Doing the right thing & Prioritizing the work..

There are two rules to achieve great results in our life-

1) Doing the right thing is doing the thing which is necessary to get required results.

2) Prioritizing the work is giving the highest priority to the work which produces the most important results.

Both these rules sounds like pretty basic, trivial, anyone will understand, everyone knows, every human being must be following it.

Yet in our day today life I see most, including me ignoring these basic rules.

Mostly we are doing what we feel like doing instead of doing what is necessary. For example many of my colleagues have home loans on their head, they feel the pressure, the burden of the loan plus interest costs on their head, they hate paying the monthly EMI of the loan but still they feel I must have a car (in Indian metro City motorcycle is the best way to commute to the workplace because of traffic congestion, and car is only used for some once in a month family outings, using a car everyday is not at all practical even if you have extra money) and they get one (on the loan of course) though they know that the value of the car starts decreasing, the moment it leaves the car showroom. Just because they feel buying a car is the right thing to do.

I have seen even high ranking officers in various organizations doing the same, I have found them concentrating more on the results, trying the tweak the results instead of working on the system which is giving the results. 

Investment legend Warren Buffet have described this condition as fixing all your attention on the scoreboard, when you should be concentrating on your game, which is actually producing the score.

When it comes to prioritizing the work, people also don't give much deliberation and arrange the things in proper order. People just start doing the things which they like to do first or which appears in front of them first.

For example, as most of the people are not doing the right thing, they are not getting the required results, and as they are not getting the required results they are working still harder, resulting in working overtime, bringing office work to home, not having enough time for lunch break, so skipping lunch altogether. But we join a job to ensure enough food for us and our families, what if the job is consuming so much time that you are not even getting time to eat or for your family. Anyone in this situation needs to pause and think about it, whether you are doing job for you and your family or your existence is for the job?

And when an high level managerial person does it, his/her subordinates also have to follow for obvious reasons. Resulting in too much of an indirect damage to many families because of the bad decisions of a single person.

All this can be avoided with doing the right thing and prioritizing the work.

It is not only related to offices or organizations, it is also related to our daily lives, we have to take decisions like, what to purchase, when to marry, whom to marry, which job to join, when to change the job, purchasing a house, making investments, family get togethers etc.

If one is only chasing his/her career and ignoring the family aspect of life i.e. getting married and having children then there remains a void in the life of that person, even if he/she becomes really successful in the career.

Remember this blog is to strengthen the three pillars of life- health, wealth and happiness.

So we have to learn to do the right thing and prioritizing the work. So as to achieve the maximum output in minimum input. (Improving the efficiency of our life.)

Find out what you want and which system is producing those results, sort out the bottlenecks, don't be afraid of failures, change the system if you are not getting the required results, think which is the most important thing to be done, also what is to be avoided. 

That's your homework.

See you soon. Till then, have a nice day.

Sumit,

The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

Early retirement- is it really necessary??

Hello friends,

As you know, samanyabuddhi.blogspot.com is the place to use the common sense (which is not so common :-P) to grow health, wealth & happiness.

Health, wealth and happiness are the the pillars that support a meaningful life. These pillars depend on each other to support the human life. If one is weak, others can not support a healthy life.

Today I am thinking about the wealth side of our life.

Wealth can be defined as anything that is needed by someone..

For example, insect also have wealth, a spiderweb is needed for a spider to catch it's pray. Birds build nest for their little ones. Honeybees make and store honey in the honeycombs. All the things mentioned are needed by someone so can be considered as wealth. These examples also states that wealth can be created.

As far as human beings are concerned, there are many times of wealth a human being can create.

Mostly until our formal education is completed, we consume the wealth created by our parents (we consume our parent's time, food, money, space etc.). After completion of the formal education we start working for some organisation, may it be someone else's or we make our own by consuming more wealth to form the organisation (entrepreneurship), it it can be a self employment. Then we start using our human capital to creat wealth for the organisation. Now after more than 20 years of consuming wealth (only input), For the first time in life we start giving some output.

So our human capital is itself a wealth for the organisation we are working and also to ourselves as we are getting a part of wealth created by us back by the organisation in the form of money.

Money is not actually wealth, it is a medium to move wealth.

So with money we get power to purchase what we need, that is we purchase wealth, so money itself becomes synonymous with wealth.

Now coming back to the human capital, suppose we join a job at the age 20 and the retirement age is 60 (we can work more but considering the health, I think it is a reasonable estimate to retire at 60, which is also the official age of retirement for government servants in India). Well, you can choose whatever age you would like. But considering the above scenario, we have 40 years of working human capital at the time of joining an organisation. As the years pass the remaining human capital goes on decreasing, that is at the age of 40, only 20 years of human capital is remains. But in exchange of your working and wealth creation for the organisation, you are getting paid. So the cumulative (that is total till now) payment you received is goes on increasing and the human capital remaining goes on decreasing with time.

If we don't want to retire, and keep working, we can't do that because the human capital we possess is limited. We can't work till we die, because of health issues, aging etc.

So the inevitable fact is we have to retire at some time.

What if we spend all the money we receive in exchange of our human capital? Simple answer is, we will retire broke. Or we can't even retire, we have to search another job, even for low pay.

But mostly people invest some amount of their salary in some pension scheme, to get the pension after retirement. If your retirement fund is big enough then you can have a good retirement life.

Thus saving for our retirement is necessary or compulsory. Our retirement age is fixed by someone else, that is the organisation we are employed in. And we have accepted it and making planning for building retirement corpus before the retirement date.

This retirement is an unavoidable phenomenon. For most, the retirement date is fixed by someone else.

So why not choose our own retirement date and plan for it? We already know how to make provisions for life after retirement..

Think about it for yourself..

See you later.. till then have a nice day..

Sumit,

The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

Who am I talking with??

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to my blog samanyabuddhi.blogspot.com where we try to simplify our life with common sense.

So I was just thinking on thinking, as I see most people are afraid of quiet time for thinking. They constantly want some kind of indulgence, like talking with someone, listening songs, watching TV, eating (yes many people eat just for time pass) and if they don't get something like this then they become restless until they find something.

But I like quiet time, I like thinking a lot. Whenever I get time, my mind starts thinking on various subjects. Encient Hindu scriptures have told the importance of mediation.

So I was just thinking on thinking, how do we think?

Though we don't like thinking, everyone thinks without knowing he or she is thinking. So everyone has experienced what we do which is called thinking is actually we talk in our head. Generally in our mother-tounge.

The question arises is WHO I AM TALKING WITH? Because there is no one talking back.

This, the entity we are talking with, the observer to our talk is actually our subconscious mind. When we think, we are actually feeding our subconscious mind. It is where our true personality lies, it is where most of our decisions are made, it is where 80% of our brain's processing power lies, it is what keeps us alive, it is what controls our bodily functions like heart beats, breathing, it is where our instincts lies, it is where our emotions generate, it is where most of our memories lies including associated sensory perceptions, it is where our self image lies, it is always on, even in sleep, the dreams we see while sleeping are the glimpses of what goes on in our subconscious mind.

Don't you think this silent observer to our thought is so amazing!! So powerful !! It can make wonders happen !!

What if we can use it's amazing power??

Well it is not that inaccessible to us. This silent observer is always in ON state, even while sleeping, so whatever happens around us, whatever we think, how we react to things, all is observed by this observer, it generates emotions depending on what it has observed in the past. It tries to correlate our past with the present. That is why if we burnt our fingers by touching a pan on a stove, we will always be vigilant about a pan or anything on a stove even if the stove is OFF. It is where our instincts generates.

We can't control what the observer has observed in the past but we surely control what the observer observes in the present. Always remember that the observer is watching your every conscious thought, every sensory stimulus, every emotional stimulus, every conversation etc. So do feed in advantageous material to the observer. To feed it we must first think it, feel it. Though first it feels a little different (only different, not hard). But over times the good observations of the observer starts bearing fruits and by the time you also develop the habit of feeding good material to the observer. The good things keep on compounding, good things leads to good things, it becomes a positive feedback loop.

The advantages-

I have trained myself in thinking over problems hard and then when time is over I shut it off, for example, if I encounter a problem in the office, I think over it hard, how to solve the problem? How can I prevent it from arising again? Is there any opportunity for improvement? If I don't get any answer in office hours then I shut it off as soon as I leave the office. Next time when I visit the office again I usually find a solution is already ready in my brain even if I have consciously shut down the thoughts related to the problem. It is where after I consciously stopped dwelling over the problem, the observer took over it without my conscious knowledge, and solved the problem for me.(remember it has 80% of the brain's processing power at it's disposal).

This observer is the subconscious mind can easily solve any problem rather it needs a problem or a task to properly function. That's why the saying-

EMPTY MIND IS DEVIL'S HOME.

So, in a sense I gave you a superpower.

Do remember Peter Parker's (Spiderman's) Uncle Ben have said-

WITH GREAT POWERS, COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY.

So do use your superpower responsibly..;-)

See you again,

Till then have a great time..

Sumit,

The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

Life hack - Ego problem

The definition of EGO is the drive to maintain and enhance favourable views of one-self.

Almost everyone has some sort of ego. Ego is on e of the characteristics of the human being. Ego is good for the construction of our personality and living in the society. As a person tries to maintain and enhance favourable views of one-self his/her bond with other members of the society becomes strong.

Trust is the main component that binds the society together. Human being has long ago understood the benefits of living in the society. So to maintain the trust human beings have developed the ego. Ego doesn't let a human being deviate from his behaviour. The problem starts when his behaviour is not good for him or someone else or in short against the total good.

Let me give you my own example of how I got in to trouble because of my ego, got out of the trouble and used my ego as an advantage. (Remember my tagline?? – The power is when- you use ODDS to get EVEN.)

So here is my story- I started investing in share market since I was in college. I was getting good returns. So I decided to not join a job and continue investing full-time. After about 1 year my parents were thinking as I am investing in share market full time, I must be earning a lot. So they started to ask me to bear more and more part of household expenses.

But my earnings were just enough to bear the expenses and there was nothing left to reinvest. In investing you need more money to get more income. (I was getting respectable returns over my investment at that time in percentage terms.) I got frustrated. One day a good friend of mine asked me what's the problem? I told her the above story. She casually said, "Why don't you join a job then? You are an engineer and you would definitely get the same amount of salary as much as your expenses. No need to draw money from your investments and you can grow your investments side by side. And by the way, soon or later you have to marry, so you can't escape the household expenses."

I was dumbstruck. I thought why I didn't thought about it? (I am one of those 99% people who think they have above average common sense.. :P ) Her logic was impeccable. On thinking I found out that, I was subconsciously thinking that people will perceive my joining a job as failure of my share market investing. It was my ego, which was preventing me from doing a logical thing. It was just to prevent misunderstanding of the people. But in the long run this ego is going to do more harm than good.

So I refocused the attention of my ego from the road, to the destination. I thought it is not important which road you are travelling as long as the road is ethical, but the destination is important. There are some roads which we think are going to the destination but we later on come to know that the road takes us to somewhere else, or the road is blocked, then it is the time to change the road. No need to attach your ego to the road, but attach it to the destination you want to reach.

This also creates the same favourable views in the society we live. As I changed my road at the right time I am now at a much more comfortable financial position. My goal of early retirement is in my sight.

This solution of shifting the ego from road to destination is useful in every aspect where ego is involved, for example if you want to improve the relations with someone then don't stick your ego to I'm not going to say I am sorry to him/her, instead think- I am going to do whatever it takes to improve relations with that person. Changing a road is not as bad as we think it is. Also don't make early opinions about those who change their roads.

Your comments on this subject are welcome.

You can use your common sense to enhance your experience of life. Spreading this awareness is the goal of samanyabuddhi.blogspot.com .

See you later.. Until then have a great time...

Sumit,

The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

Story of my pimples.. :P

Hello friends, it's been a long time I am writing a blog post for samanyabuddhi.blogspot.com . Many might have thought that I have lost the interest and there would be no more posts. But it is not the case. I write the posts on my smartphone. My last phone was 'Microsoft Lumia 540'. It has Windows operating system. As everyone knows Microsoft stopped developing apps for Windows based smartphone. So the blogger app on that phone slowly slowly stopped working. I have also lost some posts while creating/posting. And finally on one day, it stopped working totally. So I got discouraged because the phone was a really great gadget. Though the blogger was not working, the Windows operating system was very user friendly to use. The quality of the hardware and software matching was simply exquisite.

But then my banking and share trading apps were also got discontinued. Then I thought it's time to get a new phone. So I purchased this 'Panasonic Eluga Ray 700' with latest Android operating system. And boy it is a great value for money phone, though I still miss the user-friendlyness of the Windows operating system. But to cut long story short, I AM BACK.

The persuit of health, wealth and happiness will never stop and the use of 'samanyabuddhi' (common sense) is the key.

So let's start with the topic.

Everyone hates pimples right?? Everyone struggles to get rid of them or was once doing everything at their disposal to get rid of them. But what if I tell you this is not a post to get rid of pimples but to bring them back..

If still interested, read on.

I got my first pimple when I was 14. I still remember the development of odd blister on my left cheek. Then after a week came another one and another one and then there was an onslough of pimples. I tried every medicine that was advertised on the media, a couple of doctors too.(My friends were doing the same thing.) But nothing worked beyond few days. Then many many years later, at the age of 25 I realised, I am not having pimples anymore. I was very happy. And with the passing time, I forgot the incident.

Now fast forward by 6 years, I was almost 32 and while undergoing yearly health check-up I observed a pattern that every year my 'Blood Pressure' and 'Pulse Rate' are rising. In my youth days, that is when I was below 25 years old, I used to exercise a lot, I had an unstoppable stamina, we used to trek all day without food, little water and very little sleep/rest, sometimes even 2 days straight. My Blood pressure was below normal at that time(70 & 105), my pulse rate used to be 45-50 in normal condition. I used to donate blood every 3 months sometimes even before 3 months. So, though the difference was minute on yearly basis and below what the doctor would call hypertension, the difference was drastic when compared with youth days.

I recognized, the aging process is getting hold of my body.

Remember the article about aging??

Ageing and Anti-Ageing - 2 of the most popular words in cosmetics advertising.

If not then read following articles in conjunction with this post, to understand this post better.

No. 1 Misconception about great health

So I thought I must do something otherwise soon I shall be a victim of hypertension and will have to start taking blood pressure reducing tablets all the rest of my life. This thought was the motivator. I hate visiting doctors very much, and taking medicine is the worst option for me. Because many times I see that medicine is more harmful than the disease itself in the long run. (I am talking about allopathic medicine. And this is my personal opinion. It may be wrong.)

Well to improve productivity I generally think about solutions which solve more than one problem simultaneously.

So I kept thinking about it for a 3-4 days and came to conclusion that if I purchase a bicycle and use it to commute to office it will give following benefits-

1) Exercise-

My office was 2km away from my company quarters at that time. I used to come back for lunch in the afternoon. So total 8km commuting in a day. And further I was planning to shift my dwelling to a distant place 35km away for my son's education.

I thought if I start cycling now I may build up stamina to cover that 70km to and fro distance in one day while commuting, once per week.

Cycling is a great exercise, if you pedal with all your strength all the while and go as fast as you could, it becomes both cardio+strength exercise.

2) Time saving-

I do not have to spend separate time for commuting and exercise. So though one may think that I shall need more time to commute on bicycle than the motorbike. He is right but when you add the time for exercise it is a different story.

3) Money saving-

I don't need to fill the fuel tank of my motorbike. Plus there are periodical servicing to be done, plus capital cost of the motorbike, plus the depreciation in the price of the motorcycle due to build up of milage.

4) No pollution-

It is almost non polluting. No sound, no tail pipe emission.

Now to the real experience-

So I quickly surveyed various online websites for types and prices, visited a nearest dealer and bought a Dirt Terrain Bike (DTB) of Hero Cycles with shock absorbers at both ends and 6x3 gear combination. I had one of the same type in the college days. DTB is the practical option on Indian roads.

That day I didn't get chance to ride but the next day I went to office twice as per my routine with excitement. I rode it like I was doing when I was in college, pedaling with all the strength. That day was good. But when I woke up the next morning my thighs were in pain. I couldn't even imagine walking for a while, forget about riding the bicycle.

For two days I was in pain. Then I decided to take it easy first. So I took rest for the 3rd day too. In 4th day I went to office in lower gears, at slow pace for one trip, for the second trip I used my motorbike.

Next day was fine. So again repeated the procedure so as to sustain the effort. In the next week did the same, that is going at slower pace in lower gears, total 4 km per day. On Saturday I tried riding a little hard because Sunday was rest day. But again thigh muscles were damaged too much and I have to take Monday, Tuesday off for cycling. Again I started with slow pace on Wednesday for once a day.

To cut long story short, I kept on pushing and there were these little improvements in my strength but there was a lot of pain. I have seen a lot of people (not personally, some are athletes, actors we see on TV). And I just thought if they can do it, so can I.

After 6 months the rate of progress started improving and finally after around 7 months I was riding my bicycle with all my strength, with maximum possible speed. And I still had more juice to do other things.

And hey, in the 7th month, pimples came back again.

Now after about 1 year I live in my new home and ride to office 35km away once in a week. My record timing is 35km in one and half hour straight, including halts for drinking water. Those 35km have 13 pair of slopes(downhill + uphill). Some are as short as 300m and the longest one is 2.5km. That 2.5km (only the uphill side) one is the hardest to climb.

Note- I was also doing exercises for the rest of my body in the same period.

Now let's compare the before and after condition-

Before starting the bicycle riding-

1) I used to exercise a little like pushups, pullups, situps, back-situps, squats etc. But still my health was deteriorating.

2) My food intake was less than half of what it used to be when I was below 25.

3) My pulse rate was 90.

4) Though my stamina was better than my colleagues, it was much less than what it used to be.

Truly speaking, there were just the rising pulse rate and blood pressure was the motivator. I didn't see any other benefits at the start but others came to me as bonus.

Current health condition-

1) I do triple the exercises than what I previously thought the upper limit of my body.

2) My food intake is now restored to it's maximum level.

3) Presently my pulse rate is 55. Blood pressure is not measured yet.

4) I have almost never ending stamina.

5) Pimples are back, my skin is oily again, I do not need to apply body lotion in winter. :-P

6) My body is in better shape now.

7) My damaged muscles heal up much faster now.

8) Much improved lovemaking.

9) Psychologically I am again having the feeling of invincibility.(remember your childhood days??)

I think the exercise caused by bicycle riding has caused increase in testosterone (male sex hormone) and growth hormone production in my body which is making me younger again.

But it needed 6 months of constant efforts and enduring pain to kickstart the production of testosterone and growth hormone.

There are some bad side effects too-

(Apart from oily skin & pimples)

1) Increased aggressiveness.

2) Increased mood swings.

In short child like emotional condition.

3) My love for machines has exploded(childhood days are back).

4) My mind has became sharper (more logical).

5) Tendency towards rash driving on road has increased. (Remember the bratty kids on road??)

These psychological side effects (mood swings and aggressiveness) are bad for my investments as it may result in to emotional decisions. Also in my workplace, I am working with adults, so I can't act childish.

The countermeasures-

1) Knowledge of your psychological condition is itself a cure. 50% problem is solved because of the knowledge only.

2) Most of the remaining 50% is solved by reminding yourself to practice patience all the while.

3) Remind yourself not to be too much happy or too much sad.

4) Implement 'Take it easy policy'.

Finally is it worth the trouble??

Of course.. I can't explain the feeling exactly. You have to experience yourself. It is also necessary to maintain health. And health is one of the pillars without which one cannot enjoy the life.

One more thing is that, I was 32 when I started it, if you are younger you may need less than 6 months to get on track or if you are older you may need to be more persistent but I can assure one thing, the prise of good health in waiting for you.

A wise man has said,

NO PAIN, NO GAIN.

Just keep the pain bearable. This is the case of DELAYED GRATIFICATION.

One more thing I would like to say is- it is not the end, it(exercise) is the way of life.

That's it for now. See you again.

Have a healthy, wealthy and happy life.

Sumit,

The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

Solar water heater

This is to spread useful information-
2 months back we have installed this solar water heater on our terrace. It has concentric glass tubes with coating to absorb the heat. The heat absorption efficiency is so much that it gives enough hot water (45 to 50C) for a family of 6 on full rainy day, at any time of the day(almost negligible heat loss overnight) and boiling hot water on sunny days. Capacity is 250ltr, price ₹30k including plumbing. 10 years back the technology was not so efficient, it only gave warm water on perfectly sunny day and one has to install pipes and then insulate it, but now there are semi flexible hot water pipes, which are very easy to install (the skinny black pipe, coming out in the above picture).
So anyone who has the capacity to install it, can install and get hot water anytime.

Sumit
The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

10 ways to make better decisions- part 3

This blog is in continuation with-

1) 10 ways to make better decisions

2) 10 ways to make better decisions - Caution- DANGER AHEAD

Do read these blogs too.

There are 2 types of decisions which we take-

1) The right decisions.

2) The wrong decisions.

1) THE RIGHT DECISIONS:-

Generally we take numerous right decisions everyday. Like when to wake up, attending the natures call, taking bath, making/having breakfast, reaching the workplace on time. Taking the decisions at workplace, prioritising the work at workplace, eating the lunch. Shopping for groceries, which vegetables to buy, paying the bills, driving a car or a bike. Doing routine chores etc. We make these decisions right almost every time without fail.

2) THE WRONG DECISIONS:-

Many times we make wrong decisions like making bad investments, making bad purchases, going in to bad debit(bad debit is the debit where you are losing money, and good debit where you are earning money), inculcating bad habits in to the children, Various addictions, purchasing a property at wrong place or time or price etc.

Do you recognise any similarities and dissimilarities?

Similarities are such things happens to most people, both kind of decisions are taken by the same individual.

But the differences are big. The right decisions were taken for small things, and decisions were consistently right. While the decisions which went wrong, were taken with the big things, they made huge impact, and they were consistently wrong.

No one wants to make wrong decisions then why people still make wrong decisions??

Well, there are many reasons. The common reasons are-

1) Feedback -

While making small decisions, the feedback is immediate. For example, we feel thirsty, we decide to drink water, drink water, and immediately we feel good. Or if we decide to drink water later, we will feel exhausted and more thirsty because of which we will change our decision to drink water right now, drink and feel satisfaction. Or while driving a car we can see where the car is going and make the adjustments to steering wheel so that it goes towards where we wanted it to go. Or we observe the speed of the car and make necessary adjustments to the gears, breaks and gas pedal so as to maintain the proper speed.

But while making big decisions until we get the feedback of bad decisions, the damage is usually already done. For example if we invest our money in the latest market's favourite stock which is trading at expensive valuations usually when we get the feedback about the worthlessness of the stock, the stock price would have already plummeted and we have no choice but to book loss. Other common example is buying an expensive gas guzzling SUV to show off our status, to realise later that the expensive purchase had many hidden costs and depreciation of value which actually brings our status down.

WE GENERALLY FEEL INSTANT GRATIFICATION FROM PURCHASING OF LIABILITIES.

2) Psychological biases-

To function efficiently our brain uses some cognitive shortcuts. These shortcuts are developed through thousands of years of evolution. These shortcuts enabled human race survive until now.

For example CONSISTENCY BIAS- due to which we try to be consistent with our previous thoughts or actions. Like if I say to someone that Toyota Prius is a good car then afterwards I try to tell things about Toyota Prius which are consistent with Toyota Prius being a good car. I won't go against my own statement of Toyota Prius being a good car, even if I found some evidence that the car is not that practical for someone.

Or if I say to a friend that I am an adventurous person and afterwards he invites me on an adventure expedition then it will be very hard for me to say NO. Because by saying NO, I will feel that I am going against my statement that I am an adventurous person. And I will also feel that I am breaking the trust of my friend, he may not believe me next time.

In ancient days such trust among the group members was necessary to stay in the group. Otherwise one may get expelled from the group which will result in loss of the protection from predators by being in the group, loss of efficiency, loss of guidance by experienced members of the group, loss of mating opportunity in the group etc. Which will result in very hard and dangerous life with drastically reduced lifespan.

Biases are like error of our cognitive apparatus, just like a magnifying lenses which always shows the picture bigger than is actual by a definite proportion.

We have many such biases built in to our thinking process which affects our decision making process to a great degree.

We will study more such biases one by one.

Conclusion:-

Right now just digest what you just read about decision making, the very important thing while decision making is the feedback. Feedback helps us correcting or decisions. If you want to take decisions when instant feedback is not available, develop a good logical strategy to move towards goal, decide checkpoints before starting and make sure you are going as per the plan. A good strategy will yield the results you want over time.

Know the limitations of your decision making process.

That's it for now. Hope the wisdom I am gaining is helping you at least as much as it is helping me.

The motive behind this blog is to share my experience in the journey towards health, wealth and happiness by using COMMON SENSE (SAMANYA BUDDHI) so that you get a more familiar with the terrain of the journey, you don't have to make the mistakes which I have done.

But still there are many more mistakes to be made and much more to be learned.

So see you soon..

Sumit
The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.

10 ways to make better decisions - Caution- DANGER AHEAD

Note- This part is in continuation with- 10 ways to make better decisions.

In the childhood days there was a jungle nearby our place. (We used to live 5-6km away from the Pune city. But now, after around 22 yrs after that incidence, our house is surrounded by concrete jungle.) Me and my friends used to go for hiking there.

In one late evening we were returning from a hiking expedition. It was dark, we were going downhill and we were in hurry to reach home. We all were afraid of parents scolding us for being late. So we were running fast through the bushes without much visibility, and then I jumped over a rock and landed in a thorny bush. My foot was protected by the shoes but my calf was all exposed. I was in so much speed and on the slope that I took 4-5 steps before coming to a halt.

When I stopped, I noticed my right calf was all bruised because of the thorns and there were three thorns still in my flesh. Later I dug out 2 thorns with needle but the third one was buried deep in to my calf. I didn't had heart and expertise to dig that much. So I decided to take doctors help. My mother took me to a nearby doctor. The doctor first gave me Anti-tetanus vaccine and some painkillers. Tried to squeeze the thorn out, while I was crying because of pain and trying to convince her that I have tried it and you have to operate it out.

But instead of listening to me she said, "This kid has too much imagination. I will give him some painkillers and if there is anything inside then there will be development of puss in the wound and the thorn will automatically come out." She also told us to cover the wound with corn cap.

After two weeks, despite the corn cap, the wound healed. The doctor declared her victory to my mother, "See,I told you, this kid has all in his imagination, this kid is obsessed for getting operated, the healed wound is the proof that nothing is inside, our body doesn't accept foreign objects." (It was despite one can feel something deep inside if pressed a finger at the spot of the healed wound.)

But I knew from the pain and sensation that there is a thorn of at least 2cm length in my calf.

Then after a year of enduring the pain there come a competitor doctor and the first doctor closed her clinic. So again I convinced my parents to visit her and see if she can take the thorn out.

As we visited her clinic the new doctor immediately said, "We need to operate it out, and what you people were doing this long?"  And after 3 days she operated the thorn out. And to our amazement the thorn was a little more than 3cm in length(1cm longer than my assessment).

My parents were speechless. And I was finally relieved from the pain.

There were mistakes done by everyone except the second doctor.

1) I was running faster than the safe speed in those conditions.

2) The first doctor diagnosed the situation totally wrong.

3) She again did a mistake of associating the healed wound as the proof of absence of the thorn.

4) My parents who believed the doctor more than me.

5) I didn't fought fiercely to get the thorn out.

I think this is a serious matter and we should analyse it so as to avoid such mistakes again.

Let's start with the first mistake-

Mistake No.1

I was running faster than the safe speed in those conditions.

That is why I landed in the trouble in the first place. But why I was doing the risky thing? I was doing it because everyone else was doing it, someone of our group started running, second followed, third saw 2 boys of our group running so he too joined them, 4th saw 3 boys running so he too followed, and this went on till we all were running. None asked if it was that necessary to run. No one did any compulsion on any one but still everyone complied.

This happens because of the default programming of our brain which is the result of thousands of years of evolution. Many animals also had the same default programming.

Our brain always try to save it's processing capacity by following shortcuts. These shortcuts used to make our life a lot simpler. For example if someone from a group saw a predator he would start running, otherwise there was no other reason for running. Then the most logical thing to do for everyone else is to run in the same direction first and think about it later. Because if one sees a running group mate and he starts thinking about why is he running? Starts looking for the cause then it would have been too late for him and he would become an easy meal for the predator. So obviously the animals without the default shortcut of running when one sees other running group mate fell pray to the predators first, thereby becoming obsolete. The one following the other running group mate thinks that the other knows some important thing which can make difference of life and death.

Then there is another thing that we feel safe in a group instead of living alone. Because it is the logical thing in the wilderness. In a group, different tasks can be divided to different members, so the group operates more efficiently than a lone organism. The group of organisms can even defend some deadly predators, sometimes even injuring the predator. So the predators are also a little afraid of groups of pray. Therefore the lone organisms first become pray to the predators.

So I didn't wanted to be left behind the group. That is one more reason I was running with everyone else.

And none consciously knew who started running first and what was his motive behind running. Even I don't remember if it was me or someone else who started running first.

In psychological terms this default behaviour of copying the behaviour of other group members to which we belong is called "SOCIAL PROOF BIAS".

Mistake No. 2

The first doctor diagnosing the situation totally wrong.

I don't really know why she misdiagnosed the situation. She was a surgeon, so she could have did some tests like X-ray or something to determine if there is really a foreign body inside my calf and then operated it out. But may be because of some preoccupation she wanted to dismiss my case as early as possible. Or may be she has a bias that kids have imaginary medical problems. Or may be she was taking me as a threat to her profession that a kid is telling her to operate, which she might have thought is her right to take that decision. Or it was unbearable for her that a kid is guiding her.

The answer can never be known.

Mistake No. 3

She associated the healed wound as the proof of absence of the thorn.

When she diagnosed that the healed wound is the proof that there is no foreign body inside, one can easily feel the thorn inside by pressing a finger at the place of the healed wound. She also felt it.

But still she wanted to be consistent with her earlier diagnosis so she persisted that there is nothing and everything is imaginary.

In psychological terms this default behaviour of being consistent with part behaviour is called "CONSISTENCY BIAS".

The simple explanation behind this CONSISTENCY BIAS is people don't trust others who are not consistent with the past decisions or opinions. But it is always better to change or modify our decisions when they are proven wrong.

Mistake No. 4

My parents who believed the doctor more than me.

When this happened I was 13-14 yrs. old and the doctor obviously had various degrees from medical colleges hanging on the clinics wall, plus a well equipped clinic representing professionalism plus she had a confident voice. She displayed every trait of a professional doctor. That is why my parents did the mistake of taking her word as a final word.

In psychology this default behaviour we generally follow is called "AUTHORITY BIAS". People tend to believe what an authoritative person says. People assume that the other person have more knowledge than themselves. And people look for the traits for the authority, not exactly the real authoritative person. This bias is hugely exploited by advertising professionals. Do you remember watching the TV commercial in which an actor in doctors suit and stethoscope sometimes accompanied by an actress in the nurse's get up recommending some product? Though we consciously know that they are actors and not the actual doctors but unknown to us our subconscious assumes they are doctors because of the visible traits we associate with doctors and it later prompts us to buy that product at the time of shopping. This association tendency is called "ASSOCIATION BIAS" in psychology.

So do not always trust what you see. Look beyond the visual clues. Use your common sense.

Mistake No. 5

I didn't fought fiercely to get the thorn out.

I was feeling very overpowered by the doctor and my parents. And while proving them that there is a thorn inside, I would have to bear the pain of they trying to feel it by pressing, the pain then used to ease after 4-5 days of such proving rounds with no positive outcome. So I decided to wait for some opportunity to come by. (And finally after one year of enduring pain the opportunity came as another doctor in our neighbourhood.) What a relief it was...!!!

I told you my story so that you can avoid such mistakes due to various BIASES and take the right decisions. And do remember that professionals also have BIASES so be vigilant to spot the wrong decisions taken by professionals. Use some common sense (samanya buddhi). When you see any proof that the decision is wrong or the decision is based on the wrong assumptions do change the decision, do not fall victim to the CONSISTENCY BIAS.

That's it for now.

See you again.. Have a nice day...

Sumit
The POWER is when,
You use ODDS,
To get EVEN.