Everyday Excellence

Bryant July 1st, 2009

Alzheimer’s is a particularly nasty disease. It robs you of your memories – arguably your most valuable accumulation in life. Anyone who has seen the movie the Notebook or even worse had a relative befall it can attest to the sadness it brings. My own grandmother had Alzheimer’s and it was tragic seeing her slip away right before our eyes.

So I’m always interested in any research that shows promise at reducing the Alzheimer’s risk. Recently, I started reading Brain Rules by John Medina. In his book, Medina attempts to condense the latest brain research into a set of rules for improving your life.

After looking across the vast swath of existing research, his number 1 rule is Exercise Boosts Brain Power:

Is there one factor that predicts how well you will age? It was never an easy question for researchers to answer. They found many variables, from nature to nurture, that contributed to someone’s ability to age gracefully. That’s why the scientific community met with both applause and suspicion a group of researchers who uncovered a powerful environmental influence….one of the greatest predictors of successful aging was the presence or absence of a sedentary lifestyle (emphasis added).

And by “aging well”, he goes on to describe what exactly that means. Not only were the elderly that exercised more mentally alert than their couch potato brethren, but they out-performed them on nearly every mental test as well. In regard to Alzheimer’s they noticed the largest effect:

[T]he results are clear. Your lifetime risk for general dementia is literally cut in half if you participate in leisure-time physical activity. Aerobic exercise seems to be the key. With Alzheimer’s, the effect is even greater: Such exercise lowers your odds of getting the disease by more than 60 percent (emphasis added).

Wow! I’d always known that exercising had benefits for the body, but who knew that it could improve the mind as well? According to studies explained in the book, the benefit appears to come from increased blood flow to the brain. Whatever the reasons it is ample evidence to make exercise a priority. With that in mind, here are my favorite tips on how to incorporate exercise into your routine:

• Start Small: Working out can seem overwhelming especially if you have not done it in a while. By starting small, you can ease into it and eliminate the most common excuses like lack of time. The research even shows that adding just two 20 minute cardio workouts a week provides benefits
• Create a schedule: When I was training for my marathon, the most useful technique for me to stay on track was to create a schedule and then commit myself to it. That way I knew every Sunday would be my long run and I could plan for it.
• 30-Day Trial: Commit to doing it for 30 days. By timeboxing it, the task becomes more manageable and easier to commit to.
• Focus on Benefits: Like much else, exercise is what you make of it. You can either focus on the pain or think about how much better you’ll look and feel afterwards.

And by making it a habit now, your brain will thank you later

Exercise is done against one’s wishes and maintained only because the alternative is worse.

-George Sheehan (physician, author and running enthusiast)

Tags: Excercise

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Bryant June 23rd, 2009

Wouldn’t it be a great to have an infinite number of choices for each product you’d like to buy? For example, when you’re buying a car, wouldn’t it be nice if you could choose between twenty different ones that all fit your criteria?

The Problem

Ironically more and more research is beginning to show that giving people too many options causes them to be more stressed than if you give them just one or two. In fact, Barry Schwartz has written a whole book around this concept called The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less:

Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don’t seem to be benefiting from it psychologically.
—quoted from Ch.5, "The Paradox of Choice", 2004

Consider the super-market. When I go to Dominick’s I get to choose from 10 different types of sugar. They’re all different brands, different sizes and different prices. To even determine which is the best value I have break out a calculator. I actually prefer Aldi’s where I have less choice because it just makes for much faster shopping trips!

The reason that I feel the need to compare every option is due to my personality. You see, dear reader, I’m a maximizer…

Two Types of People

According to Schwartz, the problem really boils down to the fact that there are two types of people in the world:

• Maximizers: Maximizers are the people that need to consider every possible choice before making the final decision. At the supermarket, they are the ones breaking out the calculators and trying to translate a pound to an ounce. It’s getting harder and harder to be a maximizer as more and more options for a given product exist. The web is making this even worse because there are websites devoted to nothing but hundreds of different types of beach towels. It’s easy to provide infinite choices within a niche when you aren’t required to keep inventory. Or consider digital cameras. You could spend a lifetime considering all the options. In fact, there are sites that specialize in just that.
• Satisficers:Satisficers aim for adequacy rather than trying to find perfection or the optimal solution. They are happy with something that is “good enough” and don’t feel the need to compare every option. As bad as this sounds (to a true maximizer like me), you will actually be happier and more efficient in your life if you are a satisficer rather than a maximizer.

These terms were originally coined by a researcher named Herbert Simon. He discovered was that humans lack the cognitive ability to compare every possible option and and outcome. We don’t have the true precision of mind that is necessary and our memories are flawed. According to Simon, we should take this into account when trying to make decisions and not try to come up with the “perfect” answer.

The Solution

So what is the solution if you are a born Maximizer and you just can’t accept second-best? Here are some techniques to make those of us maximizers a bit more like our satisficer brethren:

• Consider the Cost: There is an opportunity cost to all of that time that maximizers spend comparing options. If you take two days to look at all the digital cameras out there and in the end save $5, have you really made good use of your time? When I think about the cost of my time that often helps me to make quicker decisions and reduce my tendency to try and compare all the options.
• Timeboxing: Timeboxing is a technique that originated in the software development world, but has been picked up by the productivity folks as an effective way to control your time. With timeboxing, you set a specific amount of time that you will spend doing an activity. For example, if you wanted to buy a digital camera, you might give yourself 2 hours to research after which time you will make a decision regardless of whether you’ve looked at every possible option or not. This helps to curb perfectionism and make a maximizer more like a satisficer.
• Voluntary Simplicity: Many of the choices that we struggle with in life are centered around buying new consumer products (e.g. - What digital camera, cell phone, car etc do I need to get next?). Voluntary simplicity is a lifestyle choice that checks out of that rat-race by de-emphasizing the accumulation of stuff and instead focusing on spirituality, health and quality time with family. There are lots of excellent books and blogs that can give you tips for living a simpler life.

At the end of the day, it’s much like the rule we’re often told about raising children. Kids will be happier if they are given boundaries rather than being able to choose whatever they want. Sounds like it’s the same with adults as well.

"Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."

-Henry Ford

Tags: Choice

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Bryant June 15th, 2009

I tried twitter a while back and promptly deemed it to be a waste of time. It just felt like I didn’t need to be that connected. In fact, isn’t a good practice to limit your information streams? But I’ve recently realized that there is value in twitter if used properly…

After reading The Twitter Book over the weekend, I’ve gleaned what I consider the correct way to use twitter so that it becomes a valuable new information stream rather than a mundane waste of time.

I’ve condensed these ideas into three rules:

1. Follow Interesting People: This is the most important. You should follow people who you can learn from. When I originally looked at twitter a while back, I had no idea who to follow so I just picked a handful of my friends who happened to be on twitter. I’d check it every so often, and it was not too exciting. I wasn’t really learning anything new except for some trivial updates. To really enjoy twitter you need to pick a niche that you are interested in, and then find the twitter thought-leaders for that niche. For example, if you like reading sci-fi/fantasy Neil Gaiman is on twitter, and is a great person to follow. If you don’t know who to follow there are a number of sites to help you like wefollow and whoshouldIfollow. You will organically discover who to follow by seeing who others most often follow. Finally, every Friday on twitter there is a tradition of sending out recommendations of who to follow so keep an eye out for #FollowFriday.
2. Don’t Use the Website: To really experience Twitter, you should download a twitter desktop application like tweetdeck. It’s free and allows you to easily send links and pictures through twitter as well as breaking those you follow into groups. For example, I have all my technology folks in one section and the remaining people grouped in another. Also, I use twitterfon on my iphone which again is much better than going directly to the twitter website. It just makes for a more enjoyable experience when you have the right tools.
3. Join the Conversation: Ever wanted to have a conversation with the author of a book you just read? Well here’s your chance, but the key point is to add value not just noise. One of the unique aspects of twitter is that it is so low friction, it’s easier to communicate than even sending an email. You can post a comment about a book and an hour later the author may have a personal response (as happened to me) because it’s so easy to write a 140 character response. Because it is low friction, you should twitter regularly (daily) but not too often (hourly). If you twitter too much it tends to overwhelm people who are following you. If you’re not sure what to tweet, there are a number of ways to start: Retweet something interesting that you’ve seen, ask questions and repost the best answers, put an entertaining or informative spin on something that happened to you that day.

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall and follow hear other people’s conversation or would you like to find out what your favorite athletes do in their down time? Twitter is your opportunity to do just that.

And if you’re really bored, you can even follow me

Twitter isn’t so much a broadcast medium as it is a discussion channel. Indeed, the secret of social media is that it’s not about you…It’s about how you can add value to the communities that happen to include you. If you want to make a positive impact, forget about what you can get out of social media and start thinking about what you can contribute. Funnily enough, the more value you create for the community, the more value it will create for you.

-The Twitter Book by O’Reilly and Milstein

Tags: Twitter

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Bryant June 13th, 2009

There’s a fascinating new study from Carnegie Mellon which shows that people prefer confidence over expertise:

The research, by Don Moore of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shows that we prefer advice from a confident source, even to the point that we are willing to forgive a poor track record. Moore argues that in competitive situations, this can drive those offering advice to increasingly exaggerate how sure they are. And it spells bad news for scientists who try to be honest about gaps in their knowledge

It’s yet another example, why it is important to have and display self-confidence. Even if you don’t know what you’re talking about, people will trust you more if you are sure that you’re correct.

I’ve seen often seen this effect in business situations where a self-confident hard-driving executive can change the direction of a project just because they are absolutely sure they know the right way to do things. Even if there are other team members who have the real expertise on the project, they get overruled and steamrolled by the confident folks.

There is a classic phrase that applies here which states that leadership is 20% given and 80% taken. In other words, you have to have the necessary confidence to really take on the leadership role. Let me frame this another way, could you imagine going to see a surgeon who is not confident in his abilities? Ironically, most people would probably choose a highly confident surgeon over one who is an expert but cites all the things that could go wrong.

The original article cites another realistic example of a reluctant expert:

With complex but politicized subjects such as global warming, for example, scientific experts who stress uncertainties lose out to activists or lobbyists with a more emphatic message.

So it isn’t the people who are correct that win the hearts of the public, it’s the people who have the most confident message. That’s slightly scary, but it’s true. You don’t connect with people from the head – you connect from the heart.

That was a large part of the takeaway message from the excellent book Made To Stick. They emphasized that to connect with people, you can’t cite statistics, instead you need to focus on human stories. I’m reminded of the debates between Bush and Gore where Gore cited so many statistics that he lost the heart of the viewer while Bush’s next-door neighbor confidence won the day.

The article closes by stating how important this concept is for people who sell their advice or consulting services. People will more likely buy from you if you are confident. But what if you’re not confident enough? Are there ways to improve your confidence? Here are some excellent techniques to improve confidence:

• Act As-If: Think about what a confident person would do in the same situation? How would they feel and what would they say? Just thinking about these questions forces you to step into a more confident state. It’s like how thinking about vacations or your kids makes you happy. My wife used this technique to great success when skydiving.
• You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take: This is a FANTASTIC Wayne Gretzky quote. You may lose out on some of the chances you take, but if you take no chances you’ll never succeed. So be confident that while you might fail this time, it’s just part of the process. You have to get 100 “no”s before you get a “yes”.
• What’s the worst that could happen?: People are often afraid to speak up or take action because they are worried about the consequences, but the consequences are often much less severe than people imagine them in their head. The worst thing is usually that someone will reject you in some way. As long as no long-term damage will be done, the up-side nearly always outweighs the downside.

“Who has confidence in himself will gain the confidence of others.”

-Leib Lazarow

Tags: Confidence

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Bryant May 30th, 2009

Sometimes I think we get a little too comfortable in our cozy homes, and we need to be reminded that the wild world abounds with adventures. Often people think comfort is what they need, when what they really need is something to throw their passions into – something they can chase with all their heart.

I witnessed a literal example of this last weekend. We were at my mom’s house and had brought our dog Dolly with us. In her heart, she is a hunting dog. In fact, that’s what her lineage (the Mullins Feist) is bred for. But she has settled nicely into the lazy life of a suburbanite dog of occasionally chasing tennis balls and running, but mostly relaxing in the house.

Last weekend, Molly was walking Dolly along a wooded path near my mom’s house. She was trying out a new collar and didn’t realize it was not clipped on properly. Just a few minutes out the door, Dolly had spotted a rabbit and slipped out of her collar. In an instant she was in the woods chasing the rabbit.

Molly tried in vain to retrieve her, but was unable to, so she came back to the house to get my help. With a hotdog in hand as bait, we tromped into the woods after Dolly. We heard her high-pitched “YIP, YIP, YIP!” which she makes after spotting prey. So we knew she had found something, but it was no rabbit…

Seconds later Dolly came crashing out of the woods running at top speed with her tongue hanging out a bright twinkle in her eye. You could tell she was in her element. After noticing the glee on her face, I began to wonder why she was running so fast out of the woods?

Then I noticed a huge animal bounding behind her, it was making all kinds of noise as it jumped out of the woods after her. At first I thought is was some kind of gigantic wolf or dog. Once I got a clear look, I realized that it was a huge deer and it was MAD!

Normally you picture a deer as this tranquil animal hopping through the forest. Not this one — It’s face was snarling and it was snorting. I imagined that it must be protecting some newborns. You’d think that Dolly would have been scared to be getting chased by an animal about five times her size, but she loved it. She had a look on her face like she was playing a rip-roaring game of tag with the deer!

And sure enough, after seeing us, the deer turned around back into the woods and Dolly started chasing it! Luckily, we got her attention and she decided that she wanted the hot dog that I was holding more than the deer. When she got close enough we clipped her collar on properly and her wild adventure was over.

But it got me thinking, she seemed so happy during that crazy romp through the woods, even when danger was near. Maybe a tame life isn’t always the best one?

"One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down–and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."

-Mr Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia

Tags: Tame Life

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