Mindfulness and critical mass of time

It needs critical mass of time to create anything beautiful. Imagine a beautiful day slipping out with 10-15 interruptions. "I am not able to paint or learn music even though I planned to do it everyday". Getting victimized to own commitments is often the case where critical mass of time wasn't available. Do we need to attend to every interruptions we would face? Mother of all evil as well as thrill is randomness and increase in entropy in almost everything around us. Be it a movement, be it a new idea, be it a relationship, be it a hobby, be it a professional success critical mass of time is a must. Critical mass of time of known activity is different than new activity. The critical mass of time between switching of activity is different. During this time there need to be flush of past activity thoughts making room for new activity. Is all this merely attentive awareness of reality of things, which is also called mindfulness?Yes, keeping mindfulness of everything we do and medication is the key to unlock to unleash the potential. Thankfully I don't have to re-invent the wheel.



References:

• http://theplanet.com.eg/blog/the-myth-of-time-management/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness

Paranoid or wise, corporate philosophies, their fate!

265 B.C., king Ashoka ruled the single undivided kingdom from Sri Lanka to Afghanistan. This paranoid king fought and won several battles or wars. Often corporate philosophies like "only paranoid survive" or "demanding perfectionist", "rule over the world and moon" are few such examples. These examples showcase the paranoid or war derived behavior. Are these mere extensions of Darwins theory of "survival of the fittest"? The battle of Kalinga was Ashoka's final battle, this battle made him much wiser or extremely emotional. He lost interest in kingdom, he also cared less to choose the right successor for the kingdom. Most of the original eastern philosophies were full of emotions and wise behavior.

 

In the midst of paranoid corporate philosophies, often there are fresh messages popping up. These fresh messages are based on works of "8 habit: Wisdom by Stephan Covey" or "Emotional Intelligence". Does this help make the paranoid behavior any milder? If yes, what for? Paranoids perish, so does the wise, former contributes to history and later care not.

 

References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka
• Only the paranoid survive … by Andy Groove from Intel Inc.
• Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson
• George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman (1903) "Maxims for Revolutionists"

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

 

Is measuring software productivity still a grey area?

Most of the time we are busy (productive?) developing and delivering the software tools and methodologies. Product delivery or code delivery dates are decided based on the end product or software component. Productivity is a very relative varying between different product teams and companies such as startup and market leaders. Decades ago software productivity was measured as lines of code, then it was measured as the number of projects or components developed. There are plethora of other techniques such as functional points and then the  business values achieved by a  team or an indiviual. It is ROI after all. It is too late to identify actual returns until the very end and so productivity is purely function of past experience or a grey area. Individual or teams working on same kind of software and having different ROI respectively depending on the final business value, so  business value cannot be actual measure of software productivity.

• References: "Cannot Measure Productivity" by Martin Fowler http://feedly.com/k/17omkp1

Train resting neural networks, responsible child's for lack of attention

Train resting neural networks, responsible child's for lack of attention

Various theories of the mind divide the intrinsic activity of brain into multiple low frequency or resting state neural network as DMN and relatively high frequency states such as TPN and TNN (task positive/negative network). DMN or default mode network is active when the child is at complete rest. Low frequency states retains large amount of information, which helps child to perform tasks in active states. In disordered child the change of state from rest state to active state to perform tasks, deactivates certain neural networks. This results into child not being able to perform amazingly in active states. Temple bells, meditation, recitation of Vedic mantras or hymns are low frequency activities. Such low frequency  activities train default mode network. There is a exponential development of DMN states in very young children. This cease to develop with adults or adolescent children, but these low frequency states could developed by training. Wandering mind is thought to occur due to the ability of DMN to continue to process self-referential material at variable levels which is related the degree of attention required to tend to tasks in external environment. A person who is deeply involved in a task has significant attenuation of DMN with minimal wandering thoughts, whereas a person participating passively in a task has an active DMN giving way to the emergence of activities such as "day dreaming", "spacing out", and opportunity to multi-task. Temple bells, meditation, recitation of Vedic mantras or hymns might improves attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) syndromes in child by indirect training of DMN areas.

References:

• http://www.frontiersin.org/Child_and_Neurodevelopmental_Psychiatry/10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00027/full

NLP: meta-model of behavior during managing a change, a quick summary!

NLP = Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Organizations try to execute various programs to foster changes time to time. The reason people resist change is either they are not fully convinced that the change in justified, appropriate or useful. This doesn't mean they will never be convinced, it just means they are not convinced yet. Change programs run more smoothly and stand a chance of great success when it is implemented through volunteers who are ready to learn new processes, systems or practices associated with the change. When a change program is run, 'first time convincer' and 'one time convincer' are the first ones to attend. They are also coined as' early adopters'. They will be followed by the people with 'two- or three times convincers'. The third wave will be people with longer period of time convincers of more than three times. Then there will be people 'consistent convincers' who might never be convinced. When forced they'll just cast an air of gloom over the event and sow seeds of doubt in the minds of others.

The very interesting thought was about similar meta model of behavior might be exhibited by same people when they are convinced to buy a phone, car, house, insurance etc… :)

References:

• NLP for work, a practical guide by Dianne Lowther