A Disease of Choice

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If we focus enough on the potential of contracting a certain disease, we will increase our chances of actually getting it to the point where we are actually sick. What if that were a good thing?

House M.D. is a television show about an obnoxious doctor who ingeniously cures patients with exotic conditions in spite of his offensive manners. In one episode his staff was impressed with the positive attitude of one of their patients, who in spite of having a condition they couldn't cure was always kind and caring. This was a personal challenge to House who begins his relationship with the patient by trying to make the patient react badly. That never happens and a frustrated House suddenly considers the possibility that maybe this patient isn't upbeat and positive in spite of his disease, maybe he's that way because of the disease. This insight leads to a diagnosis and cure. The episode ends with the cured patient still being kind and caring, which was something of an annoyance to the lead character.

We believe many of our short-comings may be the result of medical conditions. For example, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) makes it difficult (perhaps impossible) for sufferers to focus and therefore succeed in areas that require study. This is  serious condition that should be treated and not ignored.

Now if something exists, then it's possible that its opposite also exits. What would a life be like if we could also suffer from an opposite brain condition, Inattention Deficit Disorder, IDD? The symptoms would be an inability to be thoughtless and distracted which would require the sufferer to live a life of complete awareness. That would be a great disease! If we were obsessively worried about contracting it, we might actually get it! To obsessively worry, one would continually imagine what life would be like with a medical inability to suffer from your perceived short-comings.

Every personal investment has its elements of self-doubt and reservation. These can control and derail us from our purpose in life. What if we had a medical condition that made it impossible for this to happen to us? What if we had the insights, confidence, and courage we need because of a medical condition that just made us that way? If we have a purpose in life, isn't it reasonable to be able to contract it?

While suffering appears to be an unavoidable consequence of living, there is both productive and unproductive suffering. Why not choose the former?

Return On Investment

An enterprise starts with the hope of a return on its investment. For a start-up, this is often envisioned on a spreadsheet, with the initial revenues being smaller than the initial expenses creating losses; however, the revenues increasing by some percentage and over time they outpace expenses to generate an attractive return on investment (ROI). While that is the typical story on paper; it's not reflected in the reality around us.

The World Population graph seems to show a linear growth like the one described in the above plan with some event happening in the late 1800's to suddenly make it change. Any idea what that historic event might have been?

If you haven't read the paper folding post, this may make a more sense if you do that. The graph shows natural, exponential growth. If we would change the time scale to end a century earlier, the curve would look the same, only the historic event would now appear to be in the late 1700's.  End another century earlier, and the momentous event still moves back with the new scaling.

There was no event that changed the World population growth rate. Population growth is an example of growth from feedback and this graph is what that curve will always looks like. Small victories in the beginning, remaining small for far longer than our linear minds can imagine, then accumulating faster than linear thinking can grasp.

The two mistakes we can make are to believe the smaller growth rate is failure or to not accept the higher growth rate as success and invest in necessary infrastructure to keep the feedback going. It takes a faith that the returns will really happen to avoid either downfall. Of course this growth doesn't go on forever. There are always limits to growth; however, some are just in our linear minds.

During the Beatles's era, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who may have been the subject of their song Fool on the Hill, challenged his followers with the claim that if the square root of 1% of a population practices Transcendental Meditation (TM), crime in the area would decrease. In 1993, TM followers came to Washington DC during a record heat wave (which correlates to increased crime) to create such a critical number. Crime decreased for the period of the experiment. After its conclusion, it increased again.

This is not unique to TM. The story has been repeated in countless endeavors where fools have believed in continuing to repeat something powerful and gentle until the feedback effects can finally be observed; or until their return on investment is finally realized. We live in a faithful (systematic) universe; just not a linear one.

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Did I just screw-up?

Anyone who has never felt this way is a poster child for the unfulfilled life. Remorse is a negative feedback with destructive potential if ignored. It's also the catalyst for developing our potential if accepted and appreciated.

There is a story about a successful Active Investor, a business owner or professional,  who was being interviewed. She was asked to revel the secret of her success (a great question networking question by the way). Her answer was that success was the result of not making mistakes. This lead to a question on how to avoid mistakes. Her response was that experience would teach you how to avoid them. The obvious follow-up question was about the best way to get that experience. Her concluding wisdom was that the best way to obtain experience was to make mistakes.

The difference between an accomplished athlete and an amateur is not just natural ability. It's the experience gained from extensive training under the watchful eye of a great coach. Even small mistakes are honed away in hours of work on the practice fields. This repetition of action and corrective feedback gently and powerfully develops the the successful athlete's abilities on the playing field we all admire.

Life doesn't give Active Investors a practice field; but the coaches are very present. Everyone benefits from mentoring. This can be from those who invested themselves in us during our past. It can also be from a current network of professional advisers we can develop. It's feedback necessary for grwoth. Being able to get good coaching is critical; however, these are only our external coaches.

There are also our internal coaches that watch our play and seek to guide us. Remorse is such a coach when we appreciate that it moves us towards better ways to achieve our goals. The feeling, although negative, is there as a driver for improvements that inevitably increase lasting values. The feelings are designed to make us stop. Not for self-pity; but to take a moment to learn from what just happened and to guide change.

Our actions may now forever limit us in the future. Limitations in one area creates opportunities for specialization and excellence in what's remaining. They may be cause for an apology. This starts the miraculous process of healing. But, most of all, they are a basis for us to rise above our past performance levels and become who we feel we should become. We get there by thinking about alternatives to our present situation that will make us feel better. It may happen in a single insightful step. Recovery may also be from one slightly better emotional state to another as we recover over time. However, there is always some better feeling way to think about a remorseful situation and our job is to find and follow it.

Although mentioned in a previous blog posting this bears repeating. The Active Investor's emotional strategy when experiencing negative feedback of any kind should be to move from a position of judgment to a position of curiosity.These negative feelings are our sensors and guides, not our enemies.

image credit: TheeErin

Finish Strong

I can still remember the game that made me a Dallas Cowboys fan for life. I was eleven years old and living in Houston. At that time Texas had the semi-pro Texas baseball league; but there were no major league teams in any professional sports.

It was 1960 and the NFL announced the formation of the Dallas franchise. The original Cowboys were selected from "unprotected" players on other teams. They were also the unlucky 13th team in the league.

Frustration was the reward for following the Cowboys that first season. They could lead for 3 quarters but NEVER win, including giving up 17 points in the last 6 minutes of their first encounter with San Francisco.

After 10 consecutive losses we were thankful the season had only 12 regular games. Game 11 was against the New York Giants, where our Head Coach Tom Landry had been an assistant coach the previous year.

Even with a slow start, the Cowboys managed to stay in this game, catching up to the Giants but never able to stay there. The 4th quarter began with another Cowboy's come back to tie the game 24 - 24. The reigning conference champion Giants didn't let that last. Soon they had the game back with a 31 - 24 lead. With 2+ minutes left, the Cowboys took advantage of a New York fumble and scored. It was 31 - 30 in the final moments of the game with Fred Cone lining up to attempt the extra point. None of us listening to the game dared to even think about what might happen. The ball was snapped, placed, and kicked through the uprights. We had tied, 31 - 31! It was the first major league professional game Texas had not lost. We had a right to be there; and I was now a Cowboy's fan for life, even though I wouldn't live in the Dallas area for another 30 years.

Everyone knows we should finish strong. That gets confused with winning and it's not the same. Every transaction can end with increased value, even if the result is not what we had in mind. An Active Investor is alert to any value that can be gained; no opportunity need be wasted. If nothing else, can a final result create an increase in trust between us? There is always an audience; will our finish create fans?

No, the Cowboys didn't win that game (or any 1960 game, the season was 0 - 11 - 1) but they had what it takes to finish strong. That won them their original lifetime fans. No, the Texans didn't win at the Alamo; but they won many hearts and we will always remember. They finished strong and that spirit was later at San Jacinto where a vastly out-numbered Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna with courage more than military strength.

We can't count on always wining. We can always intend to finish strong.

Image Credit: sidurkin

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• Cowboys lead way in TV standings (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

The Problem of Answered Prayer

It's not hard to believe in God. Given that, it's not difficult to believe in a personal God that responds to prayer. People pray all the time. What's really hard to truly believe is that the God of your faith actually answers those prayers.

It's safe to attribute answered prayer to preparation or hard work finally paying-off, or usually just to good fortune. We don't have to carry any responsibility when we are blessed by past efforts or good luck. But if a prayer relates to something happening in your business, and God is going to answer that prayer, then there are some significant fiduciary responsibilities involved. It puts you in the position of being responsible to an all-knowing, all-powerful business partner. 

This is such a serious subject an entire Old Testament book has been devoted to it. The Book of Jonah is often seen as a story about a reluctant prophet. On a broader scale it's about God wanting to communicate to a guy named Jonah; and Jonah doesn't want to hear it. If you don't already know the story, God wins.

When I pray about a business (or any other) matter, fear is involved. I believe if I now don't act as if God will answer, I may be swallowed by a metaphorical whale. It propels me to act on the potential of God's answer coming from my actions. I do things I may not have had the inclination or courage to ever try before. I think twice before putting myself in that position.

On the other hand, when God's answer becomes apparent, I go from humility, to feeling like a light bulb when someone has just turned-on the switch.