Never Stop Learning!

“There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager, and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more. The bigoted, the narrow-minded, the stubborn, and the perpetually optimistic have all stopped learning.”
-Philip Crosby

Almost 20 years ago now, I was approached by a successful business owner who told me that I was worth minimum wage from the neck down and it was what I knew that would ultimately determine how successful I was going to be in life. He then proceeded to mentor me for the next 5 years.

This changed my life and I'm fully aware it isn't the sort of experience most people go through which is why most people don't prioritize learning at all. For me, learning has been a companion all those years. I saw, first hands, the benefits of reading good books and listening to self-improvement materials.

"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."

-Dorothy Parker

It's now my turn to mentor others to do the same but I can't just walk to strangers and tell them they need to read - I need to find ways to inspire others by being the example for them to follow.
This blog has been used for various purposes over the years including to help with my mission. Hopefully, you see value in it and I've helped, in a small way, instil a desire for you to learn.

Never stop learning!

The Truth Should Be The Focus of Arguments

“In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.”

-William Penn

The problem with most arguments today is those involved are trying to be right rather than to find the truth. In the words of Richard Feynman, "I'd rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned" which reflect the notion that seeking truth and understanding is more valuable than merely being right.

“Though everyone wants to be right, as soon as people start to air their incompatible views it becomes clear that not everyone can be right about everything.”

-Steven Pinker

Why do people want to be right in arguments?

People argue for a variety of reasons, often rooted in their unique perspective, emotions, and experiences. The psychological and social reason to be right can be due to:

• Validation - One's self-worth is tied to being right.
• Social Status - To enhance one's reputation/credibility.
• Cognitive Dissonance - Avoiding the discomfort of being wrong.
• Control - Being right gives a sense of control in an otherwise unpredictable world.
• Fear of Change - Being wrong means that a change in thinking is required.

Those that committed to improving themselves can't afford to have a flaw like this. It's important that we identify and resolve these problems so that we can see arguments as the learning opportunities they're supposed to be.

Training Our Brain

“He who does anything because it is the custom, makes no choice. He gains no practice either in discerning or in desiring what is best. The mental and moral, like the muscular powers, are improved only by being used. The faculties are called into no exercise by doing a thing merely because others do it, no more than by believing a thing only because others believe it. If the grounds of an opinion are not conclusive to the person's own reason, his reason cannot be strengthened, but is likely to be weakened by his adopting it: and if the inducements to an act are not such as are consentaneous to his own feelings and character (where affection, or the rights of others, are not concerned), it is so much done towards rendering his feelings and character inert and torpid, instead of active and energetic.”

-From “On Liberty” book by John Stuart Mill

In which environment are we supposed to be practicing our mental faculties?

We haven't really built a society where intellectualism is encouraged. School is about memorization, work is doing what we're told and the home is where we shut our brain and do as little thinking as possible.

"...a mind that feeds only on itself soon is undernourished, becoming weak and incapable of creative progressive thought. Stimulation from others is excellent mind food." 

- David J. Scwartz

For someone that reads on a regular basis, it can be difficult to find stimulation in the conversation with non-readers. As I mentioned before, there's a thinking distance phenomenon felt during discussions, with a non-reader, which is made increasingly evident the more books someone has read (since the distance is now greater). Stimulating discussion, to an intellectual, are sadly few and far in-between.

Again, the question is how are we suppose to practice our mental faculties?

While we may not be able to change our work situation, educational system or relations - we can choose how we spend our free time. If we expose ourselves to new experiences, or books, it should help with our mental abilities. Writing is likely the best thing we can do to develop our mental capabilities.

As John Stuart Mill said, the brain is a muscle that needs to be trained and it falls on us to insure that we give it proper training.

12 Years of Education = Minimum Wage?

In Canada, the first 12 years of education is equivalent to a minimum wage job which is a lot of years spent learning only to end up earning minimum wage. Couldn't we optimize this process?

Part of the problem is, of course, that the more people know something the less value it ultimately has in the eyes of an employer. If only one person knows how to count, then he becomes more valuable to the eyes of an employer looking for that skill. If a thousand people knows how to count, then that position goes down in value because the pool of applicants is bigger.

This suggest that part of the optimization of our educational system would require a degree of customization tailored to each child's skills (which will likely be possible with the introduction of A.I.). 

I'm certainly not suggesting that we should have 10 year old doctors... just that 12 years is a long time for someone not to get the skills necessary to earn anything more than minimum wage. The current process is only acceptable for a child growing up as they have a lot of times on their hands - something no human beings, at any other stages of their lives, has.

The temporary solution is for the students to take ownership of their education - to go beyond the basics and to start exposing researching career interests. It's possible for a child, for example, to be a certified programmer even before they complete high school. The courses are online for those that want to take advantage of them.

Think Twice Before Quitting College

It's not uncommon to hear someone say "Bill Gates was a college dropout" prior to quitting their advance degrees. What those people fail to understand is that for every Bill Gates there's a hundred thousand college dropouts that didn't succeed in whatever endeavor they thought would be better at.

Success stories like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are often highlighted, but it’s crucial to remember that they left college to pursue projects that were already showing significant promise. They had a clear vision and a plan in place.

If you don't like the subject you chose then by all means quit but don't quit thinking that you're going to be making it big if you don't have an idea to fall on.

We're In the Knowledge Age

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E)

The Information Age is what we call our ability to store/retrieve large quantity of information. The Information Age is over as we're now entering the age of knowledge.

Knowledge Age is the ability to create new information using A.I. from the data stored during the Information Age. A.I. now has the ability to create images/videos/sentences/code/misc (meal plans, diagnosis, schedules...) at the same level, or better, than the average human.

Some students are using A.I. for their homework in school. If an A.I. can do a student's homework then how long will it be until it can do the work the student is training for? What's the point of going to school to train for a job that an A.I. can do quicker, often better, than us?

To say that a revolution is coming is an understatement. The landscape has already changed - the rules we were using in the Information Age are no longer relevant. If you want to thrive in the knowledge age then you need to find ways to incorporate A.I. in what you do. 

Ignorance Fueled by Misinformation

There was a time when I believed that all that was required to cure ignorance was knowledge but experience showed me that even knowledge can't cure ignorance for as long as the student isn't opened to receive it. This is why many still believe such things as "the Earth is flat" even though it's been proven otherwise for centuries.

In recent years, we've seen a rise of misinformation fueled by influencers attempting to make money off of sensational/fake information which tend to confuse the educated and uneducated alike. We may think that we're smart enough to identify the true from the false but the reality is that we likely believe things that are simply not true.

While we can't double/triple check everything we see online, we should educate ourselves from reputable sources for the important things of life. 

We shouldn't, for example, take financial advice from just anyone we find on YouTube. A background check can go a long way into insuring that the person is who he says he is.

There's no such thing as a perfect place for information and the responsibility to cut the false from the truth falls on each one of us.

Keep Things Simple

 

People are not interested in things that are complicated. Knowing this, if you want people to be interested in what you want to share then be sure to word it in a way that they will understand.

Using movies as an example of this, if we take the Terminator series we can definitely see that it's no longer the behemoth franchise that it once was and one of the reason for that is because the plot became too complicated and branched off in all sorts of direction that many, including myself, felt it was moving away from the core material.

If you ever listened to Neil Degrase Tyson then you definitely know about his ability to keep people interested. He doesn't beat around the bushes and uses words that everyone understands in order to explain complicated concepts. Neil understands that the goal isn't to make everyone Astrophysicists but to get people interested enough to seek more information for themselves - leave the complicated material for the books and the Universities.

Who's The Sheep?

When it comes to Covid, I like to take my information from trusted sources. I've recently been told that I was a sheep for believing "everything that's on TV" related to Covid. To her, Covid was the biggest hoax of our time and designed to keep control over the population; something which she "learnt" online. Who's the biggest sheep? The person that's looking for facts or the person that looks at conspiracy theories on Youtube?

Things to consider:

• Youtubers/Influence/Internet Celebrities' only make money based on views/subscriptions. Knowing this, it make sense that they would say, or do, what ever is necessary to increase these numbers regardless of facts and some of those idiocies are believed.
• It's difficult for me to understand how "Sexymama_Youtube" has more credibility, to some people, than all the top scientist in the world.
• What is there to gain in having everyone stop working and potentially going trough a recession? Who's benefiting from this? Everyone is loosing!
• You can have a few people agree on something, some of the time, but how can you get every Government in the world to agree on a lockdown?

Recently, there's been pressure on the major social media sites to monitor, and remove, miss-information and/or information that entice violence. Whether or not we should censor these things could be a discussion of it's own but it does seem like it's necessary at this point as there's this belief that a major conspiracy is brewing. I'm not saying there are no conspiracies anywhere but I really doubt that "Sexymama_Youtube" would have all the information related to it but it is a problem because her voice has the potential to reach millions of people and we all know that lies travels faster than truth.

The best way to fight misinformation is with information but the problem is that misinformation is louder than the facts. 

Sometime I think the best way to be informed, in this information age, is to take a step back and think beyond the obvious problem. 

Some of the questions I asks myself are:

• Why is that person sharing this information?
• Is the person sharing the information in a position to have a credible opinion of it? 
• What are other people, in similar credible positions, saying? 
• Is the person sharing this information benefiting from having me think a certain way?

I would like to think that I'm pretty good at spotting facts from fiction but I get duped like everyone else on some things. Covid, however, isn't fiction - it's real and we have to do what we can to get rid of it.

Max And Pookie - Life Lessons

Both of my dogs are of the shy type but Max (Black/White - Male) is more outgoing than Pookie(Brown/White - Female) and I've learned a lot by observing them.

When Pookie was young she would pee at the mere sight of a new face. While she's outgrown this, she's still the shy girl and misses out much of the joys of being a dog as a result of it. You'll rarely find her in the main areas of the house as she prefer the peace and quiet of her hideouts - only coming out when she wants attention, food, or to go outside.

Max, while shy, acts more like a normal dog than Pookie does. He always wants to be where the action is at and I would argue that his experience, as a dog, is more enjoyable.

It's not difficult to see the relationship between these two dogs and humans. There are people that tend to prefer solitudes, either because they truly enjoy it or because of shyness, and others that enjoy being where the action is at. Both are going through the same experience of being human but one may be living it a bit more fully than the other. 

Regardless of the type of life that you decide to live it's important to note that life is, painfully, short and will end the same way whether it be in the comfort of your house or on an adventure and, as far as we know, we only get to be human once... make the most of it.

As far as Max & Pookie goes, they're the best dogs in the world and are currently living their elder years. The thought of loosing them is painful to me but also a reminder to make the most out of the time we have left together.

Difficulty Reading

My Dad admitted to me that it's very difficult for him to read hence why he rarely does. Few realizes that the brain is a muscle and like all muscle it needs to be exercised in order to grow. Few realizes that some books are easier to read than others and, if you start with a difficult one, it may turn you off from the experience altogether.

When I first started by Self-Improvement journey, roughly 10 years ago, the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", by Stephen R. Covey, was recommended to me by my mentor. I eagerly bought a copy and started reading it only to realize that I didn't understand a word of it. To me, this book made no sense but that was only because the book was too complicated for my reading comprehension. I shared my concerns with my mentor and he proceeded to suggest a few books that were less complicated. A few years later, I picked Stephen R. Covey's book again and was surprised when I finally understood the message of the book.

I still come across books that I have difficulty reading from time to time but I know enough not to let it turn me off from reading completely. 

If you're 10, 20, 40 pages into a book and still don't understand it may be because your reading comprehension isn't on par with the difficulty of the book. Read books that are not as difficult and, eventually, you'll be able to understand what the book is about.

Reading is important - don't give up on it!

Clever Marketing

Clever marketing is the type of marketing that stick with us long after the campaign as ended. I'm referring here of the marketing campaign of the pasts that were so good that it effectively changed the direction of society in terms of thinking related to the product. The following are examples:

• Kellogg's breakfast cereal - The cleverness of the marketing campaign of Kellogg's breakfast cereal cannot be overlooked. Not only are they the ones behind putting emphasis on breakfast "being the most important meal of the day" but they also managed to place their product, namely breakfast cereal, at the center of it.
• Santa Clause - Coca Cola is largely responsible for the image of Santa Clause that we know of today. They did such a good job with it that it often overshadows Jesus Christ on Christmas. 
• Women Shaving - The perceived "cleanliness" of a woman shaving her legs comes from a marketing campaign of a razor company looking to make more money. 
• Bacon - Bacon didn't used to be the part of the pig that people wanted to eat but it was made popular in the 90s and is now a highly sought for part of the pig.

The above are but a few products that, through marketing campaigns, effectively change the course of society. Kids are born, never saw the original marketing campaigns, and still learn about these products when speaking to older generations.

The question isn't on whether or not those marketing campaigns are good or bad but to understand them for what they are - a way for companies to make money sometime doing so by changing the current belief system. It is our responsibility to not buy into everything that is sold to us because companies don't always have our best internets in mind.

The Best Thing About Me

Even though I work full time, I often go through interview exercises in my head. I do so to prepare for future job search.

One of the questions I ask myself, during these imaginary interviews, is "What is your best quality?" and there's one answer that comes up more so than others which is: I understand the importance of staying humble. 

A person stops learning as soon as he considers himself an expert. Daniel R. Castro, in his book "Hidden Solutions All Around You", said "Don't be blinded by your own expertise." Richard Feynman refers to it as the "ignorance of experts".

I believe strongly in this philosophy because I have seen it first hand. I saw people come to my project being so confident in their abilities that they didn't bother learning the new things to accomplish the task at hand and that ultimately lead to their downfall.

If an expert is not humble then he not only set himself up for failure but he may also come across as arrogant, rather than confident, to his peers.

I believe so strongly in this philosophy that it's been the motto of this site (listen to those with the fruit from the tree) from the very beginning. Be humble my friends and learn until the day you die.

Police Brutality Ends Now!

"The greatness of a man is measured by the way he treats the little man. Compassion for the weak is a sign of greatness."

-Myles Munroe

When a person of color, or anyone, is arrested for a pity crime my expectation is that the person will be treated fairly. If you are enforcing the law then your moral compass should be above, not below, average. I understand that you see the worse of our human nature, on a daily basis, and that you are stressed out as a result but you can't turn that into hate for an individual or ethnic group.

This man had committed a crime but he shouldn't of paid for it with his life. He is but one of many that fell from excessive police brutality and this has to stop. The cop responsible for his death is not the problem as much as the result of a much bigger problem that plagues modern society today. 

"Many keen observers and writers have been calling attention to the loss of sense of values that has accompanied the growth of modern technology. They tell us that we have been living under the illusion that more automobiles, labor-saving devices and the like will bring happiness and usher in a better life. Without a strong sense of values and direction, however, the human spirit tends to weaken or deteriorate. Technical devices can liberate man from drudgery and open up new possibilities for cultural development; they can also have a dehumanizing effect and be potentially dangerous if there is no self-discipline and dedication to enduring values."

 -Page 107 of "Living Issues in Philosophy Sixth Edition" book by Harold H. Titus and Marilyn S. Smith

Is technology responsible for all the hate we see in the world today? No, but it does feel like people know more about how to use a computer than how to be nice to one another.

Was the person responsible for George Floyd's death a racist? Would the person doing the crime have died if he was white? I don't know but nobody should be above the law - not even those that enforces it.

 

Don't Believe Everything You See Online

If you're Canadian, then chances are that you've heard about the House Hippo ad that use to be shown on T.V. to remind everyone not to believe everything we see or hear. Is it time to re-run this add to remind us not to believe everything we see on T.V. and, especially, the Internet?

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen, during one of his nomination, said it best:

There have been many conspiracy theories in the wake of the Pandemic and most don't even have facts to back it up. Why is it that some people think that their 10 min Google research is enough to prove, or disprove, something? Why is it that we would rather listen to "Blogger434" than the advice of an expert?

We can, literally, find anything online that supports our beliefs but that doesn't mean that it holds any ground. I can ask Google "is the Earth flat?" and I'm going to find hundred of thousands of sites that supports this idea and, again, it doesn't mean that it's right.

How do we know if this Pandemic is real? 

If you're asking yourself this question then you likely don't believe anything that's in the news right now (and you shouldn't) but do you really think that all Governments have banded together to mess up the economy like this? Do you really think that all the news about doctors and nurses crying are fake? How would it be possible to setup a global phenomenon like this and have everyone on board with it? What use would it have? Do you need to experience these events yourself in order to know they are real?

This isn't my first rant on this subject but I'm constantly reminded, by my Facebook friends, how easy we believe in things that just aren't true. The mere existence of a conspiracy doesn't make it true. It's frustrating to see people I highly respect fall prey to a blogger who's only wish was to gain views in order to boost his revenue. We need to be careful!

Am I a Good Writer?

 

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect." 

-Vince Lombardi

I've been writing for a long time and always thought that if I do it often enough, if I work hard at it, and I give it time ... I would eventually become one of the greats. While I have made improvements over the years I'm surprised at how little of the "best practices" I actually implement in my writing. 

The problem is that I haven't been learning much on the subject of writing itself. I've simply read books, unrelated to writing best practices, and went on to write expecting that I would pick up on things. The irony here is that the motto of this site is to "learn from those that have the fruit on the tree" but I haven't been learning from the writing masters.

Practice what you preach right?

I've implemented some lessons I've learned about paragraphs and sentences in this blog post. Is it better? Is it working? I can't tell! I can't tell because it's difficult to spot our own mistakes. What I need is a writing mentor - someone that can look over my blog post and tell me how I can make it better without loosing the message I'm trying to convey. 

"No! Try Not! Do or do not, there is no try."

-Yoda

When I go to the gym, I have a very specific goal in mind. I know how my end result is going to look like and I notice changes along the way. Improvements, related to writing, seems to be barely noticeable to me. I don't know how I'm doing and I don't know what it takes to get where I want to be with it. Is the desire to be great writer enough to actually be great at it?

If you like my writing - thank you! If you don't then constructive criticism would be appreciated. Either way I'm going to be doing this for as long as my mind is able to formulate thoughts so stick around!

What's Next?

I, like most people, dream of starting my own business but it's difficult for me to plan for it when I'm busy working. All of my time and energy is focused on my work and I have very little desire left to focus on building a business. I like what I do, I'm good doing it and it's comfortable. It is easier for me to work than it is to start my own business.

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."
-Alexander Graham Bell

Many have lost their jobs due to this Pandemic/lock-down but there's some good that can come out of this. Now can be a good time to sit down and think about your next big life move. Did you ever want to start your own business? Change careers? Improve upon your existing skills? Use this lock-down as an opportunity to plan your next move. Prepare yourself to hit the ground running when this is all over.

Many of you will simply waste all of this time and wait until it's all over to get back on the same horse you didn't like to be on in the first place. If you have a desire for a better life, after this is all over, then use this time to your advantage.

Fight back! The decision is yours...

Relying on Habits

"There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager, and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more. The bigoted, the narrow-minded, the stubborn, and the perpetually optimistic, have all stopped learning." -Philip Crosby

A habit requires less energy from the body than learning something new - which is why we have so many of them. We should still be actively learning new things rather than relying on the things we've grown accustomed to.

The Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is the area of comfort we set out for ourselves in which we are most comfortable in. Chris Brady likes to call it the "familiar zone" because there's really nothing comfortable about it.

How can we call it "comfort" when there's debt? Or when we're not chasing our dreams and settling for lesser ones? It truly is more accurate to call it a familiar zone.

"Only through pushing past a person's comfort zone will a person improve his level of skills." -Orrin Woodward

We're not growing when we're doing the same things every day. We are more likely to notice the areas we need to grow in when we get out of our familiar zone than when we remain in it.

If you want to grow, do something outside of your familiar zone!

---
Revision Wednesday
Blog post originally created on December 5, 2013 and can be found here.

Experts Are Often Blind

"Don't be blinded by your own expertise." -Daniel R. Castro

How do you know if you're an expert? Well have you stopped learning about your industry? If yes, perhaps you consider yourself to be an expert and no longer look into honing your skills. After all, what is there left to learn?
So called "experts" are often blinded by problems that requires a new way of thinking - different than what they've acquired so far. Since they already feel like they know everything, they simply brush it off as being an unsurpassable problem when it sometime isn't.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."- Albert Einstein

Don't be an expert - be an eternal student.