Ideas

Author: adrian_daniels

  • Happiness 101.

    From time to time, if I am feeling down, my family and friends will tell me to “Just be happy!”.  I have always struggled with  understanding what this really means.  This is not to say that I am not a happy person (I am), but if I am not happy, should I expend energy trying to be happy?  If I did, what exactly should I do to “be happy”?

    Having just finished the book “Finding Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, I think I’ve discovered the answer to this.

    The answer ultimately suggests increasing your involvement and enthusiasm in your life and letting that experience and mindset ultimately guide you towards happiness.

    Let me explain further.

    Mihaly is best known for his research on the concept of “flow”.  Having experienced “flow” many times, I believe it is one of the most rewarding feelings that ultimately results in happiness.  But first, what is “flow”?

    “The metaphor of “flow” is one that many people have used to describe the sense of effortless action they feel in moments that stand out as the best in their lives.  Athletes refer to it as “being in the zone,” religious mystics as being in “ecstasy,” artists and musicians as aesthetic rapture.”

    When I come up with a new idea or am in the final stages of a drawing, there is a high likelihood of experiencing”flow”.  I know when it happens because I don’t think about anything else but what I am doing at that moment.  While it may sound strange, it’s almost as if time does not exist.  It’s an amazing feeling.

    Mihaly makes an interesting point in his book in that one typically doesn’t experience happiness during “flow” (i.e. there isn’t enough “room” for any real emotion during flow experiences).  It’s only when the experience is over where one can feel truly happy – i.e. because they have experienced “flow”.

    Returning to my original dilemma (“how can one be happy?”), most people assume that being happy is synonymous with a fulfilling life.  According to the author, “happiness is not the only emotion worth considering [to have a more fulfilling life].  In fact, if one wants to improve the quality of everday life, happiness may be the wrong place to start.”

    The key to achieving flow – and ultimately happiness – is being able to live a life filled with involvement and enthusiasm in all areas. Those that are able to achieve this are considered to have an “autotelic” personality – formed from the Greek roots auto (self) and telos (goal).

    “Autotelic persons are not necessarily happier, but they are involved in more complex activities, and they feel better about themselves as a result.  It is not enough to be happy to have an excellent life.  The point is to be happy while doing things that stretch our skills, that help us grow, and fulfill our potential.”

    (I am fortunate in that I have a long track of having an autotelic personality, although admittedly I never knew that such a formal description of such a personality existed.)

    Some of you may be saying “I can be happy without being involved in a complex activity!” and you are absolutely right.  The challenge, according to the author, is that:

    “… this kind of happiness [happiness without “flow”] is very vulnerable and dependent on favorable external circumstances.”

    He then goes on to suggest:

    “The happiness that follows flow is of our own making, and it leads to increasing complexity and growth in consciousness.”

    Through the “Finding Flow” text, my mission now is not to “be happy”, but experience happiness through increased involvement and enthusiasm in all areas of my life – and not just those that are self-directed (i.e. through personal projects, classes, etc.).

  • BIONIC: Advancing Physically.

    Over the past several weeks, I’ve been working on the development of the third generation of PLANESCAPE – “Regen”.   While I will go into the details of this next generation in a separate post, I would like to call out a “subsystem” of that new framework – something that I call “Bionic“.

    Bionic is a PLANSCAPE advancement “subsystem” that focuses on improving the physical component (i.e. my physical self).  Bionic aligns with my third value – “Health and Wellness”.  More specifically, Bionic is a new mindset and strategy that will take me into the next dimension of physical performance.  I have been building a foundation of strength for the past several years, but it is only now that I can move to this next level of performance.

    For example, instead of simply participating in a race, I will now strive to be more competitive.  Instead of cycling for 30 minutes, I will train with more structure – e.g. pre and post-exercise analysis.

    By believing there is no physical limitations to one’s own performance and physical strength, the potential for true physical growth is limitless.

    For full details of this new concept, please check out the related page located on the right.  I will periodically contribute new posts that share my training progress and the related concepts that I’ve learned in this journey.

  • Total Recall and the “Recovery Model”

    In the movie Total Recall, Arnold Schwartznegger is faced with an interesting dilemma – he doesn’t know who he is.

    “[…] While evading his assailants, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to be a former friend of his who had been asked to deliver a briefcase if he ever disappeared. The briefcase contains false IDs, money, weapons, devices, and a video player, containing a video disk he left to himself beforehand. Watching it, Quaid starts piecing together his past on Mars as a secret agent. […]” (Wikipedia, “Total Recall“)

    When I saw the movie – now nineteen years ago! – I was intrigued with the concept of recording video for the sole purpose of watching it in the future.  It’s only recently where I’ve found a real purpose to employ this concept in real-life.

    In the book “Blink“, Malcolm Gladwell focuses on the concept of “thin slicing” – gathering just enough data / information to accelerate decision-making, while still ensuring the decision is “sound”.

    Interestingly enough, one of the examples presented in the text shows the downside of “thin slicing” – making rapid (but unconscious) decisions when faced with a life-threatening situation.  From the text:

    “Our mind, faced with a life-threatening situation, drastically limits the range and amount of information that we have to deal with.  Sound and memory and broader social understanding are sacrificed in favor of heightened awareness of the threat directly in front of us.

    “The optimal state of “arousal” – the range in which stress improves performance – is when our heart rate is between 115 and 145 beats per minute.  After 145, “bad things start to happen”.  Complex motor skills start to break down.  Doing something with one hand and not the other becomes very difficult.  At 175, we begin to see an absolute break-down of cognitive processing.”

    From this excerpt alone, it would appear that making quality decisions in these types of situations is next to impossible.  Fortunately, with training and experience, we have the ability to improve our decision-making skills even when time is very limited.  From the text:

    “Every moment – every blink – is composed of a series of discrete moving parts, and every one of those parts offers an opportunity for intervention, for reform, and for correction.”

    What if, however, we took a reverse approach and conceptually accelerated time even further – i.e. providing a glimpse into the future?  This is where the Total Recall concept comes into play – i.e. recording video in the past for use in the future.

    Let’s say that your house has been burglarized or that someone in your family has died unexpectedly.  In all likelihood, you are going to experience a sense of shock that such an event could happen.  The sheer disbelief may leave you somewhat paralyzed wondering what to do next.  Your ability to make effective decisions is going to be very poor.  Even if there are people there to help, you may find it difficult to comprehend what they are telling you.

    One solution is to record instructions to yourself in advance of the actual event.

    By accelerating time, you now have introduced a dimension of guidance that was previously unavailable.  You are, through the video, a digital representation into your subconscious.  By listening to the instructions presented in the video, you may be able to make better decisions to help you move forward and “survive” that particular event.  Providing guidance, encouragement and empathy in the video is also critical.

    When you accelerate time, you have the power to develop effective “recovery models” to allow for enhanced decision-making in situations where one’s judgment and decision-making ability is impaired.

    While the examples presented suggest the use of pre-recorded video for “life-altering” circumstances, this concept may also apply to situations where feelings of confidence loss or self-worth become at the forefront – the videos provide a temporary boost and represent perhaps the purest form of self-encouragement.

  • The Power of Cognitive Dissonance.

    One of the design principles conveyed in “The Universal Principles of Design” is cognitive dissonance.  I first stumbled upon this concept when reading “Mistakes Were Made – Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts” and find it extremely interesting.

    What is cognitive dissonance anyway?

    “Cognitive dissonance is the state of mental discomfort that occurs when a person’s attitudes, thoughts, or beliefs (i.e., cognitions) conflict.  If two cognitions agree with one another, there is consonance, and a state of comfort exists.  If two cognitions disagree with one another, there is dissonance, and a state of discomfort exists.” (from the Universal text)

    One of the interesting examples conveyed in the text is the success behind the AOL “free hours” marketing campaign.  Do you remember when just about everyone in the world received one of these free CD-ROMs?  All you had to do was take the time to sign-up using the automated process, and you were granted free access for a limited time period.  It is possible that you may have become a subscriber – albeit temporarily.

    What’s interesting is once the free period draws to a close, people are less likely to cancel the service because of the time investment setting up their account.  They are more inclined to have positive feelings with the service to reduce the cognitive dissonance they experience when the trial ends.  This results in paid subscriptions.

    While the time investment is a critical factor here, of equal (or greater) importance is the incentive.  The incentive is the free trial period.

    According to the authors, “When incentives for an unpleasant task are small, they reduce dissonance by changing the dissonant cognition – “i.e. it is okay to perform this task because I like it”.  When incentives for an unpleasant task are large, people reduce dissonance by adding a consonant cognition – e.g. “it is okay to perform this task because I am paid well”.”

    In the case of AOL, the company wanted customers to feel positively about the service – thus, providing a small incentive.

    From an advertising and marketing perspective, it is clear that cognitive dissonance is a very powerful weapon.  If you start with dissonant cognitions and then provide immediate paths to alleviate the dissonance, you will have greater success in influencing the potential customer.

    The influence of cognitive dissonance goes beyond advertising and marketing – it can also be found in crime investigations.

    When it comes to identifying a suspect, detectives are likely (not always) to come to their own conclusions about what happened, and then fit the evidence to support that conclusion.  They will also ignore any evidence that contradicts it.  In extreme cases, officers have crossed the line from legal to illegal actions to reduce dissonance and end up convicting innocent people.  Jurors can fall into a similar “trap”.  In fact, their beliefs become stronger the sooner they reach their own conclusion about what happened.

    What’s the lesson here?

    For one, being aware of cognitive dissonance is the first step towards a path of better decision making. If you find yourself heading down a path of “self-justification”, your mind is trying to correct your feelings of cognitive dissonance in any way that it can.  You can pause to understand these feelings and choose to take a more constructive approach.  You can also try to identify your feelings of dissonance and try to separate them.  You may discover that it is possible to experience “both” feelings by simply understanding each independent of the other.

  • Using Tag Clouds to Increase Awareness

    In an effort to accelerate real progress across the board, I’ve listed twelve activities that can encapsulate where I spend most of my time and energy: (I realize that some activities naturally overlap)

    1. Drawing
    2. Reading
    3. Playing
    4. Thinking / Reflecting
    5. Creating
    6. Learning
    7. Writing
    8. Training
    9. Resting
    10. Communicating
    11. Cleaning / Organizing
    12. Recording / Documenting

    By periodically recording what I am doing at a given moment, I can gain a better understanding of where I am spending most of my time and energy.  While this may seem somewhat laborious, I think there is benefit in recording activity in this manner.

    For example, if you were to associate tags to each activity when it is recorded, you can ultimately employ the use of a “tag cloud” to easily see where you are spending your time.  You can see an example of a tag cloud for this site on the left sidebar.  Words that are used more frequently appear larger, thus giving the viewer an immediate understanding of the prevalent themes in each post / page.  (A full explanation and supporting examples of tag clouds can be found at IBM’s alphaWorks “Many Eyes” site here.)

    You could also append the amount of time you are spending on each activity to gain even more awareness.  For example, let’s say that you read between 1 and 3 hours per day.  You could “tag” your activity entry as follows:

    • Reading-1 (i.e. I read for 1 hour)
    • Reading-2
    • Reading-3
    • Reading-2
    • Reading-2
    • Reading-2

    In this example, the tag “Reading-2” would stand out from the others because it’s the average time that you spend reading at any given moment.  This is important because some activities can take longer to “get in the flow” than others.  I know from experience, certain activities – especially drawing – can take longer to achieve any sense of “flow” than say, reading.

    The key is to leverage what the “tag cloud” is telling you in order to plan your development (activities) more effectively.

  • Building the Design “Foundation”

    In order to excel at anything – particularly over the long-term – I believe it’s critical one construct a knowledge “framework” which can represent / encapsulate topics that you’ve learned and those yet to be explored / understood.  At the base of this framework is a solid knowledge “foundation”.

    As it relates to understanding good design, I feel the time is right to build my own “design foundation”.  While classes and video tutorials have definitely helped in this regard, there are two books that fit well into this “foundation”.

    The first is called The Universal Principles of Design and is written by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden and Jill Butler.  In my opinion, this is a key reference guide (or “rulebook”) for all things design.  One of the primary drivers behind its creation is to ensure that all designers (regardless of specialization) have easy access to a common set of design principles.

    While the principles are listed alphabetically, they are also categorized into the following five categories:

    1. How can I influence the way a design is perceived?
    2. How can I help people learn from a design?
    3. How can I enhance the usability of a design?
    4. How can I increase the appeal of a design?
    5. How can I make better design decisions?

    As I get further into the text, I am sure that I will pull out specific extracts for further expansion.

    The second text is by John Maeda and is called The Laws of Simplicity.  I purchased this book not necessarily to contribute to the “foundation”, but to gain a better glimpse into Maeda’s mind.  After reading the first twenty pages, it’s clear that “simplicity” is a fundamental design principle that warrants investigation and awareness.

  • Discovering Situational Awareness.

    This post discusses a topic well known in the aviation field known as “situational awareness” (SA).  I first learned about this topic several years ago when I was learning how to fly.  The book I read is part of the larger “Controlling Pilot Error” series and is, not surprisingly, called Situational Awareness.

    The summary of this text is as follows: (excerpt from Amazon.com)

    Do you pilot with constantly acute mental accuracy and analysis? This book helps you to: overcome the passive pilot syndrome involved in many aviation accidents; learn to “prepare to be aware”; sharpen perception of your surroundings; build a second sense for detecting loss of SA; recover quickly from temporary disorientation; and learn about cockpit avionics that warn of SA losses.

    When I read this book, I found this concept interesting because I (naively) believed I would be better prepared to deal with this problem once I got in the air.  In the subsequent flight lesson I quickly learned how one can lose situational awareness and just how difficult it is to retrieve it.

    In contrast to other flights, the day when I lost situational awareness came when there was an increased amount of traffic and I had not flown for 2-3 weeks.  The combination of these two variables resulted in my loss of situational awareness.

    When things become disorienting, whether it involves poor weather, increased radio chatter, or heavy traffic, pilots of all experience levels (not all) have a tendency to redirect their attention to the airplane’s controls and gauges vs. focusing their attention outside the cabin.  Much to my surprise, I (not to mention my instructor!) found myself doing just that – it was almost like my eyes were somehow drawn to the interior of the cabin trying to make sense of what was going on.  Needless to say, this can be very dangerous and has been a factor in many fatal accidents.

    In many flight manuals and texts, the recurring message is: “Fly the Plane!”.  The gauges and radios are there to supplement your experience, but they are not there to keep the plane in the air – that’s your primary responsibility.

    While this concept sounds simple enough – it can be very challenging.  To learn how to manage complexity and to mentally “remove” yourself from extraneous “distractions” takes practice and understanding.

    In my next post, I’ll share some of the recommendations from the text that help one understand, maintain and re-gain situational awareness.  While this has applicability to flight, it also has applicability in normal life – including the workplace.

  • Twilight Struggle: Starting Off.

    In another way of opening new “mental horizons”, I purchased a boardgame called “Twilight Struggle”.  Here’s the description from the rulebook:

    Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five-year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States.  The entire world is the stage on which these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life.  The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe as the two new ‘superpowers’ struggle over the wreckage of the Second World War, and ends in 1989, when only the United States remained standing.

    Here’s the official website for the game: http://www.gmtgames.com/nnts/main.html

    The game is comprised of a fairly large board (referenced from here on as the “game map”), 103 cards, 228 cardboard markers, the core rulebook and two “aid” cards (one for each player).

    You can see what the board looks like here: http://www.gmtgames.com/nnts/TSsamplemap.jpg

    As I have some familiarity with games such as this, I know from experience that it’s helpful if you can identify three main things:

    1. What is the objective of the game? (this helps set your destination)
    2. Are there any optional rules? (this helps you “eliminate” rules from the core set)
    3. What is the sequence of play? (this helps you gain context and increase your focus)

    Having some very basic experience with more complex games, such as Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader (more on the latter in future posts), I have learned how not to be overwhelmed with the amount of content (rules, pieces, etc.) and instead focus on the core elements to get a “basis” from which to operate (play).

    Let’s start by answering the questions posed above.

    What’s the objective? According to the rules:

    The object of the game is to score Victory Points (VPs).  Regional Victory Points are scored through geographic Influence over the six Regions.  VPs can also be received through the play of certain Events.  Each region has its own ‘scoring card’.  Playing a scoring card causes Victory Points to be scored, based on how much influence each superpower has in that region at the time the card is played.

    Let’s stop here and analyze this paragraph.

    The answer to the original question is summed up in the first sentence: “score Victory Points (VPs)”.  That sounds straightforward enough.  What else?  Well, we know that Victory Points can be attained in two ways – 1) through geographic Influence over the six Regions, and 2) through the play of certain Events.  The capitalization of the words ‘Influence’ and ‘Events’ is not random – these represent concepts that we’ll need to understand as we get further into the rulebook.

    Are there any optional rules? It turns out that there are some optional rules – these are found in section 11.0 of the rulebook – entitled “Tournament Play” – and at the very end of the manual which are entitled “Designer Optional Rules”.  Since we’re just learning how to play, we can ignore these sections.

    Going a step further into the rulebook, we can also identify other sections that we may be able to (temporarily) ignore.  (Again, our goal at this stage is to learn how to play in a short period of time.)

    The manual is 28 pages in length and is comprised of the following six sections:

    1. Core Rules (pgs. 1-9)
    2. Extended Example of Play (pgs. 10-15)
    3. Card Histories (pgs. 16-25
    4. Designer Notes (pgs. 26)
    5. Counter Inventory (pg. 27)
    6. Miscellaneous (pg. 28)

    In scanning through these sections, we only need to pay attention to sections 1 and 2.  And if we are brave enough to ignore the “example of play” section, we’ve narrowed our focus to a third of the manual!

    What is the sequence of play? Our last step is to find out how the game is structured.  We first need to know how many turns there are in a typical game.  Sometimes games can go indefinitely and are not restricted to a specific turn count – Twilight Struggle is not one of them.

    According to the rules, Twilight Struggle has ten turns and each turn has the following structure:

    1. Improve DEFCON Status
    2. Deal Cards
    3. Headline Phase
    4. Action Rounds
    5. Check Military Operations Status
    6. Reveal Held Card (Tournament Only)
    7. Flip ‘The China Card’
    8. Advance Turn Marker
    9. Final Scoring (after Turn 10 only)

    Given this, a standard game of Twilight Struggle will contain 80 discrete steps.  If you spend two minutes on each turn (as an example), the game will take a little less than two hours.  While you are not bound to any specific deadline, it’s important to have a high-level assessment of how long the game will likely take.  It’s a good barometer to help you improve as you gain more play experience (more on this later).

    At this stage, we now have a better understanding of what we’re dealing with!  This small time investment will start to make things significantly easier for us as we take a closer look at the rules.

    Part of the enjoyment for me is to learn the mechanics of the game, but real enjoyment ultimately comes when you can get beyond the sheer mechanics and really start to think about strategy and winning the game.  That’s our ultimate destination in this journey.

  • Inspiration: John Maeda

    Background: (from the Rhode Island School of Design website)

    John Maeda has a distinguished career in humanizing technology for creative endeavors. He has been a professor at MIT since 1996 where he is currently the Associate Director of Research at the MIT Media Lab, responsible for managing research relationships with 70+ industrial organizations. He has also been a practicing designer since 1990 and has developed advanced projects for an array of major corporations including Cartier, Google, Philips, Reebok, Samsung, among others. His early work in digital media design is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Since 2001, Maeda’s works of contemporary art have been exhibited in one-man shows in London, New York, and Paris to wide acclaim. His highly regarded fourth book, The Laws of Simplicity has been published in fourteen languages and has become the reference work for discussions on the highly elusive theme of “simplicity” in the complex digital world. Maeda has lectured at numerous conferences, universities, museums, and to corporate audiences throughout the world on his philosophy of “humanizing technology.”

    Related URLs:

  • “True” and “False” Advancement Experience

    Ten years ago (yes, I think all the time), I wrote the following article about two concepts that I labeled “true” and “false” advancement (learning) experience:

    True advancement experience (TAE) is experience that is pro-active and “real”.  Information is obtained on the way to a clear goal.  The more information and experience that is turned up along the way strengthens the overall advancement experience.  A goal must exist in order for true advancement to occur.

    False advancement experience (FAE) is experience that is wasteful and potentially meaningless.  FAE occurs when there is no key goal in place.  Information that enters the system becomes quickly assimilated, but due to the increased flow, the retrieval and retention rate is decreases dramatically.  Information overload will always occur in this type of learning environment.  An example of a FAE is spending an increased amount of time configuring a windowing system when the command-line interface is already sufficient.  Experience gained from system-specific configuration is mostly FAE since most of the time spent is due to lack of planning and documentation more than anything else.

    Knowing the differences between TAE and FAE is very important to overall advancement.  Time is always a commodity; therefore it must be used wisely.  Know exactly what you are attempting to learn and what you need to accomplish, and your advancement and success rate will increase.

    Ten years later, has my perspective changed about TAE and FAE?  Yes and no.  Let me explain.

    Let’s say that you are interested in computer graphics, and you have an interest in animation.  One potential starting point is to acquire a 3D animation program and start learning the basics.  After installing and launching the application, you are overwhelmed with the number of features.  This is where things become interesting.

    If you start investigating other aspects of the program that have nothing (or little) to do with animation, you could label this “false” advancement experience since what you are learning is not essential to your end goal.  In contrast, if you stay true to your goal of becoming an animator (or at least learning how) and just focus on aspects of the program that involve “animation”, you will gain the experience that you were originally interested in and thus have gained “true” advancement experience.

    One possibility of course is that you could choose to learn about other aspects of the program first and then eventually get back to the core “animation” functionality.  In this way, you are just taking a slight “detour” from your destination to gain broader context.  Is this really “false” advancement experience?

    Another possibility is that you choose the second path – i.e. “true” advancement experience – and find out that you have to learn other aspects of the program to be able to start animating.  More specifically, you may need to learn how to create a 3D model that you can eventually animate!  Is this really “true” advancement experience?

    As you can see here, labeling one’s learning (or advancement) experience as “true” or “false is perhaps too restrictive.

    Given my pursuits of numerous goals, I think learning effectively comes down to awareness (“what do I want to learn?”) and focus (“how do I want to learn the material?”).

    For example, in order to gain the most from your learning experience, you need to know what you want to accomplish.  The answer could very well be “I don’t know”.  This is a perfectly acceptable answer as it provides you with a lot of freedom to explore different areas.  In contrast, if you know that you want to be an animator (using the example above), this at least gives you a “learning beacon” towards which you can navigate.

    Once you have awareness, you now need to focus.  Assuming you know you want to learn animation, you can still explore other areas of the software application without feeling that you are veering off-course.  The trick here is that the degree of your focus will determine how much time and effort you spend in a different area, and whether you ultimately return to your original “path”.

    For example, let’s say that you need a 3D model to animate.  Instead of taking a separate path to learn how to model, you could instead focus your efforts on using an existing 3D model.  This would save you time and get you back on track.  But here again, there is some risk in being “too” focused on your end goal.  At some point you will eventually need to learn how to model new objects to further broaden your experience.  Should you do that now or later?

    At this point, you can start to understand some of the challenges I’ve personally faced in learning new things.  My personality is one that loves to learn and build connections between unrelated topics.  Because I understand the benefits, I allow myself considerable freedom to explore new areas and concepts to formulate new ones.  However, as I learn new material, I take time to continuously refine where I am going (i.e. “awareness”).

    In summary, when taking on a new challenge, take the time to gain awareness of what you want to learn and try to map out a strategy on how to accomplish your goal.  Once you get into the learning process, you will find new “pathways” that you need to consider taking.  Don’t be afraid to take these paths but keep your destination in mind, and don’t be afraid to change the destination.