Why does everyone keep calling the Madoff hedge fund the world’s largest ponzi scheme?  Have they never heard of social security?

In the fifth Carnegie session, we each gave two speeches.  The first was called an animation speech.  We incorporated demonstrative actions as we talked.  We were encouraged to animate and gesture as we explained how to do something.  The objective was two-fold: overcoming self-consciousness and speaking better by gesturing more.

The second speech was on some subject about which we felt strongly – something for which we have passion.  The point was to practice using our passion to persuade others.

One thing we learned is the power of silence.  That is, when a speaker pauses, everyone tends to sit up and listen carefully.  This is a technique I’ve since employed.

Carnegie Session 4

Carnegie Session 6

At the fourth Carnegie session, we learned several techniques for managing stress.  I won’t list them all, but some that stuck with me were:

• Keep busy
• Pray
• Don’t fuss about trifles
• Count your blessings

An important principle common throughout was the need to focus your attention and energy on those items which you can affect in a positive way.

We each made a two minute speech about how we have applied the Carnegie lessons so far.  For this speech, we applied the persuasion ‘magic formula’.  This consists of:

1. Beginning with a story that sets the scene – i.e. ‘There I was…’
2. Relating the situation to your audience’s – i.e. ‘If you will…’
3. Explaining the benefit – i.e. ‘The benefit will be…’

I found this formula helpful, and I expect to use it going forward.

Carnegie Session 3

Carnegie Session 5

In session three of the Dale Carnegie course, the focus was on enthusiasm.  We each identified something that is drudgery to us.  One by one, we explained why it’s drudgery, how we will be enthusiastic about it in the future, and what the task will be like after we apply enthusiasm.

We also did a mingling exercise where we made small talk with as many people as possible in a fixed length of time.  We applied some of the small talk techniques we learned in previous sessions.

Finally, we took turns presenting a professional award or achievement to the class.  We were encouraged to privately list and reflect on our past accomplishments.  This was intended as a self esteem building exercise.

Carnegie Session 2

Carnegie Session 4

Almost any worthwhile achievement requires sustained effort over a long period of time.  Building a business, winning a championship, developing a skill – all these goals require hard work for a long time.

I know of two attitudes useful for sustaining this level of effort: enthusiasm and discipline.  If you’re passionate about your goal, enthusiasm is natural.  It’s easier to put in the work because it doesn’t feel like work.  Think of someone who is world class in their field.  Odds are they love their work.  They put in more time and more effort because it’s fun.  These are the people you find skipping to work.

If your goal is something that doesn’t arouse enthusiasm then you have to muster discipline.  Many people lack enthusiasm for saving money or losing weight.  But they’re not doomed to small bank balances and big waist lines.  They can substitute discipline.

Unfortunately, for most people discipline is tough to sustain over time.  This is why every gym in America is packed in January and empty in March.  And the worst part is that for many people discipline runs out just as they’re on the verge of unleashing a third principle of sustained effort: habit.  If they could muster the discipline to stick with their diet or the gym or their budget just a little longer, they’d soon find they don’t need discipline at all.

I have two suggestions on this matter.  First, find ways to align the things you have to do (your job, chores, etc.) with the things you love.  To the degree that you align these, the ‘have to’ declines and the ‘love to’ takes over.  You’ll put in more time and effort and you’ll get better at it.  And if it’s something that helps others then you’ll earn more for your effort.

Second, if your discipline is running low don’t give up.  If you can keep at it just a while longer, you’ll forge a habit.  And once you’ve forged a habit, your discipline will be free to apply to some other goal.

Session 2 of the Dale Carnegie course focused on remembering.  Specifically, we learned techniques for remembering names and lists of items.

For remembering names, we learned to create mental scenes that sound like the name.  It’s important to make the scene vivid and ridiculous.  The more outrageous and animated, the easier it is to remember.  It’s also important to picture the person in the scene.  This way, the person’s face will call up the ridiculous scene that sounds like the name.

It’s best to make the scenes ridiculous and silly.  For example, if I met someone named Janice Madison, I might imagine her with her face bright yellow, screaming at her son.  I would think of jaundice and that she’s mad at her son.  Janice Madison would come to me quickly.

We also learned to use ‘peg’ words for remembering lists of items.  Each number in the list gets a silly image where you can place the item you want to remember.  For example, the seven image is an escalator rising to heaven.  Imagine the seventh item in the list tumbling down that escalator.  The four image is a revolving door.  Imagine your fourth item stuck in that door, holding up traffic.

I have to confess, I don’t employ these techniques myself.  I tried them, but I found that by the time I made up a scene, I could have the info written down.  My limited brainpower is too precious to spend on remembering stuff I can write.  I compensate by warning everybody I meet that I’ll forget their name.  Later when I do, I say, “I told you so.”  They always seem to take it well.

I also should admit I’ve seen impressive memory demonstrations where folks employing these techniques can remember dozens of items and names they’ve just encountered.  So give it a try; it may work better for you than me.

To close the session, we each gave a short speech about an important, defining moment in our lives.  Our instructor gave each of us some positive feedback.  The class voted on the outstanding performance, and the winner got a prize.

Carnegie Session 1

Carnegie Session 3

Molly and Coach Summitt

It’s my opinion that University of Tennessee Lady Vol basketball is the best sports program in the country.  I also believe that Coach Pat Summitt is the best coach in America.  I’m not a big Tennessee fan, but I am a fan of excellence, and Lady Vol basketball produces more of it than any other team in any sport.

Last December 1, Molly and I got to attend a Lady Vol practice.  This was one day before a big showdown with the North Carolina Lady Tar Heels – a very big game.  Naturally, I observed with the intent of learning what I could.  Below are some notes I made.

• They spent more time working on fundamentals – shooting, dribbling, blocking out – than on game planning.
• Everyone talked about nothing but basketball – before, during, and after practice.  Even just shooting around before practice, all the talk was who could sink this or that shot, who could guard whom, etc.  No school, fun, boys, money, family – nothing but basketball.
• Coach Summitt delegated almost everything.  The assistants ran the drills; Coach Summitt was an executive observer engaging only when needed.
• Drills were position specific.  Post players practiced one thing, guards another.
• Coach Summitt was very gracious.  She posed for pictures, signed autographs, etc.
• Assistant coaches were constantly correcting and instructing, but Coach Summitt seldom corrected anyone.  The only time she corrected anything was when it was a habitual problem.  If she saw someone repeating a mistake, she corrected it.
• All the coaches offered encouragement for performing well far more than they corrected mistakes.
• The mood was very relaxed.  This surprised me considering the magnitude of the next day’s game.
• Time was a consideration, but not as much as I expected.  They worked to the clock, but they weren’t restricted by it.  They scheduled 5 minutes for this, 15 minutes for that, but if Coach wanted something cut short or extended, she did.  The clock was a guide, not the boss.
• They scrimmaged against men.  I knew about this and was not surprised.
• The men used football dummies for defending the Lady Vols.  That was a surprise.

I always like to observe the best at work, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols are the best in their business.  Thanks to Coach Summitt and Lady Vol basketball for allowing us to observe.

I found this very instructive for understanding the motivation behind monetary inflation/contraction.  The sidebar especially enlightens the Keynesian notion that savers are the cause of unemployment – thus the incentive to save must be eliminated by inflation.

I believe the Austrian school would point out the flaw in this reasoning.  In this self contained babysitting example, there is no mechanism to invest saved coupons.  (You can loan them, but that’s just shuffling paper around.  Investing actually results in created value – like building a home.)  The Austrians hold that progress is the result of investing, and investing is possible because of saving.  If there was some mechanism for investing the coupons, the system would see progress (in this case, increased babysitting capacity).  Thus, saving is a good thing – not to be penalized.

This is a gross oversimplification.  Furthermore, I’m certainly no economist.  So somebody please tell me what I’m missing.  Have I misunderstood the Keynesians or the Austrians – or both?

Do you use Tortoise as your Subversion client? Does it complain about eol style every time you try to add a file to your repository?  I have a fix for you.

In your c:\documents and settings\[YourUsername]\Application Data\Subversion there should be a file named config.  Open it in a text editor.  There should be a section named [auto-props].  It’s probably toward the bottom.  In that section, add a line like this:

*.cs = svn:eol-style=native

where cs is your file extension.  You’ll want to do it for you file type (cpp, html, pas, h, whatever).  Save the file.  It should no longer hassle you about eol-style when adding files.  

Don’t do it for binary file types.  Also, understand why you shouldn’t.

This assumes a default installation.