Andrea S. James

Category: Inspiration

  • Five ways to lead a more analytic life

    • Reject slippery slope arguments
    Artwork by Flickr user TomConger flickr.com/photos/tomconger

    Give humanity, and yourself, more credit. It’s amazing how often we accept a “slippery slope” rationale when  ideas and decisions are better evaluated case-by-case.

    Remember that a “slippery slope” argument is not the same as setting legal precedent. If you’re really that confused or money is involved, go ahead and consult a lawyer.

    But for the most part, the slippery slope argument is a cop-out. I wish I could take credit for this idea, but I first heard it from Carolyn Hax, a Washington Post life-advice columnist.

    In 2008, for example, she says, “I’m not a big fan of slippery slope arguments in general. You have control over your actions, you do have the power to say ‘yes’ up to a point and ‘no’ beyond it.”

    • Explore anger

    Ask yourself, “Why am I angry? What specifically is frustrating about this situation? Why does it seem to frustrate me and not her?”

    Sometimes, anger is your own drama. Your ego and personal frustrations cloud your judgment. Other times, anger is a valid emotion. And in those cases, it’s great to be able to say, “I am angry because . . .”

    • Consider incentives

    Incentives are a hidden element of so many interactions, and yet, so many of us like to pretend that they don’t exist. All people are motivated by something. Sheer will to live, money, attention, influence, faith. Knowing that, and trying to figure out what those incentives are, can save you a lot of headache.

    One important lesson I learned as an investigative journalist was that incentives, or motives, aren’t always good or bad — they just are. Thus, if someone tells you something and has a motive for doing so, such as being disgruntled, it doesn’t necessarily make the information invalid. Yes, people even have incentives for telling the truth.

    In Michael Maren’s book, Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity, he talks about how a market sprung up in food ration cards in Somalia.

    “Ration cards were traded and sold on the open market like stock options, their price rising and falling with perceived odds that the relief programs would continue,” Maren writes.

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  • Have you thought about death today?

    Being conscious of your own mortality can help you live a better life.

    This is an ancient truism, and for some reason, I keep seeing it everywhere I’ve turned of late, polished and presented anew.

    Because he is stepping down from CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs has been repeatedly in the news. In his 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, he said:

    When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

    Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

    It’s a simple message, and yet, so moving.

    And it’s not just him.

    In the book of Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible, the wise King Solomon writes extensively about meaningless pursuits and death:

    Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

    Thinking about death is also a Buddhist practice.

    In her book, Married to Bhutan, Linda Leaming shares secrets on how to have an attitude that is “conducive to happiness.”  She puts it, quite hilariously:

    The first thing you do is think about death. Several times a day. This will clarify a lot for you.

    There’d be a lot less dishonesty, cheating and meanness if people put this into practice. In my mind’s eye, I can hear protest: “If we all lived as if we’d die very soon, then nobody would go to work.”

    I think that’s wrong, so long as one takes pride in the privilege of work, so long as it really means “to create” or “to improve.”

    Steve Jobs thought about his own death every day, and he still chose to work rather than getting perpetually high or sloshed. He chose creativity and meaning.

    In the words of cartoonist Hugh McLeod:

    Death is what gives life its edge.

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  • A paradox of modern life: Comfort is a noose

    It is two days post Hurricane Irene.

    If you talk to enough folks, you can detect disappointment in some Northeast corners about how boring the storm was.

    Why is that?

    My theory is that people are hungry for adventure and many don’t know how to seek it themselves for risk of losing physical comfort, and thus, they find themselves surprised and pleased by the adrenaline rush of an approaching storm.

    Most people would never confess that they find storms exciting.  It’s not a politically correct thing to say, especially when death and damage are involved. But, on some level, an approaching hurricane is as exciting as it is dreadful.

    Because as much as we seek comfort, we also find it boring.

    Comfort is a noose. Once we have it, we become too content, we fight too hard to keep it and not hard enough for the things that give life meaning. A hurricane is a reminder of what’s important — relationships, life, little pleasures, love, truth.

    A life lived to preserve physical comfort isn’t really all that fulfilling. It is fulfilling to seek it, but once you’re there, then what?

    The happiest people are not those who are the most comfortable. The happiest seem to be those who are in a zone. Those with a mission and a goal, those who are seeking to better themselves or some societal element over which they have control, those who have risked physical comfort for some greater purpose.

    Religious missionaries and business entrepreneurs and loving parents share this in common.

    Happiness lives outside of our comfort zone.

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  • How to become a runner

    It’s so important to move your body as much as possible, especially if you are an information economy worker.

    If you agree, I want to give you some inspiration!

    I run because I’m lazy. Yes, you read that right. Running is the laziest exercise I can do. I only need sneakers and shorts. I can do it from my house and finish at my house, I don’t need a gym membership or fancy equipment or pretty much anything else.

    It also just so happens that running gives the biggest bang for the least amount of time! Busy professionals, ya hear me? Read on.

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  • The world didn’t end. What did you learn?

    Preacher Harold Camping predicted that the world as we know it would end on Saturday. It didn’t.

    Bare with me for a second, but, I read Camping’s analysis to get a sense of where his conviction came from.

    You see, I’m in the future prediction business, too. Lots of people in corporate America are — maybe we all are in some way — but definitely business folk.

    Before you make an investment of any kind, starting a company, creating a new product, backing a political candidate, you try to foresee. You study up, learn as much as you can, compile what you know and estimate around what you don’t.

    And then, you make a bet.

    As a stock analyst, I’m constantly asking myself: Where could I be wrong? What are the potential flaws in my thesis? What is the one variable that would render the rest of my analysis worthless? And what is the probability that one variable will occur?

    And that’s the thing that Harold Camping, and his followers, did not do. Here’s an interview with him from NY Magazine. Look at these excerpts, notice the disconnect between the reporter’s way of thinking (always with the what if in mind) and Camping’s refusal to go there:

    If six o’clock rolls around and there are no major earthquakes, are you going to start to get worried?

    It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. I don’t even think about those kind of issues. The Bible is not — God is not playing games. I don’t even want to think about that question at all. It is going to happen.

    You haven’t thought about what you’ll tell your followers on May 22 if the Rapture doesn’t take place?

    I’m not even thinking about that at all. It. Is. Going. To. Happen.

    …

    I know you’re convinced this is going to happen, but if May 22 comes around and you’re still here, can we talk again?

    I can’t even think about that question because you’re thinking that maybe, maybe Judgment Day will not happen. But it will happen, and I believe the Bible implicitly.

     

    Wow. Fascinating. He never did a simple thing that most of us do every day, which is ask ourselves, “What if I am wrong?”

    His analysis of the Bible — whether you believe in God or not is irrelevant, here — is guesses upon guesses. If just one of his estimates were wrong, his date could be off by a million years.  And he doesn’t appear to assign a probability to any of it. He assumes that “one day” means 1,000 years, and thus, seven days must mean 7,000 years and that “seven days to escape destruction” as told to Noah must really mean 7,000 years since the Old Testament was written until May 21, 2011 … or something. He kind of lost me.

    When I first read Camping’s analysis days ago, I was pretty sure that he was wrong. So sure, I would have bet my own money on it.

    Still, I made sure to spend time with friends on Friday and Saturday. I went to a class that I had been wanting to try out. I ate four tacos in a row instead of two, just because they tasted good. I literally stopped and smelled my neighbor’s lilacs.

    Nothing major, but I’m glad I lived a little bit more in the moment this week. Maybe you did too — and that’s OK. You’re not silly, it’s prudent and humble to have in the back of your head, “What if I’m wrong?”

    I only wish Camping’s followers, who sold their belongings and let debt pile up, had done the same. It’s not funny — it’s tragic.

  • The world is going to end on Saturday

    So why am I spending one of my last two full days on Earth updating a financial model. Sigh.

    (I’m not sure how free cash flow yields will help me in the after life.)

    I suppose I’m doing it because of that whole pesky, “you shall know not the day nor the hour,” thing.

    I’ve finally had some time to read up on all this rapture news. Fascinating. No, the prediction isn’t fascinating. It’s actually kind of convoluted. Link to original source material. What’s fascinating is all of the attention it is getting — more than 2,500 articles so far, according to Google News.

    I suppose some find it delightful to mock these people.  I’ll, ahem, reserve judgment.

    And seriously. Any of us could die tomorrow. Or we could live until we’re 99. What to do? How do you make the most of your life? Can we really have it all?

    In yoga class yesterday, during a pose, the teacher told us to look past the ends of our fingertips. Not way out, but just an inch or two past. She said we should plan our lives the same way, looking a little ahead, but not too far.

    “Too far” varies for everyone, and depends on age and circumstance. I’m operating on about a two-to-five year span.

    It’s a bet, a calculation, we all have to make.

     

    Update:

    And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, yes our actual CDC, has a page dedicated to how to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.  Guess our government’s not so stiff.

  • Don’t be paralyzed by imperfection

    When is a product finished?

    It’s certainly not when it is perfect.

    Perfection is unachievable. Holding out for it wastes time. The longer you wait, the more your product loses its value.

    This is why media criticism is too easy. With media, the value of the product diminishes in minutes. It’s better to produce an imperfect article sooner, rather than a more perfect article later.

    With airplanes, the timeline changes. Boeing has faced numerous delays with its 787 airplane program. On some level, the delays are worth the wait, because although there is diminishing value with time, the customers demand a safety level that is closer to perfection.

    In the content production business (news, analysis, software design, Web design) — editing, correction, guidance and oversight help you to minimize mistakes. They help you to preserve value and reduce time.

    Always remember: edits are not insults. They create value.

    Here’s my crude chart to illustrate my point. You need to find the sweet spot of perfection versus value. Value drops over time. Perfection increases over time.

    Chart shows perfection and value parabolas, where perfection increases with time, but value decreases. The sweet spot is where the two lines meet.

    This is an imperfect analogy, of course. (Theme alert: I didn’t spend a lot of time on it.)

    Thinking about this helps me to not be paralyzed by imperfection.

  • Applying Wall Street logic to your life

    Do you ever wonder why a stock goes up with a company announces layoffs? Or why a stock goes down after a company wins a huge contract?

    It’s because we don’t judge events purely by what happened. Rather, we look at what happened relative to our expectations.

    If a company makes a million dollars in a year, but Wall Street was expecting two million, nobody says, “Congratulations.” The company just came in at half of what was expected. Similarly, if a company only loses a million and Wall Street was expecting it to lose more than that, it’s pats on the back all around.

    This is true of life, too.

    Not knowing expectations is operating blindly.

    It’s why a teenager who gets a new cheapo car acts disappointed. Well sure: A new car is great if you expected no car at all. But, if the car is lesser than what was expected, it’s a disappointment.

    The great thing is: You can manage your own expectations and manage other people’s expectations of yourself.

    If you find yourself grossly disappointed with some aspect of your life, take a moment to examine what your expectations were. And were they realistic to begin with?

    Marriage is one big practice in managing expectations. If you expect it to make your life whole and complete and rainbows and peace signs, you’ll be wholly disappointed. On the flip side, you should expect basic things such as teamwork, respect and emotional support.

    Most of politics seems to be a debate over expectations of the role of government.

    I’m fascinated by parenting and happiness studies. Namely, I’ve learned that parenting does not equal day-to-day happiness. But it can produce a sense of accomplishment on a longer timeline.

    I think that families should set their expectations this way: Family life will be 90% draining and 10% rewarding joy. (For example, how could changing a diaper or driving all over creation to run errands possibly ever be awesome? No, it’s something you lovingly do because you want your child to be clean and healthy.)

    If during some three-month period Mr. Smith (fictitious guy) is happy 15% of the time and stressed out and frazzled 85% of the time, he can say that his home life exceeded his expectations.

    And then he can declare to family and friends in his quarterly update: Our car broke down, the dishwasher stopped working, and lil Suzie’s got the flu. But that met expectations. On the upside, no one threw up on the floor, our dog didn’t destroy any shoes and we all got to go on one nice walk in the sunshine. Net/net: It was a positive quarter in the Smith household.

    As for work life: It’s best not to ponder whether your job is meeting your expectations. Rather, think about how you can exceed others’ expectations. And then see if the reward is mutual.

    If anyone finds that this works, please let me know. I’m either a genius or hopelessly naive. =P

  • Maximize the moment. And jump.

    A state of uncertainty is nerve wracking.

    It drives people crazy.

    I don’t care what it is — waiting on a new job, waiting to find a life partner, waiting to find a place to live, waiting on a college acceptance.

    Limbo is hard. Especially when someone else’s indecision puts you there.

    I dislike indecision, probably to an extreme.

    I don’t linger over restaurant menus.

    My husband and I decided on “forever” after eight dates. The first time we lived in the same city was when he moved to Seattle and moved in with me. Faith helped there.

    We put in new hardwoods in our condo last year. Our (competent, capable and awesome) interior designer showed up with seven options. I narrowed them down to three, based on color and durability. Then I flipped over each plank to see the prices, and let cost be the final factor. It took me about 10 minutes to pick out new floors.

    I still love both my husband and my floors.

    When I rented, I hung wall art in minutes. I have so little patience for “a little to the left. No up. Now down a little. To the right.” Measure for the center. Put a little mark with the pencil.

    No. Just hang the dang picture already.  (Ok. So maybe I needed an interior designer. I had crooked mirrors.)

    In college, I did a leadership retreat sponsored by a local Rotary Club. One “challenge” was to put on a harness, climb up a tall ladder and then jump off of a platform. I guess it was supposed to make us feel empowered or good about ourselves, or something. I forget the point.

    One girl stood on the platform. Stuck.

    The leader bellowed at her with a bullhorn to give her the kick in the ass she needed:  “Jump or get down. Right now! MAKE A DECISION.”

    She jumped.

  • Gratitude for bees

    Did you know that a worker bee produces 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, and travels 37,400 miles to do so?

    Wow. So one teaspoon of honey is the life’s work of 12 bees!

    This fact came from Southwest’s Spirit magazine. I read it yesterday and I had to put the magazine down because I felt so awed by bees.

    I never realized how hard one bee had to work to make a pinch of honey.

    If you spilled a drop, all that work and miles flown from flower to flower –wasted.

    I’m sure there are some life lessons you could extrapolate from this, but I’m coming up empty.  I did, however, just get a craving for honey.

    (Flickr photo from Tie Guy II)