We forget.

Doctors get sick, dentists get toothache and specialist in any field, are likely to fall victim to their own discipline.

We specialize in helping people to get organized and to develop good habits. For any of us this is hard work when we start the process, but we know the results can be spectacular.

We have been doing this for more than 10 years, in one form or another, so one would expect that we will have this all down pat. One would be wrong.

Last week I found myself spinning out of control and overwhelmed by events, tasks and responsibilities, so if you feel like that some time, don’t stress too much, as it is possible to regain control without too much effort.

As usual this is easy to say but not always easy to do as there is a big a “BUT” associated with this statement.

Recently I read a very good article where the author suggested the value of “ritual” or habit, to often be misunderstood and he presented an easy to understand argument.

When we do things habitually we require no “thought” energy to start and complete the task, other than that required by the task itself.

He argues that we all start with some energy level at the start of our day and that our energy gets consumed during the day, leaving us on empty, so as to speak, by evening.

He further contends that we require energy every time we try to decide what is to be done next, where in contrast any task performed as part of a habit requires no such expenditure of energy.

We all know that we have some good and some bad habits and that the trick to successful living is to reduce the bad ones and to cultivate the better ones.

Being organized is one of the good habits and if this is successfully and properly done, it will assist in the creation of other good habits.

Once we have achieved a degree of habitual organization, and it is never perfect, it becomes easier to regain control, if you find yourself getting lost in occasional “flood” of activities.

It took me two days to recover, but only because I have a habit of being organized, had that not been so I would still be in trouble.

The value of organizing your life and developing good habits, translates into money in the bank.

Philip

Do we ask the correct questions ?

Most of us react to any problem presented, by seeking a solution and that is ok, but how often do we end up with a wrong solution and why.

Finding a solution to a problem presupposes that the problem or question is valid and correctly stated or identified. Experience shows that thsi assumption can be an enormous mistake.

For those reading this comment and thinking "this guy is smoking something" I would suggest a quick read of this.

Groupthink has many nasty repercussions and we can all fall into this trap. The concept is not confined to decisions that are made but more often  to the questions that are posed in the first place. How often, in this politically correct world, do we adjust how we frame a question for fear of offending somebody in a group?.

The results of posing the wrong question can result in complete disasters but there is one more element to add into this equation. The person or group formulating the question is often not qualified to do so and solutions proposed as a result are almost always guaranteed to be bad.

To gain some clarity in the examples provided below, I will not deal with individuals but rather with groups as the dynamic of individual interactions is the amplifier for Groupthink.

Australia :

Western Australian government - has just closed down a "Shared Services" project they initiated a few years ago. The project had a budget of $ 78 Million and a project savings result of $ 57 million per year.

The project has blow out to $ 444 million and closing it down will cost around $ 1 Billion due to long term contracts.

Queensland Government - Implemented a new payroll system for their health services. This resulted in staff being overpaid or not paid at all. The response to this disaster was to ignore the plight of the staff affected by this stupidity, followed by writing off $ 62 million in overpayments while some staff have still not been paid correctly.

This disaster has been ongoing for nearly two years and the repair bill is currently $ 290 Million, while the people who caused this mess are still employed and the two people ( scapegoats ) fired as a result, have been reappointed as consultants.

USA

The new Intelligence Apparatus ( read the full article )

The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.

[We] discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight. After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its effectiveness is impossible to determine.

Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

This happens in every country, in governments and private enterprise and I could provide thousands of examples, but lets get back to where we started by asking this simple question - How can this happen not just once but repeatedly.    

Simply put, the wrong questions are asked and the wrong problem stated.

Decisions are then made to provide some perceived solution to the stated problem.

No accountability for the results or some supposed action taken to "correct" the problem created.

As this appears to be the norm, we are presented with opportunities to not make the same mistakes, to examine stated problems far more carefully. As and when a solution is proposed we need to question how or if the solution will resolve the problems.

Next week I will look at how new "industries" have been created and how they are wasting resources, simply to protect their own "turf".

It has been said that it is hard to get somebody to understand something, when his pay-cheque is reliant on him Not understanding.

>end

How the time has disappeared, already we are at the back end of May and it feels as though January was only yesterday.

You might have noticed that the website blog has not been updated for some time and this posting will, in a way, explain the reason, but first I have to give a bit of background.

The year started with a serious “bang”, not what we wanted or anticipated, but then nature has a way of getting our attention.

In early January we experienced some devastating floods in Queensland Australia, where we are based. The floods peaked on the 13 January but the reverberations are still being felt all over the state.

Flood Pictures - Click Here

It is hard to explain the full impact of such an event as one has to experience it to really understand. When an event such as this happens, one can not simply sit on the sidelines or get on with life, while the natural disaster happen around you.

We started with the cleanup process on the 14th of Jan and thousands of volunteers turned out to help cleaning and clearing. Many houses were fully inundated and had to be stripped down inside while thick brown mud covered all surfaces, not an easy job.

Businesses and offices went down in the floods together with homes and in some cases entire communities were wiped out. The rebuilding efforts are still in progress and people are struggling with everything from bureaucratic stupidity to fine print in their insurance policies.

Once we had cleaned up the basics and got some sense of normality returned, we were still left with thousands of affected people who had nowhere to go or nothing left to start with.

Volunteer groups arose spontaneously and collected everything from fridges, washing machines, beds to food and clothing. This was truly a massive undertaking and I salute all those who helped.

As a small family business we have limits in terms of our resources and had our own problems to resolve, but we were determined to help those less fortunate.

We turned all available space into storage areas and started collecting stuff from friends and in many cases bought things on Ebay. At one point we had 6 fridges and a similar number of washing machines, piles of beds and mattresses, toys and clothing filling every available space.

As we started distributing these goods, more came in and it turned into an ongoing process of collecting and distributing. We cleared the last items from our garage last week, so for us, that is the end of that chapter.

One might say we did our bit as best we could, but one still has a question in the back of ones mind as to what else we could have done or did we miss something?

Now at last, we are at the subject for today’s posting.

During this period of some four months we spent more time with non business related activities than we could really afford, but what we gained in the process outweighs those considerations.

We met hundreds of people and witnessed acts of kindness, resilience and courage, tears and desperation, hope and survival, people picking themselves up from nothing and starting again, getting on with life and not complaining.

Each one of us has much to be grateful for, but we are often too busy to notice. The “being busy” and not having time, is often just an excuse and it blinds one to what really matters in life. Your family, friends, children, relationships, being healthy and sharing our good fortune with others, to name but a few.

The lessons we learnt from all the people we interacted with and the friends we made, will be with us forever and the time we all waste on nothing in particular often leaves no residue. We should consider the value of our time and how well we use it.

If you do nothing else today, make a list of the things you should be grateful for, hug your loved ones and show them that they matter. Then during the next month find one way to help anybody less fortunate than you are, just once, we know you can do it.

Good luck and remember life is all about choice

Now at the start of a new year I feel compelled to say it as it is.

Can we handle the truth ?

Whatever our current circumstance - it is a direct result of what we have Thought and Done up till today.

Our future depends on what we Think and Do from this point on.

It is really as simple as that.

We are all creatures of habit and our habits govern our behaviour. To change out lives we have to examine our habits and the resulting behaviour and then be brave enough to make a decision to change those habits that are holding us back.

Change is uncomfortable and without a real commitment and effort, your life will simply continue as before.

We know that everybody is capable of change, but only very few are prepared to make the commitment to pay the price and suffer the associated discomfort. To succeed we will have to slow down, make time and commit to invest time in ourselves.

We become what we think, and we achieve by the actions resulting from our thoughts, it is simply a matter of choice .

Good with your choices  for 2011, we know you can do it.

.

As we work and grow, we learn. We learn many new things and in the process forget as many things. At times we have to learn the same lesson many times before it “sticks” in our mind.

Our lives get busy and we are driving as hard as we can but in the process we miss some of the lessons in front of our noses.

Recently I was reminiscing with some friends about the many years I owned and flew hot air balloons, when one of them asked about how much control one has in directing such a craft and whether one was simply at the mercy of the prevailing winds. This lead to a detailed discussion on the subject that to many could be quite boring, so I will not repeat it here.

Later that night several thoughts popped up in my mind. I could of course claim that my brilliant mind extracted these nuggets, but that would be a lie.

Controlling a hot air balloon is simple in principle but a lot harder in practice. The basics are that one is heating air inside and envelope so as to create lift ( hot air rises ) and the amount of lift required depends on the total weight one is lifting and the ambient temperature of the air.

Once one has the heat in the envelope such that it starts rising, one has to determine at what height one wants to fly level. At that point one has to reach an accurate balance with inside and outside temperatures and weight balanced to produce level flight. Most trainees struggle with this aspect of flying and end up “porpoising”, oscillating up and down while they struggle to maintain level flight.

Easy so far, BUT the outside air temperature changes all the time and the hot air inside the balloon cools down unless more hot air is added. Therefore, what sounds and looks easy is, in fact, quite challenging.

Now consider what happens when one wants to go higher or lower. One has to adjust the temperature inside the envelope to either ascend ( more heat ) or descend ( less heat ) and one has to be careful as too little heat could result in an uncontrolled crash landing and too much heat will result in an uncontrolled “lift”, hopefully with lesser consequences.

There, now you can go and fly a balloon. Well not really. What I described is the basics of level flight and what is required to achieve even this simple level of proficiency is, learning the theory of flight, meteorology, air-law, navigation, aerostatics and then some practice, mistakes, more practice, more mistakes and lots of physical effort.

Part of this one can do in the classroom, but the real stuff must be done in the real world. One also requires a well trained crew to setup and retrieve the balloon, so one can not do it on one’s own and of course one needs all the equipment required.

In our daily lives we strive to achieve many things, but compare your activities to the process I described and determine how much you have learnt, how much you have practiced, have you failed enough, can you ‘fly level’, how good is your crew, do you have all the required equipment.

In the end we must be able to pilot our ventures with confidence and that will require, learning, failing, falling down and the occasional crash-landing, but if we stick to it and continue to improve our skills, we can achieve and maintain level flight.

end