SELF HELP - HOW TO FEEL GOOD

Here is an article from my SELF HELP archives on HOW TO FEEL GOOD

I first wrote this around 30 years ago, but I feel it may still be relevant.

HOW TO FEEL GOOD

Musings

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Let me begin with a quote from the inimitable stoic philosopher EPICTETUS: 

  

Some things are under our control, others are not

Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle:

Some things are within our control, and some things are not 

It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can control and what you cannot control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible

                                                                                      

…Epictetus

THOUGHTS and FEELINGS
Thoughts play a very important role in your life, whereas your feelings can make or break you and also affect the lives of others around you. 

We often let our attitudes or feelings hold sway over our lives, rather than let our thoughts govern our lives.

You let your feelings drive your thoughts, not realizing that thoughts drive actions, and actions produce results, and results in turn produce more feelings, causing a vicious circle which may ultimately lead to loss of self-control.

Feelings are not totally controllable, as many times feelings are produced by external circumstances beyond your control, and if negative feelings are allowed to drive your thoughts and actions, then undesirable results may emanate.

These undesirable results in turn produce further not-so-good feelings, and the vicious cycle continues.

This is true for any unpleasant or negative feelings, like anger, envy, worry, disgust or hatred, which tend to drive our thoughts and actions, and quickly take charge of our lives.

An analysis of other options indicates that both actions and results are not suitable alternative drivers since they also are not totally controllable and will not always be pleasing.

The best solution is to establish ‘thought’ as the driver is because it is controllable and we can get good results. 

Yes, your thoughts are in your control because you can choose what to want to think about.

Moreover there is a matter of choice.

It is very much in our control to think good and interesting thoughts.

The happiest person is he or she who thinks the most interesting and good thoughts.

The human mind cannot totally prevent poor quality thoughts from arising, but it can choose whether or not to dwell on them.

The mind moves from dwelling on poor quality thoughts by selecting alternative beneficial or pleasant thoughts to focus on.

Choosing to be driven by thoughts and then controlling those thoughts allows the best possible results.

Positive thoughts lead to good performance (the right actions), which yields desirable results, which in turn produces good feelings.

Good feelings are conducive to better thoughts and progressively this positively re-enforcing cycle facilitates a high degree of self-control and an overall feeling of happiness.

When good thoughts are combined with good potential the results can be remarkable.

Thus, the very basis of self-control is refusing to allow our feelings to control our responses and dwelling instead on good, pleasant, joy-producing positive thoughts.

Develop and apply your skill to control your thoughts. 

Certain NLP techniques like Swish Pattern are highly effective in achieving this.

Achieving Positive Thinking by gaining mastery over controlling our thoughts and letting our thoughts govern our lives. 

Good Thoughts will make you Feel Good and these positive feelings will make you perform Good Actions which will produce Good Results - that is the key to a happy and healthy life. 

To summarize, Dear Reader, remember:

LET THOUGHTS DRIVE YOUR FEELINGS

NEVER ALLOW YOUR FEELINGS TO DRIVE YOUR THOUGHTS

THAT IS THE KEY TO A HAPPY AND HEALTHY LIFE

It works. 

You can take my word for it. 

And it is easy, because thinking interesting thoughts is within your control and not dependent on outside circumstances.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
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Disclaimer:

1. These are my personal views. Please use your own due diligence because they may or may not work for you. 

2. All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

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DO YOU ADD VALUE WHEN YOU SPEND TIME - Time Management by Event Control - Business Ethics Lecture Series - Part 22

Time Management – The Value Paradigm

SPEND TIME, ADD VALUE

Time Management, Event Control – The Value Paradigm

Do You Add VALUE when You SPEND Your Time

By

VIKRAM KARVE 

 

Time is a series or succession of events.

Controlling life means controlling time.

Controlling time means controlling events.

Thus “Time Management” is “Event Control”.

 

Time Management is inextricably linked with event control and boils down to selecting, planning and managing your events or activities.

For every event or activity you do, you spend time and add value – yes, ask yourself, are you adding enough value to your life when you spend a time, a vital resource which once you spend is gone forever and you can never replenish.

This value-addition can be in various domains – material, intellectual, familial, health, spiritual – and spending more time on a certain activity may get you value-addition benefits in the domain of your interest, your cardinal values.

 

Do you value happiness?

If so, how much time are you spending on activities that make you happy?

It is in your hands to exercise control on your activities, actions and events.

If you can control the events in your life you can manage your time and achieve inner peace and happiness. 

Some events are in your control and some are not.

You must learn to distinguish between what you can control and what you cannot control and focus on those events you can control and gradually increase your span of control.

 

As long as you live your life in such a way that your happiness is dependent upon things you cannot control, you will be a puppet in the hands of external circumstances and entities.

Remember happiness happens “inside-out”, not “outside-in” - happiness comes from within you, not to you - it is a product of the mind, of attitude, of thought.

So the best way is to spend maximum time on "high value activities".

 

What are these high value activities? What is the highest value of time?

 

Your highest value use of time comprise things which advance your overall purpose in life and activities you love to do.

Introspect, analyze and find out your own high value and low value uses of time.

 

You have all the time in the world.

Reflect on what really matters to you.

Stop doing anything that you do not value or doesn’t make you happy.  

 

In case it is not possible to totally avoid activities, things and people who do not add value to your life you can at least try to reduce the time your spend on such low value activities and people to a bare minimum and gradually try to phase them out of your life.

 

Be eccentric in your use of time.

Slow down.

Purge your diary.

Allow an hour each day for exercise that you enjoy. Even if you are not athletic you will still enjoy a good walk with a friend or with yourself. Yes, you must spend high value time with yourself.

Use your cell phone, internet and other modern technology for those activities that add value to your life.

As long as it won’t get you fired, stop going to meetings or doing wasteful activities at work. In your personal life too, try to avoid people and events that bore you.

Reclaim all your trivial uses of time so you have more time for yourself, people you care about and things you value the most.

So before you spend time on something or someone, ask yourself whether you are adding value to your life by spending time on that activity or entity. Reduce your low value use of time to the barest minimum and focus on high value use of time.

Use the Time Management by Event Control technique.

Spend Time, Add Value.

VIKRAM KARVE 
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2010
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU, The Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop's School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog - http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
Academic Journal Vikram Karve – http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile of Vikram Karve - http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll 
http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm

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Change Management - Overcoming Addiction - FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS Technique

FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS

An easy technique to overcome addictions

By

VIKRAM KARVE






Many years ago, at work, I used to employ a Management Technique called Force Field Analysis in Project Management.

Now I improvise the Force Field Analysis Model to great effect and success, in my personal life too for self improvement, to break bad habits – to change my life for the better.

So can you.

Let me give you an example.

It was a tough and stressful working day.

It was hot and humid, I was tired, sweating profusely, my throat parched with thirst, and as I walked home late in the evening, I found myself opposite my favorite bar.

I looked yearningly, tempted, overcome by a strong craving, desperate to have a glass of chilled beer.

Nothing like a glass of cold beer to drive my blues away – the “panacea” to my “stressed-out” state!

But I didn’t go into the bar.

Instead, I rushed to the nearest Chaatwala and had some pani-puri.

The moment I put the first pani-puri in my mouth, the intense overpowering medley of sweet and sour, pungently hot, fiery and spicy flavor of the chutneys, jal jeera and “pani” overwhelmed me and made my craving thirst for beer disappear pretty fast and enabled me to stick my resolve of giving up drinking.

I had suitably improvised the concept of “Force Field Analysis” to break my drinking habit and then keep it that way.

Long back, I had quit smoking too, and to stay that way, make sure I didn’t start again, I used force field analysis with great success.

Force Field Analysis provides a framework for looking at the factors or forces that influence a situation or activity.

Restraining Forces are those which inhibit or discourage the occurrence of a particular activity and Driving Forces are those which promote, facilitate and encourage the occurrence of the same activity.

Let’s say Driving Forces are positive anchors and Restraining Forces are negative anchors [similar to the anchors in NLP].

Let’s take the case of drinking. Sit down, close your eyes, and introspect.

Can you identify the stimuli, the triggers, and the situations, the driving forces, which create in you the desire and give rise to the urge to drink?

These driving forces can be anything, internal and external tangible or intangible – people, situations, events, parties, tendencies, moods, foods, social or organizational trends, practices, norms.

Do a simple exercise.

For the next week, or even a month, be yourself, live as you do, but mindfully record all the occasions on which you had alcohol and carefully list the driving forces that motivated you to drink.

Was it a social event, party, friends, as an appertif before some gourmet food, smoking, dancing, “creativity”, for reducing inhibitions or enhancing excitement as a prelude to sex, tiredness, happiness, celebration, depression, boredom, the company or memories of some people, sad memories, self pity, jealousy, inner craving, addiction…?

Do it thoughtfully and make an exhaustive list of the driving forces.

Make a list of restraining forces that discourage or inhibit you from drinking.

Concern for health?

Wife’s nagging?

Physical Exercise?

Values, religious and cultural taboos, regulations like prohibition and no drinking zones, work and hobbies, social encouragement of temperance?

Some types of foods too are effective restraining forces [for me, pani-puri, bhel, jal jeera, lassi are quite effective. Also I lose the urge to drink after a good meal].

Through self-awareness, mindful living and personal experience, record the restraining forces meticulously.

Now all you have to do to quit drinking is to strengthen the restraining forces, mitigate and weaken the driving forces and most importantly, where possible, change direction of some driving forces and convert them into restraining forces by using techniques from concepts like NLP, 4T etc or, best of all, your own improvised techniques [like the in lieu substitution method I have evolved for myself].

Learn how to tactfully and effectively avoid drinking.

Suppose your friends try to force you, taunt you saying you are a sissy, spoil sport, killjoy etc simply say, "I really must go," and leave the place.

Remember what Epictetus said: If you want to do something make a habit of it; if you want not to do something refrain from doing it.

I’ve also read somewhere: If want to be happily married, remain in the company of happily married people.

Always be with likeminded people whom you want to emulate.

If you want to stop drinking try to be in the company of non-drinkers.

Avoid situations which elicit craving.

Substitute healthy activities like physical exercise, recreation and creative hobbies instead of drinking.

Change your lifestyle, your friends, and your activities.

Identify your stimuli, triggers, situations, people and anchors, internal and external, tangible and intangible – the driving forces that create in you the urge to have a drink and facilitate drinking and mitigate them by improvising force field analysis as it suits you best.

Force Field Analysis works for me.

Dear Reader, do let me know if it works for you!


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work



vikramkarve@sify.com

vikramkarve@hotmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

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http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

Monday Morning Meditation

MONDAY MORNING MEDITATION

by

VIKRAM KARVE






Some things are under our control, others are not. Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and cannot control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible .

…Epictetus




Thoughts play a very important role in your life, whereas your feelings can make or break you; also affecting the lives of others around you.

We often let our attitudes or feelings govern our lives. We let feelings drive our thoughts, not realizing that thoughts drive actions, actions produce results, and results in turn produce more feelings, causing a vicious circle which may ultimately lead to loss of self-control.

Feelings are not totally controllable, as many times feelings are produced by external circumstances beyond your control, and if negative feelings are allowed to drive our thoughts and actions, then undesirable results emanate.

These undesirable results in turn produce further not-so-good feelings, and the vicious cycle continues. This is true for any unpleasant or negative feelings, like anger, envy, disgust or hatred, which tend to drive our thoughts and actions, and quickly take charge of our lives.

An analysis of other options indicates that neither actions nor results are suitable alternative drivers since they also are not totally controllable and will not always be pleasing.

The best solution is to establish ‘thought’ as the driver is because it is controllable and we can get good results. Moreover there is a matter of choice. It is in our control to think good and interesting thoughts. The happiest person is he or she who thinks the most interesting and good thoughts.

The human mind cannot totally prevent poor quality thoughts from arising, but it can choose whether or not to dwell on them. The mind moves from dwelling on poor quality thoughts by selecting alternative beneficial or pleasant thoughts to focus on.

Choosing to be driven by thoughts and then controlling those thoughts allows the best possible results. Positive thoughts lead to good performance (action), which yields desirable results, which in turn produces good feelings.

Good feelings are conducive to better thoughts and progressively this cycle facilities a high degree of self-control and feeling of happiness.

When good thoughts are combined with good potential the results can be remarkable. Thus, the very basis of self-control is refusing to allow our feelings to control our responses and dwelling instead on good, pleasant, joy-producing positive thoughts.

Develop and apply your skill to control your thoughts. That is the key to a happy and healthy life.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work


vikramkarve@sify.com

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

http://www.indiaplaza.in/finalpage.aspx?storename=books&sku=9788190690096&ct=2

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http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm

DECISION MAKING MODEL - SHOR PARADIGM

HOW TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS

[A DECISION MAKING MODEL - The SHOR Paradigm]

By

VIKRAM KARVE



“The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides” …Frederic Amiel


Decision-making is so pervasive that everyone, professionally or personally, is involved with making a variety of decisions.

In today’s fast-moving world, the timing of a decision is of paramount importance in many decision-making situations. In real life even the “perfect” decision may not be optimal if it is made too late.

Information is a vital resource in decision-making. One of the most important characteristics of successful managers is the ability to make the correct decision when confronted with imperfect or insufficient information (i.e.) Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.

In the context of decision-processing, two realms or domains of uncertainty are:

1. Information-Input Uncertainty which creates the need for hypothesis generation and evaluation;

2. Consequence-of-Action Uncertainty which creates the need for option generation and evaluation.



THE SHOR PARADIGM


A Decision Taxonomy: The Stimulus – Hypothesis – Options – Response (SHOR) paradigm, formulated by Wohl, is useful in such decision situations. The SHOR paradigm represents a qualitative, descriptive, model as distinct from a quantitative, predictive model, and comprises three primary decision-making task elements:

S: Stimulus Input Data Processing
H: Hypothesis Generation, Hypothesis Evaluation, Information Processing [What is?]
O: Option Generation, Option Evaluation, Decision-Making [What if?]
R: Response Output Action

The SHOR paradigm is basically an extension of the classical Stimulus – Response (SR) Paradigm of behaviourist psychology. The SHOR paradigm provides explicitly for the necessity to deal with information input uncertainty and consequence-of-action uncertainty, and helps us understand some of the peculiar human factors that affect the quality of the decision-making and answering questions such as:

What makes some decision-makers perform better than others, especially in placing high-value assets at risk, in business?

What are the sources and dimensions of “poor” performance?


HUMAN ERRORS IN DECISION-MAKING


Based on the SHOR Model, human errors in decision-making appear to lie in four domains:

(S) Stimulus: “I didn’t know…”
(H) Hypothesis: “I didn’t understand…”
(O) Options: “I didn’t consider…”
(R) Response: “I didn’t act…”

Stimulus based errors of the type “I didn’t know…” result from lack or inadequacy of information, the true inability to obtain information.

“I didn’t understand…” is the fundamental result of information input uncertainty, while “I didn’t consider…” is the product of consequence-of-action uncertainty.

It is possible to have accessed all significant information, to have developed the correct hypothesis and to have selected the best option and yet fail to take appropriate action. The two possible reasons for the “I didn’t act…” type of response error are:

1. Paralysis: This is a complete failure to act, the pathological “observation of an inevitable course” without intervention. It is caused by an over-riding emotional struggle in which some internal factor is being placed in conflict with the course of action selected by the decision-maker. The final scene in the evergreen classic film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) exemplifies such a situation.

2. Misjudgement: The decision-maker correctly decides what to do but errs in either or both of the two dimensions – how [the specifics of the action] or when [the timing of the action].

Prediction of the critical consequences of inaction may be of some help in dealing with paralysis whilst the ability to perform sensitivity analyses may assist in alleviating misjudgement.

Any Decision-Maker [and designers of decision aids] must address the four cardinal errors in decision-making epitomized by the SHOR paradigm:

“I didn’t know…”

“I didn’t understand…”

“I didn’t consider…”

“I didn’t act…”



DECISION-MAKING IN UNCERTAINTY


In the context of decision-making in uncertainty, the conflict theory paradigm developed by Janis and Mann may be apt. This paradigm postulates five patterns of coping behaviour which tends to occur in such situations:

1. Unconflicted Adherence in which the uncertain, or risk, information is ignored and the decision-maker complacently decides to continue whatever he has been doing.

2. Unconflicted Change to a new course of action, where the decision-maker uncritically adopts whichever new course of action is most salient, obvious or strongly recommended.

3. Defensive Avoidance in which the decision-maker evades conflict by procrastinating, shifting responsibility to someone else, or constructing wishful rationalisations and remaining selectively inattentive to corrective information.

4. Hypervigilance wherein the decision-maker searches frantically for a way out of the dilemma and impulsively seizes upon a hastily contrived solution that seems to promise immediate relief, overlooking the full range of consequences of his choice because of emotional excitement, repetitive thinking and cognitive constriction. In its most extreme form hypervigilance is referred to as “panic”.

5. Concerned Vigilance in which the decision-maker optimally processes pertinent information and generates and evaluates hypotheses and options before selecting a response as characterised by the SHOR paradigm.

In many real-life situations a decision-maker cannot always keep waiting until the entire information-input and consequence-of-action conditions are known a priori with certainty. In most cases there is no such thing as “perfect” certainty.

If a single most important characteristic is crucial to a decision-maker in any field, it is the ability to make optimal decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Qualitative descriptive models like the SHOR paradigm may prove useful in such situations.

To quote Frederic Amiel once again: “The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides”.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2009
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


vikramkarve@sify.com

vikramkarve@hotmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

CONTROL ENGINEERING

CONTROL ENGINEERING FOR HAPPINESS AND INNER PEACE

by


VIKRAM KARVE






Some things are under our control, others are not. Happiness and Freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not. It is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what you can and can't control that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible .

…Epictetus




Thoughts play a very important role in your life, whereas your feelings can make or break you; also affecting the lives of others around you.

We often let our attitudes or feelings govern our lives. We let feelings drive our thoughts, not realizing that thoughts drive actions, actions produce results, and results in turn produce more feelings, causing a vicious circle which may ultimately lead to loss of self-control.

Feelings are not totally controllable, as many times feelings are produced by external circumstances beyond your control, and if negative feelings are allowed to drive our thoughts and actions, then undesirable results emanate.

These undesirable results in turn produce further not-so-good feelings, and the vicious cycle continues. This is true for any unpleasant or negative feelings, like anger, envy, disgust or hatred, which tend to drive our thoughts and actions, and quickly take charge of our lives.

An analysis of other options indicates that neither actions nor results are suitable alternative drivers since they also are not totally controllable and will not always be pleasing.

The best solution is to establish ‘thought’ as the driver is because it is controllable and we can get good results. Moreover there is a matter of choice. It is in our control to think good and interesting thoughts. The happiest person is he or she who thinks the most interesting and good thoughts.

The human mind cannot totally prevent poor quality thoughts from arising, but it can choose whether or not to dwell on them. The mind moves from dwelling on poor quality thoughts by selecting alternative beneficial or pleasant thoughts to focus on.

Choosing to be driven by thoughts and then controlling those thoughts allows the best possible results. Positive thoughts lead to good performance (action), which yields desirable results, which in turn produces good feelings.

Good feelings are conducive to better thoughts and progressively this cycle facilities a high degree of self-control and feeling of happiness.

When good thoughts are combined with good potential the results can be remarkable. Thus, the very basis of self-control is refusing to allow our feelings to control our responses and dwelling instead on good, pleasant, joy-producing positive thoughts.

Develop and apply your skill to control your thoughts. That’s the key to a happy and healthy life.




VIKRAM KARVE


mailto:vikramkarve@sify.com


http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

MANAGEMENT TOOLS IN PERSONAL LIFE

MANAGEMENT TOOLS IN PERSONAL LIFE

WANT TO QUIT DRINKING?

Try “FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS”

By

VIKRAM KARVE



Many years ago, at work, I used to employ a Management Technique called Force Field Analysis in Project Management.

Now I improvise the Force Field Analysis Model to great effect and success, in my personal life too for self improvement, to break bad habits – to change my life for the better.

So can you. Let me give you an example.

I remember that evening clearly. It was a tough and stressful working day.

It was hot and humid, I was tired, sweating profusely, my throat parched with thirst, and as I walked home late in the evening, I found myself opposite my favourite bar.

I looked yearningly, tempted, overcome by a strong craving, desperate to have a glass of chilled beer.

Nothing like a glass of cold beer to drive my blues away – the “panacea” to my “stressed-out” state!

But I did not go into the bar.

Instead, I rushed to the nearest Chaat-wala and had some pani-puri [gol-gappa].

The moment I put the first pani-puri in my mouth, the intense overpowering medley of sweet and sour, pungently hot, fiery and spicy flavor of the chutneys, jal jeera and “pani” overwhelmed me and made my craving thirst and longing for beer disappear pretty fast and enabled me to stick my resolve of giving up drinking.

I had suitably improvised the concept of “Force Field Analysis” to break my drinking habit and then keep it that way.

Long back, I had quit smoking too, and to stay that way, make sure I didn’t start again, I used force field analysis with great success.

Force Field Analysis provides a framework for looking at the factors or forces that influence a situation or activity.

Restraining Forces are those which inhibit or discourage the occurrence of a particular activity and Driving Forces are those which promote, facilitate and encourage the occurrence of the same activity.

In case you are familiar with NLP terminology, let’s say Driving Forces are positive anchors and Restraining Forces are negative anchors.

Let’s take the case of drinking.

Sit down, close your eyes, and introspect.

Can you identify the stimuli, the triggers, and the situations, the driving forces, which create in you the desire, the urge, the craving to drink?

These driving forces can be anything, internal and external, tangible or intangible – people, situations, events, parties, tendencies, moods, foods, social, cultural or organizational trends, practices, traditions, norms.

Do a simple exercise.

For the next week, or even a month, be yourself, live as you do, but mindfully record all the occasions on which you had alcohol and carefully list the driving forces that motivated you to drink.

What motivated you to have that drink?

Was it a social event, party, friends, as an aperitif before some gourmet food, amplifying the pleasure of smoking, dancing, “creativity”, for reducing inhibitions or enhancing excitement as a prelude to sex, tiredness, happiness, celebration, depression, boredom, the company or memories of some people, sad memories, self pity, jealousy, inner craving, addiction…?

Do it thoughtfully, record all driving forces meticulously and make an exhaustive list of the driving forces.

Now make a list of restraining forces that discourage, dissuade or inhibit you from drinking.

Concern for health?

Wife’s nagging?

Physical Exercise?

Values, religious and cultural taboos, regulations like prohibition and no drinking zones, work and hobbies, conservative environment, social encouragement of temperance?

Some types of foods too are effective restraining forces as far as alcohol is concerned [for me, pani-puri, bhel, jal jeera, lassi are quite effective. Also I lose the urge to drink after a good hearty satiating meal].

Be aware, live mindfully, observe yourself and record the restraining forces to drinking meticulously.

Now it is simple to quit drinking – all you have to do to quit drinking is to strengthen the restraining forces and mitigate and weaken the driving forces and most importantly, where possible, change direction of some driving forces and convert them into restraining forces by using techniques from concepts like NLP, 4T etc or, best of all, your own improvised techniques [like the “in lieu substitution method” I have evolved for myself – some alternate activity to substitute drinking, like exercise, reading, writing, outdoor activities, family time, playing with pets, taking your dog for a walk – something creative and positive to do during your erstwhile “drinking time”].

Learn how to tactfully and effectively avoid drinking.

Suppose your friends try to force you, apply peer pressure, taunt you saying you are a sissy, spoil sport etc. simply say, "I really must go," and leave the place.

Remember what Epictetus said: If you want to do something make a habit of it; if you want not to do something refrain from doing it.

I’ve also read somewhere: If want to be happily married, remain in the company of happily married people.

Always be with likeminded people whom you want to emulate.

If you want to stop drinking try to be in the company of non-drinkers.

Yes, you may have to change your friends too.

Avoid situations which elicit craving.

Substitute healthy activities like physical exercise, recreation and creative hobbies instead of drinking.

Change your lifestyle, your friends, your activities, and your environment.

You will have to change your daily routine too if you are serious and committed to quitting drinking.

Identify your stimuli, triggers, situations, people and anchors, internal and external, tangible and intangible – the driving forces that create in you the urge to have a drink and facilitate drinking and mitigate them by improvising force field analysis as it suits you best.

Try it, and you will succeed. It is easy to quit drinking the Force Field Analysis way. You can take my word for it.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

vikramkarve@sify.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

Force Field Analysis in Implementation

FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS

AN EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION MANAGEMENT TOOL

By

VIKRAM KARVE



Implementation is the phase between a decision and its realization.

Implementation may be placed in a continuum in which interaction takes place between those who seek objective and those on whom action depends.

The importance of implementation is undeniable because it is a struggle over the realization of ideas.

Effective implementation overcomes the gaps between intention and promise, aspirations, achievement and performance, and prescription and reality. Implementation comprises the ability to achieve specified ends by chosen means.

The time factor is critical in the implementation phase of a project.

Contingencies characterize implementation in several ways hence interactive and dynamic elements are vital to implementation management in order to forge links in the causal chain connecting actions to objectives with a view to minimizing the discrepancy between what actually occurs and what was envisaged.

Implementation is not self-executing.

It is not a process that follows automatically once a program has been formulated.

Implementation requires the presence of an action-forcing mechanism.

Implementation is a control task; it needs to be dynamic, flexible and adaptable to changing situations.

Breakdowns of implementation represent fundamental failures to translate meaningful ideas into effective action.

Despite taking initiatives and using rational methods, on many occasions implementation is swamped by constant pressures of unpredictable problems and crises.

It is important to distinguish between non-implementation and unsuccessful implementation.

In the case of non-implementation, the program is not put into effect as intended.

Unsuccessful implementation, on the other hand, occurs when a program is carried out, but fails to produce the desired results.

Implementation seems vulnerable to the domino effect in that when the initial phase is troubled the implementation failure tends to transmit itself to later phases.

Once implementation dynamics are set in motion, they become vulnerable to adverse or diversionary forces which pull them away from their original design.

Hence, a cogent implementation schedule and specific techniques are necessary to move from the realm of intention to the ambit of reality.

Force Field Analysis, a technique developed by Lewin, is useful in designing and executing the implementation process.

Force Field Analysis is a technique for systematically reviewing the elements working for and against a proposed course of action. It assumes that in any situation there are both driving forces and restraining forces that influence implementation.


Driving Forces are those forces that facilitate implementation.

Restraining Forces impede the implementation process – they tend to restrain, dissipate, decrease or negate the Driving Forces. For successful implementation it is essential to push on and overpower or immobilize the restraining forces, or try to transform the restraining forces into driving forces.

From the Human Resource (HR) perspective the Driving Forces include Participants [people who recognize their responsibility in the success of implementation], Movers [people who remove obstacles to implementation when they encounter them] and Shakers [people who recognize an opportunity and will make implementation happen] and the Restraining Forces may comprise Spectators [people not interested in implementation], Protectors [of Status Quo], Doubters [of the way the implementation is being done], Worriers [who are afraid of failure] and Switchers [people who abdicate and “delegate” their implementation responsibility].

Before embarking on implementation you must determine the driving forces and restraining forces and formulate a strategy to tackle them; if you rush into implementation without proper analysis, you may get frustrated and not know why.



VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

vikramkarve@sify.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

The SHOR Paradigm - Decision Management

The SHOR Paradigm - Decision Management in Uncertainty

By

VIKRAM KARVE




“The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides” …Frederic Amiel



Decision-making is so pervasive that everyone, professionally or personally, is involved with making a variety of decisions.

In today’s fast-moving world, the timing of a decision is of paramount importance in many decision-making situations. In real life even the “perfect” decision may not be optimal if it is made too late.

Information is a vital resource in decision-making. One of the most important characteristics of successful managers is the ability to make the correct decision when confronted with imperfect or insufficient information (i.e.) Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.

In the context of decision-processing, two realms or domains of uncertainty are:

1. Information Input Uncertainty which creates the need for hypothesis generation and evaluation;

2. Consequence-of-Action Uncertainty which creates the need for option generation and evaluation.


THE SHOR PARADIGM


A decision taxonomy: The Stimulus – Hypothesis – Options – Response (SHOR) paradigm, formulated by Wohl, is useful in such decision situations. The SHOR paradigm represents a qualitative, descriptive, model as distinct from a quantitative, predictive model, and comprises three primary decision-making task elements:

S: Stimulus - Input Data Processing
H: Hypothesis Generation, Hypothesis Evaluation, Information Processing [What is?]
O: Option Generation, Option Evaluation, Decision-Making [What if?]
R: Response - Output Action

The SHOR paradigm is basically an extension of the classical Stimulus – Response (SR) Paradigm of behaviourist psychology. The SHOR paradigm provides explicitly for the necessity to deal with information input uncertainty and consequence-of-action uncertainty, and helps us understand some of the peculiar human factors that affect the quality of the decision-making and answering questions such as:
What makes some decision-makers perform better than others, especially in placing high-value assets at risk, in business?
What are the sources and dimensions of “poor” performance?


HUMAN ERRORS IN DECISION-MAKING


Based on the SHOR Model, human errors in decision-making appear to lie in four domains:

(S) Stimulus: “I didn’t know…”
(H) Hypothesis: “I didn’t understand…”
(O) Options: “I didn’t consider…”
(R) Response: “I didn’t act…”

Stimulus based errors of the type “I didn’t know…” result from lack or inadequacy of information, the true inability to obtain information.

“I didn’t understand…” is the fundamental result of information input uncertainty, while “I didn’t consider…” is the product of consequence-of-action uncertainty.

It is possible to have accessed all significant information, to have developed the correct hypothesis and to have selected the best option and yet fail to take appropriate action. The two possible reasons for the “I didn’t act…” type of response error are:

1. Paralysis: This is a complete failure to act, the pathological ‘observation of an inevitable course’ without intervention. It is caused by an over-riding emotional struggle in which some internal factor is being placed in conflict with the course of action selected by the decision-maker. The final scene in the evergreen classic film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) exemplifies such a situation.

2. Misjudgement: The decision-maker correctly decides what to do but errs in either or both of the two dimensions – how [the specifics of the action] or when [the timing of the action].

Prediction of the critical consequences of inaction may be of some help in dealing with paralysis whilst the ability to perform sensitivity analyses may assist in alleviating misjudgement.

Any Decision-Maker [and designers of decision aids] must address the four cardinal types of errors epitomized by the SHOR paradigm: “I didn’t know…”, “I didn’t understand…”, “I didn’t consider…” and “I didn’t act…”



DECISION-MAKING IN UNCERTAINTY


In the context of decision-making in uncertainty, the conflict theory paradigm developed by Janis and Mann may be apt. This paradigm postulates five patterns of coping behaviour which tends to occur in such situations:

1. Unconflicted Adherence in which the uncertain, or risk, information is ignored and the decision-maker complacently decides to continue whatever he has been doing.

2. Unconflicted Change to a new course of action, where the decision-maker uncritically adopts whichever new course of action is most salient, obvious or strongly recommended.

3. Defensive Avoidance in which the decision-maker evades conflict by procrastinating, shifting responsibility to someone else, or constructing wishful rationalisations and remaining selectively inattentive to corrective information.

4. Hypervigilance wherein the decision-maker searches frantically for a way out of the dilemma and impulsively seizes upon a hastily contrived solution that seems to promise immediate relief, overlooking the full range of consequences of his choice because of emotional excitement, repetitive thinking and cognitive constriction. In its most extreme form hypervigilance is referred to as “panic”.

5. Concerned Vigilance in which the decision-maker optimally processes pertinent information, generates and evaluates hypotheses and options before selecting a response as characterised by the SHOR paradigm.


In many real-life situations a decision-maker cannot always keep waiting until the entire information-input and consequence-of-action conditions are known a priori with certainty. In most cases there is no such thing as “perfect” certainty.

If a single most important characteristic is crucial to a decision-maker in any field, it is the ability to make optimal decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Qualitative descriptive models like the SHOR paradigm may prove useful in such situations.

To quote Frederic Amiel once again: “The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides”.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


vikramkarve@sify.com

vikramkarve@hotmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve

Time Management Value Paradigm

Do You Add Value When You Spend Time?

[Time Management – The Value Paradigm]

By

VIKRAM KARVE



Time is a series or succession of events.

Controlling life means controlling time.

Controlling time means controlling events.

Thus “Time Management” is “Event Control”.

Time Management is inextricably linked with event control and boils down to selecting, planning and managing your events or activities.

For every event or activity you do, you spend time and add value – yes, ask yourself, are you adding enough value to your life when you spend your time, a vital resource which once you spend is gone forever and you can never replenish.

This value-addition can be in various domains – material, intellectual, familial, health, spiritual – and spending more time on a certain activity may get you value-addition benefits in the domain of your interest, your cardinal values.

Do you value happiness?

If so, how much time are you spending on activities that make you happy?

It is in your hands to exercise control on your activities, actions and events.

If you can control the events in your life you can manage your time and achieve inner peace and happiness.

Some events are in your control and some are not.

You must learn to distinguish between what you can control and what you cannot control and focus on those events you can control and gradually increase your span of control.

As long as you live your life in such a way that your happiness is dependent upon things you cannot control, you will be a puppet in the hands of external circumstances and entities.

Remember happiness happens “inside-out”, not “outside-in” - happiness comes from within you, not to you - it is a product of the mind, of attitude, of thought.

So the best way is to spend maximum time on high value activities – the highest value uses of time comprise things which advance your overall purpose in life and things you have always wanted to do.

Introspect, analyze and find out your own high value and low value uses of time.

We have all the time in the world. Reflect on what really matters to you. Stop doing anything that you do not value or doesn’t make you happy.

Be eccentric in your use of time. Slow down. Purge your diary. Allow an hour each day for exercise that you enjoy; for instance, most people who don’t think they are athletic still enjoy a good walk in the country alone or with a friend. Dump your cell phone. As long as it won’t get you fired, stop going to meetings or events that bore you.

Reclaim all your trivial uses of time so you have more time for yourself, people you care about and things you value the most.

Spend Time, Add Value.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

vikramkarve@sify.com

The SHOR Paradigm

The SHOR Paradigm

[Decision-making in Uncertainty]

By

VIKRAM KARVE



“The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides” …Frederic Amiel



Decision-making is so pervasive that everyone, professionally or personally, is involved with making a variety of decisions.

In today’s fast-moving world, the timing of a decision is of paramount importance in many decision-making situations. In real life even the “perfect” decision may not be optimal if it is made too late.

Information is a vital resource in decision-making. One of the most important characteristics of successful managers is the ability to make the correct decision when confronted with imperfect or insufficient information (i.e.) Decision-making under conditions of uncertainty.

In the context of decision-processing, two realms or domains of uncertainty are:

1. Information Input Uncertainty which creates the need for hypothesis generation and evaluation;

2. Consequence-of-Action Uncertainty which creates the need for option generation and evaluation.


THE SHOR PARADIGM


A decision taxonomy: The Stimulus – Hypothesis – Options – Response (SHOR) paradigm, formulated by Wohl, is useful in such decision situations. The SHOR paradigm represents a qualitative, descriptive, model as distinct from a quantitative, predictive model, and comprises three primary decision-making task elements:
S: Stimulus Input Data Processing
H: Hypothesis Generation, Hypothesis Evaluation, Information Processing [What is?]
O: Option Generation, Option Evaluation, Decision-Making [What if?]
R: Response Output Action

The SHOR paradigm is basically an extension of the classical Stimulus – Response (SR) Paradigm of behaviourist psychology. The SHOR paradigm provides explicitly for the necessity to deal with information input uncertainty and consequence-of-action uncertainty, and helps us understand some of the peculiar human factors that affect the quality of the decision-making and answering questions such as:
What makes some decision-makers perform better than others, especially in placing high-value assets at risk, in business?
What are the sources and dimensions of “poor” performance?


HUMAN ERRORS IN DECISION-MAKING


Based on the SHOR Model, human errors in decision-making appear to lie in four domains:

(S) Stimulus: “I didn’t know…”
(H) Hypothesis: “I didn’t understand…”
(O) Options: “I didn’t consider…”
(R) Response: “I didn’t act…”

Stimulus based errors of the type “I didn’t know…” result from lack or inadequacy of information, the true inability to obtain information.

“I didn’t understand…” is the fundamental result of information input uncertainty, while “I didn’t consider…” is the product of consequence-of-action uncertainty.

It is possible to have accessed all significant information, to have developed the correct hypothesis and to have selected the best option and yet fail to take appropriate action. The two possible reasons for the “I didn’t act…” type of response error are:

1. Paralysis: This is a complete failure to act, the pathological ‘observation of an inevitable course’ without intervention. It is caused by an over-riding emotional struggle in which some internal factor is being placed in conflict with the course of action selected by the decision-maker. The final scene in the evergreen classic film The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) exemplifies such a situation.

2. Misjudgement: The decision-maker correctly decides what to do but errs in either or both of the two dimensions – how [the specifics of the action] or when [the timing of the action].

Prediction of the critical consequences of inaction may be of some help in dealing with paralysis whilst the ability to perform sensitivity analyses may assist in alleviating misjudgement.

Any Decision-Maker [and designers of decision aids] must address the four cardinal types of errors epitomized by the SHOR paradigm: “I didn’t know…”, “I didn’t understand…”, “I didn’t consider…” and “I didn’t act…”



DECISION-MAKING IN UNCERTAINTY


In the context of decision-making in uncertainty, the conflict theory paradigm developed by Janis and Mann may be apt. This paradigm postulates five patterns of coping behaviour which tends to occur in such situations:

1. Unconflicted Adherence in which the uncertain, or risk, information is ignored and the decision-maker complacently decides to continue whatever he has been doing.

2. Unconflicted Change to a new course of action, where the decision-maker uncritically adopts whichever new course of action is most salient, obvious or strongly recommended.

3. Defensive Avoidance in which the decision-maker evades conflict by procrastinating, shifting responsibility to someone else, or constructing wishful rationalisations and remaining selectively inattentive to corrective information.

4. Hypervigilance wherein the decision-maker searches frantically for a way out of the dilemma and impulsively seizes upon a hastily contrived solution that seems to promise immediate relief, overlooking the full range of consequences of his choice because of emotional excitement, repetitive thinking and cognitive constriction. In its most extreme form hypervigilance is referred to as “panic”.

5. Concerned Vigilance in which the decision-maker optimally processes pertinent information, generates and evaluates hypotheses and options before selecting a response as characterised by the SHOR paradigm.


In many real-life situations a decision-maker cannot always keep waiting until the entire information-input and consequence-of-action conditions are known a priori with certainty. In most cases there is no such thing as “perfect” certainty.

If a single most important characteristic is crucial to a decision-maker in any field, it is the ability to make optimal decisions in conditions of uncertainty. Qualitative descriptive models like the SHOR paradigm may prove useful in such situations.

To quote Frederic Amiel once again: “The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides”.


VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2008
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.


vikramkarve@sify.com

vikramkarve@hotmail.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve

http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com

http://www.ryze.com/go/karve