result before the first physical step.</span></span></span></span></span>
</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-75015212072588870112022-03-22T14:18:00.001+02:002022-03-22T14:18:02.372+02:00Simplicity requires elimination<p> Simplicity requires elimination. Your
amount of stuff, your human contact, and the things you do will
increase faster than you reduce them. Elimination of vanities is the
most important thing in simplifying life. The figures for individual
goods and human contacts are described in more detail in the figures.
This chapter tells you more about unnecessary doing. Most of the
things you do are useless. They do not add value to you. Your skills
are poor on average. The purpose of the book is to reduce the things
you do in vain and make you focus on what brings you the most benefit
and enjoyment. Just a few things you do every day are really helpful
to you. You’ll have a hard time believing this because it means
you’re wasting most of your available resources. You don’t have
to try to get the few percent productivity gains that the world
around you thirsts for. By eliminating vanities, you get an improved
quality of life and tens of percent efficiency.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />You need to
make things unnecessary if you can’t eliminate them. Habits don’t
need your focus. More about creating routines, their benefits, and
changing them is covered in a chapter that focuses on habits.
Unnecessary things depend on the person. Therefore, this chapter
focuses more on identifying vanities. You can also eliminate your
vanities by delegating them to others. First, try to remove
unnecessary things you don’t like. You cannot eliminate all of
them. First, remove all possible ones and delegate those vanities to
others that you cannot completely avoid. Then focus on the things you
are bad at. They produce unpleasant side effects on your life and
waste your resources. Failures will produce more failures for you and
a rolling snowball will grow. Here are some things to keep in mind
that is taken from The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris:<br /><br />
</p>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things to always suspend. When you
are interrupted, you have to re-tune in to do them which takes time
out of your brain.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Answering unnecessary emails and
calls.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things that have always been done
this way. They have not evolved and as a result they have become
ineffective.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things where your partner is
either miserable or unreliable.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Things that are not completed on
schedule and whose completion is not visible.</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Meetings that don’t have a clear
purpose, goal, or schedule and where you don’t have a critical
role.<br /><br />
</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">From the list above, you can easily see
how much more unnecessary and wasteful things you have to do. You can
easily simplify your life by eliminating them. This leads to a better
outcome than improving unnecessary things. Elimination can produce
unexpected surprises for you. Try it to see the results. Do not bite
too large a piece at a time. Focus first on your most harmful habits
and actions. Subtract a maximum of two similar things at once. Start
with the most harmful and gradually move on to others. In my
experience, changing all bad habits at once leads to everyone’s
failure and bigger problems than you had before the change.
</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-50876050274205079312022-03-08T14:45:00.004+02:002022-03-08T14:45:27.828+02:00Simplicity part 1 Simplicity and Complexity<p>Simple is beautiful and it shows in
many things. The modern world is moving towards complex structures.
This trend is wrong. Keeping a product simple as it enters the market
makes it easier to make more money. Simple products have started to
attract more and more recently. Ease of use has risen to a major role
in purchasing decisions. The imperceptibility of the role of
simplicity is often due to the fact that it is not as intellectually
interesting as complexity. The problem with Finnish engineering is
that a technically superior solution is not always the best if it is
complex. This was one reason why Nokia could not compete with
Apple.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />Simple is always beautiful. The exception may be
someone with an ugly and simple soul. Not hanging on to exceptions.
Focus on the beauty of simplicity. The beauty of simplicity is one
reason less is more of a principle to work. Simplifying aspects of
human life can be helpful. Automatic Monthly Savings in Index Funds
can save you large amounts of work exams and bank brokerage fees.
Simple, simple and straightforward. Your job is to make complex
things simple. This is an ongoing process. It never ends the first
time. Don't compromise on it. Always keep in mind that a simple
product, thing, message or service is high quality. If you are unable
to simplify then strive for elimination. If this does not work,
remember the lowest possible minimum dose and make sure that you do
not consume more of your resources than necessary.<br /><br />Life is
constantly becoming more complicated. That doesn't have to be the
case. Focus only on the things that bring the most benefit and
enjoyment to you and your environment. Eliminate every thing
unrelated to the above if you can. Unnecessary and important things
will always fight for their living space in your headroom. This war
is difficult to detect because unnecessary as well as important
things fought inside your head. By giving up things that do you
little or no harm, you can simplify your life with pleasure and great
results. Awesome and excellent things often mean simple results.
Reducing complexity leads to a more beautiful end result. If you want
to make something big going forward, you need the courage to
simplify. Few have the resources to do so. That is why simplicity is
so rare and beautiful.<br /><br />Simplification requires both the
elimination and the prioritization of unnecessary issues. These are
never fully understood. It is still worth continuing this process at
regular intervals. The time interval is up to you. There is no exact
rule of thumb. Aim for it at least a couple of times a year. The
beauty of simplicity is not easily noticed without experimentation.
Take action now and see how your quality of life improves.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Complexity is the scourge of today.
Simplification is the best weapon against complexity. This is easier
said than done, but it is all the more valuable. Complexity causes
greater inefficiency. Remember that simplicity alone is not always
effective or interesting. Repeating the same thing from day to day
starts to taste like wood before long. Keeping things as simple as
possible is the best option. You can also think of it through the MED
I mentioned in the second chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to
find out how things are simplified and how complexity creates
problems.<br /><br />The world is complex. It is becoming more and
more complex. The more complex things become, the more inefficient
they go after a certain point. The problems caused by the phenomenon are often not
perceived when they are hidden. They are difficult to analyze.
Instead of improving things, one should think about whether they work
at all, instead of thinking about how they could be improved. This
also applies to business in addition to individuals. The increase in
complexity can be compared to a snowball descending a slope and
growing from protective snow. Costs are accelerating as complexity
increases. The growth of the rolling ball accelerates until it stops
at an obstacle and disintegrates. The best way to fight is to break
up the snowball into smaller pieces and destroy the unnecessary ones
before they go downhill. This is not always possible in time and
simplification is becoming more difficult.<br /><br />The more complex
the system, the more it needs to be dealt with. A simpler system
works better. A simple system works better without supervision. In
business, simplification reduces the need for expensive managers and
additional costs. Simplicity helps focus on relevant things, such as
adding value. Large size does not always mean complexity and cannot
be reduced by minimizing size. Rather, it is easier to grow simpler
products profitably. Let's even compare Nokia and Apple. Nokia
offered many different phone models to its customers. Apple, on the
other hand, did not have many different models. Apple also managed to
simplify the user experience that facilitated sales. The simpler the
product, the easier it was to use. This maximizes the added value
experienced by the user, which made it easier to charge a higher
price for the product.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-66747994788968841522022-03-01T16:06:00.002+02:002022-03-01T16:06:22.330+02:00Be the loser of your own life<p> We only have one life. We are
responsible for that ourselves. Adulthood is a milestone, but some
individuals need guardianship for longer. More important than this
moment is creating rules of the game that you can follow when you
decide for yourself. Laws impose their own restrictions on the rules.
Despite these, we have the opportunity to create the living
conditions we want, especially in Western countries such as Finland.
The world is not always a fair place. We can lose even if we create
our own rules of the game, as permitted by the restrictions of the
law. Today, we cannot blame our society today for our failures, even
if it steers individuals in the most favorable direction for the
system. The system is often wrong. It does not take into account our
individual needs. Then you have a responsibility to take care of your
life as well as you can.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />Creating your own rules of the game
requires critical thinking. Not everyone's rules of the game are the
same. The difference is good because the world would be a boring
place for everyone to do the same things in life. Today, our most
prestigious life paths are the following: elementary school, high
school, college studies, and transitioning from an employee to a
large and well-known employer. This is followed by a family, a
mortgage, working until retirement age paying taxes and a slow
movement towards the inevitable goal. This is a slightly exaggerated
and deliberately painted negative outlook for the future, as it is
intended to evoke the idea that this is not an inevitable outcome. By
creating our own rules of the game, we can have a better chance of
enjoying our lives more as an individual and not just as part of the
overall machinery. The world is full of opportunities and we should
exploit them to improve our quality of life.<br /><br />There can be
hundreds of rules of the game and each situation has its own. Instead
of detailed rules of the game, we need to create rules of the game
that focus on the big picture. In these texts, we’ll go through how
we can create rules of the game for important areas of our lives,
such as time, relationships, health, and money. We can reduce our
burden in every area with clear rules. We can use Less is more
concept. It can be exploited in the rules of the game to improve our
quality of life. We can play a different game than 95% of people by
creating our rules. Most work like others. It is possible to be a
pioneer, but it will not work for many. Shortcuts exist and we can
use them. This requires us to walk our own paths. It can feel like
you are alone and a loser’s path for a long time.<br /><br />We must
define our own success. Being at work 24/7 and making large sums of
money can be a loser´s path if it leads to a collapse in personal
life, such as divorce and bitter offspring. Even making small sums of
money can be a success. This is not the path most choose. Choosing a
path for the general public is not a bad thing if it is a path you
really want to follow. These texts are not for this path but for
creating your own rules of the game and enforcing them. If things go
down the drain, you should leave them unchanged. What is not broken
should not be repaired. There is no point in making a small
improvement because the input-output ratio is not growing enough.<br /><br />It
makes sense to follow different rules when things don’t go the way
you want. We all have our strengths and weaknesses in some jobs. We
often do not use them enough to our advantage. By utilizing them, we
not only improve our own quality of life, but also benefit our
environment. There are many solutions to the problems. The most
commonly used are not always the best but almost always imitated by
mediocrity. Utilizing them, the results are mediocre at best. This
may mean more work, but utilizing your own thinking will yield better
results than utilizing generally accepted paths.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-66242609404749611272022-02-22T10:56:00.001+02:002022-02-22T10:56:14.406+02:00Asking the right questions in critical thinking<p> The right questions are the most
important source of critical thinking. Doing them and/or doing them
in the right order is more important than getting the right answers
to the wrong questions. Let's take one example of such a pair of
questions:</p>
<ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">How can I do this more
effectively?</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Does this need to be done at all?<br /><br />
</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We don’t have to ask the first
question at all if the answer to the second question is no. If the
answer to the second question is yes, we should also ask ourselves
the first question. The right questions will radically reduce our
waste. We only get great answers with great questions. We need to set
aside time to ask great questions because their benefits can be
invaluable. By getting the right answers to the wrong questions, we
are creating an opportunity for a great catastrophe for ourselves. In
the long run, a chain reaction could result in a major disaster after
asking the wrong questions.<br /><br />Most of the questions we ask are
wrong. They lead to wrong conclusions. The question is almost always
more important than the answer. For example, when we do science, we
ask questions for which we have no prior knowledge of the answers.
Surprising breakthroughs can result. The benefits of the right
questions then become irreplaceable. The right questions simplify
things. To get the right answers, we need to keep our questions
simple because our brain capacity is limited. Here are a couple of
question pairs where the first question is wrong and the second is
correct:</p>
<ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /><br />
</p>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Why do I spend so much effort on
this client?</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Do I need this customer at all?</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Why do politicians have to raise
taxes all the time?</p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">How can I pay less taxes?<br /><br /><br />
</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Asking the right questions is
difficult, but they bring great benefits. In less is more
philosophy, one question transcends all others:<br /><br /><b>What are
some of the critical things we can do to make all of these things
either easier or unnecessary?</b><br /><br />We need to go through the
anatomy of this question carefully:<br /><br />Point 1. What are some of
the critical things we <b>can</b> do. The most important word in this
paragraph is can. This is a possible action. We can’t put a word in
a conditional form, as we could, we would, we should do. <b>Doing</b>
always wins the intention.<br /><br />Step 2. To make them by doing. This
point means doing the <b>purposeful</b> thing. That doesn’t mean we
do things for the sake of doing it. Finding purposefulness requires
in-depth thinking, because by doing one thing, other things are not
done.<br /><br />Point 3. other things become either <b>easier or
unnecessary</b>. This means that our critical issues yield such great
benefits that it becomes easier to reach our goals as other things
become easier or unnecessary. Most of us don’t realize how much we
cannot do to achieve something significant.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Asking the right questions saves time
for the most important things and tasks. I hope you find this text
useful.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">-TT</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-5412891720694411832022-02-15T17:04:00.005+02:002022-02-15T17:04:41.380+02:00Critical thinking<p>The importance of critical thinking
increases as the amount of information increases. The result is a
difficulty in thinking critically. We should not directly think of
the text of any book as such. Instead, we need to think about how
well the text is true. We work on instinct most of the time. It works
well most of the time. We need to think more about important things.
The role of critical thinking is emphasized. There are many obstacles
in its way and their impact can go beyond making sensible decisions.
Critical thinking means examining things and our careful reflection
on their various aspects. This requires us to ask the right
questions. Critical thinking is a competitive advantage today. Many
current university degrees do little to encourage this. What, why,
how, etc. are questions we should be asking all the time to think
critically.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />The increase in modern day´s stress, workload,
and amount of information affects our ability to think critically.
Improving critical thinking includes prioritizing, maximizing the
utilization of our working memory, and informational flexibility. We
have a lot to consider. Resolving priorities makes it easier for us
to focus on the essentials. When there is too many things to
consider, things are handled at half capacity and the outputs are
decreased. We constantly have to increase the use of our working
memory and we need to focus better despite the disruptions.
Informative flexibility means that we are able to change our patterns
of behavior according to the situation and the facts.<br /><br />Critical
thinking has changed recently and its demands on us have grown. Ways
to get information have changed. That’s why it’s good to think
about how our environment affects us. Today, the pursuit of
propaganda and self-interest by influencing the information fed to
others is constantly increasing. Anyone can publish their own
opinions and their own facts. Our criticism of the source must be
intensified. We need to think more about the publisher’s
intentions. Google doesn’t always bring out the facts. Our life
situations change faster and adapting to a new situation may require
a new reflection on the facts, displacing the old facts. Finding out
the essentials requires more of our thinking. The exploitation of our
critical thinking suffers from many obstacles. They can cause errors
in our rational thinking that lead to wrong conclusions<br /><br />One of
our most common mistakes is our natural way of focusing on sources
that support our own views rather than trying to think things from
different perspectives. Blaming others for our own mistakes and
focusing on the mistakes of others instead of looking in mirror. The
other mistake is our belief in authority which means that we do not
question the facts of someone because we consider him or her
infallible. This can apply to our family members, bosses, and
politicians. Our pride can also be an obstacle to critical thinking
because we find it hard to admit that we don’t know all the facts.
Following a herd can also lead to distorted thinking.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We can develop our critical thinking
and our brain capacity. There are many ways. Some of them seem
self-evident. By questioning our assumptions and examining the
information from many perspectives, we get to think more critically.
However, we cannot examine too many perspectives, because this can
paralyze our thinking into too many perspectives.<br /><br />We can
interpret things differently. We should not just hang out in one way
that suits us. We need to learn to think differently. One way is to
do things between them out of the ordinary. This helps us to outline
different perspectives. We must always think that we are also wrong.
We should also ask ourselves “what do we not know?”
Self-development and honesty in our skills also help improve our
thinking.<br /><br />Let’s set aside time for critical thinking so we
can respond to an ever-faster world. Even the wisest of us are
sometimes wrong. The better we accept this fact, the better our
critical thinking develops. It will become increasingly
important in the future. While critical thinking may seem like an
increasing burden to us, it becomes a habit of avoiding unnecessary
deeds and thinking of unnecessary things. As a result, we will have
more time in the future.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Critical thinking helps when you have
to separate the useful facts, actions, opinions, behaviors from the
less useful ones and the waste from brilliance . In other words, less
is more thinking requires critical thinking.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">-TT</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-90243769408248913132022-02-08T13:50:00.003+02:002022-02-08T13:50:25.678+02:00Less Is More Thinking is non-linear<p>Less is more thinking is non-linear. It
means that using small investments in it brings great benefits. It
increases the time used for thinking, but it creates benefits for our
lives. It is important for us to be able to think about things that
are important and interesting to us. People are individuals. We
cannot do everything as others do, producing fun and benefits for
both ourselves and our environment. The core idea is that only a
small portion of our efforts yield us most of our benefits. Ratios
vary by subject. The number can be 80/20 or even 99/1. 20% of the
products can generate 80% of the company's sales. An even number is
just a number. Actual ratios can be as high as 50/1 or 97/20. The
latter could mean that 20% of authors sell 97% of books in the United
States. Radical fluctuations are due to the non-linearities of life
and the world. This is important in social outcomes.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />The
difference is very large, which means that by exploiting the great
effects, we can maximize the power of small things. We should start
by thinking about the small core issues, those that produce the
greatest benefits in relation to their size. After that, we can
reduce our workload by focusing only on core issues, or we can try to
keep our workload the same by increasing their share, thus increasing
our benefits. We must not just focus on them. It is equally important
to get rid of harmful things from our lives. The less is more
principle also works in terms of negative effects. A small part of
our lives produce the biggest negative effects. Eliminating them is
difficult. We need to pay close attention to those
efforts.<br /><br />Focusing on core issues and eliminating unnecessary
things requires constant thinking. We can’t avoid it if we want to
get more out of our lives. Detecting them requires independent action
and the use of your own thinking. On average, we are wrong all the
time, even in important things. This is done by following the herd.
It is sometimes right, but not nearly always. Cause-effect
relationships are key. Often the consequences are considered to be
the causes, even if they are not. For example, when one muscle is
sore, the pain may radiate to another that is treated without
failure. Pain is usually corrected with an analgesic that takes away
the pain but does not eliminate the problem. The most important thing
to think about is to find the main cause that will be put in order
and through it we will get great benefit with less effort. We do not
have to solve all our problems at once, but we can think of those
that will bring the greatest benefits. <br /><br />This way of thinking
is much different from how we often see things as linear, that is,
one by one. A small portion of actions will always be of the greatest
value to us and others. We need to think about which action produces
the most value. It is not found in mediocrity but under a deeper
layer. We need to think new and get under the surface. The surface is
our way of thinking linearly and traveling with the herd. Focusing on
the same insignificances as the others, we create the same outcomes.
To quote Mark Twain, “When you find yourself doing or thinking like
the majority, it’s time to stop and think again.” For us, the
best way to get to the highest value is to create a mindset where we
often reject the opinions of the majority. They include dominant
states of mind, consensus thinking, traditional wisdom, and easy
answers. These obscure the reality from us, that is, the things that
bring the greatest benefits. Giving up mediocre wisdom brings great
benefits, but it is difficult. Changing our thinking is the hardest
thing for us because it is hard for us to admit to ourselves that we
are wrong.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-48184774767057688182022-02-01T14:25:00.001+02:002022-02-01T14:25:21.532+02:00The Minimum Effective Dose (MED)<p>The term means the
minimum dose required to achieve a wanted result. We can use it in
almost everything. We should not focus on increasing investment, but
focus on taking into account the unnecessary consumption of energy
after certain amounts. The balance of benefits and harms must be
maximized to get the best results. It is achieved with the Minimum
Effective Dose. In medicine, the term is used to prescribe as little
medication as possible because they cause side effects that can be
worse than the ailments for which medications are prescribed. The
minimum dose is not just a useful term for individuals. It is
suitable for larger crowds. For example, we should only clean enough
of our house for the person who needs cleaning the most. If it were
done according to another amount, the consequences would be too great
and the benefits non-existent. We can use the minimum dose in almost
all walks of life. It is worth sacrificing a lot of our thinking to
take advantage of it.</p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />It is easier for us to give up or reduce
things. This way of improving our lives reduces mental burden. Giving
up reduces the wrong kind of stress and makes things easier. Giving
up everything is not the best solution. Therefore, a minimum dose is
the best option. Cause-effect relationships are important when
thinking about the minimum dose, because everything has good and bad
effects. Cleaning improves cleanliness and reduces the number of
bacteria. The negative effect is the time spent.<br /><br />The
usefulness of the term is not a simple matter. We are so different
that the same rules do not apply to everyone. We need to find out our
own resilience. We can only do it by experimenting. It may take time
to experiment, but it is worth the time. We can use some stimulants
too, like coffee. Testing the right amount is done by drinking
different amounts of coffee a day, observing your own reactions. For
myself, the optimal amount is two cups a day. At this level, my level
of alertness is at its best. A larger amount causes mild
restlessness. A smaller amount does not have enough good effects. By
enjoying two cups a day, I get the best night’s sleep relative to
the level of alertness of the day.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The Minimum
Effective Dose also applies to social epidemics. It describes the
number of people to get the epidemic spread around. In other words,
the MED means enough people to reach the tipping point in social
epidemics. Some businesses require the MED of money to finance
successful investments, etc.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">-TT</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-45487989097516103152022-01-25T13:58:00.003+02:002022-01-25T13:58:21.738+02:00Key Concepts part 4. The conditions in which social epidemic spreads<p> The hardest thing
for us is to internalize the importance of the environment and
conditions in spreading the message. One reason is our inability to
perceive abstract things. We react more to the changes of others than
to the changes of the surrounding reality. We believe our
decision-making ability is better than it actually is. The role of
the environment and its conditions in getting an epidemic across the
tipping point is as great as the infectivity of individuals and the
message. Epidemics are sensitive to changing circumstances when it is
time for them to spread. The emergence of epidemics does not require
major changes. Even the small ones are enough. Usually, the urge to
change beneath the surface is released with the help of small
changes.</p><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />Our behavior can be modified by creating the
conditions for the spread of epidemics. Zero tolerance for
drunkenness can reduce the mild effects of alcohol. In the 1980´s,
transportation authorities tested the New York subway for zero
tolerance for pumping and other minor offenses. With it, they
succeeded in significantly reducing even large-scale crimes in the
subways. Not all small changes automatically result in large ones. In
addition to small changes in the environment, epidemics are best
spread through small and dense communities. As communities, we are
vulnerable to the ideas and the peer pressure. The latter may play a
critical role in the spread of the epidemic.<br /><br />Gradually, we can
form close groups with the help of a certain ideology. Through them,
the spread of the epidemic is accelerating. The ideal size for small
dense groups is a maximum of 150 people, according to anthropologist
Robin Dunbar. He has studied other primates as well. We have the
largest capacity and that is due to the size of the frontal lobe of
our brain. This is bigger than our classmates. According to Dunbar's
research, the border runs in a group size of about 150 people. Larger
groups form cup municipalities and disagreements. By this logic, the
best results in business would come in units of about 150
people.<br /><br />The idea of a tipping point can be summed up in one
brevity: As we try to change our behavior and cause an epidemic, it
is important for us to get those people to spread our message that it
is good to get others on their side, knowing a lot of people. In
addition, it’s important for us to get the message done so remember
that it grabs easily and makes us act. In addition, it is important
for us to succeed in reshaping our environment with small changes so
that the epidemic can cross its climax, after which it will start to
accelerate.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-64922253477867795362022-01-17T15:58:00.005+02:002022-01-17T16:05:06.699+02:00Key concepts part 3 Sticky messages<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Infectious
messages are universal and have stood the test of time. We can call
them sticky. They have similarities. In the following paragraphs, I
will explain how we can take our messages better. An infectious
message needs to be understood, remembered, and effectively changed
in opinions and behavior. Infectious messages have more than one of
the following characteristics: simplicity, unexpectedness,
concreteness, credibility, emotional, and are usually told as
stories. (You can read more about these characteristics from Dan and Chip Heath´s book Made to Stick.) <br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Simplicity</b><br /><br /><br />A
simple message contains an easy-to-understand royal idea around which
the message is based. We find the core for stripping our message to
its core. We do the stripping by removing many ideas from the message
and letting the main thing shine. It is about our limitations to
receive information. The more we are able to compress the information
into a concise message, the better our message will stick. Our
message must also be relevant. One way to make a message concise is
to use the information that the recipient can already find. It’s
easy to succeed in creating a short and concise message, but it’s
hard to create a profound purpose in the same package.<br /><br /><b>Unexpectmess</b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We must ask
ourselves whether the audience will be surprised after they receive
our message. We have to deliver something the audience do not expect.
We must focus on the unique characteristics of our message. We must
tell the audience something they have no idea about. If we tell a
story, we must make sure its end is completely different than most
stories about the same thing or have a completely different
conclusion. <br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Concreteness</b><br /><br /><br />If
we can sense things with our senses, they are concrete. Concrete
language helps us to understand concepts. The language used by many
experts is full of ambiguous concepts that we do not understand.
Specific things are easier to remember and that is why we should use
concrete terms. One of the best concrete tools is photography. Images
and sounds connected to the message makes it more
concrete.<br /><br /><br /><b>Credibility</b><br /><br /><br />We get to fight
for the credibility of our messages with the beliefs, prejudices and
social pressures of the recipients. There are several ways we can
improve the credibility of our messages. Good and bad examples are
some of them. Precise details also work to increase our credibility.
The details are intended to support the core of our idea. We may also
use statistics to support the post. When using them, they must be
presented in a way that is comprehensible to the
recipients.<br /><br /><br /><b>Emotionality</b><br /><br /><br />Relying on our
feelings is a good solution because it encourages us to act. We need
to appeal to the feelings that the recipients of our message already
have and connect them to our message that they don’t care about
yet. After all, the most important thing for us is our personality.
If we are able to combine the creation of emotions with our own
interests, we will achieve the best result. Everyone usually asks
themselves first, “How do I benefit from this?” Admittedly, this
may not be a conscious choice. A message combined with our
personality also brings results.<br /><br /><br /><b>Story form</b><br /><br /><br />The
stories work in two ways. They mimic reality and motivate us to act.
These things create action. Mental simulation works because we were
not created to imagine events without the action of the brain blocks
that function in the actual doing. Mental simulations help in emotion
management, problem solving, and visualization of the future. Stories
realize abstract things. They inspire us to implement our ideas. They
often help us get over old habits and presuppositions. They are
concrete and for the most part they have both unexpected and credible
elements.<br /><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
stickiness of our ideas has many enemies, such as losing too much
information at the core, focusing more on presenting our ideas than
on content, paralyzing decision-making, and too much the curse of
knowledge, the power of presuppositions. When we have a good idea in
mind, we can use a checklist for stickiness:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Is it all about the core
message? (Simplicity)</b></p>
</li></ul>
<ul>
<li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Does it attract attention?
(Surprise)</b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Does the audience understand
and remember it? (Concreteness)</b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Is the audience able to
identify or believe the idea? (Credibility)</b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Do people care about the
message? (Emotionality)</b></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Can people act on it? (Story
form)</b></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p>Messages
do not need all characteristics to be sticky. Some of them are
necessary. </p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-61282042322815285152022-01-10T15:04:00.004+02:002022-01-10T15:04:41.201+02:00Key concepts part 2 The tipping point, the significant few<p> The moment after
which there is no return to the social epidemic, i.e. the situation
after which the pace of change begins to accelerate on its own, is
the tipping point. The point is also familiar from virus epidemics.
The virus spreads when the spread reaches a rate that cannot be
limited. It is moving forward at such a rapid pace that there is no
choice but to worry about the consequences. Scientists can also call
this point, the critical mass. Before you get to the point, things
look linear and after that the pace of change is fast. The point also
applies to commercial trends, the spread of new technology, and
anything that changes rapidly like a virus. Sudden change in the
concept is the core issue. Much of people’s behavior is contagious,
whether it’s buying behavior, voting, or anything else. Even small
things can cause an epidemic. Epidemics have three parts:</p>
<ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p>
<li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">People
spreading the epidemic</p>
</li><li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The epidemic
or its message itself</p>
</li><li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
environment and conditions under which epidemics spreads</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /><b>The
significant few</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Throughout world
history, there have been people who have had a greater impact on
others than others. They spread epidemics faster than others.
Sometimes they have been in more prominent roles and sometimes they
have been under the surface. In these cases, a lot also depends on
whether a particular person is in the right place at the right time.
Being in the right place at the right time is not enough if a person
does not have social gifts. Few influencers are united by social
gifts. They form epidemics effectively. If you want to sell something
or influence others then I would recommend persuading them to your
side. People who influence the opinions and actions of others can be
divided into three different types:<br /><br />
</p>
<ul>
<li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Connectors</p>
</li><li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Experts</p>
</li><li><p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Salesmen</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />The most
important condition for connectors is to know a lot of people. They
all know. They have innate abilities to get to know others. They are
important not only because they know a lot of people but also because
of who they know. Many word-of-mouth epidemics materialize when they
spread the message to those who influence the opinions of others. The
more complex the message is, the harder it is for these people to
create a critical mass for the message. Connectors also matter more
when the message has already spread.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Connectors are not
the only human type that affects others. In addition to them, there
is a need for sources of information that are not always the same
people as the connectors. Data sources are called experts. They
naturally become acquainted with new things and pass on new
information. Representatives of this type of person are always ready
to correct misinformation. They not only collect information but also
share it immediately. These people are the ones who most often find
new information to spread. <br /><br />Salesmen are the third initiators
of epidemics. Many have heard the saying “could sell ice to
Eskimos”. This describes salesmen. There is something extra about
them that makes them agree with them. They are convincing in what
they do no matter what. Salesmen are adept at justifying their case.
Charisma cannot be bought in a store. Salesmen can find it. Charisma
can arise from small gestures that are invisible to outsiders, such
as nodding your head. Small gestures are more important than verbal
output. The main reason for the persuasiveness of salesmen is not
these little gestures but their timing in the right rhythm with the
other party. In addition to their gestures, they are able to regulate
their volume and speech rate according to the other party. This is an
innate ability.
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Connectors,
experts, and salesmen are individuals who know how to convert desired
messages into formats that make them spread. The messages do not need
to be changed much but small changes can cause the desired reactions.
In the case of some connectors, the above types combine and their
influence increases.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6209458885475338758.post-43485375036401782702022-01-03T13:46:00.001+02:002022-01-03T13:46:15.164+02:00Key Concepts, part 1. <p> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Degrees of freedom</b><br /><br />Degrees
of freedom mean e.g. in science, the amount of variables that are not
directly dependent. If we think of vehicles, then the train on the
rails has one degree of freedom. It only gets forward and backward.
Cars have two degrees of freedom. In addition to the previous
directions, they also move in a circle clockwise and
counterclockwise. Planes have three degrees of freedom because they
move up and down in addition to the previous directions. Some
industrial robots have up to six degrees of freedom or more.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">An employee who receives his income
from one employer has one degree of freedom. We can increase the
degree of economic freedom in different ways. The number of degrees
of freedom applies not only to movement or economic matters, but also
to many others. If we control more things, we can increase our
freedom. The usefulness of increasing the number of degrees of
freedom does not directly mean that more is more. Often one degree of
freedom is too little and four too much. The more degrees of freedom,
the more deeds, time and money are needed to exploit them. Our
systems are also becoming more complex as we increase the
degrees.<br /><br /><b>Couplings/Connections</b><br /><br />Couplingss mean the
interdependence of things. The world is not very dependent on one
person except perhaps the heads of state of the nuclear powers. We
can have both tight and loose couplings. Most often, the truth
is found somewhere between them. A tight coupling can be found
between the steering wheel and the front tires. A connection between
them is necessary. The front wheels can also move forward or backward
by putting the Reverse on and depressing the throttle or forward
without reversing. Tight couplings break more easily than loose
ones. As they break down, the whole system breaks down. As the size
of the system grows and the connections become tighter, it will
sooner or later lead to problems. At the same time, the probability
of the entire system breaking down increases. When the tight system
breaks down, it is more difficult to keep the damage small and it is
more difficult to limit it. Repairing some parts will result in
greater damage and worse collapse in the long run. Minor repairs can
dramatically speed up system crashes.<br /><br /><br />Examples of tight
links include large banks that are too big to fail because it would
lead to the collapse of the current debt-based system. An example of
a loose connection is a person whose expenses are much lower than
their income, because then the loss of income does not immediately
lead to disaster. The problem with loose connections is that we have
to compromise on efficiency because not all resources will be used.
One of the biggest problems in today’s world is too tight
connections. Especially through the internet, most things are
interconnected. Today, most investors can be connected, no matter
where they are in the world. Almost everyone can buy shares of the
same companies through their brokers.<br /><br /><b>Linearity</b><br /><br />A
linear system is one in which the input impulse affects the result
without feedback. The result does not affect the result of the next
impulse in any way. Such a system is very predictable, but by no
means particularly effective. A linear system of a fixed-rate bank
account because you have a fixed and predictable interest rate that
does not change. A fixed rate bank account is not very efficient
because it is independent of changes in interest rates during the
savings period.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In a nonlinear system, the input pulse
also affects the outcome of the next input pulse, changing the
system. The outcomes of such systems are difficult to predict. This
is because the dependencies of inputs and outputs are not easy to
assess as the systems change all the time. The world and its events
are mostly non-linear. This is the reason why less is more, the
principle works in most of the things we face.</p>TThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14735464136313288460noreply@blogger.com0