30 Lessons in 30 Days - Just do it

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Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon in the 1950s. Day after day, he witnessed his best runners collapse in pain after their training sessions, He attributed this to the fact most runners were wearing shoes with leather spikes, which he deemed not suitable for long distance running.

He partnered with one of his former student athletes, Phil Knight, and started designing lighter shoes with better cushioning. However, he faced numerous rejections from the various manufacturers that he approached, "Coach, we don't teach you how to run, so please don't teach us how to make shoes".

Disapointed, but not dejected, he took a crash course on shoe-making, and asked his athletes to try on his designs. Success at the NCAA championships started bringing attention to his unique designs, and he was finally able to find investors who were willing to give him a shot. His next evolution was to develop an informal network of athletes who helped to sell his products from their car boot!

Relentless in seeking feedback, and improving his design, Bill's company grown into a multi-billion dollar enterprise specialising in sports equipment and apparel.

It's name? NIKE.

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One of the most commonly cited reason for failure in life is procrastination. We all suffer from procrastination at some point in our lives. From throwing the rubbish, washing our laundry, studying for exams, to sending that important email. How you ever wondered how much more we can achieve if we can overcome this urge to procrastinate? I do.

Here are some tips:

Avoid overthinking

Do not think of a pink elephant. I said stop thinking about a pink elephant!

So what were you thinking about? Let me guess: A pink elephant. The only way to stop those thoughts is to replace it with something else, say... a purple tortise.

When you start noticing negative thoughts creeping into your head, and people all around you giving you negative vibes that might lead to procrastination, do something about it. Ruminating about the past and beating ourselves up about “should haves” and “could haves” is the best way to attract negativity.

Have a conversation with like-minded people for a healthy dose of positive energy. Find yourself a Phil Knight. Do a brain-dump, write down your negative thoughts on a piece of paper and burn it (these symbolic acts works very well for some people).

Don't be a victim of the "Default" Effect

I've been using an Iphone for several years now. My wife owns an Iphone as well. When the phone rings during dinner time, we have a hard time figuring out whose Iphone was ringing. Why? You guessed it, both of us were using the default ring tone. Surely the Iphone can provide us with plenty of customisation option for the (obscene) price that we are paying? And indeed it does. We can customise our data usage, the default text size, our favourite applications, and the list goes on... but both of us chose the standard settings. Are there any of you who are just like me?

If you are, then we are just victims of what researchers call the "default" effect. We see this play out in various scenarios. For example, in Singapore, the Human Organ Transplant Act, or HOTA, is a compulsory organ transplant Act that, by default, automatically allows the authorities to remove any organ including the kidneys, heart, liver and corneas from a deceased Singaporean or Permanent Resident who has died in a hospital, for the purpose of transplanting the organ to the body of a living person – so long as the deceased’s organs are suitable for transplant, and there are suitable recipients for the organs. Despite the fact that we can opt out, the actual numbers who choose to exercise these rights to opt out are far and few between. By leveraging on the "default" effect, the government was able to achieve a positive social outcome.

We see the same techniques being played out by online Software as a Service companies charges us a very small amount of subscription fees to entice us to sign a long term package. Armed with the critical auto renewal feature, these companies hedge on their belief in the "default' effect, that there will be customers who will find it difficult to make a switch.

Let us be aware of the potential negative impact of the "Default" effect on our daily life. Spice it up a little bit by taking the road less travelled. Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get.

Take baby steps

Have you ever wondered why bad news seems to travel much faster than good news (This is so true when you look at the news coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic)? Majority of Singaporeans received a one off payout of S$600 as part of the Solidarity budget implemented by the government to negate the economic burdens during this "Circuit Breaker" period. Consider your feelings if instead of receiving S$600, you lost your wallet containing S$600 instead? I guess many will say the pain outweighs the gains. This symptom is what researchers call the "Loss aversion " effect.

We can observe this actions in the stock market as well. In this current market turmoil, we can observe some investors have a tendency to ignore losses on paper. To them, the pain is diminished as long as they are not realised. However, this could be a dangerous move, if chances of the stock crashing is high, and chances of recovery are slim.

So, it seems that loss aversion has been imprinted into our DNA. The way to overcome this is to take baby steps. Take an evolution approach towards change instead of a revolutionary approach.

Want to attempt a complete career switch? Take that 19.99 udemy course before splashing money on the Masters course.

Want to try out a new business venture? Find a partner to share the risk. For Singaporeans, do some research on the subsidies and grants that are being dispersed to help entrepreneurs. Start a pilot project. Rent a pop up stall to sell your merchandise.

Be like Bill Bowerman.

Weixi Tan helps clients to implement impactful change initiatives by addressing the human side of change through the use of psychometrics such as Workplace Big 5 and Strength Deployment Inventory. He also facilitates sessions using award winning online simulations that highlights important principles of change management. All interventions can be conducted in a virtual instructor led environment. He can be contacted at [email protected].