Cheer up. You are either talented or inventive!

We all should cheer up because we are either talented or inventive.

If talented, then you can copy and clone the past and present successes and prosper.

If you lack that talent, then whatever you make will be a bit different, a bit unique. In other words, you are original and inventive!

You can be both, but you cannot be neither. Isn't it a bit cheerful thought?

Bono and Karma and B-Karma

I read this in a nice book, "Beyond Willpower"

“It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma…

You see, at the centre of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics – in physical laws – every action is met by an equal or opposite one.  Its clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe.  I’m absolutely sure of it.

And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “As you reap, so will you sow” stuff.  Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep shit. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace

I am glad that Bono is conceptually right 100%. I am a bit sad that he seems not to know Buddhism at all.

What he calls karma is untreated, uncultured, undeveloped karma.
What he calls grace is treated, cultured, developed karma.
Let's call this B-Karma to honor Buddha and also to honor Bono who has popularized this distinction.

Karma is never "an eye for an eye." Even the Myanmar culture has a saying: "Donate what amounts to a banyan seed and get what amounts to a banyan tree. Or donate what amounts to a banyan tree and get what amounts to a banyan seed."

office to office, office to office

June 30, 2014

 office to office, office to office, ... I never get used to this kind of movement. Now it is over. RELIEF and REGRET. Things could have been very different ...

Now, a new start

Jataka Tales for Our Times

Reference

The Jataka, Volume I, tr. by Robert Chalmers, [1895], at sacred-texts.com
THE JATAKA OR STORIES OF THE BUDDHA'S FORMER BIRTHS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI BY VARIOUS HANDS UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF PROFESSOR E. B. COWELL. 

Leading Humans in 6 Stories

Vol I 1- 150
1 --- caravan merchant/ keep water ( page 1, pdf 26)
2 --- caravan merchant/ digging ( page 9, pdf 34)
54 --- whatnot tree ( page 135, pdf 160)

Vol II  151-300
265 --- chief forest guide fights alone. ( page 231, pdf 251)

Vol IV  439-510
463 --- blind skipper/mariner ( page 86, pdf 98)
466 --- carpenters on island ( page 98, pdf 110)

Leading Animals in 11 Stories

Vol I 1- 150
11 --- Luckie travels night, away from villagers. Blackie loses all followers. ( page 34, pdf 59)
20 ---  monkey king drinks through hollow cane/reed ( page 54, pdf 79)

 22 --- dog king exposes palace dogs' mischief ( page 58, pdf 83)

 33 --- united quails escape the net, quarrelsome suffer. ( page 85, pdf 110)
 36 --- wise quails escape fire, foolish suffer. ( page 91, pdf 116)

128 --- rat king kills hypocrite jackal ( page 281, pdf 306)
140 --- crow king explains we have no fat ( page 300, pdf 325)

Vol II  151-300
177 --- monkey king's nephew started a fire to disperse villagers ( page 53, pdf 73)
283 --- carpenter's boar king ( page 275, pdf 295)


Vol III  301-438
407 --- monkey king's bridge ( page 225, pdf 243)

Vol IV  439-510
484 --- parrot king ( page 175, pdf 187)

Just General Knowledge

Vol II
257 --- features of Buddha's Wisdom

Vol III
388 --- fear of death and pig brothers

Vol IV
459 --- small sins caused Pacceka Buddhahood

Vol V 511-537
515 --- ( page 37, pdf 48)

1. Seize the occasion promptly
2. Shun evil ways.

Vol VI 538-547
546 --- Ma Haw Thadha ( page 156, pdf 160 )
(Johnny English said Dialog is the best weapon for MI7 spies. The characters in this story foreshadow him nearly 3000 years ago!)

Change Management and Resilience for Kids

Just 3 perspectives should be enough.

Investment

A maxim in this field is, there is nothing new but history we do not know.

Military

All successful battle field commanders cannot do without a firm spiritual faith.

Entrepreneurship

80/20 Rule: If you are sure about 80% of your business or If you are sure about your business 80% of the time, you are okay. Or else, you need to do something about it, such as building a system to run your business, delegating more, or even breaking it up into smaller, more manageable pieces, etc.

Shall we teach kids change and volatility, or stability, history and the First Principles?

Good luck!

"You Have Low Self-Esteem, Watch Out!"

on May 1, 2010

In Linguistics, a one-sentence counter-example is enough to destroy an elegant linguistic theory. Here are many counter-examples to some conventional wisdom of Psychology. Will psychologists change their minds, their models?

Self-Esteem

It is defined to be something to do with how much you like yourself, respect yourself. how much you deem yourself deserving/worthy of happiness and success.

What Happens When You Have Low Self-Esteem?

Since you don't love/like yourself, you demand/hog love and like from others. Since you don't respect yourself, you demand/hog respect from others, become sensitive/touchy. Since you don't deem yourself deserving/worthy of happiness and success, you will self-destruct one way or another. Even your pursuit of pleasure may be self-punishment in disguise. Since you have no control over yourself, you become controlling.

According to David J. Lieberman(either in Executive Power or in You Can Read Anyone ), When stakes are high, the person with low self esteem is mostly to make bad choices. When stakes are high, the person with low self esteem, high confidence, poor moods, is mostly to become stubborn.

Exceptions Prove the Rule. But Are These Exceptions?

Many a government has studied and reported on Hitler's psychology. No one has proved Hitler mad, even in his final moments inside the bunker. (I am always amused by such reports.) He liked himself. He loved himself. He respected himself. He believed himself worthy of any glory. By definition, he had very high self-esteem. Then why did he punish himself in the end?
Why did he make bad choices? Why did he become stubborn?

Or he had proper amount of self-esteem when he was successful, and improper amount of self-esteem when he was unsuccessful. Then what kind of explanation, model, theory, discipline is that?

This is not an exception. Consider Madoff, Enron CEO/CFO, any gang chiefs.
Shall we just claim that their self-esteem were okay until they got caught? What kind of explanation, model, theory, discipline is that?

Does true success, happiness, peace result from being psychologically healthy or from being moral/ethical?

Exceptions Prove the Rule. But Judeo-Christian Psychologists May Never Understand These Exceptions.

Some Buddhist monks I met were very sensitive about disrespect, even disrespect to their buildings, compounds, yards, grounds, etc. Some monks in the Scriptures were just as sensitive on this count.

One remarkable example: Once a young monk in Sri Lanka thought ill of an old monk for a moment. The old monk not only followed the young one to the latter's monastery but also told him to stop practising because he would not make any progress in his Spiritual practice. Judeo-Christian Psychologists would start thinking like this:

"Why can't he forgive the young monk?"
"Nobody knows he got insulted."
"Insult only in the mind, no big deal."
"What an old fool with what a low self-esteem!"
"He's playing mind-game on the young mink."
"His warning is mean, hate-filled, malicious, out of proportion!"
"He's showing off his powers to read other people's minds."
"What an easy target for psywar harassment and provocation!"

These monks had low self-esteem? They demand respect because they don't/can't respect themselves? They are over-controlling because they feel inside controlessness over their own selves?

If you cannot judge even Hitler, which is a very clear-cut case, you better leave these monks alone. You better dust or tweak or overhaul or dump your own tools.

A monk's scolding is very sweet, merciful and beneficial.
Hitler's praise, friendliness, respect are blood-stained, murderous and ill-fated.

Sometimes psychologists need a lot of humility. Buddha remarks that the external or natural worlds are no match for the complexity of the mind.

Conclusion

Do you know what you don't know? Do you know what you know may be incomplete, inadequate or plain wrong? And are you going to measure everything with your ruler because you have this only one ruler? Are you going to search the lost key under the lamp because the light is only here? ( I give a clue: the guy in the story was drunk. You may also assume him dumb.)

'Dumb' and 'drunk' combination does create many an amusing anecdote.

Stability, Adaptability, and Truth

"The world is changing. The times are changing. New technologies are emerging at a breakneck pace. New markets, new economies. new careers are emerging at a breakneck pace."

"A new graduate has to keep 6 or more careers before s/he retires."

"Changes are coming more frequently than in the past. And their impact and ramifications are far deeper and more wide-ranging than in the past."

"Our age is a complex system and we live in a chaotic world full of black swans and tsunamis."

Given such information, we as parents have 2 choices:

1. We can refuse to believe them.
2. Or we can accept them.

We Refuse to Believe in Chaos

Here are some examples of this line of believing

1. A proverb --- "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
2. Taoism --- The centre is so stable that it is not moving at all.
3. Drucker --- Invention of Internet is comparable to the invention of printing press.
4. Hidden Champions --- Timeless maxims, not business management fads.
5. "Breaking the Windows" --- It seperates boys from men to see which is a trend and which is a fad, a hype.
6. Steve Jobs --- New technology happens very slowly.

That 's what I mean by Truth. That the world is stable doesn't mean that it is a bed or roses. It can be stable and stably tough.

Or Believe the World is Getting More Chaotic

Then, we believe that past is more stable than the present.

Do you think times in 500 BC, 400 BC, 300 BC were more stable than out times?

Do we find the people of those times viewed their jobs as stable and static?

Did they view their worlds as stable and static?

Did they see their worlds as utterly predictable and sort of boring and plain sailing?

What do we find instead?

That 's what I mean by Truth. The world never was, is and shall be stable.

Read literature set in rural backwaters. Do those characters find their lives stable?

In that sense, the world is stable. Teach that to your children.

The Simpleton Strikes Back --- Part 2 of 2

To make a living, we need competence in at least or at most 6 fields, what Warren Buffet and Chralie Munger call "circles of competence."

Outside of these fields we are all outsiders, laymen, rookies, beginners, non-experts.

To run a car factory, you don't have to raise sheep for their skins for car seat leather, or to maintain grassland for those sheep to graze and so on. As the owner of the car factory, you are accountable for a steady supply of quality leather, but you don't have to become a vet, a rancher etc.

If you can and you want to, you may. Like Henry Ford did at one time. His River Rouge Plant became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing vertical integration to such an extent that it could produce its own steel

But if you cannot or you don't want to, relax.

You already know how to satisfy your accountability without increasing your expertise. You have played the role of the beginner, the simpleton throughout your life successfully. And you can carry it to the next level and the next as much as you wish.

You want evidence? What about Richard Feynman of Quantum Physics, Mark Zuckerberg of FaceBook, Craig Newmark of Craiglist, and Andrew Carnegie of US Steel?

1. Richard Feynman chose Monte Carlo Simulations. To figure out the unknown part, he repeated parts he knew for thousands of times.
2. Mark Zuckerberg chose PHP, not Lisp, not Java, to implement Facebook.
3. Craig got the cool minimalist style for his site because he didn't know much iof web design but just knew how to keep things simple in general.
4. Andrew Carnegie told his friends that since they were not "practical men," they didn't know which one of 6 steel technologies to bet on. But then, he preached the value of putting all of one's eggs in one single basket.

You can also read about Buffet and Instgram as illustrations for the same principle. Also read about Steve Jobs's reliance on demos in decision-making.

Suppose I want to criticize Usain Bolt, I need to say "yes" to at least one of the following questions :

1. Can I run faster than him?
2. Can I train someone to run faster than him?
3. Can I point to someone running faster than him?
4. Can I point to someone who can train some one else to run faster than Bolt?

Can we outdo those four simpletons with our clever, sophisticated ways?

The Simpleton Strikes Back --- Part 1 of 2

Steven Spielberg was so impressed with the star recommendations of my acting that he sent me even three scripts to choose from. I cannot thank enough Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks, and Tom Cruise for reviewing my video clips and recommending me to Spielberg.

The first movie is titled , "Desert Eagles Attack." Spielberg wanted me to star as an Israeli air force commander on a mission to destroy the enemy radar sites in the first three days of the 6-Day War. But I told him I had a certain role in mind, in which I believe I can give a stellar performance, not even ruling out an Oscar.

The second movie is titled , "Theatre of Life" set in a Boston Hospital. I must star as a World-famous brain surgeon who got sued for malpractice on murky ethical grounds. But I told Spielberg that I had a certain role in mind, in which I believe I can give a stellar performance, not even ruling out an Oscar.

The third movie is titled , "True Grids" (no spelling error). Here I was to play an old world-weary one-time hacker, who came out of the shadows to save American energy grids from terrorist hackers. Again I told Spielberg that I have a certain role in mind, in which I believe I can give a stellar performance, not even ruling out an Oscar.

In each movie, I can act well if given that role. I won't even need auditions and rehearsals.

In the war movie, I can star asking, "How many planes do we have? How many sites are there? How far are they? How do we know, how soon do we know that we have knocked out a radar site? How is each site defended? How do we knock out site defence first? ... " and so on.

In the surgery movie, I can star asking, " What does this operation do? How do other surgeons perform such an operation? How did his operation deviate from the standard norm if there were such a norm? What would happen to the patient if the operation was not carried out? ... " and so on.

In the hacking movie, I can star asking, "How do we know a grid has been infiltrated/tainted? Can we reboot or revert a grid back to its pristine state? Is there a division, a barrier between a grid's ops and data? Can we silo a grid from all other grids? ... " and so on.

The Japanese saying goes: If you want something done, ask an amateur.

The role I will play, at least in life onwards, is that of the outsider, the non-initiated, the non-expert, the simpleton.

You don't have to be an expert to live, to do well, to get rich, etc. We will need 100 lives to master all the fields we encounter unless we learn to rule each field as a simpleton.

No doubt I will do well; I played this role rather well in my youth.

In the coming post, I will show how some other simpletons have fared: Richard Feynman and Monte Carlo simulations, Mark Zuckerberg and his choice of PHP to cerate Facebook, Craig Newmark of Craiglist and his use of style in the site, Andrew Carnegie and steel purification science and so on.

The Simpleton is striking back.

Grief work - Homecoming in a Jet

on June 23, 2011

It's a misnomer, the title.

1. Sad about losses and misses, but this is also a release and a celebration!

2. True in the sense of reconnecting with one's true self. A shining, shining with greatness. But real visits may be years away. Sad.

A fragment of Japanese poetry comes to mind:

" For the sake of sons who pray,
Let the parting day be thousand years away."

What a samurai! Homecoming as in Healing the Shame that Binds You (Recovery Classics).

3. In the dark days of the 1980, and in a fit of temper, I heard ( myself saying ), "I am going to have a private jet." Maybe never, or long long later. It doesn't matter much at any time.

But Chin-Ning Chu's Jet I have, already have.

When a commercial jet is taking off, many a passenger get anxious and think that their jet will fail, burn or explode. But their negative thoughts don't have as much weight as they assume and most such jets function normally and safely.

Be as negative as you feel like.

The Jet is taking off: properly spec-ed, properly designed, properly built, properly piloted.

My Kind of Productivity --- Part 3 - Extreme Programming

There are many kinds of productivity.

1. Michael Porter's Kind of Productivity has been discussed in a previous post.
2. Seth Godin's Kind of Productivity has been discussed in a previous post.
3. Demming's Kind of Productivity
4. Taiichi Ohno 's Kind of Productivity
5. Peter Drucker's Kind of Productivity

My Kind of Productivity

Around 2007, I got so frustrated with my software development that I almost got a nervous breakdown. I had spent months and failed with 2 or 3 projects. I could not finish any of them.

I drifted away from coding and started reading to release tension etc. I happened to read Extreme Programming(XP) books during my retreat.

I agreed with almost all of their ideas and started to code again. The results were astounding.

Previously, it took me about 5 to 6 months NOT to finish and to give up on a project.

After that, it took me about 2 to 3 months to finish a project of comparable size and quality and I was in a good mood all the time.

How I Used XP

XP, like any methodology, is made up of philosophy, core beliefs, mindset and a set of activities.

Let's come down to activity level fast.

Whenever XP advised me to do an activity, I ignored it easily, out of hand, I was too demoralized  and too weak, you know. Even if I chose to do an activity, I tried to do the least possible amount of work for that activity. e.g. tests

Whenever XP advised me not to do an activity, I obeyed right away and stopped doing that activity. e.g. BUFD (big upfront design)

Why It Worked

I have no illusions that this style of XP works for all kinds of software development. I also know why it worked for me with those projects. Various researchers and authors have confirmed my hunch here.

This form of XP or XP in general works when

1. The work to do is cutting edge: too much uncertainty, too many unkonwns or  unkonwn unkonwns, etc.
2. The work is not cutting edge for others but for the worker only. That is, s/he is very new or ignorant.
3. The worker is too busy, has to rush, has to juggle too many balls i.e. an entrepreneur in the first days of her/his business.

I love people everywhere, not a bit ashamed of it.

My Kind of Productivity --- Part 2

Michael Porter's Kind of Productivity

In a recent Fortune's article Porter defines productivity as

Research shows that innovation accounts for a large fraction of growth in national productivity, and the knowledge gained by one firm frequently spills over to others. Entrepreneurship is also key to job creation: Startups account for 3% of U.S. employment but 20% of gross job creation.
 

What does Porter mean by "innovation"?

Michael Porter (1990) has also implied the need to distinguish between invention and innovation. He writes that innovation is defined as: ‘a new way of doing things (termed invention by some authors) that is commercialized’ (p. 780). From Porter's strategic perspective, inventions need not result in something tangible. A ‘new way of doing things’ need not be the result of a new piece of equipment.
 

source

A simpler answer :

To paraphrase Michael Porter, innovation is about doing something different or about doing the same thing differently
 

source

This is not an academic exercise. So, this is enough. Innovation means :

1. "doing different things" or
2. "doing the same things but it different ways"

Seth Godin's Kind of Productivity

More time on the problem isn't the way. More guts is. When you expose yourself to the opportunities that scare you, you create something scarce, something others won't do.
 

source

So, Seth Godin recommends gut and glory.

My Kind of Productivity - Aspect 1

My kind or productivity doesn't require

1. innovative brains
2. steely guts etc.

In the late 1980's, I was taught, for the first time in my life, by 2 foreign professors in Yangon. I didn't know about other classmates but my homework were graded C- or something consistently.

I hadn't read either but knew by instincts

1.  Goethe's Dr Faust's devil's advice to students: "Prepare for your professor."
2. Customer is God, "kamisama”

What did the prof s want?

I didn't have a clue.

So, I handed in 3 answers for a single question under 3 different names e.g. My name only; my roll number only; My name spelled in a different way etc. One got the usual C-, that answer was written respectfully and in our "traditionally approved" way, full of quotes and theories. The other got C, free of quotes, but sort of paraphrasing the quotes and theories. The third got B; here I was angry and just used my personal bluffs, sort of to provoke them.

So, the profs liked bluffing? So, I upped the game with the third approach till I got A or A- consistently.

Is there a clue for us here? Loving customers doesn't take brains or guts, does it?

My Kind of Productivity - Aspect 2

Even with the third approach, I still got a lot of red-ink feedback. It's still depressing. I noticed that the red-ink remarks were heavier and thicker in the beginning.

So, I changed my introduction, as usual, the lazy way.

One day, one of the profs remarked to the class, "KKN is getting better because .. (a dramatic pause) .. his introductions are getting shorter ... a pause ... why don't you drop them altogether?"

Only then I realized that our "traditionally approved"introductions were for him "non sequitur."

I cut  out such introductions eventually from my writings.

Is there a clue for us here? Does cutting the crap take brains or guts?

My Kind of Productivity --- Part 1

I must have been born with tons of inferiority complex. I think I am lazy, not really knowing how or why.

Once Upon a Time in the Early 1990s in Myanmar

I had to grade high-school-leaving, university-entering exam papers and to supervise some fellow graders. It's a tiring work --- 2 of our professors died during such grading seasons.

 I could not stop complaining:

1.  This is not good for the government.
2. This is not good for the department/us.
3. This is not good for the students.
4. This is not good for the students' parents.

 I offered to design a new system that will be nice for all the 4 constituents.

 Everybody just assumed that I hated long hours, detailed, eye-straining, monotonous, non-challenging work and so on.

Once Upon a Time in the Early 2000s in Singapore

I worked in a few software houses ... well, what do you expect? I complained but with some solutions.

1. I hate kicking the ball hard unnecessarily.
2. I hate running all the time unnecessarily. How come Romario, a Brazillian World Cup winner and legendary striker, runs less than the referees? And the Spanish players just dart about only now and then?
3. I hate running fast for long. Why not run with a bit more intent?

Lazy is kind to myself, kind to you, kind to all, short and sufficient.

Do Little, Not Much

While reading Game Changer, Doing What Matters, Execution, Boards That Deliver, Business Richard Branson Way, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? etc, I noticed certain small numbers:

1-2 critical choices,
1-2 strategic priorities,
3-4 goals, few enough to do trade-offs effectively in a decentralized decision-making environment,
3-4 skills required in a job applicant,
5-6 critical success factors for a workforce to be preoccupied with day to day,
5 priorities for the board,
5 core strengths for an enterprise, etc

With examples from P&G, IBM, Honeywell, Virgin, GE etc.

I suggest you aim to get just 3 or 4 things done every day.

TimFerriss suggests just 1 or 2 outputs everyday.

Secret Power Magic

I'm referring to Rhonda Byrne's three books.

The Secret

Focus on what you want ...

Everything we think and feel is creating our future.

Act as if you are receiving it.

The Power

It's all about the power of love.

The Magic

Be grateful. That will attract all the nice stuffs towards you like a magnet.

She misquotes Buddha on all occasions! But I'm really grateful to her for the book.

In particular, I like the idea of Jesus saying "Thank you" every time before he performed a miracle. Cool, it makes a lot of sense.

Calculus Advantage

Even if you got 100% for Maths in the nation-wide high-school-leaving examination, you may not be allowed to study any Maths at the Burmese universities in my days. Strange, awkward, but true and sad.

So when I read in Singapore in the early 2000's that if you knew Calculus

1. You can calculate how much paint you would need to paint an awkwardly-shaped floor.
2. You can calculate how far you can raise your price until some customers start leaving.
3. You can calculate many other real-life meaningful stuffs.
4. etc, etc,

I became excited.

So I started asking around among my colleagues: "Hey, are you okay with Calculus?"

Everyone answered "Yes, we are fine with Calculus," as I expected since I knew all of them are Engineering or Computer Science grads.

As I half-expected, none of them was using Calculus in their daily lives.

I also started asking young kids when I visited my Myanmar friends' families living in Singapore.  They also told me, "Uncle, Calculus is very easy. We never have any problem with that."

As I half-expected, none of them was using Calculus in their daily lives.

I studied Shakespeare, anthropology and many other such weird stuffs. I admit those stuffs are weird. I don't think anyone can sincerely say that Calculus is weird.

Why did ONLY Steve Jobs use Shakespearean scholars in designing Apple products?

Why did ONLY Xerox, IDEO etc use anthropologists in designing and trouble-shooting their products?

Why did Sprint's CEO say that Softbank brings to them expertise in "how to utilize (some) technologies"?

I cannot teach Calculus. But I know how to use it in certain places. I can teach Shakespeare and I do know how to use it in certain places. I can teach Poetry and I do know how to use it in certain places.

Why not teach that to your kids?

Oh, by the way, I can teach them excitement, too!