Predictably Irrational - The Keys to Your Success May Be the Opposite of What You Think

IP is over the quota
IP is over the quota

One of my favorite sitcoms of all time is Seinfeld. One of my all-time favorite episodes of that quirky show is called "The Opposite." In it, George decides that every decision he has ever made in his life has been wrong, and that his life is the exact opposite of what it should be.

George tells this to Jerry, who then suggests to George that "if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."

At that point, George resolves to start doing the complete opposite of what he would do normally in every situation. His first "experiment" with this new mindset is with a beautiful woman he sees sitting at the diner bar. He introduces himself to her by saying, "Hi, I'm George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents."

Now if I am recalling correctly what pick up lines work and what pick up lines don't, this one would be in the latter category, a certain deal-breaker right out of the gate.

But to George's surprise, the woman is impressed, slightly turned on, and agrees to go out on a date with him!

Aside from the brilliant humor and creative genius behind the creators and writers of Seinfeld, something else is going on here in this particular episode that points to a truth about human nature.

In it, he shares several case studies that illustrate the opposite concept that was dramatized on Seinfeld. For anyone who is fascinated by or curious about why people do the things we do - things that appear on the surface to be totally illogical and the opposite of what we should be doing - Ariely's book is a must-read.

As a professional marketer and entrepreneur, I have learned some valuable things from Ariely's research that I can apply to my business endeavors. Knowing that we humans are naturally impulsive, emotional, and driven from a place of wanting to feel important or included helps with all sorts of tasks including copywriting, video production, pay per click ad campaigns, and the like. While our culture is structured around reason and logic, Ariely shows time and time again that we human beings are anything but reasonable and logical.

Sure, there may be glimmers of logic and reason every now and then, but let's not kid ourselves: cultural norms and systems are designed to control the things we are most naturally going to do. The very existence of creeds such as the Ten Commandments and The Golden Rule (and I use these examples respectfully) suggest that we humans need to be reigned in from our basest impulses.

Ariely shows this to be true again and again, with examples from his own life as a severe burn victim to situations in business to courtship to parenting to work.

I will be so bold as to suggest that the keys to success in life lie within the pages of Ariely's book. The keys to success in marketing and entrepreneurship are certainly there. By studying and internalizing the patterns of human behavior - and there really aren't too many patterns to memorize! - a person can do very well. (The moral issue arises when choices are made about how to use this information about human behavior: is it solely for personal gain (bad) or is there a broader, more benevolent impulse (good)? But this is a post in itself...)

One of my biggest take-aways from Predictably Irrational is this: In order to be remarkable, sometimes you have to do the opposite of what everyone around you is doing, even if it goes against the logical grain and puts you at social risk. In the end, each of us has to decide for ourselves what level of risk we are comfortable with relevant to the goals we have set for ourselves, and then act accordingly.

But last time I checked, anyone who is and was successful pushed past cultural norms and did not follow the path of least resistance. They instead did exactly the opposite.

Mary Lou Kayser is a leading online marketer and independent business owner. She coaches others how to create wealth-on-demand through elegant marketing systems, blogs, and video. To learn more about Mary Lou and how she can help you succeed online, visit her blog Mary Lou Kayser dot com. You can reach her directly at (503) 730-7786.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

IP is over the quota
IP is over the quota

In the 18th century there was one French philosopher genius, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It was Rousseau who provided Europe with slogans for return to nature during the times of the industrial revolution when everybody was excited about machines and the power of them. Rousseau argued for a shift from reliance on the head, (that is reason) to a shift to the heart and pure nature and the simple life. Rousseau called for the human beings that are genuine in a genuine world. He advocated and kindled a novel appreciation of natural beauty, wild life, forests, landscapes, mountains and valleys.

Natural life, argued Rousseau, is spiritually fulfilling, enchanting and cultivating people.

Rousseau found the dominant culture and philosophy of Europe too cruel and materialistic. His idea of happiness was sentimental, peacefulness, social and private. The dominant philosophy of Europe or the western tradition and civilization is that happiness is something you earn and deserve and conquer. According to western tradition there are no individual rights to happiness: you can only be happy if you are successful living in a luxury. Note the fact that to live in luxury you have to soldier through, beating people along the way (and sometimes making them slaves) brushing them aside and winning in life. Happiness and successes is something you deserve and earn according to the western tradition. You can only access happiness by becoming successful in life. In this way, people's lives are in state of war, fighting to achieve, planning, controlling, strategizing, and managing is the order of western way of living.

Rousseau is backed by one of the modern philosophers Robin Sharma. Robin Sharma in his book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari speaks about a gentleman lawyer who was probably the most successful lawyer on the planet earth. This lawyer at the age of 53, as he was arguing a high powered case in court had a heart attack and collapse right at the centre of the court. And what follows may be that he entered a near death experience and entered his life review. Life review is the process we enter into shortly before we die. In this process nature present us with a comprehensive review of our lives. The purpose is to see to ourselves as to whether we were good or evil while living here on earth.

At the end however this particular lawyer survived the heart attack and came back to life here on this planet called earth. But he becomes a completely changed person having had near death experience. He drop out from the law profession and gave away all his luxuries. He travels to India to live in the mountains of India far away from people and civilization. Living in the mountains in the forests of India where there is no technology or any so called advancements that comes with the western tradition. There this former lawyer mingles with people, who in the modern sense of the western civilization you can call savage and primitive and uncivilized, spending time communing with nature, walking in the woods a life completely opposite to the big life he lived in big cities as a prominent lawyer.

This former lawyer going beyond the appearances encounters people with impeccable wisdom, wisdom based on compassion, natural justice and goodness as opposed to western tradition wisdom of being strong willed and achieving happiness out there and becoming successful.

Also Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story called How Much Land Does a Man Need. The moral of the story in this short story is that at the end all the things we spend the best days of our lives chasing in the name of success really don't matter that much. All that we really need once our lives end does not amount to too much more than six feet dust and soil.

"Society has become a messy placed to be. We have neglected what it means to stand for something bigger than our lives and we have misplaced our priorities by focusing solely on ourselves to win rather than passionately helping everyone around us win as well in a gesture of kindness and encouragement." -Robin Sharma

Dr Chris Kanyane is a simple and friendly humanitarian historian from one of the dirt mud villages in Limpopo province of South Africa, where he grew up with no electricity, no plumbing and no shoes.

Chris Kanyane was awarded an academic excellence award for his penetrating History on Africa and Human Development.

Chris Kanyane has MBA degree from Management College of Southern Africa and PhD in History from Central Western University, Texas (US)

Dr Chris Kanyane has in association with Central Western University developed excellent easy to follow home study course on Africa and Human Development.

Interesting psychology books for all

Psychology is not an exact science, but the people are always interested in more information about it, people are always curious on how they behave, and various mental disorders, which can occur in humans. With respect to the activities of up to have been observed in several subjects of psychologists, but they will not be able to draw a clear conclusion of the observation. The human mind is still a mystery, and the flight of the two psychologists conduct more tests. If you are a student of the College, or simply someone interested in the field, you can expand your information through the reading psychology books. A large number of ways of how to direct human behaviour is dealt with in these books. Readers are explanations of how they use psychological approaches to get people to act in a certain way. Below are two books that are of the most interest to you:

Educational Psychology: developing learners (seventh edition), Jeanne Ormrod
This book is aimed at teachers who want to better understand their students. This is the best seller book, which is a popular, practical applications, and a thorough discussion of clear written to focus on learning. It also encourages teachers to examine their own learning process. In this case, the teachers in order to obtain a better understanding of the book and how they explain the concepts of the information. This book focuses on the core concepts, and educational psychology central ideas. Eventually, these concepts and ideas will help you better understand the children, as well as the young teacher.

Hey that makes this book stand out from the rest of the seamless transition from the theory. It also provides a number of concrete examples to help you get the complete information about the educational psychology, in particular children and classrooms.

A handy answer book in psychology, Lisa j. Cohen
Lisa j. Cohen, a clinical psychologist and researcher at the met is licensed in this interesting book. Most of the psychology books only tell the theories, but this book will help you understand the fun of science. Combined with the easily understood the content makes this book available for all readers to two experts in the field, the random. This book can help you find answers to everyday questions such as "what factors make a marriage last?" or "what are the interests of the parents?" In addition, this book features an 800-questions about psychology, also an overview of morality, psychology in everyday life, sex, and money. It is aimed at people who are interested in psychology and also serve a supplementary textbook.

Obtain the latest version of the discussion and evaluation of the educational psychology by checking the psychology books. You know what you can improve your understanding psychology field.