A Teacher's Lesson

When my dad was younger he was misbehaving in school, as young boys often do, and was approached by a teacher who asked my dad the sort of questions that make you think differently about the situation. 

Without knowing it, that teacher changed my dad's life and ultimately shaped his parenting style. I vividly recall his questions/speeches that would make me think differently about the misbehaving situation I had gotten myself into. 

It helped shaped the sort of person I've ultimately become. I've always felt like I had an above average critical thinking skills and I have my dad to thank for this and his teacher.

Some of Socrates Thoughts on Democracy

“Why do we let just anyone vote? You wouldn’t choose a ship’s captain by popular vote, but by expertise.”

-Interpretation of Socrates/Plato

The issue with Democracy is that we chose leaders based on popularity rather than qualification. Additionally, the intelligent man has the same voting power as the idiot. When given the opportunity, we tend to not want to do effort and since being intelligent requires effort it means that, if (again) given the opportunity, we would rather not become intelligent. A parent that doesn't value education likely won't have kids that values it. Over time a threshold is reached where a political leader only needs to appeal to the idiot in order to gain power.

“The crowd rewards charm, not wisdom.”

-Interpretation of Socrates/Plato

A Democracy can only be maintained if we remain vigilant about who we choose. Socrates believed that it's not possible for the masses to make an informed decision about whom they pick. How else would a Democracy work? If voting is only reserved for the few then would the rest of the population accept the vote?

The Bigger The Decision The Bigger The Learning

“I have often marveled at the thin line which separates success from failure.”

-Ernest Shackleton

The decisions business owners have to make usually carry more weight than those of an employee and therefor they learn the most from them. Employees don't typically make major decisions, and the mistakes that may come from them, which hinders their ability for growth.

Generally speaking, business owners are better with their finances, for example, than employees because they better understand the impact money has - they've learned from the mistakes that they've made at work. Employees aren't generally given the opportunity to make such mistakes.

Since employees aren't learning much from the work itself, they need to find other ways for growth and that's usually through self-improvement on their own time - not doing so limits their potential over their lifetime.

Some subjects that are important to learn about about are Finance, Relationships, Communication, Leadership, Health... Pick a subject and go!

We Need To Connect More

Socializing is one the most natural thing that we can do yet today's society seems to have created a generation of individuals unable to effectively communicate with each other. In order for a society to work properly the individuals within it needs a sense of belonging and that can only be felt through the connection that we make.

"In the age of distraction, focus is a superpower."

-Cal Newport

Screens are partly to blame. Instead of spending our formative years socializing face to face we're now behind a screen and some of us will stay there for the rest of our lives. "Brain rot", a term referencing the act of consuming short term content, isn't helping here as it destroys our ability to focus - something necessary when communicating face to face.

Some things we need to do more of:

• Limit our screentime.
• Join a group/activity for the purpose of making connections.
• Read, sleep, exercise, proper diet.
• Travel somewhere we've never been without a GPS.

We need to put an end to this disconnect because if we don't build relationships with our peers then we may not care about them as much and do things to the detriment of them (ex: A.I. Surveillance). Each of us have a responsibility to care for each other. 

Where are the Successful Marriages?

Almost 15 years ago, I had attended a leadership seminar pertaining to "success in marriage". The couple speaking appeared genuine and I've always considered them to be the template for relationships.

After decades of marriage, the 2 of them have split and my view on marriage got shattered with it.

While I've seen long term marriages, I have never encountered a marriage that was, what I would consider to be, a successful one. There's no intimacy, no happiness - just strangers sharing a house. This is made worse with the rise of personal devices and people preferring to numb themselves rather than face problems with their partners.

Big Red Button & Wisdom

"If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves."
-Carl Sagan

We live in a world where it's easier to kill a Billion people than to befriend them. Our ability to destroy far outweighs our ability, or patience, to see things from someone else's perspective for the purpose of making a friend. When we add to this that friendships we've built over decades can be destroyed in an instant... we're not setting ourselves up for long term survival success.

"Except for fools and madmen, everyone knows that nuclear war would be an unprecedented human catastrophe."
-Carl Sagan

A bomb has no other purpose than to explode - it's an accident waiting to happen. Stability today doesn't guarantee stability tomorrow. A good, responsible, government today doesn't guarantee one tomorrow yet they'll still have access to those bombs.

Technology is making things worse by controlling the direction of information. The authors have the ability to sway the populace which ever direction they chooses - usually to their advantage.

"The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist‑deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five."
-Carl Sagan

Wisdom has become an obligation the moment we've started developing weapons capable of destroying our planet.

Debt Is A Risk

The reason why business owners keep the profit is because they shoulder the risk of the company. If the company fails the owner has much more to loose than what an employee would loose (his job).

We could argue, however, that employees take on additional risk, without any potential profit, via personal debt. When they loose a job they also can loose much as they won't be able to repay their loans.

As an employee, it's important to be mindful of the sort of debt you decide to take on as it will need to be repaid. If you're not a business owner then don't take on the risk of owning one.

What You Consume Influence You

We're shaped by what we consume. What goes through our senses, our eyes and ears, shape our mind while what goes through our mouth shape our body.

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”

-As a Man Thinketh by James Allen

Years ago, I was told that if you filled a bottle with mustard the only thing that could get out of it is mustard. We ought to be mindful about what we consume as it can either pull us in a positive, or negative, direction. Consuming junk isn't as likely to have a positive impact on our bodies/mind than consuming good things.

You are who you are today partly by what you've consumed up to this point. If you like things as they are then continue on that path. If you don't, then make a change.

Pay Yourself First?

The origin of "Pay yourself first" is perhaps the most important lesson from the "The Richest Man in Babylon" book by George S. Clason.  The novel, with lessons on finances, takes place in Babylon where working class individuals are inquiring to their wealthy friends on how to become wealthy. One said advice was to "pay yourself first".

What does it mean?

It doesn't mean spending money on yourself but to save it for your future self. According to the book, we ought to put aside 10% of money earned on our future self. Once we've accumulated enough, then we can use some of that money for investing - only investing the money we can afford to loose.

A friend of mine spends all her money because "she doesn't know how long she has to live" and was using that as an excuse. Her philosophy isn't wrong but it's not uncommon for people today to live well into their 80s.

"You can be young without money, but you can't be old without it" 

-Tennessee Williams

Today, not only are people not saving (sometimes they can't) they borrow from their future selves instead - putting themselves in a situation they can't get out of. 

How you live is up to you but I would encourage you to find ways to save money. You'll sleep better at night with a nest egg than without one.

Would Philosophy/Science Come Back?

I once argued that Philosophy, like Science, would eventually come back following a catastrophe that would wipeout all human knowledge. However, if we look throughout our history we understand that the stars would need to be perfectly aligned for either to come back...

• For thousands of years of recorded history people who have pursued ideas that were against the status quo, or religious beliefs, of their time could be prosecuted and put to death.
• For ideas to flourish, we must be living where our survival needs are met.
• It's rare for a civilization to allow, or consider, the pursuit of wisdom as a valuable endeavor.
• It's rare for an individual to want to pursue wisdom (even today) - only a small fraction of the billions of humans that have ever existed have been known for their contribution to science/philosophy.
• The event that caused the destruction of knowledge could deter future generations of attempting the pursuit of science/philosophy as to not replicate said catastrophe.

I hope we never loose the knowledge that we've acquired as it could take thousands of years to reach this point again - this is assuming that humans would still be around following the even that wipe out all of our knowledge.

Wisdom Is The Most Important Thing?

"...those who live without being consumed by business or distractions can find their lives to be more than sufficient."
-Seneca, On the Shortness of Life

Seneca believed that pursuing wisdom was the most important exercise of the human experience. I'm of the opinion that health and relationship are also important to live a fulfilling life as without those life becomes an annoyance and lonely.

“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.”
-Seneca

Monetary gains is important to live but one shouldn't dedicate their lives to it as it's relatively meaningless. There's no limit to the amount of things we can acquire and we carry nothing with us when we die.

Savings Could Be The Plan

“Why should God bring an opportunity your way if you are not in a position to take advantage of it? If you were God, to whom would you give opportunities? Wishful thinkers? Dreamers? Or planners?”
-Andy Stanley

If you don't have a plan for your life then being able to save money may open opportunities you otherwise wouldn't of had.

Years ago, I moved to a new city and the word on the street was that the local I.T. company had been sold. Before signing the papers, the owner had given his employees the opportunity to buy shares of the company - many became overnight millionaires in the deal.
I always wondered what happened to those that weren't able to take advantage of the opportunity... 

While life is short, and we only have the one, we ought to save part of what we earn. If an opportunity ever present itself then we'll be ready.

Self-Improvement In the A.I. Age

A.I. is an accumulation of all human knowledge - it's not possible to know more than it does. 

What does that mean for Self-Improvement?

Self-Improvement is about improving the self. What will "self" be once we're all interconnected with A.I.? What will there be to improve if we all have access to all the information we've ever produced? Will we be better once we're all starting from the same point? Will we just be copies of each other?

Even today, some people don't make any major decisions without first consulting an A.I. However life is unpredictable - can a user blame A.I. for making the wrong decisions? Will the user learn from the A.I.'s mistake the same as he would from learning from his own mistakes?

There are a lot of unknowns about the future of A.I.'s relationship with humanity. For now, Self-Improvement still has value and A.I. can be our greatest assistant.

We Can Only Go Nuclear Once

"Full-scale nuclear war has never happened. Somehow this is taken to imply that it never will. But we can experience it only once."

-Carl Sagan (Cosmos)

Our destructive capabilities has grown at a faster rate than our overall growth. With great destructive abilities comes great responsibilities yet most people with access to the "big red button" today have questionable moralities.

Why build nuclear weapons if we never intend to use it? Why is the survival of the entire planet at the hands of a so few individuals? It's nothing short of an accident waiting to happen.

Nobody knows who will be the first to initiate the end of all things but it does feel like we've never been so close to finding out.

Success for Everyone

Too often, perhaps instinctively, we think of success as a finite resource like water - in limited supply and once claimed there's less for everyone else. 

While success means different things to different people it isn't a finite resource. Instead of being jealous of other people's successes we ought to be supportive of them as there's nothing stopping us from also achieving success for ourselves.

If you're not competing, and are fortunate enough to live in a country with rights, then the only person stopping you from winning is yourself.

Directed Thoughts

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

-Frederick Douglass

The mind, when left to wonder, usually goes towards what's known to it - our memories. Through this process we either generate new ideas or reminisce. Either can be good (to reminisce about past negativity isn't) yet reading help us learn new things.

"By three methods we may learn wisdom. First, by reflection, which is the noblest, by imitation, which is easiest, and third, by experience, which is the bitterest."

-Confucius

There's some wisdom that we can gain simply by thinking but we're limited. It's no possible, for example, to think ourselves into understanding a new language. We need to be exposed to it in order to learn it.

If your boredom isn't beneficial then consider picking up a book.

Putting the "Humanity" back in...

We've created a society that is making us sick; We work sitting, we eat junk, we isolate ourselves, we're exposed to toxic chemicals... 

To remedy the situation, we're offered various medication.

We don't need medication as much as we need to go back to the drawing board and build a society that better support the human condition instead of attempting to remove or make it sick. Who, for example, determined that it was acceptable to have toxic chemicals in our products? 

I shouldn't be required to read a food label to determined if the food is toxic or not...

We're so keen in removing humans from the equation that companies have replaced many of them with A.I.* even before it was ready for primetime. Efficiency and profit takes precedents over decency and health. 

We've reached a point where we need to ask ourselves what sort of future we want to live in as the one that's being proposed by our current society doesn't seem to want us in it.

*Yes, I understand the irony of using A.I. generated images while making this statement...

Nagging Spouse

"A spouse can be your greatest ally or your most formidable adversary-chose daily which one you'll be."

-Unknown

Having a nagging/adversary/confrontational partner may be forgiven when we're attracted to them but it becomes increasingly difficult to deal with as the attractiveness fades. If a relationship is a boat then both have to row in unison in order to get anywhere.

Does nagging someone ever get anywhere?

Self improvement is one of the most difficult things to do even when we're inspired or encouraged to do so... Do we really believe that anyone can change simply by being angry at them? Change has to come from within and while a spouse can help they certainly can't force anyone, but themselves, to change.

There's nothing wrong with voicing out our concerns but if it's constant then it could be a problem with you.

Clean Mind Clean House

 “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”

-Jordan B. Peterson

Organizing a room isn’t something that comes naturally to me. It’s not until I started reading on a regular basis that I’ve been able to figure out ways to organize my place better.
There's a connection between messy thoughts and messy rooms that I only found through reading: Organized thoughts makes organized houses. 

It starts from the inside out.

Our minds is like a pile of dirty laundry. With time and dedication we're able to understand it for what it is and sort pieces of it out.

When it comes to organizing a house, the same logic applies. We need to be able to analyze a place and set it up in a way that make sense based on the layout and the things we own. It needs to be setup in such a way that when we require an item in the future we know where to look for it. Books should be on the bookshelf, batteries should be in the box, clothes should be in the closet... each item has it's place and they'll be easier to find if grouped with similar items.

How Much Is Working Costing You

One of the great annoyances of careers is that we often have to move to where the work is and work isn't always in areas where we want to live in. In Canada, those living on the East coast would either work for some time, or move, "out West". While there's nothing wrong with Canada's West Coast, those that move are leaving behind family and friends.

Additionally, a career requires expenses such as:

• Training
• Nourishment
• Transportation
• Child care
• ...

Some cost aren't monetary: 

• Mental/Physical Health
• Relationships
• Life
• ...

The cost of employment can be quite high. One has to wonder whether there's a purpose to it other than to fund a retirement? It's been said that if you "love what you do you'll never work a day of your life" but even if you love what you do there's still a cost to it. Is the quote suggesting that love makes the cost worth it?

Time Will Tell

“Your habits will determine your future.” 

-Jack Canfield

In your early 20s you can't really tell who's following good principles and who isn't. We can't tell because we're all starting out at roughly the same spot: We're all young, full of energy fresh out of school and feeling invincible. 

Over time, our habits will define who we are.

Fast forward 10-20 years and you can see more clearly who has and who hasn't followed good finance/health/relationship... principles. If they continue on the same path they'll have similar result for the next 10-20 years as nothing will change unless they do. A quote related to this, often attributed to Albert Einstein, says "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".

Those that don't live intentionally are more likely to end up somewhere they never wanted to be to begin with. Always set yourself small goals in any important areas of your life and work towards them.

Same Or Better

Almost 20 years ago now, I attended a leadership seminar where the speaker said we should always leave things the same or better than when we arrive. Since then, I've attempted to use the same strategy everywhere I go whether it be in an hotel, a hockey game or work - when I leave things are either the same or better than when I arrive.

Often this simply mean to clean up after yourself. Sometime it's about insuring that the project is in a better state when you left than when you came in. Before I leave somewhere I ask myself how I can leave the place the same or better than when I arrived?

If everybody did this the world would be a better place. I hate seeing piles of garbage after a show or chair not properly stored after an event. If everyone did a small part there wouldn't be a need for people to pick up after ourselves.

Weird Universe

The Universe is weird regardless of its size. If it was smaller, and only included the Sun and the Earth, it would still be weird to us. It's weird because we have a degree of awareness to it - it's weird because being aware, and able to make these observations, is weird.

The Universe is as infinite as our curiosity. Perhaps if the Universe was smaller, we wouldn't be as curious. After all, what else would there be for us to do once we've learned everything that there's to know about our theoretical small Universe?

The frustrating part of this existence is that we only get to live through a tiny fraction of it. We're only aware of this infinite Universe for a 100 years, if we're lucky, which is painfully inadequate for anyone wanting to understand infinity.

Expanding Our View

Years ago, I was working at a software company. I was sitting in the lounge, on one of my breaks, reading a book on Philosophy when the CEO walked in and asked "Why aren't you reading books on software?" to which I replied "Because there's more to life than software...". With a puzzled look on his face, he left.

Recently, I read the "A Thomas Jefferson Education" book by Oliver DeMille and was reminded of that interaction. In his book, Oliver DeMille argues that people today are highly trained but poorly educated which creates situations where people aren't aligned morally. This is partly the reason why morally bankrupt individuals have found support in some areas of the world.

"It is only he who has learned to like himself who can be generous and friendly with other persons." -Les Giblin

In order to live, what I would consider to be, a complete human experience one must be proficient in one area of his life while also be knowledgeable in other areas such as relationships, health, philosophy, politics, finances... To only focus on one area is to miss out on all others and the narrow view creates situations where your beliefs aren't being challenged which opens the doors to being taken advantage of.

Spend time learning about your area of expertise while also looking at other subjects.

Where It's Okay To Scream

My sister won lodge tickets to a hockey game and invited both my dad an I. We had an amazing view of the game and it was one of the best matches I had seen in a while.

While I'm not much of a sports fan, I realized that arenas are a great outlet for stress. Throughout the night, people screamed/cheer/booed at whatever was happening on the ice seemingly forgetting, for a brief moment, the troubles of their lives.

The more I got into the game, the less my troubles seemed to matter. As I was screaming/cheering, I felt a weight getting off of my shoulder.

If there's anger inside of you and you feel like screaming - go support one of your local sports teams (where these behaviours are usually encouraged). Obviously, remain polite as you let it all out.

We're Never Better Than Machines

The fastest man in the world isn’t faster than a car. The strongest man in the world isn’t stronger than a bulldozer. The most intelligent man in the world can’t memorize as much information as a computer. In every situation where man is faced against a machine he comes short. 

When it comes to my job, I think about machines the same way I think about death. The question isn't on whether or not I will die, or be replaced by a machine, but when.
What remains important through this transition is whether or not we will still be free to pursue fulfilling human lives. What we ought to do today is start thinking about a purpose beyond wealth brought forth by labour as it's likely going away.

In the Star Trek universe, humans have evolved beyond the need of money. With their basic needs met, everyone is free to pursue their passions without monetary constraints. After all, what would be the point of an economy where everything is automated? Is this the sort of future that awaits us?

Focused Learning

"Nobody knows what knowledge will prove to be of use, and what is destined to be useless."

-John Stuart Mill

Most don’t learn beyond what is necessary for them to survive and surviving is all that they do.

Some people indulge too much in hobbies. If you can name all Star Wars characters, but can’t pay your bills, then you’ve been learning about the wrong things. Hobbies are only meant to be temporary escapes: They’re not meant to take over someone’s life.

In order to thrive in the Information, dawn of the A.I., Age it is important that we continuously learn about things that will support our lives both at home and professionally.

Learn about your work, how to be a better partner, about how to become a better member of society.