Ideas worth living

 I need to have this gain mindset abundance mindset 

Ability to look back and feel thankful and grateful to the Almighty 

Who has bestowed me with wealth

• Physical 
• Mental 
• Intellectual 
• Spiritual 

God! Thank you lord 

I have enough 

I have enough 

I have enough 

And I don't need to feel schadenfraude 

That others gain is my loss 

Or vice versa 

I need to live abundance mindset 

Ishavasya Upanishad states:

பூர்ணம் :

ஈசாவாஸ்ய உபநிஷத்

அது முழுமை ; இது முழுமை;

அந்த முழுமையிலிருந்து இந்த முழுமை வந்தது

அந்த முழுமையிலிருந்து இந்த முழுமை எடுக்கப்பட்டது

எது எஞ்சியதோ அதுவும் முழுமையே!

Infinite mindset 

I need to reinforce the principles of my life

• Integrity - need to say more - foundation 
• Simplicity - comes from deep work 
• Consistency- habit and focus (to say no to 100 other things)

If you are grateful for what you have

instead of Envious for what you don't have

you will always win! 

@GaryVee

On investing in Stock - by Warren Buffett

 

Stock Investment 

Body Mind Soul

Have an Athlete's Body

Writer's Mind

and

Artist's Soul !

Source: Seek Wiser @SeekWiser_

·

Creative Thinking

 

Process and Outcomes

 

People who make good decisions process-wise end up doing well! 

-Michael Mauboussin

Whatever you do...

 Whatever you do come back from Body to Mind

Seneca

Letters from a Stoic - pg.21

Seneca says:

The mind must be exercised day and night

Work-out in the Brain-gym as a Habit - says Arnold Bennett

Every morning - 30 minutes - Enter your Brain-Gym

Work-out to strengthen the Brain 

To straighten out the bent mind - 

Take up activities - that enrich the mind-

Read, Dictate, Converse, Solve, Walk 

These activities are conscious endeavors to 

straighten out the bent mind 

And Enable you to energize yourself for the day ahead!

Everything is an Opinion unless…

 Everything is an Opinion unless…

The Practicing Stoic

Ward Farnsworth

Everything is an opinion unless tested by reason

I need to tell myself that everything is an opinion; 

So I need to reserve / suspend my judgment - until I use reason to test the opinions

Opinion=> Hypothesis testing=> Facts

What is Hypothesis testing?

Lets start with Hypothesis:

If I do This (Independent Variable -Cause )

Then That shall happen (Dependent variable - Effect) 

Hypothesis is mere opinion; just anecdote

So do hypothesis testing : to see if there is fact to anecdote:

Null Hypothesis :(notation):Ho:  There is no proof that your Opinion is right

Alternate Hypothesis: H1:: Your opinion (If I do this , then that shall happen) is right! 

In statistics , how do you do this hypothesis testing? 

Set up an experiment to test succees or failure of your opinion;

and conduct experiments

And note the outcomes: pass/ fail;

Find the probability of your opinion : that it is repeatable using several data inputs;

If results that support your opinion is repeatable 95% or more of outcomes => then the p-value : is 5% or less , 

This indicates that there is high degree of probability that you need to reject Null Hypothesis ! 

That : 

There is no proof that your Opinion is right

Alternatively, if the experiment outcome is not repeatable at least  95% of times,

Then there is   highly likely role of chance or randomness in the outcome

Which means that , you need to accept the Null Hypothesis : that :

There is no proof that your Opinion is right

Everything is an opinion unless tested by reason!

So, dont confuse your own opinion with facts!

Human Psychology

 Human Psychology

The Practicing Stoic

Ward Farnsworth

According to Stoicism: Following are tenets of Human Psychology

1. We desire what we don't have

2. The pursuit of a thing is more pleasure than its possession

3. Possession of a Good tends to produce Indifference

4. We miss To  measure the value of what we have or don't have by comparing it to our expectations or holding of others

Longing

 Longing

Maria Popova Blog

“The history of our species is the history of humans longing for control of their fortunes in the absence of knowledge and critical thought and other humans exploiting the longing”

As Stoicism first principle says : 

Know what is in your control and what is not in your control

Fortune is not in your control. Full stop.

As Epictetus says 

“We are all playing the game of dice”. 

And we are handed with the cards -

Height, weight, Talent, Birth, Family - all cards God handed me!

So what can I do to make the best of it? 

That is in my control! 

What is in my control?

Courage, Contemplation, Content, Character!

My note:

Let me focus on these 4Cs -  Courage, Contemplation, Content, Character! 

And As I do so - I shall not need to moan and groan and blame and lament

Both in my mind and in my words!

Reasoning and Results!

 Reasoning!

Seneca

Letters from a Stoic

Pg.21

Seneca asks us : to use philosophy to guard our living.

Philosophy enables wisdom

And wisdom enables reasoning.

Now the key question is 

Whether living with reason alone is a safe harbour from Fortune or Ill-luck?

Seneca answers this in his letter to Lucillius

“Sometimes a vessel perishes at the Harbour;

Innocent people perish”

Who would deny that? 

But the vessel perishes more frequently in the open sea;

The person who does not act with reason perishes more frequently! “

But still I need to continue working with reasoning; 

By continuing to work on my brain every day

Acting with reason is in my power! 

Fortune decides the outcome!

Indifferent!

 Indifferent!

Pg.87 

Epictetus

Six-pack Stoic

What are things Indifferent? 

Epictetus says:

Things that are not in our Power! 

Like a dice in the game! 

Those that are not in our power are nothing to me! 

Those that you call: Exile, imprisonment, Death or

Power, Position or Prosperity

Am indifferent to them! 

Epictetus says : 

“Like a dice - I do not have the power that What number falls upon me;

But I have the power to use that number to advance my position;"

So there are two types of things:

Real Goods and Indifferent Goods ;

Real Goods: Joy, Peace, Enduring adversity, Humble-Calm-Gait

Indifferent Goods: Those that are not in your control! 

“Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed, but hurt me they cannot,” says Socrates. To injure me is beyond their power

On Contemplation!

 On Contemplation!

Pg.77 

Epictetus

Six-pack Stoic

Epictetus says : 

“God introduced Man to be a spectator of Himself and His Works

Not a mere spectator, but as an interpreter as well;

It is a shame for Men to behave like Brutes do

Rather he should begin there and 

Leave where Nature leaves off in us; (by reason and thought!)

That is by contemplation, understanding, Manner of Life

That is in harmony with herself!

My note:

(Wo)Man is both the marble and a sculptor!

Demand!

Why should I demand of Fortune that she give,

Rather than demand of myself that I should not crave?

Seneca

Letters from a Stoic

Pg.22

Stoicism: First principle is that 👍Focus on things you can control

Your body, your mind, Your Intellect, Your Ego! 

Seneca asks me today a fantastic question for me to ponder over:

Why don't you demand of yourself? 

Desires are a weight upon the Soul! 

Desires crush the soul! Why don't you then control it? 

Why should I keep praying to God for more and more - 

Power, Position, Money!

All temporal things! 

That is beyond my sphere of control and influence!

Rather why cannot I focus on things in my control

That is 

Not craving - for

Driven by reason rather than revenue! 

Demands are driven by Desires that are driven by mind fed on: Consumption  mindset!

Zero points for Winning!

 Don't get into the mode of Zero-points for winning

Bill Walsh 

Score takes care of itself 

Pg.218

Get satisfaction and gratification from “small wins” - or even in defeats

Look for metrics that are growing

And improving and take pride in that 

This is very important!

If you take pride only in that “big-win” - it becomes Cocaine

No longer the big win excites you as much

You look for an even bigger win

Or next big win

Current win does not count! 

So,

Zero points for winning! 

Victory just means delay of Failure …Bill Walsh! 

Winning, Winning , Winning …is not always a solution

Because you are just delaying the Failure

Pursuit of prize becomes an exacting exercise - expectations unattainable

And then profession you loved - all your life

Becomes unenjoyable and unendurable! 

And then when you cannot win even when you win

Then comes a point,

when you cannot see point in continuing!

Approval and Acceptance

 Dont worry too much about approval of and acceptance by others

Bill Walsh 

Score takes care of itself 

Pg.237

Treat activity such as Work - Intellectual activity -

 like a scientist searching for and fascinated by mathematical equations of “Quantum Physics”

As you work, Do deep work - thoughtful -Intellectual - Creative activity 

Rather than be judging and judging , be like the ant scientist : Observing

To prove them wrong…is wrong!

 To prove them wrong…is wrong! 

Bill Walsh 

Score takes care of itself 

Pg.237

Don't undertake pursuits to - prove them wrong 

Or to - prove yourself right ;

If you do so , you will burn yourself - winning/losing !

Undertake pursuits for their sheer intellectual activity 👍

1. Deep-thought

2. Execution

3. Leadership

4. Teaching

5. Coaching

6. Learning

Chase the pursuits for : 

“To care about what you do and to teach others to be great as they can be”

(Last line of the book:  Score Takes care of itself)

Sources of Variation

Out of the Crisis

Edward W Deming

Don't underestimate the power of pride in the workmanship of the Team!

Edward W Deming

There are two sources of variation:

1. Special causes

2. Common causes 

My Notes:

Special causes are easily understood and resolvable through Root-cause analyses and taking subsequent corrective actions

But the,second type of variation, common causes of variations are difficult to address as they are driven by random causes;

Solutions to address the common causes of variation are: to reduce the variation band by

1. Simplify the process

2. Provide the better training and retraining to the People

That's the role of management !!!

Role of Management:

 Role of Management:

Out of the Crisis

Edward W Deming

(Dr.Nelson, Director of Statistical Methods for the Nashua Corporation)

1. The central problem of management - in all its aspects- of

Planning, research, Design, Personnel, Accounts and Law is - 

“To understand the meaning of variation - and to extract information contained in the variation”

2. You cannot set a target for improvement without a rational plan for improvement

3. Most important figures needed by management of any organization are Unknown and Unknowable

4. In a stable system, action initiated on appearance of a defect - will be ineffective and will cause more trouble

5. “...and if you can’t come . send nobody” 

William E Conway , CEO , Nashua Corporation

meaning…If you don't have time to do your job, there is not much that I can do for you!