|
Prepare yourself for human weakness
Friday, 1 December 2006
Those who have unrealistic expectations of how the world operates are likely to be disappointed when their plans fail. This is a basic fact of life. Yet there is one area where many people seem to have unworkable hopes - their beliefs about what they can expect from their fellow humans.
We humans are amazing creatures. Just look at what we've achieved. Our ancestors were dropped naked in the dirt of this planet, and look around you to see what they've built out of that dirt. Yet we are all far from perfect. For every strength we have, we also have many weaknesses.
Most people have a strong lazy streak, for example. Other common weak traits are clumsiness, lack of knowledge, confusion, nervousness, selfishness, forgetfulness and anger. In most people, some of these characteristics are just part of their nature. To pretend otherwise is just wishful thinking.
A lot of people try to force others to behave in ways that are against their nature. They yell at people, nag them, write reminders for them, and insult them. Sometimes, these strategies work, but they take a lot of work and often have unintended consequences.
Much better is to prepare yourself for human weakness and work around it.
The classic example of this is the bullying boss. He sees that his staff are less than perfect, so he shouts at them. This may motivate them over the short term, but is also likely to lead to all sorts of passive aggressive behavior. Worse, he'll probably lose his best people.
Instead, he should create an environment that acknowledges and tries to minimize human weakness. Clear guidelines of what people's responsibilities are and what's expected of them should be made. Incentives should be introduced to encourage them to perform. Knowledge, patience and sharing should be widely available.
This type of approach is likely to create better results, as it works within people's natures, instead of pushing against them.
I saw another good example recently at a friend's house. She had a pane of stained glass made which she planned to put in one of her windows. Because she had trouble finding a suitable place to store it, she leaned it against a door that was rarely used.
Everyone who entered her house, she told "Don't open that door, there's a pane of glass leaning on the other side". She also put a note on the door, so everyone could see it.
Needless to say, within a few days, somebody opened the door and the pane broke, despite all her messages not to do so. She blamed the door-opener, but I believe she's probably more to blame. If you lean something against a door, it's inevitable that sooner or later somebody is going to open it. To pretend otherwise is just wishful thinking.
Many successful businesses use this theory.
McDonald's has a simple menu which is very similar the world over. They know people are easily confused, so they make the menu as standard and simple as they possibly can.
Google created a hugely complex search product, which uses all sorts of mathematical techniques and options to find web pages. How it all works would boggle the minds of most users, but Google doesn't make them even think about it. It provides a simple interface which anyone can learn to use in about one minute. Users require little knowledge and tend not to get confused.
Human weakness is a fact of life. We all know it's there, and what the most common examples of it are. If you make plans and use strategies that acknowledge this weakness, you are much more likely to be successful.
 | How to hook up with members of the opposite sex | | A man and a woman meet each other at a singles bar. He bowls her over with his conversation, she dazzles him with her beauty. Within moments, they fall in love. Three months later they're married. |  | Much of success is about knowing how to anticipate problems | | When I was in my teens, my friends and I were addicted to arcade games. This is a pretty typical obsession with boys. I spent lots of my pocket-money on such games and even managed to win some of them. |  | How to develop more sophisticated taste | | We live in an impatient world. Technology has given up unprecedented control over what we consume. If you don’t like what you’re watching on TV, there’s a hundred other channels just waiting for you to flick over to them. |  | Concentrate on the future | | We all have miserable events happen to us in life. Believe me, I’ve had my share too. | | Learn the skill of resilience | | I saw a very interesting TV documentary a couple of weeks back on the issue of happiness. It was asking what makes us happy and what makes happy people different from those who aren't. | | Six things likely to make you happier in the long-term | | I've previously looked at how to get a short-term "hit" of happiness. Now I'll explore the more important subject of long-term happiness. | | Work hard to give yourself lots of options and opportunities | | Always finish what you start, is an adage that many people try to follow. And it's a good one in a lot of ways. But it probably focusses too much on the importance of the entire process towards achieving a goal. Generally, it's the earlier part that's most important, in my view. | | Take some time to reflect on how astonishing it all is | | Sometimes we all feel as if we're living grey little lives. We want to be moving galaxies, but instead we're stuck in traffic, feeling ill, assigned boring tasks, or filling in tax returns. No wonder everyone feels a bit down every now and again. |  | The four measures of financial success | | If you want to do well financially, you must first understand what it is you have to achieve. It's not just a matter of making more money. Instead, there are four factors you must consider. | | Be aware of your competing desires | | Theodore Dalrymple is an interesting writer who often has keen insights into the emotional turbulence within us all. He's a doctor and psychiatrist who spent many years practising in a hospital and a prison in a deprived area of England. As he had to deal so much with those at the bottom of life's heap, he witnessed many of the tragedies that face us all at their most raw. |
New articles are being added all the time, so make sure you bookmark Paul's Tips and come back.
|
|