0 Optimal Thinking

What is Optimal Thinking?

Optimal thinking is the process of making the best decision possible for the circumstance you are currently in. Often when we make decisions, it's decided in an instance, we don't generally spend half a minute or more debating with ourselves what we're going to do. As a result, we don't always make the right decisions, although for a lot of decisions it's a given what we should do. We have the power to either make an optimal decision or a suboptimal decision.
Making bad decisions is easily done, and I would go even to far as to say that we make at least


one bad decision every day. Let me explain what I mean by this before I carry on. When I'm discussing making a bad decision, I'm not only talking about decisions that have negative impact on us or others, but about good decisions as-well, to a certain extent. Now this may sound confusing, as surely a good decision is a good decision and not a bad decision. Well, this is both true and untrue. In general these decisions would be good, however when applying optimal thinking to ourselves, then they're not good. Optimal thinking is about making the best decision in your circumstance, not making a good one. So by making a good decision when there is a better one, now makes that first decision the wrong decision to go with, in turn making it a bad decision. Remember this is in the terms of optimal thinking. 


So when applying optimal thinking to our lives, you're really thinking as such: how can I make the best decision (x), to obtain the best possible outcome (y)? You may be thinking already that this is just common sense and that it's already something that applies to your life. But is it? Your first reaction will be yes as we all have some idea of what the outcome is going to be or how our decision will affect the outcome. 
This though, is when we confuse good decisions with the best decisions. Good decisions (which ironically are bad decisions) are things you can come to in an instance without too much effort put into it, the best decisions however, are not so easily thought of. I'm not saying that you can't make the best decision in an instance, but I am saying that it's easier to make that good decision in that time-frame rather than the best one. 
And whilst this may seem like an easy thing to do, you'll soon find with some decisions that it's not as easy as it first sounds. 

If you aren't a very decisive person though and are wanting to become more decisive so you can then better apply optimal thinking to yourself, then here's a previous post of mine: How to Become more Decisive.


What does optimal thinking apply to?

Optimal thinking isn't just something that pertains to decisions involving productivity or effectiveness around a task, but can apply to anything and everything. For example: interactions and communications with people, daily chores and jobs, career and work, life decisions etc.. 

Questions that should often be asked when trying to make an optimal decisions are; What is the best use of my time, what is the best thing I can say in response to this person, is there a better decision to make than the one that I'm about to make. There are more, but I'm sure that you get the idea to what optimal thinking involves and what it applies to.


Conclusion


The main point of optimal thinking is not to get you to spend more time thinking, but to get you to raise the bar in terms of decision-making. Yes raising the bar/standards will maybe cause you to take a longer time to make a decision, however it will be the best decision and so will be worth it, which is the overall purpose.

Detail: Optimal Thinking

0 8 Steps to Improve Teamwork Skills

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."

Helen Keller 

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

Andrew Carnegie

"The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side."

Margaret Carty 

Teamwork is a critical skill that you as a person will need to learn. Teamwork is a highly regarded ability by many people - especially by employers. 

If a person has good team working qualities it helps to build relationships with others. The funny thing is, some of these tips don't only have to be applied for when working in a team, but can also be used for when communicating with people on a day-to-day basis. 

Hope you enjoy. :)

1. Listening

Teamwork means working with others, so putting only your ideas forward and not listening to others, is not teamwork. You will need to take the time to listen to other people. Having other peoples input and not just your owns is important for making the best decisions, and for the team to respect each other. 

Other team-members may be able to spot flaws in your idea, which will mean improvements can be made. You can also discuss their ideas, looking at the pros and cons. Listening is an essential skill that you will HAVE to learn if you want to improve your teamwork skills.

2. Sharing

Whilst listening to other peoples thoughts and ideas is essential, if no one is willing to share their ideas with each other, the team wont get very far. 

People will have to be willing to share an idea, don't leave it to everybody else, make sure you have some input. It will not only give you more confidence within the team but can also help to encourage others to put forward their ideas. 

Don't hold back because you want the credit for yourself and you don't want others to steal the limelight, it's not the end of the world. Just be more laid back about it and care more about helping the team out, not just yourself.

3. Communication

For a team to work effectively and for team working skills to be made manifest, communication MUST take place, whether we like it or not. Not just communication, but effective communication. It's no good talking about the weather when you need to be dealing with the situation at hand, although it's good you have the confidence to talk. :)

Teams come up against problems and obstacles, but without effective communication how will a team overcome these? - it simply can't. So try to communicate. 

If you have trouble communicating effectively, then maybe you should read a previous post of mine: 12 ways to develop communication skills.

4. Don't let sore relationships affect your input

When working with others, it's not uncommon for people to not get along with each other. Maybe something outside of the team has happened between these people, maybe you just don't get along, however, don't let this put a downer on your input team. 

When you let sore relationships get in the way of making the correct decisions, or you refuse to help the team because of this, you're only hurting the team. Not only that but people will lose respect for you if you can't be mature enough to put it behind you.

Biased decisions can be made and mistakes which could have been avoided are instead, driven straight into. If you want, you can read a previous post of mine: How to make an unbiased decision.

5. Willingness to accept

A good team member will be able to have all of the other qualities on this list, as-well as having the willingness to accept team decisions and roads of development. 

It can be very easy to not run with an idea that was chosen over yours, but having the ability to do so will allow the group to make better progress. Believe it or not, it's also good for keeping team morale up, as things run a lot smoother when all team members are willing to accept and participate in an idea 100%. 

It's no good to have somebody on a team who hinders rather than helps.

6. Support

A good team that works together shouldn't just be a group of individuals working together, but should in a sense form an individual as a whole, made from all of the individual team members. 

Different individuals of the team will have different personalities and characteristics, meaning different levels of encouragement and support will be needed. Being able to recognise when somebody needs encouragement or support is a skill that will come over time, but is great for team morale. It also allows you to become closer to that person or people, showing that you care what is happening to them, further tightening the team together.  

7. Patience

As discussed in previous points, working in a team will require you to work with different individuals. Different individuals will have different personalities, some will be loud and boisterous, others will be quiet and timid. As a member of a team, patience will be needed on your behalf. If you were to lose your patience and become angry at other team members, that could affect team relationships and make it awkward for the group as a whole. 

Patience will be needed for working with everybody; it takes time for a group to find its footing and can take even longer for a team to work and gel together nicely.

8. Hard work

It's great if a team can listen to one another, it's great if a team can share ideas with each other, it's great if a team can communicate effectively, but without hard work - what's the point. 

Hard work is where the ideas presented are put into practice and are tackled head-on. Hard work is great for getting a team to gel together and great for encouraging other team members to do the same. 

I have written an earlier blog post about the benefits of hard work for you to read, if you're interested that is. :)

Detail: 8 Steps to Improve Teamwork Skills

0 The Logic of Logic

We are always using logic in our daily lives, from small to big tasks. Although we still make mistakes, a bit more time spent thinking would allow us to get a better end result.

What Exactly is Logic?

Logic itself can be tricky to define completely, but it is derived from the Greek word 'logos', which is translated as "sentence", "discourse", "reason", "rule", and "ratio". These translations in themselves are still not enough to help us understand what logic is.

A general way of defining the term logic could be to say it is the study of critical thinking and reasoning.

Logic isn't just reasoning, but about how you reason. It's no good trying to reason with yourself that something is good when it's not, having the skill to reason effectively and honestly is part of logic as well.

Using logic to back up your point is good, but only using logic to try and back up your point isn't. Having the ability to look at a situation from multiple angles is when you're getting somewhere in terms of logic.

Why Should we Apply it to Ourselves?

As a system of critical reasoning, logic is a principle that can pertain to all things and is essential for our lives. Reasoning can be good or not so good, logic can help to tell what it is.

Logic is something that we should all apply to our lives, so many misunderstandings, mistakes, and embarrassments can be avoided.

Detail: The Logic of Logic