The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. - Michael Porter (American academic) This famous host - Monty Hall who in fact ruled the primetime network with "Let's Make a Deal" in the 60s and ran for more than 30 years has left some serious lessons that matter for every entrepreneur or strategist in the corporate world. Who would have thought that a simple game show could inspire an entire group of statisticians & mathematicians with PhDs to run massive experiments to uncover the truth. The Monty Hall problem confused people for decades (it even confuses me now) So let me explain what is this and then look at the confusing part. Monty Hall asks you to choose one of three closed doors. One of the doors hides a prize and the other two doors have no prize( or goats). You state out loud which door you pick, but you don’t open it right away. Monty opens one of the other two doors which you did not pick, and there is no prize behind it. At this moment, there are two closed doors, one of which you picked. The prize is behind one of the closed doors, but you don’t know which one. Monty asks you, “Do you want to switch doors?” The majority of people assume that both closed doors are equally like to have the prize. It appears like the door you chose has a 50/50 chance. Because there is no perceived reason to change, most stick with their initial choice. Now comes the Monty Hall problem or the time to shatter this illusion with the truth! If you switch doors, you double your probability of winning! (Statistically proven) What!? (Even I was in a shock the first time I heard it) The correct solution to the little game is for the contestant to always switch doors to the remaining door (more on that in a second). The problem is that the solution is entirely counter intuitive even for an experienced educated person. This is because the people see the original option as an entirely independent event even when subsequent revelations are on offer to them. The main argument is that Initially I had 1 out 3 as the probability and now it has become 1 out of 2 after one door was opened. And if you also thought the same, then you are wrong!!!
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Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive. George Bernard Shaw We all want to succeed and are also willing to put a lot of effort towards working for it, but certainly, struggle where to begin. I guess the first step is to actually identify those habits that make a person successful. In the world, TIME is a very limited resource and hence many of them do not wish to use that for all tasks. It's for this reason that I believe that Steven Covey had actually written the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". He precisely wanted us to save our research time and use it for a better purpose. This book is a self-improvement book. It is written on Covey's belief that the way we see the world is entirely based on our own perceptions. In order to change a given situation, we must change ourselves (quote taken from MK.Gandhi), and in order to change ourselves, we must be able to change our perceptions. I know what you are feeling now - this blog author says most people do not have time and yet he is insisting that we read this massive book of 423 pages? He is certainly nuts. These days, people look for quick fixes. They see a successful person, team, or organization and ask, "How do you do it? Teach me your techniques!" But these "shortcuts" that we look for, hoping to save time and effort and still achieve the desired result, are simply band-aids that will yield short-term solutions. They don't address the underlying condition. "The way we see the problem is the problem," Covey writes. We must allow ourselves to undergo paradigm shifts -- to change ourselves fundamentally and not just alter our attitudes and behaviors on the surface level -- in order to achieve true change. Yes, I get it, most of us are either too lazy or work under the pretext that we do not have time. So I invested some of my time in trying to summarize the entire book into a short blog. When I started I found that it was really difficult for me to make into a short blog since each habit by itself was a blog. Then I went back to the drawing board and thought that the best way that someone can remember these things are only through humor. So I decided to make my explanations through comic videos. I thought which comedian should I try - but then who else than Tamil cinema's own Laurel and Hardy - Senthil & Goundamani. Firstly I have to be honest that none of the comedy clips were taken for this book and I had to spend a lot of time analyzing the entire gambit of comedy scenes by this duo to match the tips which I want to explain. They may not be a perfect match but I think I have done some justice to the topic. Without wasting much of your eye energy - let's go to the 7 habits. Are you ready? A decent plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week - George S. Patton, former Officer in the U.S. Army For those who have missed the previous post which was about the importance of having to set a goal. Here is a recap: Everything in this world is there for a purpose. To find the purpose is the most difficult task. Once you find it, then your life is on overdrive on a smooth highway. To find this rather elusive all important data (purpose in life) also we need to set a goal. So goal setting is actually the most important thing for your success. Goal setting is fundamental to any type of achievement. If you want to live a life of purpose, setting goals will increase your odds of reaching your desired outcome. You can read the full transcript here: PART-I All of us would be really interested in knowing that biggest impediment to our goals or dreams. It's really simple and known to all. Lack of a plan - an action plan to be specific We always will be able to fill our time with something, in the worst scenario we would say I am totally bored and go to sleep. Now without planning for the future, it is almost impossible for us to achieve the goals or dreams that we have set for ourselves. In 2016 end when I started to write blogs, I used to approach myself with a vigor that said "What is the next important thing that I need to do" mental approach to writing my blogs. It surely was giving me results but my energy and focus were only on the quantity of the blogs - it was not fitting into the big picture. I was always busy, but not purposefully busy. This is the reason why I am not telling you that planning is SO important. I cannot imagine continuing churning those number of blogs on a weekly basis without completely vigilant about setting goals, planning ahead, and managing my time well. I totally understand that planning is not embedded in everyone. I also know that if you need to achieve big goals or dreams then you necessarily require a solid plan. Now how do we get both done if they are mutually not aligned? Recently when I was listening to one of the podcasts by Ruth Soukup (Do It Scared) I found a great resonance between what is told in the Bhagawat Gita and Ruth's explanation for achieving the goal. From both the places I have come up with 3 very easy and practical tips which has really worked for me. to come up with a good action plan for any of our goals. Want to know more about these tips? |
AuthorVasudevan is a Leadership Mentor and an Executive coach. I run an online website geared towards helping creative entrepreneurs and future managers to build their dreams. Archives
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