“The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin

This post is dedicated to Tim Ferriss, lifestyle design entrepreneur and author of the 4-Hour Workweek. I was lucky enough to meet him in San Francisco, June of 2007 before anyone had heard of his new book (and before he became a New York Times bestselling author). He struck me as a very genuine person and also proved to me that he could speak fluent Mandarin before signing my free copy of his book with the words “always be unreasonable”. At the time I hadn’t even read his book and it stayed in my suitcase for another 6 weeks before I got home and finally found the time to read it.

One of the key philosophies of Tim’s book is that we can achieve the things we want to do by working smarter, not harder, and we don’t need to be millionaires to make it happen. To drive this point home, it’s about practical ways of living a rich and fulfilling life in the present, not about saving or amassing wealth for later. To quote the introductory chapter of his book:

Gold is getting old. The New Rich are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design.

Well time flies when you’re having fun and since watching the wonderful Real-World Lifestyle Design Case Studies (Maneesh Sethi is my favourite) on his blog, I wanted to also share five of the life-changing lessons I learnt since embarking on my own journey of lifestyle design and what they mean to me.

1. Choose to spend your time well.
There are many ways to manage your time, and even more ways to waste it, but learning to do it well can greatly improve every aspect of your life. I believe effectiveness trumps efficiency because it’s pointless to do anything you dislike no matter how quickly you can get it done. If you’re new to the concept of time management, I highly recommend starting with Randy Pausch’s lecture. I hope you too will discover that time is one of the most wonderful things we can control in our lives. Making smart choices will allow you to spend so much more of it on the people and things you love to do.

2. Learn to value things, not their cost.
The monetary price of something may reflect its economic scarcity, but it certainly is not a measure of the happiness buying that thing will give you. The more I travel, the more I have realised that the things which make me happiest are my experiences, not my possessions. Value friends and family above all else, and making new friends is one of the best ways of improving the quality of our own lives.

3. Stop when you’re not having fun.
In a harm minimisation training course I attended, we were taught how to recognise when somebody has overdosed. It’s really simple: they stop having fun. I think it’s a golden rule that applies to alcohol and drugs as well as to life. If you ever find yourself feeling miserable and stuck in a rut, it’s a good sign to stop what you’re doing, get some fresh air and sober up.

4. A healthy mind needs a healthy heart.
I strongly feel that taking up a regular cardiovascular (aerobic) activity no less than once per week is an essential requirement to staying mentally healthy. Take up a social or team sport that suits your interests and physique. Cardiovascular exercise has been proven to improve mental health, reduce stress and lowers the incidence of depression.

5. Experience is the sum of our failures.
Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because there is no one to criticise you who hasn’t. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you to stop because you’re wrong. Figuring that out for yourself is harder but the experience will help you for the rest of your life.

To me, the 4-Hour Workweek is not about working only 4 hours a week and nothing more, nor is it about outsourcing my whole life or even buying a one way ticket to Buenos Aires (or Paris in my case). It’s about re-thinking what I really want to get out of this one amazing life of mine and taking the steps to realise it. To always be unreasonable is to believe that we really can do whatever we want.

Could our comedians also be philosophers of the 21st century? Watch comedian Louis CK in this hilarious talk, “we live in an amazing world and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled idiots that just don’t care.” It’s funny and wise because it’s so true!

Innovation is popular if not well understood, we recognise it when we see it and every man, his dog and their company aspires to be innovative. To cite Wikipedia, “an innovation is a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations.” However, I’m not so much interested in what innovation is as how to be innovative, which requires above all else a willingness to act on your ideas.

Information vs Knowledge

To understand innovation we must first differentiate between explicit knowledge (information) and tacit knowledge. Information is data: a description, diagram or instruction which which has been recorded. Information is convenient because it’s something tangible which can be copied and transmitted.

Knowledge, however, is tacit and intangible, perhaps best described as our individual understanding of “how” things are done. If you want to be innovative then it’s not good enough to simply remember information. You have to transform it into knowledge. Tacit knowledge is not written down and thus often difficult to explain and transfer from one individual to another.

Understanding this difference is very important in today’s society because we suffer from information-overload (yet so many bad decisions are made because we don’t have the right knowledge). It’s dangerous because we can waste a lot of time, energy and brain cells by trying to understand information in the wrong way. It’s not about the quantity or quality of the facts you have or even how efficiently you can process them, but how quickly you can put the information you have into practice, because knowledge can only be created through first hand experience.

It is experience and tacit knowledge that enable a pilot to fly and land a jumbo jet, not the operating manual. It’s a doctor’s training and practice, not their textbooks that save lives.

The Knowledge Conversion Process

Japanese professors Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) developed the following matrix which visualises how information and knowledge is transformed, in other words: how innovation happens when we turn information into experience and back again. It’s the best theory I have found so far to explain how innovation actually happens on a practical and individual scale. You can apply it without needing an R&D team or budget at all!

The Knowledge Conversion Process

Starting from the top right quadrant moving clockwise:

1. Tacit knowledge and experience can be made explicit by externalising and recording it as information.
2. Information can be combined, integrated and distributed.
3. Internalisation transforms information into knowledge through practice and experience.
4. It’s also possible to share our tacit knowledge with others through socialisation.

It is only when we have moved through all four quadrants of this model that our own individual learning process is truly complete. That is when we have actually improved something. Externalising our own learning and experience is important because it allows ourselves and others to repeat or start the process, thus enabling innovation to take place.

A Simple Formula

Knowledge is what makes the world go round. Information itself doesn’t travel far, but people are compelled to share knowledge and insights. It’s the difference between Wikipedia (information) and Twitter (socialisation) on the web. My simplified formula for innovation is therefore:

Innovation = (Information + Knowledge + Socialisation) x T

Information, knowledge and socialisation are easy to do once you know where to look, what to do and who to work with. The successful innovator understands that what really matters is the variable T, how quickly and how many times you can repeat the process over your competitors.

The way I prefer to tackle innovative ideas and creative projects is to find the best ways of putting the theory at hand into practice as soon as possible. It’s often necessary to go back to the drawing board, or choose an alternate strategy because the experience gained from practice shows you how and why it won’t work. If you are the one investing time and money, wouldn’t you want to know this sooner rather than later?

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” — Charles Darwin

If you have a big idea, stop dreaming and find a way to start working on just a small part of it or you won’t even complete one cycle of the innovation process.

The Killers of Innovation

It would also be amiss of me not to mention the things that stifle and stop the process of innovation. These are a combination of environmental and personal factors which affect an organisation’s and individual’s ability to be innovative.

Rules and Bureaucracy
Rules themselves are information, created to guide decisions and actions in the absence of individuals being trusted to use their own knowledge. Too many rules prevents individuals from internalising their own knowledge and thus actually learning anything new for themselves. Innovators don’t follow rules, they rely on their knowledge, experience and intuition. Rules kill innovation. Period.

Too many layers of bureaucracy will also prevent innovation because tacit knowledge cannot always be externalised to an outsider who does not share the same experience as the innovator. Trying to intervene and micromanage during the knowledge conversion process will only produce a lot of meaningless jargon that has been lost in translation.

Fear
Fear comes in many shapes and sizes: fear of failure, fear of breaking the rules (above), fear of ridicule and Australia’s own Tall Poppy Syndrome (the tendency to disparage conspicuously successful people). This is possibly the single biggest killer of innovation because it originates and resides within the self. Innovators can’t do their best work and many won’t even try if they must operate in a culture of fear. Be bold and brave as an innovator by understanding your fears and not letting them overtake your intuition and confidence.

Image: Creating Passionate Users Blog

Pessimism and Un-constructive Criticism
Since socialisation is such an integral part of the knowledge conversion process, receiving the right feedback from the right people is crucial. Innovation thrives in an environment of open and trusting collaboration where new ideas can be explored to their full potential. In my own experience, who you share your ideas with is just as important (if not more) as your idea itself. Choose whose feedback and constructive criticism you listen to very carefully as a pessimistic partner could be your worst enemy. An optimistic partner will encourage you to reach for the stars. Be an optimist yourself because if you don’t believe in your idea no one else will either, and if you can’t learn to appreciate someone else’s idea then you are also part of the problem.

Perfection
There is nothing wrong with seeking perfection as long as you understand it is a continuous process. Don’t spend years in the dark hiding your baby from the rest of the world until you think it’s perfect. Launch early and be ready for feedback. Nothing is perfect, it’s about the journey and not the destination so be sure to enjoy it or you may find yourself sorely disappointed.

Now that you have this information, what you do with it is in your hands.

References
Nonaka, Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka (1995). The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Here’s what your teachers probably never taught you in school.

In ancient Greece, the name Sophist was given to teachers who specialised in the teaching of philosophy and rhetoric. Since Athenian democracy gave every citizen the opportunity to speak on national affairs, advancement in politics was largely dependent upon an individual’s rhetorical skills and their ability to speak persuasively. Many Sophists were well-paid for their services by students who wished to learn the practical art of persuasion and consequently improve their status in Athenian society. The Sophists were also the world’s first lawyers as a result of their highly developed argumentation skills.

The School of Athens by Raphael

Many Sophists were non-Athenian travelers who saw the gods as man-made creations and believed in the principles of nature rather than the divine. Their questioning of established authority and beliefs, as well as their wealth, eventually stirred resentment from the public against their practices and ideas. Philosophy and rhetoric eventually parted ways, so that Sophists became known as teachers of persuasion and popular public speakers by the time of the Roman empire.

Thus, the modern definition (from Wikipedia) of sophism is rather derogatory and often associated with deception:

“A sophism is taken as a specious argument used for deceiving someone. It might be crafted to seem logical while actually being wrong, or it might use difficult words and complicated sentences to intimidate the audience into agreeing, or it might appeal to the audience’s prejudices and emotions rather than logic. The goal of a sophism is often to make the audience believe the writer or speaker to be smarter than he or she actually is.”

Does this sound familiar? It’s because the art of sophism and rhetoric lives on in our politicians and advertising agencies, not that anyone ever calls it that or admits to practicing it (because persuasion doesn’t work if someone knows you’re doing it to them). It’s also because our schools no longer teach anything of the sort, preferring instead to train our young minds in the infallible laws of science and logic. Yet we are bombarded by sophism in every aspect of our lives and its effects can be devastating especially if we don’t even know that we were hit in the first place, let alone what we were hit with.

Firstly, it is necessary to understand that our behaviour can often be predicted (and consequently influenced) by the following factors:

• Coercion – involuntary change in behaviour that requires the presence of a threat
• Persuasion – induces temporary behaviour change through communication
• Education – behaviour change is persistent and sometimes influenced by values and attitudes
• Faith – indoctrinated beliefs by religion and propaganda that is highly resistant to change

By now you are either wondering what these techniques are or wanting to learn and use them in tomorrow night’s plan to conquer the world. The following theories and techniques are persuasive and therefore won’t make somebody your slave for life, but they can be useful in many situations when you need that extra little nudge. Or to catch out the weasel who’s trying to rip you off.

*** I’ve decided to postpone the rest of this post until I receive enough interest from readers of my blog. So get in touch with me if you’d like to read the rest of this post.

In the meantime, I recommend Rory Sutherland’s entertaining TED talk to help digest what you’ve just read. Yes he’s an Ogilvy ad man, but that’s also why you should listen and learn.

With so much talk and debate about health reform in the news lately, it may help to broaden your views of medicine by watching this eye-opening documentary by Bill Moyers. My mum has been showing this video to her first year Chinese medicine students for decades and it’s sure to make you re-think what you know about Chinese medicine and our western values and attitudes towards health care.

“Health is not just the absence of illness, it’s a philosophy of life.”

Chinese medicine is an independent system of health care that has developed from a continuous process of observation, critical thinking and practice for over two thousand years. It originates from the philosophy of Taoism, and is influenced by the belief that the life and activity of individual human beings have an intimate relationship with their environment on all levels.

The principal ideas of Chinese medicine are part of the fabric of Chinese culture and civilisation. They are not complex and reflect a world-view of health and disease that is understood by many ordinary members of Chinese society as part of their upbringing. Health care is viewed as one of several means to a good life, and is seen as an individual’s harmonious interaction with the community and with the physical and spiritual environment.

You may also be interested in reading Harvard Magazine’s The New Ancient Trend in Medicine to learn more about the story of Dr David Eisenberg who features in this documentary.

I am increasingly finding that aid to Africa and developing countries is becoming an umbrella term, which to most people in the developed world is an issue that’s actually as clear as mud. It’s fantastic that celebrities such as Bono and co. are championing the cause but I feel that there is an important gap between popular opinion and understanding of the issues that needs to be closed. My concern is that increasing numbers of genuinely motivated and caring individuals are being swept into this popular movement of flashy presentations, celebrity endorsements and persuasively-scripted talks being given by every man and his dog.

It matters at the end of the day because donated money (and time) itself is never the solution to any problem, it’s what you do with it that matters.

The Munk debate on whether Foreign Aid Does More Harm Than Good offers an excellent starting point:

“In a world where over 3 billion people live on under $2 a day, where economies and threats are globally interconnected, and where only small amounts of aid are given, should wealthy nations do more? Or, given the poor track record of aid, the support it provides to dictators and tyrants, and the actual need for individual entrepreneurialism and free markets, should we focus our limited resources elsewhere?”

This is a loaded and controversial question that deserves to be debated since “$1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa in the past 60 years, yet real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50% of the population live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades”. Dambisa Moyo addresses this in her essay on Why Foreign Aid is Hurting Africa which both critiques and offers innovative solutions to the current aid model. Moyo, who was raised in Zambia and previously an economist at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank, argues that “the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse”. I recommend reading her arguments if you are interested in what happens to our government aid money (it should be obvious by now on which side of this debate I sit).

Lending is the new giving

Professor Muhammad Yunus received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work on alleviating poverty through micro-credit with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. It’s just one example of how poverty can be tackled successfully using new approaches and not necessarily more money.

“Poverty is not created by the poor. It is created by the structures of society and the policies pursued by society. Change the structure as we are doing in Bangladesh, and you will see that the poor change their own lives. Grameen’s experience demonstrates that, given the support of financial capital, however small, the poor are fully capable of improving their lives.”

The basic premise of microfinance is to provide financial services to the poor. Grameen Bank’s micro-credit loans are collateral-free and given to the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh, often to help them in entrepreneurial income earning activities. 97% of borrowers are women whom have received US $8.26 billion in loans, with a 98% recovery rate (compare this with over $1 trillion lost by irresponsible bankers in the financial crisis!). Furthermore, Grameen Bank is profitable and self-funded from its growing amount of deposits.

Kiva is a Silicon Valley not-for-profit that makes person-to-person micro-lending possible on the web. It allows you to lend as little as $25 directly to an entrepreneur of your choice to achieve their goals. When they repay the loan, you get your money back to loan to someone else. Kiva’s loan repayment rate is 98% and they have distributed $48 million in fully repaid loans since 2005. It’s such an inspiring example of the type of innovative solutions we need to end world poverty in the 21st century.

Can we do it by 2050? It changes everything when you can change the rules of the game. It allows you to compete against big players and solve impossible problems. It’s what innovators do. Educate yourself and participate in the debate, question everything and think critically about what you give and why.

Money is finite as long as poverty remains a problem of economics, but creativity is infinite if we can transform poverty into a problem of will.

If you’re still not convinced then maybe Professor Hans Rosling’s dataset will change your mindset.

I think philosophy is hard to digest at the best of times, but this clever book by Benjamin Hoff really makes the Chinese philosophy of Taoism easy to understand, practical to apply and above all, fun to read.

Amongst the many teachings and ideas harboured by Taoism is the principle of being happy by living harmoniously. Hoff has successfully used Winnie the Pooh to explains Taoism and vice-versa. Who knew that this simple, lovable bear was so wise?

For example, Pooh bear’s simple, childlike and happy-go-lucky attitude to life embodies the principle of Pu. That when we discard the things that get in the way and allow things to be what they are, life becomes fun.

“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?”
“What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?”
“I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
“It’s the same thing,” he said.

Owl on the other hand resembles a scholar who pursues knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but sometimes knowledge learnt from experience, that we willingly share with others is more important than what we keep to ourselves for the sake of appearing wise.

Eeyore’s pessimistic attitude is one that gets in the way of accomplishing anything in life. Complaining about everything prevents happiness.

Rabbit’s cleverness and wit too has its limitations because he fails to look deeply into the heart of things.

“Those who have no compassion have no wisdom. Knowledge, yes; cleverness, maybe; wisdom, no. A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care. Wisdom does.”

Tigger gets himself into trouble all the time because he believes that “Tigger’s can do everything”. The wise know their limitations, the foolish do not.

Piglet is a very small animal who knows his strengths and weaknesses which helps him to be braver than one would expect.

Taoism teaches us that we each have our own unique strengths and weaknesses, and understanding ourselves and others is the first step to a happy and harmonious life. This is a truly lovable book well worth reading, giving and keeping.

If you are interested in further reading, I recommend the Taoist Philosophy article from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

“In 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has upset the balance of the planet, established by nearly four billion years of evolution.” HOME is the new documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand that teaches us about the fragility of the one and only home we all share. It is a beautifully crafted and narrated film that tells the story of our planet through a series of breathtaking aerial photography and footage. Best of all it is free to watch and share online.

You can watch the trailer above and find the full-length HD version at www.YouTube.com/homeproject.

President Obama continues to impress me because I believe one of the essential responsibilities of a great leader is to be a good role model. In this relatively short talk to high school students, he has taught some life lessons that all students should learn in their lives (and we are all students our whole lives).

• Choose to take responsibility for your own life
• Being successful is hard, you have to work at your goals
• The most successful people have had the most failures
• You can’t let your failures define you, you have to let them teach you
• You become good at things through hard work
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help, it’s a sign of strength
• Don’t ever give up on yourself

It’s easy to be lectured to, but Obama’s words are weighty because he is a leader whose actions speak even louder than his words. It’s never too late and you’re never too old to learn something new.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch lost his life to pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008. This was his last lecture at the university about how he achieved his childhood dreams. Randy is not only a smart guy and a great teacher, I admire him because he lived his life knowing how to prioritise what was really important and what was not. If you also want to know how he does this, watch his lecture on Time Management.

Learn more by visiting Randy Pausch’s Home Page or buy his book The Last Lecture. Do it for his kids!

How to live before you die

Here is another talk given by Steve Jobs in keeping with the theme of making the most of life.