Debug Your Mental Software

NSA proposal to KRW

2006-10-22T08:59:00.000-06:00

Create a draft and send to her.

Add a debug one for yourself.

Jay Arthur, the KnowWareâ Man, works with companies that want to plug the leaks in their cash flow using Lean Six Sigma. He is the author of the Lean Six Sigma Simplified System and the QI Macros SPC Software for Excel. While most consultants tell you to train some Black Belts, Jay wants you to develop Money Belts--people who can find and fix the leaks in your cash flow.

mailto:knowwareman@mindspring.com
http://www.qimacros.com
2253 S. Oneida St, Ste D
Denver, CO 80224

303-756-9144 (888) 468-1537

Ambivalence = Creativity

2006-10-22T08:52:00.000-06:00

According to BusinessWeek (October 20, 2006), the University of Washington studied how happy, sad, neutral or ambivalent feelings affected creativity.

Using the Remote Associates Test--a test of creativity--ambivalence won out.

When I think about this is makes sense. When I'm attached to achieving an outcome, either business or personal, my thinking gets restricted. When I'm ambivalent (I call it open to, but not attached to) about an outcome, I seem to notice more options for achieving it.

Yet another success secret: adopt ambivalence.
Become open to, but not attached to your outcomes.

Sounds simple doesn't it? But it's harder to do than it sounds.

Debug Your Mental Software

Jay Arthur, the KnowWareâ Man, works with people who want to master the mysteries of the mind. He is the author of Debug Your Mental Software, Motivate Everyone and Your Seventh Sense-How to Think like a Comedian.

mailto:knowwareman@mindspring.com
http://www.debugyourmentalsoftware.com
http://www.yourseventhsense.com
2253 S. Oneida St, Ste 3D
Denver, CO 80224

303-756-9144 (888) 468-1537

Success! You Don't Need Talent, Just Practice

2006-10-19T08:57:00.000-06:00

An article in this month's Fortune magazine covers research that says that you don't have to be talented to succeed. You just have to practice more than most for about 10 years with the intention of improvement.

Success Strategy
1. Approach any critical task with the intention of improvement. It doesn't matter if it's your golf score, marketing, cooking, or parenting. Seek improvement.
2. Analyze how you do the task. What's working? What could be improved? What could you stop doing?
3. Get feedback from other skilled practitioners. In other words. Hire a coach, even if it's your spouse.
4. Create, expand and enrich your "mental models" of the skill: how the pieces fit together. It could be as simple as figuring out how to get all of the elements of a meal ready simultaneously. Or it could be as complex as how your business fits into your industry and the global economy.
5. Practice, man, practice. It's the punchline to the old joke: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

The 10-Year Rule:
To become world-class, researchers found that you need to practice for about 10 years.
Tiger Woods started at 3, so he was ready for the U.S. Amateur.
Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bonss, suggests that every author should have a writing practice.
What do you want to master? Are you willing to practice to achieve that mastery?

Where are you in your quest for success?

Best Companies to Work For

2005-01-16T08:05:00.000-06:00

Fortune's January 24, 2005 issue covers their pick of the best companies to work for. What's the prescription?
1. Employees first, customers second (Make employees feel valued--"Good work gets noticed here.")
2. Equality (men-women, management-worker).
3. Flexibility and freedom
4. Healthcare benefits
5. Pension and profit-sharing benefits
6. Education benefits
7. Promote from within
Pretty simple: Treat me like you want me to work here.

Exponential Thinking

2004-12-30T08:16:00.000-06:00

In her new book, The Third Opinion, Dr. Saj-nicole a. Joni describes the
six steps for what she calls exponential thinking (exploring new terrain
with new frameworks):
1. Understand the mental models that guide your thinking (e.g., beliefs,
values, etc.).
2. Develop your ability to discern patterns (within yourself and external
ones).
3. Discover the hidden assumptions that guide your perceptions (and blind
you to others).
4. Create varied scenarios of the future.
5. Look for ways to brighten your line of sight (paint a colorful future).
6. Invest in your ability to think in the gray space.

Jay Arthur, the KnowWare Man, works with companies that want to plug the
leaks in their cash flow. He is the author of Six Sigma Simplified.

mailto:knowwareman@mindspring.com
http://www.sixsigmatoolbelt.com
2253 S. Oneida St, Ste D
Denver, CO 80224

303-756-9144 (888) 468-1537

Neuroplasticity

2004-09-27T09:28:00.000-06:00

For some reason, people seem to think that their minds are "hard wired" and
unchangeable. If this were true, you'd never be able to learn anything to
the point where it drops out of your awareness. Driving a car on any given
day would be as difficult as the first day you got behind the wheel.

We talk about mindsets, as if the mind becomes set in concrete. But the
mind is like software, not hardware. Change the programming and you'll get
different results.

Scientists have found that the brain can rewire itself and does so all the
time. They gave it a fancy name: neuroplasticity. A good explanation of
this is in the new movie, What the #@! do we know? As we learn things and
become competent at it, the brain rewires itself to automate that function.
The software of what you've learned becomes firmware.

Fortunately, firmware isn't hardwired, it's still malleable. Wherever the
mind leads, the brain will follow. Fortunately, we have found many
techniques for changing the mind to resolve internal conflicts, transform
limiting beliefs, shed past traumas, forgive our tormentors, release
phobias and so on. When a person shifts their mindset, you can actually see
"steam coming out of their ears" as the mind shifts and brain releases the
old connections. And it can happen in an instant.

But first you have to believe that your mind is flexible, reprogrammable
and that your brain will rewire itself to align with the new mindset. Isn't
it time to open up your mind to some new possibilities?

comedy blog

2004-09-14T06:56:00.000-06:00

yourseventhsense.blogspot.com
knowwareman.seventhsense@blogger.com

Jay Arthur, the KnowWare Man, works with companies that want to plug the
leaks in their cash flow. He is the author of Six Sigma Simplified.

mailto:knowwareman@mindspring.com
http://www.sixsigmatoolbelt.com
2253 S. Oneida St, Ste D
Denver, CO 80224

303-756-9144 (888) 468-1537

Imaginative Science

2004-09-13T06:28:00.000-06:00

In his book, How Nature Works, Per Bak writes:
Kim and I went sightseeing on Long Island. We spent some time at a local
fair. Then we went to Fire Island. On and off, we would discuss the problem
in a joking and playful way.

I don't know why it is, but it appears to me that this is the only way of
doing imaginative science. The harder one tries, the less likely the
prospect of success. I certainly never came up with any ideas by sitting
intensely in my office staring at a sheet of blank paper.

Reset Your Money Thermostat

2004-09-12T10:21:00.000-06:00

The coauthor of my most recent book, Your Seventh Sense - How to Think Like a Comedian, said that she was "bumping up against the ceiling" of what she could earn.

I've come to think of earning potential as being like a thermostat:
1. There's amental floor and when you get near it you'll do anything to get your earnings up.
2. There's a mental ceiling and when you get near it you slack off.

People who continually boost their income simply raise their income floor and ceiling each time they get near their old ceiling.

The secret is in choosing a new floor and ceiling that gently nudge you upwards.

If you raise the bar too far, your mind will think: "I can't jump that!" If $50,000 is your ceiling, you can probably raise it to $100,000 without too much fuss, but you probably can't raise it to $500,000. So raise it to $100,000 and when you get near that goal, raise it to $250,000 and then eventually raise it to $500,000.

Most people never reset their money thermostats, settling for wherever they end up.
You don't have to work harder to earn more money, but you may end up working differently.

Play with your money thermostat and see how it changes your life.