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When Stuff Happens: Try Plan B
By Shlomo Maital
Stuff happens. You miss your flight. Or it is cancelled. You have a doctor’s appointment and can’t get a taxi to save your life. You prepare a great supper – and burn the rice.
Stuff happens. These days, a whole lot of stuff happens. Some of it is small stuff, personal or family things, some of it is big stuff, national and global politics. Not much can be done about the latter – but you can use Plan B on the small stuff.
Lacking a taxi I used Plan B – a 2 kms. (1.2 miles) walk uphill to the doctor. I had that in my mind from the start. In case stuff happens – plan B. It helped toward fitness, and felt good. A good walk.
If you have a Plan B mentality, you never need to sweat the small stuff, which can accumulate and cause big-time stress. If stuff happens, have a plan B in the back of your mind. Just having it reduces stress. You usually don’t need it. But when you do, it can come in handy. And remember – there is ALWAYS a Plan B. The more you use it, the better you get at it.
And guess what. Sometimes, Plan B is a lot better than Plan A. So you don’t need stuff to happen, you can embrace Plan B and make it Plan A.
Sound reasonable?
Blah Blah Blah Blog Blog Blog
How to Know What You’re Thinking By Reading What You Write
by Shlomo Maital
On April 20, 2008, some 12 years ago, I wrote my first blog. Its title was . Innovation in the Black Inkiness of Solitary Confinement: How Bernie Mathews Survived for Two Years. It was about an Australian convict, kept in solitary confinement for a very long time, who preserved his sanity by inventing a game with a pebble.
Since that first blog, I’ve written and posted 1,723 more blogs. The latest was posted yesterday — about how poor African nations figured out how to do COVID-19 testing efficiently, to save money. I’ve written a blog, nearly every day, rising early at 5 am, and spilling out ideas that brewed at night, mostly, I think, in my subconscious.
Some people read my blog – but not that many. So – what’s the point? What has kept me at this blah-blah-blah for 12 years – and probably, for another 12, or until I cash in my chips for good?
Here is what I figured out.
Let’s start with a question: what is thought?
Here is how psychologists define thought: “Thought (also called thinking) – the mental process in which beings form psychological associations and models of the world. … Thought, the act of thinking, produces thoughts. A thought may be an idea, an image, a sound or even an emotional feeling that arises from the brain.”
In other words, thoughts are generally pretty fuzzy – even an “emotional feeling”.
So, how do you know what you are thinking?
Dumb question. Of course you know what you are thinking. Because, well – you are thinking it.
But, let’s dig deeper. Thoughts are usually quite blurry, amorphous. Images, sounds, scraps of ideas. I believe that our thoughts are not truly real, until we capture them in words. If you want your thoughts to create value in the world, to inspire or inform or amuse other people, you need to capture them in words, because that is how we communicate, with words.
So, while it took me years to understand this – I now know why I write blogs. I write them, in order to answer a question. The question is: What am I thinking? Because – I won’t know what I am thinking, really, until I read what I write.
That that seems to be the real reason why I have written 1,723 blogs.
But there is another reason. Habit.
Do something constructive, something good, one time, that’s nice. Do it again and again, that’s much better. Make it into a habit – and you do it regularly, nearly without thinking.
I have a habit of writing a blog almost daily. That means, my brain is constantly on alert. Find me ideas that excite me, interest me, amaze me. So my brain has become a scanner, permanently, even when I am not consciously aware of it. I have scissors at hand, and clip articles from newspapers, probably annoying my wife, who wonders what in the world was in that hole in the New York Times? Lately, I’ve cured that bad habit and simply look up the article in question online.
And, one more reason for writing blogs. I often write about subjects that I have no clue about. Mostly from science and technology. As a retired economics professor, this borders on (or crosses the border into – charlatanism. How can I write about CRISP-R technology in gene splicing, without a biology Ph.D.? Well, I can. So — I write about things in order to understand them. Because if I cannot write about them clearly, then I do not understand them. So, converting thinking into words is an exercise in learning new things constantly. I’m 77 years old, soon to be 78. I’m keenly aware that human brains are ‘neuroplastic’ (I’ve written blogs about that too), they are amazingly flexible, but – brains do grow old, and I think it is important to keep exercising my brain, just as I exercise my legs and biceps and tummy muscles. Some people do sudoku. Others do crossword puzzles. I write blogs. To each his own.
So – what will I write this morning? I guess – this can become a blog, about why I write blogs. I wonder if anybody will find it of interest. But the truth is – it doesn’t really matter. Because – I am writing it to read and understand why I write blogs. And I think I know now.
Why YOU Should Consider Writing a Blog
By Shlomo Maital
Here is why I think YOU, dear reader, should consider writing some sort of blog, even if you choose not to publish it.
This blog is #1,172. Over the past six years, I’ve written a 300-word-or-so blog at least two or three times a week. It’s now become part of my life.
Writing a blog brings this key benefit: If you know you will need to write about something, to share with others whom you care about, your brain is constantly working out, searching for new ideas, new tools, new facts, new things you can use, new stories that inspire.
Motivation is the key to action. And my motivation in writing the blog has been the need to share, to remain relevant, to share with others.
I try to work out at least every other day, alternating jogging, speed walking, stair walking (hey – take the stairs, skip the escalators), and moderate weights. But my blog gives my brain a workout too.
So, think about writing your own. Try writing a few before you publish them. Write about things that matter to YOU. Chances are, they may matter to others too. Some blogs have created raging worldwide successes, like the blog about preparing one recipe a day for a whole year, based on Julia Childs’ cookbook – a blog that led to a book and a great movie.
The insert shows the cover of our new book, Cracking the Creativity Code, soon to be published by SAGE India. We’re deeply grateful to SAGE for their wonderful creative cover design. Our theme in our book: Your brain is a muscle, exercise it daily, hourly. And a blog is one great way to do that.
TIMnovate 