Monthly Archives: January 2013

Learn, Re-learn, Unlearn

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Creating the person you want to be requires a set of skills or learning, relearning and unlearning. Nobody has all of the answers so we seek out ways to find solutions to the problems we face, learning what the world has to offer. As time progresses, we find that we can improve on the model through mindful observation and relearning the finer details of what we’re pursuing. Inevitably, a new model finds its way into the mix and requires a new way of seeing the world and unlearning it all to learn and relearn everything all over again.

The scribe is the perfect example. Knowledge and information was isolated to a singular group of people who could afford books and have the luxury to learn how to read and or write. In time, the Gutenberg press changed that paradigm, then the telephone, and the telegraph, radio, television, and today the world wide web. Scribes are everyone on facebook, their blog, tweeting, and participating in this grand sharing of information that was once a selective luxury.

The choice now is whether you put what you’re learning to good use, relearning it all to make it better, and unlearning antiquated ideas and methods to create new paradigms.

Honor Based Commerce

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It has been a re-occurring theme that has popped up here and there. Here’s a rant on honor based commerce.

The Bagel Stand
As you walk through the door to walk, a bagel stand is sitting idly by itself. No person around or in sight. The aroma of bagels saturates the area permeating soft chewy goodness to your senses. The only sheet to communicate to you is a small kiosk that asks for whatever you can give in return for a bagel with a variety of cream cheeses. Normally, people would go to a stand, pick what they want and pay someone to do those things for them. Instead of doing the simple easy task of cutting bread and spreading cream cheese, people can do it themselves, get it at work, and pay what they feel that it is worth. Yes, it works on an honor based system, but you would be surprised. People tend to be more honest than we believe.

The Bagel Man
Paul F. quit his job, got the approval of his family and set on a venture to sell bagels through an honor based commerce system. He setup bagel stands under the simple agreement of bringing fresh bagels each morning with a cash box and would later return midday to pick up the extra bagels with the money. It turned into an interesting project that measured the honesty of his customers. The least honest payers leaned towards administration who would leave nothing behind but an empty bagel basket, no cash. Read more about it here.

Last Thoughts
Communities require similar needs as a whole. The transactions and means to make those trades possible with our fellow neighbors is open to many possibilities relying on the simple idea of trust. Other examples are barter, donation based services, and time banks. That’s all for now. For now, I’m going to try the honor system out and see how it works.

End Planning First

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the-road-to-beauty-clouds-destination-grass-640x480

or begin in the middle (en media res). It really depends on the story you’re creating for yourself, but they both work well to get you to your desired destination. Here’s a few reasons and steps to plan your life starting at the end.

The Unknown Conclusion of Beginnings
Starting from the beginning in any endeavor is a difficult task. There is no sense of direction taking your journey anywhere. This could be a desired to discover a new potential, find another path, or to recognize new tools. However, without a clear idea in mind getting to a desired state is often lost looking at your next step instead of seeing the paths in front of you. Rather than start without a destination in mind, figure out where you want to go. Then take a step.

imagesStarting at the End
Planning a food forest, a garden, or a meal starts with the end product in mind. We create the image of the ideal before we begin to create. For processes we are familiar with, we go through the motions without much conscious thought. To achieve great feats, such as terraforming a landscape, a logical plan helps to outline goals before the desired outcome. A thoughtful way to approach the task of planning is to go through the processes of dissection, selection, sequencing, and stakes once the end goal is in sight.

DiSSS
Use the acronym to help you acquire those four steps, Dissection, Selection, Sequencing, and Stakes. I learned it reading The Four Hour Chef by Tim Ferris. I highly recommend it. His life is surrounded in meta-learning, creating conscious methods to put information into action while becoming the best at it (top 5% in any discipline, cooking, running, etc). Onward!

Dissection is taking apart the product you wish to create. It’s finding out what are the lego pieces to the puzzle you are about to build. To build a garden, the main components can be taken apart into Time, Soil and Plants.

Selection is picking the pieces that are the most important. Most of the time, we focus on detailed information that doesn’t bring us to any outcome. It starts with discussion and ends with murmurs of words once spoken instead of actions gaining momentum. In the art of gardening, Timing is crucial to determine what process you should be working on first as well as when and what plants to be planting during that time of year. Planting watermelons in Winter got Farmer Chow bad results while learning an important lesson of the seasons. Soil is the shelter and home of plants. It provides everything the plant needs to survive and thrive. Finally, the plants are a product of good timing and great living soil.

From here, we can Sequence our timing to build soil during off seasons and plant appropriately during the growing seasons. Setting up this path will ensure decent results and as long as we continue on the journey of learning and gardening, we can expect better production and quality as the soil continues to be built and our timing is synched with nature.

Stakes. This is the kicker. It gets you to get started whether you succeed, fail, or go nowhere. Placing a bet with a family member, getting feedback from friends, donating to a charity you hate or dislike, it needs to get you motivated to try. When something is at stake, it motivates us to work and succeed at keeping it.

From here, the journey is yours to create. Get lost while you’re at it and find your way back to the legacy you want to leave behind.

“ Would you tell me please which way I go from here?”
“ That depends on where you want to get to”, said the Cat.
“ I don’t much care where…”, said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go”, said the Cat.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland