5 Reasons ... 7 Questions... 10 Business Prinicples... DON'T READ THIS ARTICLE!

Are you still reading? This type of "Interest-Hook" is one of the most common principles of human psychology working against our reasoning through our curiosity, hence:

·         5 Reasons why salespeople...

·         7 Questions you need to...

·         10 Business principles that will make you…

·         8 Steps to making best…

·         6 Rules most successful leaders adhere…

or,

·         “She bought a lottery ticket and didn’t win but then something amazing happened…”

·         “You would not believe what he had found in his bathroom when he returned from his vacation..." etc.

These are the type of headlines, attention grabbers, that we are seeing, experiencing and encountering every day, even in traditional and most conservative media (presented in a digital format).

The first 5 examples are commonly used in the articles written and shared on LinkedIn. Most written advice is quite well-known facts or slightly accentuated everyday wisdom, as the "Idiot's Guide" book says in the fine print: "Reference for the rest of us". Finally, there are few suggestions which are following current trends, but they do not stray away from the mainstream. 

How helpful are they? 

What is the impact on our Knowledge Base, Productivity, Life-Work Balance, Stress Release, Health, Career etc.?

I will offer a suggestion/personal opinion that they are simply time wasters, food for our recently developed News-Bits-Addiction. We rarely adhere to any of the suggestions or care not to follow even the most convincing arguments described in the above mentioned. 

Why not?  

That answer seems quite simple:

1st we do not follow anyone’s advice when it counters with our own opinion or a routine. Even if the counterparty has a valid argument, we stick to our instincts or gut feeling. This comes with a small exception of our most intimate circle (Parents, Partner and possibly closest Friend) from whom we do take advice sometimes and change our opinion or practice.

2nd is linked to a piece of information that I have read somewhere several months ago: 

The average man living his in 18th Century in the UK has received the same amount of information during his entire lifespan (40 something years) as we do in one single day!

From this information, as a laic, and without a desire to verify its accuracy, I have concluded only that our brains have not managed to develop the ability to process so much information and memorize most of it. Our short term memory needs a cash dump more and more frequently.

3rd Human capacity to stick to the bellowed “New Year’s Resolutions” is minuscule. It is said that we create a habit in repeating something 21 times in a row, however, we do not stick to the best and most valuable advice even from our parents, partners, elderly wisdom…

What should we do?

My opinion: STOB (see what I did just here?) Stick To One Book – Be that Religion, Self-Help, Advisory, or a Collected Wisdom (thoughts-observations-suggestions)

If we could just stick to one sensible and comprehensive set of instructions, I am certain we would truly prosper in our private and personal lives. 

Change in our lives does not come in leaps, mostly we experience it in a series of small steps and we need to apply the same principle to the desired alterations. Japanese have the "One Minute" strategy that allows them to achieve something they are not easily accomplishing by breaking the task into one-minute increments per day. Sounds slow, and it probably is, but it seems to create the desired effect. Therefore we should plan and implement new strategies in the smallest increments possible, yet recognizable to us in short term period i.e. Month.

Finally, let us avoid this habit of feeding ourselves with yet another stream of suggestions/instructions in hope that “4 something…” or “9 something else…” will make all the difference in our world and provide us with a quick fix and a shortcut to success!

I DID TELL YOU NOT TO READ THIS ARTICLE :)

M. Mandic