DEV3L on The Personal MBA 3
Tags: humanmind, workyourself, workothers
Published: 2018-04-01 03:51:27

---
title: DEV3L on The Personal MBA 3
published: true
description: My notes taken while listening to The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman part three.
tags: human mind, work yourself, work others
---
## Table of Contents

1. [Part 1](https://dev.to/dev3l/dev3l-on-the-personal-mba-pt-1n-b2n) : 
(Introduction) (Marketing)
2. [Part 2](https://dev.to/dev3l/dev3l-on-the-personal-mba-pt-2-37da) : 
(Sales) (Delivery) (Finance)
3. Part 3
 - [Human Mind](#Human Mind)
 - [Working With Yourself](#Working With Yourself)
 - [Working With Others](#Working With Others)
4. [Part 4](https://dev.to/dev3l/dev3l-on-the-personal-mba-4-53ie) : 
(Understanding) (Analyzing) (Improving Systems)

<a name="Human Mind"></a>

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# Human Mind

Caveman syndrome, we are all running new software on ancient hardware. Understanding biology and physiology will help you understand how to position your offerings better.

Taking care of yourself should be your primary concern, if you want to get important things done. Our brains and bodies are a physical system that require resources to run effectively. Your consciousness is what your brain uses to solve problems that it can't handle auto planet.

### The Onion Brain Theory
At the base of the brain is the *hindbrain*, aka the **lizard brain**. Your *mid brain* is responsible for processing sensory data motion and memory and pattern matching. The midbrain is your radio announcer, hindbrain is the radio. The *forebrain* is what makes us distinctly human. It contains self-awareness logic, inhibition, decision making.

A simple analogy is that you are the rider, and your brain is the horse. The horse is intelligent, stinks, and can do most the work, but you are there to reassure it when it is unsafe. You help guide in the right direction.

**A few moments of quiet meditation each day can help you separate you from the voice that is the midbrain, which increases focus and problem-solving capabilities.**

Perceptual control is the act of which you try to understand why people do what they do. As opposed to, traditional carrots and sticks, behavior control, BF Skinner. For example, paying people for over time may not incentivize everybody. Some individuals may be adequately happy with the amount of income they take home, thus not feel the need to work any extra.

People only start to expend effort if the reference levels are violated some way. When you discover someone doing something otherwise impossible, it changes your reference levels. Think five minute mile, prior to being broken, it was believed to be physiologically impossible, post record-breaking, many instances happened shortly thereafter. **All you need to know is that something you want is possible, then you will find a way to get it.**

Change the structure of your environment, and you'll be amazed at how drastically you behavioral change a response. For example, sterile cockpit rule, Pilots are not allowed to discuss anything outside of flying below 10,000 ft, since this is where majority of accidents happen

Reorganization is the neurological basis for learning. Our minds are learning machines that associate specific causes with specific effects. When you're feeling lost, take heart, it is just your brain gathering information that it needs to make good decisions.

One of the most interesting things about the brain is its ability to recognize and learn patterns, think Pavlov's dogs. Unintentionally, the dogs began to salivate when they were triggered by the reference control, a ringing bell. You can think of memory as the database of patterns learned in the past. Recalls are optimized for speed, not accuracy.

Mental stimulation is our brains ability to mentally stimulate an action and then imagine the result before acting. In order to consciously harness mental simulation, you must create a destination. No destination no simulation. Memory is fundamentally impermanent, every time we we call something it is saved in the new location with a twist. All reads are writes.

Reinterpret your past and you will enhance the ability to make great things happen in the present. Was that failure moment in your life a devastating tragedy, or the your largest learning opportunity?

Inhibition is the ability to temporary override or natural inclinations. Will power is the fuel of inhibition. Our reserves of willpower are limited, and become depleted with use. In order to reserve will power for what we truly wish to do, create environments in which willpower is not depleted as easily. Think, if I want to go on a diet, don't keep ice cream in the freezer.

Loss aversion is the idea that people don't like to lose things as much as they like to receive things. Think, bank error in your favor, but you have to give it back. People respond twice as strongly to potential loss as they do the opportunity of an equivalent gain. Use loss aversion to your advantage by offering money-back guarantees and satisfaction guaranteed. People hate to feel like they're stupid or spent their money on the wrong thing.

As long as you are in protection mode (fight, flee, or freeze), it is hard to focus on anything else. Think, noise in the middle of the night. When you're feeling overwhelmed, stress / fear lockdown, physiological means are the best way to get back into a state of good. For example go running, meditate, or get some sleep to help alter stress levels naturally.

Cognitive scope limitation, no one individual no matter how smart can maintain everything in their brain all at once. Dunbar's number states that humans have the cognitive ability to keep somewhere around a hundred fifty personal relationships. Beyond this limited circle, we start treating people less like individuals and more like objects.

Use the newspaper rule to evaluate the impact of a decision. Imagine the decision you make is about to be published on the front page of a newspaper and all your loved ones are about to read it, would you be proud to sit in front of that headline with them present. The grandchild rule is a way to evaluate long-term decisions, imagine thirty years from now your grandchildren give you feedback about a decision you're about to make, how would that look?

Association, our brains are pattern matching machines therefore we associate unrelated objects instinctively. Think Tiger Woods golf clubs, does using the same golf clubs as Tiger Woods mean you'll be a better golfer? Leverage association to your advantage when marketing a product.

Absence blindness, curious fact about human beings, we have a really hard time considering something that is not there. Experience can help thwart absence blindness. Check lists are another way to help the word absence blindness.

Our perceptual faculties are optimized to notice contrast. Camouflage is an example of contrast at use. In the business world, contrast can be used to influence purchase decisions. Think, one expensive suit on display for $4,000 while average suits you sell only cost a couple hundred. Even if a couple hundred dollars was an unreasonable price, compared to the $4,000 it feels like a steal.

In a study of focus, a scientist by the name of Maxwell found, using radar operators as test subjects, that the maximum amount of intense focus for an individual is about 30 minutes. **Pomodoro Technique!**

Novelty, the presence of new sensory data, is critical if you want to attract and maintain attention over a long period of time. Continue to offer something new, and people will pay attention to what you have to offer.

<a name="Working With Yourself"></a>

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# Working With Yourself

akrasia one of the most widespread and persistent barriers to getting things done. It is similar and procrastination, but different in that the individual has no true intention of completing the task. When we procrastinate, at least we intend to do the task at hand maybe at a later date

Four General Parts, a task, a desire or want, assured and an emotional resistance
Whenever you should do something, but resist doing it you are experiencing akrasia

Mono ideal State, AKA flow
Pomodoro Technique to enter a state of flow and reduce distractions
It makes it easy to get started and ignore distractions, a Pomodoro is indivisible
10 minutes of meditation everyday can't romantically improve your cognitive Focus
Cognitive switching penalty is a friction cost that occurs when moving between task, multitasking is the opposite of mono ideal
Used task list and specific goals to achieve objectives - think SMART
It's perfectly okay to change your goals

Habits are regular actions that support us
Do to the power accumulation, smaller habits can add up to Big results over a period of time
For best results, focus on the installing one habit at a time

Collect just enough information to make it a informed decision, then follow through with the choice. Not making a decision is a decision
Use 5 whys 2 help uncover your feelings when making choices between difficult options
Discover the root causes of why you want to achieve your goals, then you'll discover new ways to get what you actually want
5 hows will help you go from your big idea to things you can do right now

Focus on completing the next action, then you'll eventually complete the entire project
Externalization is the process of receiving input from outside our brain as opposed to inside a brain. Two forms of externalization are drawing and speaking, think rubber ducky

Counterfactual simulations, what if questions, allow you to access your brains simulation mechanisms, applied imagination
When running a counterfactual simulation, you assume the event or feature is already true
Parkinson's law, work expands to fill the duration
Can be used in conjunction with counterfactual simulations 2 extrapolate ideas. For example, instead of two weeks what would it take to do this test today
Run Doomsday counterfactual simulations 2 help quell your fears, Austin our brains interpret failure as death, thank caveman brain

The more incompetent a person is, the less they realize they're incompetent
Dunning-Kruger effect - incompetent and don't know it, too incompetent and know it, to conscious competence

One of the best ways to prove you're right, is to actively look for information that proves you wrong
Confirmation bias is the general tendency for individuals to seek out information that proves their biases and ignore information that doesn't
Performance load, AKA wip, at a certain point of capacity, performance begins to decrease

Like all biological systems, humans need to rest in order to recover. Downtime for appropriate breaks is not wasted time, mental hygiene
You are not a machine, humans need rest relaxation and play to achieve Optimal Performance during work time

Experiment with creating a personal R&D budget. Financial advisors wood consider this a waste, learn new skills mean new opportunities, and New Opportunities typically lead to higher sources of income
Fixed and growth mindsets. Fixed mindset is the belief that we were born with our innate abilities. Growth mindset believes our abilities or skills that can increase and strengthen with practice and time
Fixed mindset is not true, but it is capable of holding you back if you believe it
Limiting beliefs can hinder your potential. Any time you find yourself saying I can't, I'm not able to, or I'm not good at, you are creating a limiting belief in your mind. When this occurs objectively stand back and ask yourself why can't you could you or won't you.
Viewing your mind is a muscle is the best way to help it grow

<a name="Working With Others"></a>

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# Working with Others

All human relationships are built upon power, the ability to influence the actions of other people
Influence vs compulsion
Bossing people around only serves to make them dislike you
With great power comes great responsibility
Use the concept of comparative advantage to your benefit. It is hard to be good at everything needed to sustain a business, leverage your unique skills the skills of those around you

Communication overhead is the amount of time spent communicating cross team verse getting work done. There's a reason why to Pizza teens at Google, Navy Seals, and other highly specialized groups tend to be small - communication grows geometrically

8 symptoms of bureaucratic breakdown
The invisible decision, no one knows how and where decisions are made and there is no transparency in the decision-making process
Unfinished business, too many tasks are started but very few are carried to the end
Coordination paralysis, nothing can be be done without checking with the host of interconnected units
Nothing new, there are no radical ideas inventions or lateral thinking
Pseudo problems, minor issues become magnified out of all proportion
Embttled Center, the center battles for consistency and control against local and Regional units
Negative deadlines, the deadlines for work become more important than the quality of work being done
Input domination, individuals react two inputs as opposed to using their own initiative
- if any of these cases describes your team we're work situation, you're probably suffering from communication overhead
Removing unnecessary people from the team will save everyone's time and produce better results

Being the complete attention of someone's focus is rare nowadays and creates a unique memory for the individual- cultivating a genuine interest with people goes a long way, the more important you make people feel when they are around you the more they will like him want to be around you

Effective communication can only occur when both parties feel safe, modern agile first principle, make safety a prerequisite

Crucial conversations, State model
Share your facts
Tell your story, explain your situation from your point of view
Ask for others past, ask for the other person side of the situation
Talk tentatively, avoid conclusions judgments in ultimatums
Encourage testing, make suggestions ask for input

Treating people poorly, even if it's not the correct individual you wish to influence, sends a signal to everyone that you cannot be trusted
Appreciation, courtesy, respect

People will be more receptive to any requests if you give them a reason why, even that why is silly
Favor commander's intent over micromanagement, for example when you ask somebody to get something done explain to them why and any accountability or responsibility expectations

You are the average of The Five People You spend the most time with on a daily basis
If your Social Circle isn't supporting your goals, change your Social Circle
Social proofs, and authority figures are highly influential on an individual's Behavior. Social proof, think waiting for a stop light to change and one individual goes then everyone else goes. Authority figures, science experiment where people were shocking individuals with a figure in a lab coat telling them to proceed

Modal bias is when an individual believes their point of view is absolutely correct. In order to avoid hippo, make decisions based upon evidence or facts
Being aware of cognitive biases is valuable, everyone is subject to modal biases oh, and it actively takes will power to fight it

People tend to perform to the levels you expect them to, the Pygmalion effect. 
Let others know you expect great work for them, and they will do their best to live up to those expectations

Focus on options and not issues and you'll be able to handle any situation like those that you

Six principles of effective real world management
Recruit the small group of people for which the job can get done quickly with high quality
Clearly communicate the desired end result, everyone on the team must know the commander's intent of the project
Treat people with respect
Create an environment where everyone can be as productive as possible, then let people do their work
Refrain from having unrealistic expectations in regards to certainty and predictability
Measure to see what you're doing is working

The management team isn't a decision-making team, it's a support function

## [Part 4](https://dev.to/dev3l/dev3l-on-the-personal-mba-4-53ie)