Expectations

A preview of what you can expect to harvest after the Cover Charge.

Mind-tools & Trojan Horses

You're now at the core concept for handling and
coping with change. You're in the belly of a galvanic
Trojan Horse ready for battle against the potential
ravages of CHAnGE.

What you are actually experiencing now is the

discovery of a book within a book.

Once inside, only the essence of mind-tools are

discussed. Just tool descriptions, uses and what
philosophy and psychology professionals have to say
about adapting to change.

We structure this inner core with just the ESSENCE of

whatever SALON subject is at hand. Then we create
many Salon POST's linking forth and back to the inner
core as the need for mind-tools exists.

This means the only stories, anecdotes or examples

found inside are related to ANSWERS.

Salons are where we use examples, anecdotes and

ways to use whatever mind-tools are required.

(The PROBLEMS are well treated outside in our

curated Tell Your Personal Story Blog.)

Not every Salon ANKOB necessarily uses all the core

mind-tools available.

COMES NOW A SURPRISE

That's why every Salon Post contains many links to the

core mind-tools. This way you have the option to
explore as much or as little as you wish.

We're going to let you in on a secret. Hopefully,

you've already read About ANKOB's and
understand the component structure of same.

An ANKOB within an ANKOB.

Into The Fright Of CHAnGE

Relevant Pearls Of Wisdom

You Have Three Choices

Regarding Life And Handling Change

ACT
like nobody's watching

REACT
like a gang of lesser primates

ACT NOT
as you slide towards
being eaten alive by change

Everything Begins With

HOW
You THINK; Not Believe.
Think first. Act now. Believe later.

You can learn from HISTORY but you can't CHAnGE it.

We All Live In 3-second Time Windows

They open at all future moments along our Time-space Continuum

As Time Goes By
Speaking of TIME your most precious asset a
few words by an intelligent scientist is in order.

Ernst Pppel
Neuroscientist; Chairman, Board of Directors Human Science
Center; Department of Medical Psychology, Munich University;
Author, Mindworks Pppel's Universal [Law]

We live life 3 seconds at a time. Human experience

and behavior is characterized by temporal
segmentation.
Successive segments or "time windows" have a
duration of approximately 3 seconds.

Life is short. Being camouflaged

in plain sight can be a good thing.

Examples Of 3s Moments

More 3s Moments

Intentional movements are embedded within 3s

(like a handshake);

The working platform of our short term memory

lasts only 3s (being interrupted after 3s most of
the information is gone);

The anticipation of a precise movement like hitting

a golf ball does not go beyond 3s;
If we reproduce the duration of a stimulus, we can
do so accurately up to 3s but not beyond;
If we look at ambiguous figures (like a vase vs.
two faces).
Or if we listen to ambiguous phoneme sequences
(like Cu-Ba-Cu-Ba-.., either hearing Cuba or
Bacu) automatically after approximately 3s the
precept switches to the alternative;

Spontaneous speech in all languages is

temporally segmented, each segment lasting up to
3s;
This temporal segmentation of speech shows up
again in poetry, as a verse of a poem is
embedded within 3s (Shakespeare: "Shall I
compare thee to a summer's day");
Musical motives preferably last 3s (remember
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony);
Decisions are made within 3s (like zapping
between TV channels);

Thus, the brain provides a temporal stage that lasts

about 3s.
All used in

Perception
Cognition
Movement control
Memory
Speech
Music

The Tempo Of 3s Sequences Are Important

An excerpt from TEMPO ; a highly recommended book by Venkatesh Rao
Tempo Characterized.
I define tempo as the set of characteristic rhythms of
decision-making in the subjective life of an individual
or organization, colored by associated patterns of
emotion and energy. /snip
Tempo in the Kitchen.
The kitchen is an excellent decision-making
laboratory, since it is a real-world domain, but small
enough to be tractable. It is commonplace and
familiar to most of us.
It illustrates every important idea we will talk about,
and works both as an example and as a metaphor for
other domains.
Our experience of the kitchen (unlike, say, our
experience of politics or global warming) is relatively
complete and self-contained.

In the kitchen, we personally encounter everything

from ideation, through execution, to consequences
intended and unintended.
Lets start by looking at an aspect of tempo in the
kitchen.
A sleepy restaurant in a small town is faced with an
unexpected onslaught of diners from a tour bus while
the executive chef is out running an errand.
The staff starts to panic, and lose its collective head. Ten
minutes into the confusion, the executive chef returns,
and instantly gets that there is a situation.
He barks orders: You! get the water boiling for the
pasta. You there, man the vegetable station and get
started chopping the tomatoes. Were almost out of
potatoes. You, run down to the store and get another 10
lb bag.

This is an example of a pattern of tactical decisionmaking that well call scan-to-task.

You look around and rapidly assign every open

resource you see to an open problem.
Gordon Ramsey, the celebrity chef, demonstrates this
pattern very effectively on his television shows.

There is a lot going on here. Several phenomena

associated with decision-making, such as situation
awareness, anticipatory planning and resource
management are evident.

The Workplace.
Work is a tougher domain to analyze than the kitchen.
Much is hidden within the subtleties of language.
Execution is a distant abstraction (often happening as
far away as factories on the other side of the
planet). \snip
Here is a simple example.

But at the heart of the evolution of the situation is a

change in the groups collective tempo at the eleventh
minute, when the executive chef turns confusion and
anxiety into action.

A highly charged and stimulating business meeting is in

progress. There is a sense of urgency. Agenda items are
being raised, creative options are being quickly
proposed, and decisions are being rapidly made.

The psychological clock ticks faster, attempting to

catch up with the real world. If you were to
experience the episode and tell the story later, this
would be a key moment in your narrative. This is not
an accident.

Quietly at first, and then more forcefully, a hitherto

silent participant interrupts to point out a tricky ethical
issue that is being glibly ignored. Like dominoes falling,
the participants shut up one by one and turn their
attention to the interrupter.

Shifts in tempo are central to the model of rationality I

will develop in Chapter 4: narrative rationality.

The symphony of effective deliberation and decisionmaking dies down, first to an uncertain murmur, and
then to silence.

Again, there is a lot going on. Assumed consensus,

re-framing, the interplay of values and decisions are
all in evidence.

Artfully he manages the pace of the evening, plying his

companion with wine. His conversation is masterful; he
maneuvers from comforting, relaxing topics to piquant
ones.

Note that a change in tempo marks a critical turning

point in the deliberations. The interruption and its
aftermath will likely be remembered as the highlight
of the meeting.

Our Casanova acknowledges the theatricality of the

evening with gentle, ironic humor, but he is careful not
to let irony overwhelm suspension of disbelief.

Personal Life.

At exactly the right moment, he sweeps her to the dance

floor. The evening winds down, and they walk out of the
restaurant, laughing, his arm around her waist, to the
parking lot.

Lets round off this set of examples by moving over to

personal life.
Business books rarely pay much attention to this domain,
but modern information workers (free agents and virtual
workers in particular) blend work and life in such intimate
ways that it is impossible to manage the tempo of either in
isolation.

Our example is the sort of clichd episode that might

appear in a romance novel.
An experienced Casanova is on a date with an equally
sophisticated woman.

A moment of silence follows as the laughter trails off

and they approach the car. It is just slightly
uncomfortable and physically awkward as he must let
go of her waist to open the door for her.
Thats the opportunity hes been trying to casually
engineer through the evening. With a hint of disarming
fumbling, he leans in for a kiss, just stopping short, to
let her make the decision.
Clichd though it is (though youve probably met men
and women who can actually dance this dance), the
hypothetical vignette is illuminating.

The entire episode is characterized by the control

(and letting go of control) of tempo and momentum,
across a broad spectrum from relaxed to urgent.
While the man nominally leads, the narrative of the
evening is being co-created and managed by both the
man and the woman.
Through her deceptively lower-energy, reactive role,
the woman exercises as much control over the
proceedings as the man does through his more active
role.
Overt decision-making is almost absent.

The only meaningful fork-in-the-road moment is the

kiss-decision at the end, but the rest of evening has
been so expertly managed, the outcome is irrelevant.
The narrative can end gracefully whatever the woman
chooses to do. This represents a pinnacle of artistry
where your mind is in what I like to call the clockless
clock state.
Keep this phrase in mind because we will glimpse more
of the clockless clock in domains such as stand-up
comedy and improvisational theater.

Ultimately, all the concepts, theories, ideas, exercises

and examples in the book are merely scaffolding.
/end excerpt

Again, we think TEMPO is well worth your time to read.

It's another important node in your knowledge network relevant to change.

And you thought you had time to think!

A Courtesy Call On The 80/20 Rule

(a.k.a., The Pareto Principle)
Have you ever read a book where at least 80% of the
content constantly beats the drum of history and
relentlessly describes the problem, issue, or topic?

Wouldn't it be exciting to learn mind-tools that helped

you find answers and solutions as soon as humanly
possible?

A book where precious little (if any) words are

devoted to answers and solutions?

We think so.

And, IF any answers are present, they seem to appear

as UTOPIAN dreams, visions and wishful thinking?

Consequently, inside ELB, you'll be learning about

mind-tools that can be put to use in seconds, minutes,
hours, days, weeks and months.

You know, solutions that are wonderfully effective if

you can just get to them in a perfect world.

Not UTOPIAN dream-weaver answers reserved for

those pedaling bent-over and backward into time.

The difficulty is trying to discover answers, specific

actions and things that help right now.

In the Age Of The Singularity, time is right in front of

you and waits for no one.

This minute. This hour. This day. This week, etc.

Let's go!

The Point Of The 80/20 Rule Should Be About ..

Not About Utopian Magical Thinking

Utopian Perfection:
Vacuous and irrational Dreams / Visions
The expectation of CERTAINTY in all
things at any moment in time
Belief systems born not of reason but
mysticism, superstition and whim
The idea that ignorance is bliss and the
expression of envy is your friend

Utopian thoughts are never more than GOALS and DIRECTIONS.

Utopia is impossible to reach because CHAnGE itself is ubiquitous in time.

Ergo; Utopia is always moving away and changing in every instant. Handle It!

Your Mind-tools Are At Hand

We begin with the toolbox itself.

The Foundation.

Next we provide four mind-tools in the form

of Four Acronyms Of Change.

Then we offer the wisdom of many

professionals in the field of psychology.

Finally, we include a large number of links to

even more knowledge nodes relative to
coping with CHAnGE.

Here we go!

The Foundation

We begin at the beginning. The Foundation for handling CHAnGE.

The Four Acronyms Of Change

You're about to get ACRONYMED to death.

Well, almost. For now, we limit them to a powerful four.

Four Acronyms Of Change

Four mini-ANKOB mind-tools in suggested reading order.

Tool 1 - W.R.A.P. [Making decisions.]

Widen your options,
Reality-test your assumptions,
Attain distance before deciding,
Prepare to be wrong.

Tool 2 - S.W.O.T. [Management strategies.]

Strengths,
Weaknesses,
Opportunities,
Threats.

Tool 3 E.S.S.A.

[Less known but critical.]

Eliminate,
Simplify,
Standardize,
Automate.

Tool 4 O.O.D.A.
Observe,
Orient,
Decide,
Act.

[Saved the best for last.]

More Of What You Can Expect

THE DOCTOR'S SALON

SCHOLAR'S HALL

What psychologists and psychiatrists have to say.

What deep thinkers say about CHAnGE.

Normalcy Bias, Behavioral Scripts, Psychological

Denial and Psychological Projection
ENVY Is Not Your Friend
The above represents mind traps that can cause you
great pain and suffering.
Never mind being eaten alive by predators.