Headwinds and Tailwinds

“The Head Winds / Tail Winds Asymmetry”

Tom Gilovich and Shai Davidai

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27869473

J Pers Soc Psychol. 2016 Dec;111(6):835-851.

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-my-life-so-hard/

“The idea should be familiar to anyone who cycles or runs for exercise. Sometimes you’re running or cycling into the wind, and it’s not pleasant. You’re aware of it the whole time. It’s retarding your progress and you can’t wait until the course changes so that you get the wind at your back. And when that happens you’re grateful for about a minute. And very quickly, you no longer notice the wind at your back that’s helping push you along. And what’s true when it comes to running or cycling is true of life generally ... [Moreover, if we DO think about it, it’s tempting to believe we DESERVE to have the wind at our backs – it’s our truest Destiny!]

… We have to pay attention to the barriers in front of us because we have to get over them, or get through them in some way. We have to overcome them. We don’t have to pay attention to those things that are boosting us along. We can just be boosted along. And that fundamental asymmetry in attention is the headwinds/tailwind asymmetry.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

LOUIS C.K. (clip from Conan O’Brien’s show): I was on an airplane and there was internet, high-speed internet on the airplane. That’s the newest thing that I know exists. And I’m sitting on the plane and they go, “Open up your laptop, you can go on the internet.” And it’s fast and I’m watching YouTube clips. I’m on an airplane. Then it breaks down and they apologize. The internet’s not working. The guy next to me goes, “This is bullshit.” Like, how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only ten seconds ago.

GILOVICH: Psychologists refer to this as the hedonic treadmill. You run really hard to get something. The thing that you get, that you’re aiming for, feels good when you’ve got it. But then you adapt to it and you have to run ever faster to get more and more.”

The selective blind spot we have in our understanding and appreciation of “tailwinds” starts early – from birth, at which time all of our wants and needs are addressed by significant others … ain’t life GRAND!   From birth to age 18, the “tailwinds” from both parents and civilization-at-large have an actual dollar value, amounting to approximately $300,000 in combined financial equivalents … that’s just over $15,000 per year or $41 a day.  But those tailwinds don’t last indefinitely! 

In this blog entry, I’m going to suggest that full matriculation through life includes the creation of BOTH our own headwinds and tailwinds.  We need to keep pushing the boundaries of our capacities into the wind … with enough “wind in our face” to keep advancing our position.  We can even pedal against the wind going downhill [who would do THAT?], which will provide “tailwind” momentum going up the next hill or over the next barrier. 

“Momentum is the only thing that will break the standoff

between an irresistible force and an immoveable object.”

P. Questmaster

But it’s even better than that!  The extraordinary thing about pushing ourselves through tough places and creating our own “headwind” is that it produces a “Bandwagon Effect” … drawing significant others into our quest.  Some of these may, in fact, act as “Slingshot Accelerators”, contributing substantial “Gravitational Leverage” toward exponentially advancing our position and helping direct our trajectory. 

Another collateral benefit of taking on and creating our own headwinds is that we capacitize ourselves for taking on additional headwinds.

An easily overlooked fact is that headwinds provide LIFT.   [One could argue that the only reason for jet engines is to provide enough artificial head wind to get massive hunks of metal, plastic and cargo into the sky.]   It means our "wings" have to be "trimmed" to allow "lift" to happen, but if managed properly, it can allow one to SOAR! 

So, headwinds are not all bad! 

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out;

the brick walls are there to give us a chance

to show how badly we want something."
Randy Pausch

“The Last Lecture”

Finally, even if you don’t happen to be a sailing enthusiast, you can take a page out of the “Seamanship and Piloting Manual” and become adept at “tacking” … maintaining forward momentum by adjusting your position and direction so that the headwind provides an angular boost with at least one vectored directional nudge toward your ultimate destination. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacking_(sailing)

If you’re not experiencing your share of head winds, you’re not experiencing your share of LIFE!  Make some waves in the universe and carve out some head wind space daily in the direction of your Destiny.  Quartermaster

Relevance

Perhaps more fundamentally important than mission or purpose in a life well lived is RELEVANCE. We want and need purpose and passion and affirmation.  But, even more so, we need to know that who we are and what we do is relevant … legitimate … worth something … and that, somehow, we are OK … being who we are and doing what we’re doing. 

“I love being irreverent.

But I hate being irrelevant.”

Esai Morales

Relevance doesn’t come with the territory!  We need to FIND / CREATE / BUILD our own RELEVANCE.  And it’s a never-ending process. 

“Malwarebytes identified the skills its quality assurance testers would need to stay relevant in the rapidly changing cybersecurity industry.  Then it told its staffers to buckle in – it was time to get “up-skilled.”  As automation becomes ubiquitous, education start-ups … are positioning themselves as the nexus between today’s workforce and tomorrow’s jobs.”  Tracey Lein, Los Angeles Times 

Empowered relevance would include having recognizance, some degree of gravity / gravitas, and sanctionability ... that is, not only having internally perceived relevance but having externally perceived – and endowed – relevance.  Being the designated “Go To Person” has recognizance relevance!  

Importantly, what’s relevant in a domestic or tribal setting may not be anything close to what’s relevant on the street or in the marketplace.  What “works” in one setting or circumstance may not work at all in another.  So relevance is not necessarily infinitely translatable. 

But some elements of relevance ARE translatable.  Perhaps we should identify, cultivate / build and reinforce those elements of relevance that do translate across multiple circumstances?  This might include such things as open-minded curiosity, purposeful engagement, participation, mastery of a particular skill or discipline (extra points for useful), cultural awareness, embracing diversity, life-long learning, building, continuous quality improvement, innovation, bridging gaps, teaching / helping / mentoring, acute awareness of current events, being a “voice” for positive change / being a positive “Change Agent”.  

Other things might include:  Initiative, equanimity, cooperation, collaboration, communication, generosity, empathy / compassion, willingness to take risks, willingness to stand up and be counted for something worthwhile, simply “doing what’s right”, and an ability to detect, dismiss and discard the IRRELEVANT. 

NOTE: An absence of baggage is important; BAGGAGE is not only not irrelevant, but contravenes relevance.  Being a “Drama Queen” or having excessive personal, emotional or psychological needs is baggage.  Excessive dependencies … on other people, on circumstances, on drugs, on social media “likes”, on fawning attention, etc., constitutes unnecessary baggage.  Debilitating and distracting habits are baggage. 

Relevance paves the way toward enfranchisement, positive enablement and empowerment.  Change agents above and ahead of us are always looking for relevant collaborators and compatriots to help move the universe forward. 

Authenticity is essential for relevance.  If you’re not real, you’re not relevant!  

Goal setting and goal tending are relevant.  Getting relevant stuff DONE is relevant!

A passion for large Dreams and just causes is relevant. 

Relevance is not necessarily “popular” or “chick” or “cool”. 

Sometimes “relevance” means doing stuff other people might think would be “beneath” them.  To get the best crops one has to plow the dirt, plant the seeds and pull the weeds!  

SPECIAL NOTE: Recreation is not irrelevant!  Reconstituting our energy and re-energizing our core capacity is as relevant as anything we do WITH that capacity.  And creative play is an essential part of personal growth and discovery.  All major innovators in the universe were called “Crazy” somewhere along the way! 

And “relevance” doesn’t mean one “doesn’t make waves”.  If your particular brand or niche of “relevance” happens to clash with things NOT so relevant, it may be more than half-past time to become a “Change Agent” – whatever it takes! 

Relevance has both INTIMATE and ULTIMATE value (Exercise as an example):

Intimate Value of Exercise:  1) You’re doing your due diligence; 2) You’re (hopefully!) enjoying the engagement; 3) It’s good for your health! 4) You feel so much more alive! 5) It helps clean out the cobwebs and “fog” so you can focus. 

Ultimate Value of Exercise:  1) You’re capacitizing yourself for future challenges; 2) The enhanced “mental energy” is a “slingshot accelerator”.

Relevance has little to do with “feeling good” … except in the largest sense possible.  “Feeling good” in terms of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound are “elementary” level sensations associated with mere survival.  Full matriculation – and THRIVING – requires satisfaction in much more intangible terms … such as: satisfaction with a relevant job well done, with physical conditioning, with mental acuity, with problem solving ability, with being useful, with self-improvement, with helping others, with creative engagement, with learning new stuff, with "Going Somewhere", with taking on new responsibility, with advancing, with having better choices, with having more security, with having more navigability … and with creating GOOD WILL.  NOTE: “Satisfaction” gained by simply having more “stuff” or having more “toys” is both trivial and temporary … and largely irrelevant. 

It’s easy to get lost in the fog of a daily grind or an uphill climb and become discouraged and wonder where “relevance” has gone.  However, as long as you’re putting in a diligent effort toward a relevant goal, you’re relevant!  Even Sisyphus would wear a mountain down, eventually!  Quartermaster

Wrong Side of History

In the throes of partisan politics, one often hears the comment made that this or that person or position is “on the wrong side of history.”  Most frequently, such assertions come from “liberal” or “progressive” quarters, railing against those who insist on holding the line against change, who long for the “good ol’ days” when things were much simpler and easier to control, or who want to maintain a status quo. 

The companion phrase, “He was a ‘man of his time’,” is often used by apologists to excuse ignorance, prejudice and/or anachronistic reasoning … as well as political expediency. 

[Winston] Churchill certainly believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics, says John Charmley, author of Churchill: The End of Glory. In Churchill's view, white protestant Christians were at the top [of the eugenics ladder], above white Catholics, while Indians were higher than Africans, he adds. "Churchill saw himself and Britain as being the winners in a social Darwinian hierarchy."

… [However, Nicholas] Soames [grandson of Winston Churchill] thinks it is ludicrous to attack Churchill. "You're talking about one of the greatest men the world has ever seen, who was a child of the Edwardian age and spoke the language of [it]."  http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29701767 

**************************************

• “[Billy Graham’s] most infamous “bonding” with Nixon happened in 1972, when a White House conversation turned to the subject of Jewish domination of the media. Nixon was a notorious anti-Semite—a fact that became clearer after the Watergate tapes—and Graham played to the president’s prejudices with enthusiasm.“  https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/21/billy-graham-death-richard-nixon-217039

 But such things are often not only on the wrong side of history, they are on the wrong side of decency, of reasonability, of personal accountability, of INTEGRITY …

… of TRUTH …

… of the BEST WE CAN BE …

… of PROGRESS  & PROGRESSIVENESS

… of INCLUSIVENESS

… of OPENNESS

… of CIVILIZATION / of CIVILITY

… of NOBILITY         

… of PERFECTION

… of GENEROSITY

… of EMPATHY

… of ENLIGHTENMENT

… of AFFIRMATION

… of ASPIRATION

 …of HUMANITARIANISM / GLOBALIZATION

… of ENFRANCHISEMENT

… of BUILDING / BETTERING / SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT

… of “EXALTED HUMAN VALUES” (a term ascribed to Winston Churchill, himself!)

And what “triggering points” bring about the compelling need to comment on “the wrong side of history”? 

            Endemic Prejudice / Racism

            Condemnation / Character Assassination

            Judgmentalism

            Errant Supremacy

            Unfounded “Exceptionalism”

            Immigration Resistance

           

And what if there WERE a “eugenic hierarchy”?   Would it not then be a compelling agenda of those higher in the scheme of things to assist those lower in the scheme of things to become “all they can be”, rather than to keep pushing them down and out?  Or is the threat of competition – or of having to share resources – too compelling?  

Perhaps more important here is to acknowledge that the lines are fuzzy and not so black and white as often represented.  It’s not always “those castoffs” versus “us”.  IQs – even of “white Protestant Christians” – vary from below 50 to 130 or above … and that holds for ALL races!  

• POINT TO PONDER: When you end up in the ER or the surgical suite under life-threatening circumstances, don’t be surprised if the physician-in-charge, plus many of his or her cohorts, have non-white, non-Protestant, non-Christian names … like “Cohen” or “Abboud” or “Jawdeh” or “Baumann” or “Baz”.  And don’t be surprised if the physician-in-charge just happens to be black or female!  It just may be that they had more guts, backbone and determination – in addition to brains – to endure the exhaustive regimens of medical education and training than WASP Americans who were out playing video games or getting their CPAs and trying to “Beat the System” selling financial derivatives! 
•  
• Albert Einstein was “slow and awkward student” and a Jewish immigrant. 
•  
• George Washington Carver started out a slave who rose – despite incredible barriers – to become one of the most highly influential botanists and environmentalists of his day. 

It is an emerging “New Reality” that “White Protestant Christian Exceptionalism” will likely NOT dominate the future of the world.  History is moving on, no matter how many warheads are in the nuclear arsenal or how many AK-47s are hidden in closets or openly carried on the streets protecting the Second Amendment. 

And where, exactly, is history going?  The overall thrust of history is forward and upward. 

Take a look at the most prominent and most effectively engaged “Change Agents”. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonianmag/meet-100-most-significant-americans-all-time-180953341/

They are all BUILDERS … CONTRIBUTORS … INVENTORS … EDUCATORS … LEADERS

https://quizlet.com/12230630/top-100-most-influential-americans-flash-cards/

Dystopias DO happen, HAVE happened, have sometimes gone on for decades (centuries?), and are still happening.  But there inevitably arise “corrective” / “reformative” / “redirective” forces seeking to establish a more rational and rewarding eutopia ... a “true topia” … a place of fairness, justice, and equal opportunity.  “History” has never devised a system that will permanently disable such forces.   These are the forces of history that define its direction. 

While the brain can be “brainwashed”, and while humans can be forced into subjection by fear, deprivation and drugs, the human spirit core cannot forever be “Bridled”.  It craves freedom and self-determination.  Which is why dystopias depend so uncompromisingly on elimination of any and all who dare raise the specter of independent thought or action. 

Dystopian leadership, in fact, is forever at frightful, fretful odds, even with the “machinery” upon which it relies to maintain its control:

“Stalin’s terror machine executed its executioners at regular intervals. In 1938 alone, forty-two thousand investigators who had taken part in the great industrial-scale purges were executed, as was the chief of the secret police, Nikolai Yezhov.” Stalin once invited an old friend from Georgia to Moscow for a reunion, and after lavishly wining and dining him, had him executed before dawn: “This could not be explained with any words or ideas available to man.”  [From “The Future is History” by Masha Gessen]

The last bastion of sanity and sobriety is coherence of conscience.  Integrity and legitimacy cannot forever and will not ultimately be compromised.    

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In our most defining moments, we are often compelled to cry: “Life will never be the same again!”   But perhaps life never really WAS what we THOUGHT it was or SHOULDA been or what we tried to make of it. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the grander scheme of things, we don’t need to settle for being “a person of our time” … a person of our culture … a person of our “party” … a person of our genetic heritage (which includes Neanderthal tendencies!) … a person of our associations …   We can become better than any or all of that.  And if we don’t or can’t, shame on us!  Becoming “better” and more civilized and advancing both ourselves and our civilization is what being a human enmeshed in civilization is all about.  If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.  Let’s straighten up and start “righting” our history!!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What would be the point or purpose of becoming LESS than the BEST we could possibly be?

What would be the point or purpose of becoming WORSE than the BEST we could possibly be?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quartermaster

Surfeit Stupor

It occurred to me following the Thanksgiving engorgement last year that we spend a lot of our time and energy overindulging in things that make us “groggy”.  In fact, it sometimes seems that numbing ourselves is a full time pursuit with its own end game for its own purpose:  If we’re not numb, we’re not getting a full ride! 

“Onward through the fog!”

Henriette Seiterle

So, how much is enough? 

How much food?

How much television?

How much social media engagement?

How much immersion in video games?

How much “bingeing” on movies, sitcoms, etc.? 

The answer, for most of us, is that “enough” is when we can’t take any more! 

But we seem to become even better and more tolerant at stuporous pursuits the more “seasoned” we become:

You may or may not have heard about extreme gamers who wear adult diapers so they don’t have to interrupt the “flow” of their uber-engagement for incidentals and accidentals! 

And what then?  At some point, we eventually CRASH and have to regroup … re-establish some equilibrium … center down … take a nap … raid the refrigerator … or withdraw and rehabilitate. 

What’s happening with any or all of the above is experiencing what I call the “Surfeit Stupor” twilight zone.  Imagine having to fight your way through this “fog” to get anything useful done! 

But why would anyone do THAT?

The FOG’s the thing … The Holy Grail!

It sometimes seems the whole point of busting our butts is to retire so we can watch endless television and movies, play endless video games … etc. 

And when all the “low-hanging fruit” becomes exhausted and/or gets stale, the “fog” can be perpetuated pharmacologically with various assortments of drugs applied, continuing the spiral of fog and stupor … until there are no significant threads of viability left to cling to. 

This is not the most auspicious finish line any one of us might aspire to achieve in our more cogent reflections! 

And RECOVERY from the surfeit stupor is generally a long, painful, arduous and, often, shameful process. 

POINT TO PONDER

All of the superficial surfeit in which we immerse ourselves is merely a default/substitutional materialization to fill a large void in lives that have been freed from a surfeit of hardscrabble gravity.  We haven’t yet figured out more productive ways to go from hardscrabble gravity to valorous engagement.   

In an ideal universe, having “enough” or more-than-enough can actually serve as a stepping stone to greater and grander heights if applied diligently, but it becomes a liability if abused.  

So, one might conjecture that the surest way to the top is never to have enough … in particular, never to have enough of more noble things!  From this perspective, it comes as no surprise that some of the most successful individuals started out from the most humble and austere beginnings … without “enough” elegance and nobility in their lives.  And their lofty dreams and aspirations keep driving them onward toward much larger “Enoughs”.  Their “discretionary” energy and earnings consistently go into things like education and investments in personal, professional and business development instead of into candy, triple cheeseburgers, milkshakes, pinball machines, gambling, ostentation, video games and social media. 

They learned early to delay gratification.  And the more they delayed, the further they got from the “fog” and the further they rose and the larger and clearer their vision of the future – and of future gratification – became.  And the more realistic their possibilities turned out.  And both their possibilities and the rewards for their efforts multiplied to produce “more than enough”.   

Similar patterns emerge from studies of “Unlikely Champions” who, though facing formidable odds of ever truly “making it”, through extreme discipline in applying whatever they DO have, dedication and sacrifice of amenities, end up rising to the top of their respectively chosen fields of endeavor.  

Mounting evidence suggests that people can not only survive but thrive emotionally and psychologically (as well as economically!) in austere conditions.  In “A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy”, William B. Irvine [Oxford University Press, 2008] recommended the following formula for recalibrating one’s “enough” compass:

• ·         Avoid Hedonic adaptation: The moment we get or gain something we take it for granted.
• ·         Goal #1: Enjoy what you already have.
• ·         Respond to confrontation and trauma by adjusting perspective. 
• ·         Contemplate impermanence so the relevant takes on new importance and the important takes on a new sense of urgency.
• ·         Practice voluntary discomfort.  [ … the “Perfectly Unbalanced Life”]
• ·         Forego base pleasure.
• ·         The Good Life is impossible without self-control … e.g., giving up stuff that diminishes the true value of living. 
• ·         Stoics are not Ascetics, avoiding all pleasure, but seek higher pleasures.
• ·         Seek to “out” your short-comings. 
• ·         Aspire higher.
• ·         When things go wrong, do some introspection instead of blaming others.
• ·         Engage in inconspicuous consumption.
• ·         Focus desires on the immaterial.
• ·         Master the art of impulse passivity.
• ·         Delay gratification.
• ·         Seek sustainable JOY and SELF-MASTERY.

Benefits of meaningful restraint and the pursuit of a higher / more noble “Enough” include:  Peace of mind … an energized (“Unbridled” but carefully channeled) Spirit … FOCUS … less “fog” … more control … security … sustainability … self-esteem … self-confidence … self-awareness … sanity … navigability … higher quality choices … higher quality engagement.  May your “meaningful restraints” bring all of the above – in due course – with a surfeit of “Enoughs”!  Quartermaster

A Hill of Beans

It’s a dismissive / derogatory term of disparagement:

“Not worth a hill of beans!”

“You don’t know beans!”

… as if – everybody knows – beans are not worth very much, even piled in a “hill”, and NOT to know as much as something NOT EVEN worth as much as beans takes you completely out of the game!  

First, some facts about beans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean

Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants in the history of civilization.  The combination of beans and corn or beans and rice comprise the basic diet of much of the world’s population.  In 2013, over 23 million tons of dry beans were commercially produced by the top 10 bean-producing countries … including the U.S. (with over 1 million tons).  [That’s quite a “hill of beans”!]  This doesn’t include the thousands of tons of “wet” beans produced annually in back yards.  

Global production of soybeans (not merely “dry” beans) was estimated to be 324 million tons in 2016.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean

As for nutrition:

“Beans are high in protein, complex carbohydrates, folate, and iron. Beans also have significant amounts of fiber and soluble fiber, with one cup of cooked beans providing between nine and 13 grams of fiber.  Soluble fiber can help lower blood cholesterol.  Adults are recommended to have up to two (female), or three (male) servings daily. 3/4 cup of cooked beans represent one serving.”

So, although beans may seem simple, ordinary, banal and inelegant due to the sheer volume, prevalence and commonplace use throughout the world, they are an unapologetic staple! 

We conclude, then, that the assertion “Not worth a hill of beans” arises from the relatively low cost rather than from the considerable intrinsic value of beans. 

Notwithstanding all of the above, it seems incumbent on each of us to reach at least a “Hill of Beans” level of legitimacy!   

Above all, know your beans.  And know BEANS from BAGELS!  Become the “Go-To” / First Reference Resource for whatever kind(s) of “Beans” you represent.  If your “Beans” happen to be comprised byTwitter feeds, sports statistics and/or direct quotes from horror movies, you may want to rethink the street value of your particular brand of “Beans”.  Quartermaster 

Just for the health of it, here are my favorite bean concoctions:

Pioneer Beans: http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,pioneer_beans,FF.html

Paisley Farms 5-Bean Salad: https://www.samsclub.com/sams/five-bean-salad-2-35-5-oz/prod9140085.ip

Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix: (Kroger)

https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/13-bean-soup-mix/

[Supplement with diced onion, shredded cabbage, diced carrots, diced ham and 1 tsp. “Better than Bouillon” soup base.]  

Success A Liability

We tend to migrate toward and embellish those behaviors that make us happy and bring us the most success … however we choose to define “success”. 

Success-driven behavior patterns start forming early, notwithstanding the fact that our success early in life depends a lot on OTHER people’s success!  We may become successful in negotiating an allowance.  Or we may become successful – at least in the short run – by throwing tantrums to get what we want. 

And we may become successful – up to a point – in creating alt-realities … like superhero or “gothic” or fairy-land fabrications. 

In early adulthood, an “Alpha-Male” may become extremely successful at seducing women or an “Alpha-Female” may become extremely successful at seducing men.

But these successes are not necessarily the most stable or sustainable. 

A recent week’s stay in New Orleans provided additional new perspectives on success. 

The street acrobat who had become an accomplished juggler atop a 12-foot high unicycle was also an articulate “salesman”, drawing crowds in the Basilica Cathedral plaza several times a day – a well-established entertainer clearly doing what he loved.  His most ostensible source of income was gratuities.  But one had to wonder about his healthcare and retirement plans – and back-up plans, should he have a career-ending injury!  In a sense, he had become inextricably subservient to his own success in a very narrow niche of life with very few translatable skills – except perhaps in eventually selling junk bonds and derivatives on Wall Street!   

[I sometimes wonder about my own success in “tinkering”, salvaging and repurposing things others would easily and thoughtlessly discard, scraping and painting the outside of the house, repairing all sorts of stuff … I can become so immersed in doing things I’ve become really good at doing to “save the universe” – complete with all the required tools – that I get behind in things I might otherwise, in fact, deem more important – or that might be even more rewarding … like learning to juggle atop a 12-foot high unicycle!  I also love being creative in the kitchen when I could simply be out picking up fast food and doing things more useful or purposeful.  But I’ve also found that I can’t concentrate on useful and purposeful things indefinitely and the diversions are therapeutic!]

Thinking back to my early days as an emerging biomedical scientist, I found my personal success at international scientific meetings was gained by compulsively scouting out and attending every scientific presentation that was even remotely related to my area of research interest.  [It was effective but exhausting!]  What I eventually found out, however, was that successful “seasoned” investigators were hobnobbing with each other outside the scientific meeting corral – much more leisurely and much more effectively sharing information on the latest advances in their respective fields, on funding opportunities, and on potential collaborations. 

While walking, riding street cars and driving the streets of New Orleans, one can’t help encounter the homeless – or presumptively homeless – roaming the streets.  Across from Tulane Medical Center, under the bridge of an I-10 overpass, is an entire encampment of homeless sojourners.  Greater NOLA residents point to the convenience of the location for accessing free medical services at the Tulane Med Center emergency room and the VA Hospital. I couldn’t help thinking: Contrary to common belief and broad-brush representations, the homeless are not necessarily devoid of survival skills and creativity in “beating the system”.   But their success in doing so dramatically limits their overall navigability and sustainable engagement in the world.  

Our overall tour of NOLA underscored the local dedication of the populace to parades, celebrations, and festive engagements of all kinds.  Both the Mardi Gras Museum and other showcases of Afro-Cajun-Creole culture highlighted an essentially all-consuming preoccupation with pageantry.  Entire living quarters were turned into costume production for celebration after celebration – with an average of 1-3 parades per week (there were four parades in one day while we were there!  Yes, this contributes to the attraction of millions of tourists annually.  But the parades are all self-funded and it costs between $500 and $1,500 to ride on a float, never mind the costumes!)  I couldn’t help thinking that working multiple minimum wage jobs in order to afford the pageantry is a Sysiphean pursuit. 

Whatever we do and however we do it, it seems that “Beating the System” is the holy grail of successful living for many.  One can succeed in “Beating the System” any number of ways … and we all do try, in our own ways – ranging from procrastination to making excuses to outright fabrication of fake news and alt-realities and conjuring all kinds of conspiracy theories to conscript presumptive moral or authoritative “high ground”.   Enough of all that! 

Let’s get REAL!!

Successes keep us going.  If you’re not happy, you’re probably not having enough success – or at least not enough of the right kind of success … which is an all-important distinction!  Let’s take care not to get caught up in small “Junk Bond” successes and miss the bigger Blue Chip SUCCESSES that represent our full potential and rightful Destiny.  Patience is a virtue.  And disciplined Goal-Tending is most likely to give us the best “positive traction”.  [Knowing that we are definitively moving toward a worthy Goal can provide even more moment-to-moment satisfactions than any number of gratuitous “successes”.]  Those who can defer gratifications associated with instant, immediate and rapidly repetitive small successes (like watching “Wheel of Fortune” or sit-coms or seeing the flashing colored lights and hearing the bells and whistles on gambling machines), and who can look toward more distant horizons with passion and purpose will likely reap the most rewarding successes and have the most satisfying and sustainable outcomes.  Quartermaster

Truth Be Told

Disclaimer

This is NOT about Presidential politics!

In a March 14, 2018 posting, John Rosemond – a provocative and not universally acclaimed “family psychologist” – highlighted a New York Times article by Alex Stone (Jan. 5) entitled “Is Your Child Lying to You?  That’s Good.”  This article by Stone offers supportive commentary on a 1980s study which found that children who disobeyed an instruction and then denied having disobeyed the instruction were later found to have higher IQs than those who admitted disobedience.  Speculation is offered that 21^st Century parents might, therefore, justifiably reduce their angst about higher IQ/lower moral behavior, since it seems a better indicator of potential success than lower IQ/higher moral behavior in their offspring.  They might, thus, tend to tolerate more dishonesty [perhaps even encourage it!] 

At ground level, there seems little doubt that intelligence, creativity, and “craftiness” in artfully manipulating one’s environment to one’s best personal advantage is a “gift” many successful persons exhibit deep into adulthood. 

So why mess with something that works so well?  Indeed! 

Personal observation suggests that the higher one goes in the pecking order, the greater the tendency seems to be to fabricate “new realities”.  It’s better if we think we know where we’re going, and better yet if we personally OWN the new reality.  Would be motivational gurus encourage us to imagine/envision what we want to happen and it will more likely happen.   

Of all professions, scientists – the benchmark “Truth Tellers” – are not immune to such behavior.  In fact, they ALSO seem to thrive on extrapolative conjecturing, and are almost institutionally required to do so.  Competition for grants and contracts is so intense that one must include in applications submitted for funding the projected outcomes of investigation, at least 30% of which are already proven to be true!

Scientists are also compelled to publish the results of their investigations – at least 3-5 major papers per year in peer-reviewed journals – building their reputations as national/world renowned experts in their respective fields.     

These are very intelligent, creative human beings who, by force of necessity, must become well versed in their “craft” to succeed.  Since serendipity is often involved in some of the biggest scientific advances, some latitude of “extravagance” in truth conjecturing is tolerated.  However, the term “Scientific Misconduct” emerged as a significant problem, beginning in the 1970s, and has become a mainstream concern in the 21^st Century, as pressure on scientific output and competition for funding have both increased.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_misconduct

https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/44582/title/Scientific-Misconduct--Red-Flags/

Even so, this is not the worst or most immediate concern for most Americans.  More loosely regulated financial markets are even more prone to “extravagance” in truth conjecturing, manipulation and outright fraud.  Consider the recent cases of Bernie Madoff and Wells Fargo Bank, which are not necessarily “isolated instances”.   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Madoff

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/business/wells-fargo-federal-reserve.html

So, intelligence and “craftiness”, “extravagance” in truth conjecturing -- even outright fraud – can transport one a good distance down an “alternative success” road, but the risk of going over the edge of reasonability, even as societal tolerance grows with time (simply allowing that “this is how things get done”), increases as brazen “bluffonery” escalates unchecked to patterned behavior. 

Commercialization of science, particularly in biomedical & pharmaceutical sciences, can be especially truth-tenuous: The most recent case-in-point involves Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos blood testing company. 

 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/sec-charges-theranos-founder-elizabeth-holmes-massive-fraud-n856641 

Scientists want and need to believe that what they are doing makes sense, and, thus, they construct hypotheses – truths yet to be proven – but are sorely tempted to “prove” them by running “weighted” experiments and by “weighting” the outcomes so the data fit the hypothesis.  In fact, sufficient emotional investment is often involved that one is tempted to transpose hypotheses into foregone conclusions.  Hypotheses can become “untouchable” and, being, thus, seen as connected to ultimate Truth, can give one an unrealistic sense of indemnification.  So great is the emotional investment in “pet hypotheses” that they are often taken as foregone universal truths. 

The good news is that we are all “Truth Seekers”.  We want and need to believe in something immutable.  The bad news is that we want our small pond and tribal “personal truths” to reign supreme.  The “truth urge” is so overpowering that we place ourselves at the center of owning and adjudicating Truth.  And we will go to limitless lengths to find (or create) UNIQUE “truths” – ergo conspiracy theories and all of their sequelae. 

The most tragic outcome of “white lies”, tribal truths and half-baked hypotheses morphing into indelibly darkened habits and alt-truths is the inevitable loss of INTEGRITY.  Accountability, Authenticity and INTEGRITY are the three great cornerstones and ground-levelers of life, and the prime determinants of “topping-out” our true potential.  INTEGRITY is also the last bastion determinant of well being and self worth.  When integrity can neither be claimed nor sustainably fabricated, little else matters.  Loss of INTEGRITY both rivals and contributes to hopelessness … the main trigger for suicide. 

So INTEGRITY is one of the most important elements in what people call CHARACTER.  Own it!   Numbness and detachment from probity may be taken as acceptable “options of expedience” in the rush toward tangible success, but diminutions of both soul and spirit almost certainly follow, and “Second Chances” are not always grantable options.  Press on to make your “Personal Truth” as close to “Universal Truth” as possible.  You will be rewarded by an ability to sleep well at night with INTEGRITY intact.  Quartermaster   

Quote of the Week

“Beware of the stories you read or tell [yourself]; subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world.  [But the world-at-large is not altered, and the dissonance becomes more extreme and less tolerable with time.]”   Ben Okri / [QM]

Spring Cleaning

It’s that time of year again!

… time to get rid of all the encrustations and encroachments … time take stock of all the things we’ve hoarded whose purpose may have lost luster, and whose presence may have become more of a hindrance than a help …

Some of it we’ve probably cleaned out many times before and it keeps coming back, only to need clearing away again. 

It’s sobering – and a little scary – to own up to the fact that we’re NOW living at the dawn of the Third Millennium AD / CE!  What’s most sobering is that what served us well in the Second Millennium will not necessarily serve us as well in the Third.   And, what didn’t serve us well in the Second very likely needs to be summarily jettisoned.  We’re already losing the battle against robotics, and Artificial Intelligence is only in its infancy.  And here we are trying to muddle through with our Neanderthal heritage reigning supreme!

 

Here are some things we might consider unburdening, for starters:

• ·         Unrealistic Expectations
• ·         Unfounded Assumptions
• ·         Unwarranted Entitlements
• ·         Confining Tribal Truths
• ·         Prejudice
• ·         Contrarianism / Cynicism
• ·         Superciliousness
• ·         Superficiality
• ·         “Alternative Facts”
• ·         Conspiracy Theories

It will also help to find out what ELSE is not working, and maybe make some changes. 

I wasn’t getting much exercise, with the weather being so persistently cold, so I started going to the Seniors’ Fitness Center.  Positive results followed!   

I was also hung up on having a suffocating routine in lunch preparation, so now I’m stockpiling fewer “lunchables” (I found I was trying to cash in too many coupons!), and eating out different places at least a couple times a week to help “clear the cobwebs”!

And I’m finding that exhaustive commercials are killing my news briefings and educational and entertainment program viewing, so I’ve started limiting passive, commercial-laden audiovisual electronic feed, reading more books, recording things I really want/need to watch, and fast-forwarding through them during my “low energy” times.  I’m also watching more uplifting, enlifening, educational and inspirational public television programs.   

It’s also time to clean out the pantry and clear the deck of all the hibernation and comfort foods and time to recycle the contents of the freezer!   

Certainly not least of all, it’s probably more than half-past time to make some SPACE – both physically and mentally – for anything and everything that will enhance PROBITY … well-groundedness, “agency” and efficacy.  Both infrastructure and perspective tend to get soft, sag, cloud over, and crumble when not well-tended and regularly fortified.   

It will help to simplify, streamline, systematize, organize, and optimize our time, space, holdings and personal and professional obligations. 

We can start by sacrificing non-necessities that can sabotage our “best laid plans” and overall wellbeing … like social media, double-dipped donuts, and perseverations about inconsequentials.   

My friend, Peter Thompson, uses the term “Significance” as his touchstone for purposeful planning and productive engagement.  I’m gravitating toward more “Significance” in 2018.  You can, too!  Quartermaster

“I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;

I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away

(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):

I shan’t be gone long. – You come too.”

Robert Frost

“The Pasture”

Adversity

“Coping with adversity

 is an inextricable part of life and living.”

Life Lesson #1

If you happen to be a biological organism on planet earth, you’re going to face adversity. 

However, the paradoxical thing about adversity is this:

“That [adversity] which does not kill us,
makes us stronger.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

… not that we need to go looking for adversity, so as to acquire MORE of it …

            … or maybe we DO go looking for adversity, so as to find ways to AVOID it!

In any case, we’re certainly not always the innocent bystanders we’d like to claim to be when adversity happens.  The truth is, we can – and often DO – make adversity worse … or even create it “out of whole cloth” … by our actions or inactions; like being a “drama king or queen”, by procrastination, by obstination, etc.

And we’ve developed masterful “escapist” strategies for avoiding confrontation with adversity … playing video games, watching TV, surfing the web, immersing ourselves in social media, doing drugs … (well, some strategies are more “masterful” than others) … generally delaying and compounding the inevitable.  And we’re fantastic at making mountains out of molehills.  [Having to get up in the morning to go to school or work, do our homework, or clean up our mess in the kitchen, garage or bathroom is not adversity!  Like a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn’t max out our reward center dopamine receptors, they are merely part of the “cost of living”.]

The question for consideration here is:  How many degrees of insulation can we put between us and adversity, and how can we continually upgrade the insulation … not necessarily as protection from ever encountering adversity (it’s GONNA happen!), but for managing adversity and minimizing the impact once it inevitably arrives?   

Our “insulation” against adversity early in life has multiple layers that include: A) Parents, B) Teachers, C) Coaches, D) Business/Community/Associates/Religious Organizations, E) Government (profuse apologies for the crude rendering!):

  

As we grow older, we tend to test and push the boundaries of those insulating “bubbles” (they’re SO confining!), putting ourselves closer to the edge – frequently OVER the edge – of adversity:

***** NOTE: These “bubbles” are ultimately going to burst anyway! *****

Finally, once we’ve cleared all the formative / early development “bubbles” and find ourselves (YOU, Inc.!) in the mainstream, we need to create/evolve/adopt our own modes and means of insulation … at least against any catastrophic impact of adversity.  Recommended options include A) Market-Salient Knowledge, B) Market-Savvy Skills & Credentials, C) Notable Accomplishments, D) Alliances & Associations, E) All of the “Soft Skills” / Essential Skills:

The “catch”, of course, is that we’re supposed to get a running start on developing Level III Adversity Insulation while still covered by Level I protection … so there’s much less of a “rude awakening” when the initial bubbles collapse. 

Level III “bubbles” are more like packets and pockets of a hot air balloon that needs to keep rising … with constant fortification of the packets and pockets as higher level adversities are encountered.  There are no parking lots!  Once you’re aloft, you’re aloft for the duration.  So keep on packing those packets and pockets for maximum buoyancy and ballast!  Quartermaster