Blog moved to armaghansaqib.wordpress.com

I have moved my blog to armaghansaqib.wordpress.com. All new updates are posted there.

Please visit new url and update your email subscription.

Here are some of my latest blog posts.

• Being under-confident and over-confident
• When boys are boys and girls are boys
• What is your elevator pitch?
• ITCN Asia 2010 is an event
• So what’s the deal with debono’s lateral thinking tools?
• Low calorie diet. This time it is not food.
• Free ebooks by Seth Godin on personal development and marketing

Posted via email from Saqib Awan

Making this world a better place for you and for others

There are too many injustices in the world; red tape is too long, your boss treats you badly, your friends are selfish, you don't have enough money to buy the latest clothes and shoes, your work hours are too long, your parents don't understand your problems, your spouse is not happy. (the list is really long)

Ok I got it.

There are two possible ways to channel your energy:

1. Complain about these injustices and keep complaining forever.
   
2. Manage yourself to take some small positive steps; learn new skills, make new connections, read books, volunteer somewhere, tell others what you can do for them etc.

Guess which approach is going to help you and make this world a better place?

I keep hearing complains all day and I am tired of these people. Please don't be one of them.

Black hat is not enough. You need to use yellow and green hats too.

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Bringing discipline into our thinking

Most of us have made life changing decisions in a matter of minutes or even seconds. Just scan your past and you will find many examples. This happened because we were forced to do that due to unexpected turn of events. This also means that we are capable of making good decisions in the shortest possible time.

But in our day to day life, we keep thinking over and over again about small issues. Thinking time can span days or even months. This has one huge problem: we keep postponing the real action.

The time discipline of thinking tools liberates you from this thinking rut. You are asked to practice a particular tool (PMI for example) within 1-5 minutes. With some practices, you brain adopts this discipline for your day to day thinking and helps you become a doer rather than a philosopher.

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Web site developers and bloggers, your attention please

Information we get daily is doubling every 18 months. To get attention we need to make dead simple and readable websites and blogs. But not all web developers and bloggers are with us. They want to show off their newly learned design skills and use all possible colors, flashing and scrolling text. External website widgets are another source of cluttered and bloated web pages.

I have been using readability tool by Arc90.com since it was released in early 2009. This tool removes all clutter from the web page you are reading. This tool is also available as a firefox addon and google chrome extension. See the screen shots of a web page below before and after applying the readability tool.

Safari browser by Apple, a company built around design and usability, now has this functionality built into it.

Hey, web developers! Do you still need proof people want simpler and readable websites?

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Protesting, peacefully

Today I visited the office of a big business. This company has annoyed probably close to thousand customers due to some of its acts; none of which are out of its control. The only motive seems to maximize profits.

Are we really helpless? I thought. "Client executive" (whatever that designation means), and then his manager, tried to calm me with all sort of false statements.

I then insisted and proceeded to see the department head and recorded my protest. This respectable old man tried to look courteous but could not offer anything concrete and used his intelligent mind to confuse the matter.

I am not sure my protest will have any dent on the company practices; may be some; may be a lot. But I do think we have the right and we should protest respectfully and peacefully. It can make a difference sometime somewhere. I used to argue with faceless call center operators but that is probably close to useless. Higher the authority you protest to, the better.

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It is time to identify your passion and here is how

Some people are lucky enough to know what they want to do with their life. Some need a bit of digging into their own mind. You can't hit a target unless you identify a target. You can't achieve a goal unless you know what your goal is. Right?

Old advice. Yes it is. But it still works.

I came across this small booklet, "a brief guide to world domination" (pdf, 29 pages) which might help you to identify your passion and work for it.

This booklet is based around two most important questions:

#1: What do you really want to get out of life?
#2: What can you offer the world that no one else can?

Here is a direct download link for the pdf.

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How to avoid really big blunders

There are times when, despite all your intelligence and experience, you make a really big blunder and then keep regretting it for a long time. You are just bewildered how on earth you did that. But it has happened and now get over it. And you have a big company. :)

Why this happens? This is not stupidity. This is due to the way our brain works as a pattern making and pattern matching system. All new incoming information is matched to existing brain patterns. A particular sequence of events can trigger a potentially unfavorable pattern in our brain. A con artist can use his skills to make our brain's pattern matching system work to his advantage.

Edward de Bono's thinking tools can help you to cut across existing brain patterns instead of matching these. The three important tools to help you in tricky situations are APC, CAF and PMI.

APC stands for alternatives, possibilities and choices.
CAF stands for consider all factors.
PMI stands for plus, minus, interesting.

To apply each tool, you list as many points as possible within 1 - 3 minutes without bringing your judgment into the thinking process. Spend some time on practicing these tools with a paper and a pencil. Simplicity of these tools and few days of practice will make it possible for you to use these in real life situations without much effort.

Let us avoid the next big blunder.

(Photo credit: lolsnaps.com)

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Every one can be a blogger and can write daily

I have been writing my blog for past 4 years but doing it daily for the past few weeks. A number of people have praised this practice. Thanks. My friends think that this is something not so easy. But I think every one can be a blogger and every one can write daily. How?

You learn something daily. Don't you? And you also have a big repertoire of experience as well. On a personal blog what you do is you just share something, anything, out of your huge repertoire. You don't necessarily need to write large, well researched post every day.

Then why it looks so difficult to write? I think because we under estimate our learnings and experiences and think that these will not be useful for the rest of the world. This is not true. You are unique and you are capable and you can help the world.

Another thing perhaps is that you want to look perfect to the outside world who is having a look at your blog. You are not perfect and don't try to be. Make mistakes and thanks anyone who points out yours. It will just make you more confident.

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The best advice you can have: DO LESS

Download now or preview on posterous

doless.pdf (320 KB)

I often see the web pages of companies and individuals full of all
possible things they can do and just wonder what they really do and
what they really have experience with. Perhaps this strategy (we can
do everything) only dilutes their message.

The best lesson I have learned so far in my life (after doing the
exact opposite) is do less. And it has changed my life, for better.

With do less philosophy, you do not try to do every thing you can do;
you try to do the best thing you can do. And the best part is you are
going to be happy with your life and there is a good chance you will
make more money too.

This is what Seth Godin tries to convince us in the attached 7 page pdf.

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Running windows software on ubuntu linux

In a recent blog post I told you how to install and run Ubuntu Linux on your PC. You can also run Ubuntu Linux directly from CD without disturbing you PC. A number of people have installed and started using Ubuntu Linux as their desktop operating system on my suggestion.

One of the often asked questions is what to do if there is no alternative available in Linux to a particular Windows software. In such cases you can always run Windows and your favorite Windows software in virtual environment on your Linux desktop.

Sun/Oracle's VirtualBox for Ubuntu is a software which allows you to run Windows and its software in virtual enviornment. You install it on your Linux desktop, install Windows within virtual box environment and then run any Windows software.

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A great source of motivational and self-help pdfs by best seller authors

changethis.com is a great source of free self-help and motivational booklets in pdf format. These nice booklets are called 'manifestos'. These pdfs are nicely formatted and optimized for pleasant reading on your computer screen.

Many of these manifestos have been written by best seller authors. There are great manifestos on topics which include marketing, motivation, personal grooming, time management, creativity, writing etc.

changethis.com was founded by Seth Godin. I discovered this website many years ago when some one pointed me to a free pdf book by Seth Godin titled "The Bootstrapper's Bible".

Highly recommended.

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Triumph of simplicity

I love simplicity but I try to avoid mentioning it too often. After all I do not want you to get bored, angry or offended. :-)

Many years ago I was helping a business design a new system. The best brains in the organization gathered to make it the best possible one for the organization. I was with them but with a subtle difference. They wanted to add as many features as possible. I wanted to make it simple. They wanted to add an elaborate system of calculating the cost of items. I was against it. They wanted to manage inventory by incorporating all past practices, best practices and new ideas. I advised to design for simplicity. They insisted. I warned, protested, cried and then complied.

It took two painful years to realize that elaborate costing system was, yes, costing more than expected. And it took four more years to dawn that the inventory system which allowed all sort of 'real life scenarios' was nothing but pain to maintain. So it was decided to, yes, simplify it.

And it was decided today.

Simplicity; you are going to adopt it sooner or later. So better do it today.

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Learn to self-learn this summer

You went to a great school, a really great college and passed out with flying colors. Well done. You are also keeping yourself updated with all the latest tools and methodologies by going to all those workshops and conferences by gurus. Great.

But there is another possibility which you may never have tried to explore; you can learn something yourself without going somewhere. Its simpler than you think. How?

• Buy and read a book.
• Download a pdf or subscribe a blog.
• Use Google to find (possibly free) on-line courses.
• Wikipedia
  
• Experiment with what you have learned. Try again and again.
• Ask questions on Internet discussion groups/forums and mailing lists related to your subject.
• Send email directly to gurus. They will help you provided you have done your homework.
  

Don't be shy to experiment, ask or take failure as part of your learning process.

Yes, self-learning may be slow for the first time but not after that. The confidence you will gain from your self learning is going to last forever, not to mention the time and money you may save.

Should I tell you a little secret about successful people? They self learn.

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Sales tip: get the most out of your ignorant customer

Seth Godin writes daily on his blog and never fails to inspire. I often refer to his blog posts. In fact I want to do it daily but I am sure it does not look good. So if you have anything, even remotely connected, to do with sales and  marketing, read his blog at sethgodin.typepad.com. An easier way to never miss his daily sermon is to subscribe with your email.

Sometimes he is so spot-on that I feel compelled to share his thoughts. Yesterday's post was one such.

I am not sure title of this post is going to make you happy or angry. But this is what happens when you buy something once in a while; you can be screwed by the seller, the marketer.

It is easier to buy an expensive laptop, a photocopier with features you are never going to use, a chemical with an obscure name, an aluminum kitchen, that expensive database software etc. just to name a few things. Ordinary buyers are no match to the power wielded by marketers and sales people who have spent their entire lives to master their art.

Here is what Seth Godin writes about the marketers who love dumb and/or ignorant customers:

Ask them to show you a recipe for how to make what they make on your own, and "it's a trade secret."

And this one is really a gem:

Their perfect customer is someone in a hurry, with plenty of money and not a lot of knowledge about their options.

And here is what happens when the competition does just the opposite and tries to make you, the customer, smarter and more informed:

if just one player enters the field and works to make people smarter, the competition has a hard time responding with a dumbness offensive. They can obfuscate and run confusing ads, but sooner or later, the inevitability of information spreading works in favor of those that bet on it.

That's the beauty of today's world powered by social media. Every one has a voice.

Thanks Seth Godin.

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It is 100% un-natural

We get a sense of confidence when we read "100% natural", "natural contents only" or something similar on product labels. We feel rest assured this is not going to harm us, we are going to get the best of what nature has produced, it has not been tempered by humans, it is 100% natural etc. etc.

Yes, this line sells products. Just look at all those soaps, shampoos, cold creams, food products which contain "pure" extracts of a natural thing, probably a herb or a fruit or a vegetable.

It is debatable whether these 100% "natural products" or "pure extracts" are of any value if at all. But this is a topic for some other time. What I want to discuss is just the opposite of these claims.

What if the manufacturer writes; "100% man made", "No natural contents", "Synthetic chemicals only", "No fresh juice inside". Will this make you uncomfortable? Will you still buy that product?

It makes sense to assume that if there is no first type of statements (100% natural), the opposite is true. But the manufacturer is of course shy to tell this to you explicitly. The 100% un-natural statement can make you uncomfortable. You may not buy that product.

Next time when you visit your superstore, have a closer look at all those items which are not 100% natural; juices, drinks, food items, cosmetics and others. Will you still buy these? Especially the edible items?

(CC photo credits.)

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Thinking about thinking

As I said earlier, positive thinking is not the only thinking you need to do. Thinking about thinking is also an important one. You may need to sit down alone, preferably with a paper and a pencil, and start asking questions.

Warning: Your own answers can be scary.

1. Why I am doing what I am doing? Can I do something better? When will I do that?
2. What is the worst thing that can happen if I stop doing this today? Can things get better? Perhaps I shall get rid of my ever scolding boss and start living with dignity.
   
3. What other possibilities (perhaps better ones) are there for me? Have I ever tried to explore?
   
4. Should I re-evaluate my priorities? Reading, teaching, kids, spending, eating, pleasure, exercise, money, volunteering etc.
   
5. What I am going to do in next 10,20,30 years?
   
6. What is my past performance for the last 2, 5, 10, 15 years? Do I need to change my tactics radically?
7. Is it time to develop new habits or get rid of old ones?
8. Am I thinking too little?
9. Am I thinking too much? (with too little action)

Not every question is tied to money.

Thinking about thinking comes under green and blue hats.

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A pdf reader which allows you to highlight text and add notes

Foxit is a free pdf reader for windows (similar to adobe reader) but it allows you to highlight and underline text as well as add notes.

Posted via email from Saqib Awan

Incorrectly placed priorities

I am tired of it; the wrong sort of priorities and optimizations.

1. Friends ask me to get their website on the first page of Google search.
2. Clients ask me to optimize the data entry screen to get the maximum possible juice out of a data entry operator.
3. Accountants ask me to provide as many analysis reports as possible.

This blog post (the non-optimized life) by Seth Godin made me feel relaxed. Let us think this way:

1. Friends can optimize the website/blog text by learning to write a story.
   
2. Businesses can get better returns by spending more time on generating new ideas for sales and simpler business processes rather than worrying about the extra tab key needed to post a transaction.
3. Accountants need to learn that "we can analyze the past but we have to design the future".

I have so many friends in my facebook who are in the SEO (search engine optimization) business but not a single one who teaches how to write well. (Let me know if If you are the one) May be it is time to step into this profession too.

"That's one reason I resist the temptation to optimize this blog for traffic and yield. I'd rather force myself to improve it by having the guts to write better posts instead."

If Seth's policy can result in more than 700 re-tweets of his blog posts, we badly need to re-evaluate our priorities.

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Why we can't eat less (or how we can)

This blog post is for you if you are endlessly trying to stay fit and smart by dieting and eating less but slacking.

I often refer to Michael Pollan's work on diet and health. His book "Food Rules, An Eater's Manual" is a wonderful collection of 64 eating rules. Each rule is described in a concise and simple way. Recommended.

On eating less he has also quoted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): "the Prophet Muhammad described a full belly as one that contained 1/3 food, 1/3 liqued and 1/3 air."

Now back to today's question; why we can't eat less? Does it really require a lot of will power? This is what I always thought. Michael tells us a little hack which can help.

Neurons in our stomach can take up to 20 minutes to send the message to our brain that our belly is full. This means that we can eat more, a lot more, if we eat faster, within this 20 minutes window.

So the trick to eat less is to eat slowly spanning your meal time to 20 minutes or more.

If you cannot eat slowly for some reason, eat a small portion, promise yourself to eat more after 20 minutes. Here you might need to exercise your will power just enough to restrict your eating for 20 minutes. You won't be able to stuff your belly much even if you try to eat again after 20 minutes.

Try this little hack today.

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Do this and you won't need to visit your dentist

Last month I had to visit my dentist for a number of days. While talking to him I asked what was the best way to keep my teeth in good order. I was expecting something like "brush three times a day, regularly" or "use this great tooth paste because it contains x, y and z".

But his reply was totally unexpected. He said, "eat less".

He said that when we eat more, our blood's pH level gets disturbed and that's the single biggest source of tooth decay.

Now "eat less" is the advice I always acknowledge (though I yet have to practice it on regular basis). I had heard this first from Michael Pollan's famous quote, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.".

So time to "eat less" now. And this blog post is going to serve as a constant reminder for me.

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Some more Ubuntu Linux hints

Few days ago I suggested to try Ubuntu Linux as your desktop operating system instead of Microsoft Windows. Here are few more points which may be helpful.

1. You can try Ubuntu Linux without installing it on your computer. Just put the CD into your computer's cd/dvd drive and select the live desktop when it shows initial boot options. Ubuntu will discover and configure almost your hardware appropriately (including most wireless network cards). You should be able to browse Internet, try out OpenOffice and few other things of interest.

2. You can start installation on your hard disk from this live cd environment.

3. You do not need to have a free partition on your hard drive. You can install it on your existing C: or D: drive. (Though hard disk performance will be suboptimal)

Feel free to share your experiences here.

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I am sorry, I don't have an iPhone

It is easy to get carried away and invest a good fortune in an iPhone, the latest and hottest gadget. (It is much expensive here in Pakistan) After all every smart kid (actually rich kid) is carrying it. So why not you? And of course you don't want to look apologetic every time a friend of you buys and shows off his iphone.

First, I would definitely recommend you to do a PMI and APC before buying a gadget like iphone.

Second, read this blog post to see why a millionaire does not want to get an iphone.

Third, if you still need it, I would suggest to read this article (Seriously, why do you still have an iPhone?) about alternatives, the better ones.

I don't have one and probably never will.

Do you have an iphone? Let me know.

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A quick way to enhance your vocabulary

I have been using Google dictionary extension for my Chrome browser for couple of weeks and much pleased. I just double click a new word while browsing/reading and immediately get its definition in a yellow bubble right there.

Try it today and enhance your vocabulary the easy way.

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Positive thinking is over rated

Every one asks you to think positively, to get rid of your negative thoughts and emotions. Many articles, blog posts and books have been written on the power of positive thinking.

Right? Probably wrong. Though the above advice might somewhat help those who are deeply in negative thinking, it often causes confusion to people trying to improve themselves just with positive thinking.

The other types of thinking (including negative and emotional ones) are equally important too.

... Without negative thinking you can't be aware of any risk elements in a new venture, dangers at a new place or bad intentions of a stranger etc.

... Have you ever tried getting rid of your emotional thinking? You should not and in fact you can't.

... Without some creating thinking you cannot move ahead in your life.

So the trick is to give equal share to each type of thinking.

Dr. Edward de Bono has divided our thinking into six types (symbolized by metaphorical hats):

1. Positive thinking with all the logic. (Yellow hat)
2. Negative thinking with all the logic. (Black hat)
3. Emotions without any logic and justification. (Red hat)
4. Actual facts which can be verified independently. (White hat)
5. Creative thinking; new ideas, inventions. (Green hat)
6. Control of your thinking. Forcing yourself to do due justice to every type of thinking. (Blue hat)

An emotional decision is not bad as long as you have given due time to thinking of all other types.

A good thinker has to be good at all types of thinking.

Are you a good thinker?

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Whitewashing jang.com.pk

To its credit, jang.com.pk is the most frequently updated urdu news website (correct me if I am wrong). Unfortunately it is crowded by flashing, bright color ads which make reading experience anything but highly unpleasant.

Today I installed 'AdBlock' extension for my Google Chrome and it made jang.com.pk instantly more readable, whitewashing the most annoying ads. AdBlock is also avaiable for Firefox.

Here are screen shots of jang.com.pk before and after installing AdBlock.

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Is there any education value of quotable quotes?

When I was growing up I really loved quotable quotes and always searched for good ones in books and newspapers. One day I came to know that compilations of really good quotes are also available in  book format. I was excited. I got one and eagerly started reading from page one. Past few pages, I stopped reading. I was disappointed. I was not getting the inspiration from reading high quality quotes in a book.

After some thought I realized that quotes were good for me when I read a single one once in a while and tried to internalize it by thinking long and hard about  it. This was obviously not happening when I was reading quotes in a book in alphabetical order.

Many years later when I studied Dr. Edward de Bono and learned that, what every type of training and education (as well as fights and wars) aimed for, was perception change. Now as we grow older and older it becomes harder for us to perceive things in a new way because we settle down each new thought into our established thoughts (patterns). So it becomes really hard for us to change our perception (and thus get any value) from reading a quotable quote casually and then moving to a next one.

Then there is a big question of context. Every quote makes sense in a particular context. For example Jinnah's popular quote 'work, work and work' can easily make you a heart patient without understanding it in a proper context.

In contrast to quotable quotes, thinking tools (as invented by Dr. Edward de Bono) take almost the same amount of time and effort as reading a great quote but can change your perception for your entire life. And fortunately these are just few.

My highly knowledgeable and intellectual friend Marryam Chaudhry posted her thoughts on facebook in these words:

Marryam Chaudhry has noticed that people luv to post quotes coz they sound nice.. How many of you actually read- retain- amend yourself accordingly??? I'm no angel n yes I have horns ;) but at least I try!!!

You are right Marryam. The educational value of quotable quotes is close to zero.

And, yes, facebook has turned into a giant quotable quotes book.

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The best ever computer software no one will try to sell you

Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 from Microsoft or Mac OS X from Apple are called "operating systems" software (OS for short) in computer jargon. Very few people know that there is an operating system called "Linux" which is free and can be installed on their computers and even fewer of these knowledgeable people use it.

You may ask why bother to even worry there is such thing called Linux. The biggest reason is that you will get rid of all computer viruses, spyware and other security issues as soon as you install Linux. This will make your day to day computer use enjoyable and worry free.

With Linux your existing computer will become much faster without spending a dime because you don't need to install (and keep updating forever) those so called "security suites". (anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware software etc)

Linux is available under many names like Redhat, Ubuntu, Suse, Debian etc. For desktop users Ubuntu is the easiest one. 10.04 is the latest Ubuntu release. I have been using this release for about a month and have helped install it on my clients, friends and family members' computers. All these users are, to say the least, quite happy and amazed.

Ubuntu 10.04 sets a new level of ease of use for installation and auto-configuration of your computer peripherals. It installed within 15 minutes and detected all devices (wireless network, bluetooth, wireless keyboard, mouse, memory cards etc.) on my laptop and home computers and got configured without asking a single thing.

You can install it on your existing Windows hard disk or in a separate partition without much fuss. You just need to follow these steps:

Installation

1. Download Ubuntu 10.04 CD in ISO format (700 MB) from http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download.
2. Create a CD from this ISO image, boot your computer from this CD and just follow instructions. (Make sure you first backup important work on your computer)

Once Ubuntu is running you can install additional software from a huge software repository by running the 'apt-get install software-package-name' in the command line. Believe me there is every thing you will ever need on Ubuntu Linux and that too absolutely free.

Welcome to free computing.

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Making money with your blog

A friend of mine, with really good knowledge of real estate business in Lahore, writes a personal blog. His posts include personal experiences as well as reviews of various real estate ventures. Recently he mentioned that a large number of people were visiting his blog and said this traffic was beyond his expectations. He wanted to monetize this. He asked for ideas.

The easiest (and lazy man) solution is of course to put google ads. I, however, do not recommend this for three reasons:

1. If it works, it forces your visitors to leave your site.
2. If it does not, it clutters your blog and makes the reading experience unpleasant.
3. And if you can make $100/month or more, you are really lucky.
   

The other solution I always recommend is to sell your own product or service relevant to your blog. If you don't have one, make a simple one like a PDF booklet. Make two of these.

1. The smaller (5-10 pages) one which you offer as free download.
   
2. The bigger (5-25 pages) one which you sell for a price range of $2 to $6.

Initially simplicity and low price are essential for quick sales. You can always tune things later on.

Your PDF product should have information which helps your visitor to save time and should be formated pleasantly. I often refer to Shama Hyder Kabani's "free online marketing plan" from this link as an example of a really good "product".

This is just to begin with. There are many other and better ideas to make money online. I, for example, write a lot of technical documentation which I make available free. This has helped me get a good number of consulting assignments from all over the world without direct marketing.

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Rephrase it

I struggled last couple of weeks trying to finish an assignment for a
client. It was not just getting done and frustrating me (and my client
too). Why? partly because of bit ambiguous specs sent by client and
partly because of hurriedness on my part to deliver quickly.

Yesterday I just took few minutes, re-wrote his request in my own
words and asked him to confirm. Lo and behold; it was not what he
wanted. And what ever he wanted was something really simple, a half an
hour job.

So whenever you are in doubt, rewrite your customer's request in your
own words and ask him to confirm. This advice is here for my own
reminder so that I don't waste two week again for a 30 minutes job.

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Writing habit

For the past few months I have been busy with work and not able to concentrate and write down my thoughts on this blog.

The less I write the more difficult it looks to do it next time. So here I am again with a self promise that I am going write more and more to contribute something useful (thats first priority) and develop my writing habit.

It is also time to start looking for more simplification in my personal and business affairs. Simplification is not something you do can once and then forget. The evolutionary process seems to favor complexity. So we need to devote some dedicated time, daily or at least weekly, to our simplification drive.

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Literacy verses Operacy

by Edward de Bono in New Zealand

22nd June 1998

The Millennium Conference is now under way. For details please see below. Some input will still be included in my weekly message but the bulk - including comments and contributions - will be published in the special conference area.

Last week I suggested beginning with a look at education since that is generally accepted as the basis of society.

I have not done a full survey or review of education systems around the world so the views I express are based on personal experience. I would say that all education systems I have had contact with are a disgrace and a disaster. How can that be? The reason is that education is a locked-in and self-complacent system. No matter how motivated and excellent individuals may be, and there are many such talented people in education, change is virtually impossible.

There are two important and apparently contradictory principles:

1. Everything now taught in education has a high value.
2. Most of what is taught in schools is of very little value to the students or to society.

In the European Union something like 25 per cent of schooling time is spent on mathematics. Yet 90 per cent of those leaving school probably use less than 3 per cent of what they have learned in the mathematics lessons. When did you last use algebra, trigonometry, set theory or calculus?

So why do we spend so much time teaching this amount of mathematics?

1. Because it trains the mind. There is no evidence for this at all. If we were really concerned with training the mind we could spend a fraction of this time directly teaching thinking - with far more relevance to the lives of ordinary people. For example, something like 90 per cent of mistakes in everyday thinking are mistakes of perception. Mathematics can do very little about this.
2. Because mathematics is required for many careers in science, engineering and technology. True, but do we need to train a hundred people so that four can undertake such careers? Surely, it would make more sense to teach the relevant skills as part of such professional training.
3. Because mathematics was there before. This is the real reason. Everyone knows the value of mathematics so no one dare attack the huge amount of time spent on mathematics.
4. Because teachers, examinations and the curriculum lock us into the matematics requirements.

The last two reasons are the real reasons.

1. Mathematics has a high value. So does every other subject taught in education. But time is limited in education. There may be subjects that have an even higher value. Let me mention just three.
2. Basic constructive thinking skills. This is the most important subject of all - virtually never taught. This subject helps youngsters get on with their own lives and also to contribute to society. Is that not a disgrace?
3. Understanding "Value creation in society". This again is a key subject. Is it not a disgrace that youngsters leave school knowing about the War of the Roses but have no idea as to how business works?
4. "Operacy" and the skills of doing. The notion that it is enough to "know" is both absurd and dangerous. Research has shown that youngsters who pursued hobbies did much better in life - because they has some experience of operacy. I believe that half the time devoted to sports should be devoted to hobbies and "operacy" projects.

Communication, interpersonal and group skills. Also very important.

All these things are so very obvious. Why are they not happening?

1. Because there are no exams in such subjects and the subjects are not on any curriculum.
2. Because there are no teachers to teach such subjects.
3. Because universities set school leaving examinations and universities are out of touch with the real needs of society.
4. Because change attracts criticism.

When Charlemagne was the greatest leader in Europe, he could not read or write. It was the role of scribes and notaries to look after the reading and writing activity. Education developed around teaching such necessary skills to scribes and notaries. That is the direct heritage of education. Education has expanded in two ways. It expanded to mass education for all. Education also sought to make available all human knowledge.

Add to this a fatal dominance by (and obsession with) the Greek Gang of Three and we have our current education system.

At the top end we have indeed made some progress - mainly in science and technology. But at lower levels we have made virtually no progress at all. That is why I used the rather strong terms of disgrace and disaster.

If teaching basic thinking skills to illiterate workers (platinum miners in South Africa*) can reduce grievances from 210 a month to 4 a month - then the ideas I suggest above are not only possible but they are incredibly powerful.

© McQuaig Group 1998

The above piece may be re-published in any magazine, newspaper or journal provided that it is not altered and the copyright line is given.

What the best talkers have in common

Here is a excerpt from the book "How to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere" by Larry King.

1. They look at things from a new angle, taking unexpected points of view on familiar subjects.
2. They have broad horizons. They think about, and talk about, a wide range of issues and experiences beyond their own daily lives.
3. They are enthusiastic, displaying a passion for what they're doing with their lives and an interest in what you're saying to them at that moment.
4. They don't talk about themselves all the time.
5. They are curious. They ask "Why?" They want to know more about what you're telling them.
6. They empathize. They try to put themselves in your place, to relate to what you're saying.
7. They have a sense of humor. And they don't mind using it on themselves. Infact, the best conversationalists frequently tell stories on themselves.
8. They have their own style of talking.

Keep talking.

Everything popular is wrong

Read the book "Rework" (on NYT, WSJ bestseller lists) and start believing the quote which is title of this post. From book title page:

• ASAP is poison
• Under-do the competition
• Meetings are toxic
• Fire the workaholics
• Emulate drug dealers
• Pick a fight
• Planning is guessing
• Inspiration is perishable.

Book excerpt is available in PDF format from book home page.

Fake moral lessons

Many facebook discussions start with some quotable quote or a story. Fake moral stories are on the rise as well. Consider the following interesting discussion on facebook based upon a fake story (names and some discussion removed for brevity and to protect the innocent)

Eagle siting on a tree doing nothing. Rabit thought to do the same & sat on ground. A wolf came & ate it. Lesson: To sit & do nothing, you need to be on top!!

Another friend replied to this with another similar story:

WELL SAID, I heard an other story i mean not related to this but funny;

A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.''Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'The turkey pecked at a ... See Morelump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral Bull Shitt might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

I replied with:

I think that both these stories also demonstrate a critical flaw of logic; you can prove anything with logic using an appropriately constructed story involving humans, animals, plants, stars etc.

There are three problems with stories like this:

1. These stories are obviously fake. No one was sitting with those animals and recording their "thinking" for the story.
2. We can make animals do whatever we want to according to our planned outcome.
3. Even if the above two things were right somehow, we are still generalizing from one example which is surely a wrong thing to do. (See http://lesswrong.com/lw/dr/generalizing_from_one_example/)

There are better ways to teach and I shall be writing about some of these in future.

Corporate speak

What is corporate speak (without corporate speak)?

1. Corporate talk which means nothing to common people.
2. An ambiguous way of communication you won't use with your mother, wife or kids.

Definition

Management-speak has triumphed. It has made much of our everyday language dull, dimwitted and meaningless. To sound professional, you must express everything in abstract nouns, and each noun in terms of another one; you must talk about synergy and strategy, uptake and outcomes and outputs and inputs, key performance indicators and drivers and customer experience - even if your 'customers' are in fact patients in a hospital. Your words will be obscure and indigestible. You will conform to the new way. You will surrender the ability to write and speak with spontaneity or clarity and, with prolonged use, even your ability to think clearly. (Source: Weasel words)

And from wikipedia:

Marketing speak refers to particular patterns of language often used to promote a product or service to a wide audience by seeking to create the impression that the vendors of the service possess a high level of sophistication, skill, and technical knowledge. Such language is often used in marketing press releases, advertising copy, and prepared statements read by executives and politicians.

Marketing speak is characterized by its heavy use of buzzwords, neologisms, and terms appropriated from specialized technical fields which are eventually rendered almost meaningless through heavy repeated use in inappropriate contexts.

Who talks like this?
Used mostly in big corporations. Independent  consultants also love it. They want to convince you that they are really capable and delivering something you don't know. They are actually delivering nothing. Makes them feel important and you look as stupid as possible. Some intellectuals also love it.

Examples

A job at micrsoft.com:

If you’re looking for a new role where you’ll focus on one of the biggest issues that is top of mind for KT and Steve B in ‘Compete’, build a complete left to right understanding of the subsidiary, have a large amount of executive exposure, build and manage the activities of a v-team of 13 district Linux& Open Office Compete Leads, and develop a broad set of marketing skills and report to a management team committed to development and recognized for high WHI this is the position for you!

From an IT company website:

We take the initiative to redirect with diversity of though, superior coordination and affirmative appraoch, ingenuity of ideas and assessment of skills, which are conductive to the success of any firm. That's why we are committed to quality and value. We are trying to make I.IT a basic need for business development so the creation of reporting in vast fields of business can modify and the decision making power can get improve for the business.

Oh God, I am in trouble. I can't speak like that. Any help?
Yes here is one glossary for the innocent victims.

Simple banking

Few months ago I lost my ATM/debit debit card. I promptly called my bank and was put on hold because "all operators were busy serving customers". After some waiting and patience I finally got my card blocked. The operator asked me to make a new call to order my new card due to bank "policy".

After going through the call center hell again (including authenticating myself with personal information and getting transferred a couple of times), the operator told me that she could not forward my request and I had to visit the bank branch where I had opened my account. When I insisted she told me that my account was marked "high risk" and she could not take any request on phone.

I could not go to my bank partly due to work and partly due to laziness. Now a funny thing happened. I started living without my debit card but just a bit more financially organized. I just had to think a bit more in advance about my expected expenses and used my good old cheque book to draw money from a branch near my home.

Last week I went to my branch and got my debit cards permanently deleted from my account.

Perceived convenience and actual convenience are two different things. What do you think?

What your doctor dislikes

A quote from Seth Godin's recent blog post, What the industry wants:

Doctors don't like prescribing lifestyle changes or natural cures, because many patients demand a scrip and it's easily defended and it comes with a sales rep.

Why would a doctor prescribe something which is going to cure you in the long run? This will kill his practice. Like all of us he needs to make money. On the other hand this practice costs us money on unnecessary diagnostic tests and weakens our immune system with over-medication. One suggestion is to pay doctors to ignore the patients.

Next time you have to visit your doctor, ask him to recommend something other than the magic pill he always prescribes.

Using fear as a marketing tool

I have been using Life Bouy soap all my life. Few days ago I saw the company's "public service message" on how to avoid swine flu. This was a half page ad on the front page of the Daily Jang, Lahore edition. Here are the recommendations:

Wash your hands every time you:

1. sneeze.
2. cook.
3. touch anything (door nob, furniture, computers etc.)
4. shake hand.

Even as a loyal consumer, I was disgusted. This company is trying its best to induce fear into us to make us all psychotic. For what? Just to sell more soap bars.

My immediate thought was what about the transfer of virus through air when you or someone sneezes? No, you can't stop the virus spreading. You have to make your immune system strong.

You do need to wash hands but not as madly as this ad asks you. And not with soap every time.

This news item (swine flu scare was a "false pandemic") confirms what I and many people were thinking:

A LEADING health expert says the swine flu scare was a "false pandemic" led by drugs companies that stood to make billions from vaccines. Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, claims major firms organised a "campaign of panic" to put pressure on the World Health Organisation to declare a pandemic. He believes it is "one of the greatest medicine scandals of the century" — and has called for an inquiry.

Here is my recipe to avoid swine flu (or any other flu):

1. Exercise daily and possibly twice a day.
2. Eat simple and healthy food (vegetables, fruit, very little meat) and avoid processed food.
3. Avoid medicines whenever possible. Let your immune system get stronger.
4. Move carefully in extreme weather.
5. And of course keep your environment clean but you don't need to wash your hands after every 10 minutes.

... because no company is going to promote this public service message with big advertisements in national newspapers.

My 2010 resolution

Like everybody else I would like to begin 2010 with a resolution. Here it goes:

Be a really good father and husband. Always be optimistic. Make friends. Take care of people and environment. Contribute to society. Excel in whatever I do. Look for opportunities. Keep learning.

The funny thing is that you (or perhaps everybody) can say the same words for your own 2010 resolution. Just like corporate mission statements or quotable quotes, this resolution achieves only one thing; makes you feel good for few moments. Why? Because it is too general and too vague. There is no action plan or target which will force you to take concrete steps or make you feel ashamed at the end of the year. (Who knows you were pessimistic the whole year or ignored the opportunities etc.)

Here goes the revised one:

1. The number one thing I would do this year is more and better writing on my blog. I just don't want to fill my blog. I want to write something which I enjoy and you enjoy. (Reading and experimenting is a pre-requisite for writing. I shall be doing more of both these things as well)
   
2. Teaching Edward de Bono's lateral thinking skills. Possibly start an online training website based upon de Bono's work.
3. Do more product based business and be less dependent on customized services to my clients. (I run a small IT consulting business in the field of accounting/erp/crm to put food on the table)
4. Start at least one new Internet-based business which requires only few hours work each week. Start making some money from this new business before the end of the year.
5. Talking of money, I am making good enough money right now. Though I would love to make millions, I would still be happy if I can maintain the current earnings level throughout the year with same or less amount of effort and achieve the other goals.

I know expressing my plans might make me less likely to achieve but I wanted to clear up my mind and put some social pressure on me as well. I shall come back with a report next year.

Make yourself great

From Be Nice:

I don't care how good you are at programming, finding bugs, whatever. If you're rude, or if you speak poorly to people who don't understand your... quirks.... you will wind up being shunted to the side. No one wants to work with someone who makes them feel beat down all the time, or someone who they simply can't understand, or someone whose reaction to every issue is to start wailing about the end of the world.

and

Being very good at what you do makes you just that: very good. Being very good and being nice: that makes you great.

Read full blog post here.

An iPhone killer?

Nexus one, the Google phone is finally here powered by, Android, Google's open source mobile operating system. The best part is that it is officially available unlocked. See interactive demo here.

How to Make Million Dollars

Internet is full of such advice. Fortunately this one is different and from a qualified person, Marshal Brain. He is famous for his website, How Stuff Works. He frankly relates his own experiences on the path to a millionaire. Read here.

Minimum body exercise you should do every week

I am not very particular about body exercise. I usually prefer yoga but not punctual enough. Usually the excuse for not doing exercise is not having "enough time" to do the "errand". But I am realizing now that downtime (due to bad health conditions like headache, flu, lethargy etc.) is much more than any time "saved" from not doing the exercise. So I am going to do it more frequently in 2010. (my first resolve for 2010)

Here is a New York Times links which discusses how little you must do every week.

Bill Clinton read this self-help book

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who started his new autobiography, My Life, with a reference to the book:

When I was a young man just out of law school and eager to get on with my life, on a whim I briefly put aside my reading preference for fiction and history and bought one of those how-to books: How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life, by Alan Lakein.

The book’s main point was the necessity of listing short-, medium-, and long-term life goals, then categorizing them in order of their importance, with the A group being the most important, the B group next, and the C the last, then listing under each goal specific activities designed to achieve them.

I still have that paperback book, now almost thirty years old. And I’m sure I have that old list somewhere buried in my papers, though I can’t find it. However, I do remember the A list. I wanted to be a good man, have a good marriage and children, have good friends, make a successful political life, and write a great book.

(From hacker news)

Posted via email from Saqib Awan