What Brexit Means?

Unexpected social change. Britain voted to Leave the European Union. The stock markets dropped and gold went up as investors react with fear to the surprise. I am among the many who never thought this vote would happen.

The British people will go through changes. But Brussels is shocked because they thought no one wanted to upset years without war. Doesn’t everyone want our leadership and rules? No one wants overreaching rules telling us how little we can do.

The leaders of the EU do not realize their advice and interference is holding economies back. Iceland and Ireland both ignored EU edicts to follow austerity rules and raise taxes. They reorganized and their economies have recovered fairly quickly. How well are Greece and Spain doing? France’s economy is struggling, and Italy & Portugal economies are a real mess following EU advice. Germany cannot pay for all EU’s issues.

What may happen next? Britain is going to have tough negotiations. The EU leadership will want to prevent other countries from leaving. Some members may want to be more reasonable because their countries may want to leave. Netherlands is likely to have a referendum next.

Most countries will find a way to trade with Britain. Why would you not want to trade with the 5^th largest economy? Already heard proposals Britain be invited to join NAFTA.

Will there be a recession? Of course, recessions are a normal part of the economic cycle. Will it be as bad as 2008 crisis? No.

Change is a constant in life. Accept it, adjust to change, and keep enjoying life. Children still grow up and we grow a little wiser. Keep your faith. Life goes on.

Get Your Satisfaction

Being Unsatisfied is our normal state. Actually it is a good thing we are not satisfied with the way our situation is. This motivates us to make changes for the better.

Something that doesn’t work motivates me to fix it or replace it. It is why we invent new tools and come up with new solutions. It is how the human race grows.

Still it is not easy. You don’t feel good. How do you stay motivated? How do you relax?

For example every job gets repetitive, boring, co-workers complain, something does not work, and life gets frustrating. What do you do? Find something about you job you like.

I worked for lock companies, which sounds boring after aerospace. What motivated me for years was the mission. We were protecting people and their businesses. Would dive deeper into problems, learn more and think of creative ways to improve our products and services.

My current position does not use all my skills. My position is in a bit of a silo. My motivation is helping mechanics by simplifying their instructions, removing obstacles and providing better tools to be productive.

Get comfortable with being a little uncomfortable. Try something new outside your strengths. Introduce yourself to strangers. Ask awkward questions. Go somewhere you aren’t sure you belong. See what is like and who you meet there.

Along the way you will grow.

  

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

This question is usually answered with a job or a wish. Fireman, Teacher, Nurse, or what someone in our family does. Truthfully we are so young we don’t know what it means.

One parent is looking to give up her Chairmanship. Her young son tells her he can take over. “I set up the chairs every week.” Different meanings are lost on us.

“In general we are least aware of what our minds do best.”

–      Professor Marvin Lee Minsky, MIT AI Lab

Professor Minsky studied intelligence and want to develop thinking machines to act like humans. The complexity of intelligence is our mind can learn several different ways. We observe, smell, interact, manipulate, taste, experiment, love and experience. All at the same time. Look at people interacting with their pets. How complicated are the behaviors of both human and pet?

Further our brains handles health functions like breathing, digesting and waste without much conscious thought. We pull back from hot, avoid predators, entertain others, and navigate around by distance, direction & landmarks in a complicated world. A Artificial Intelligence machine like that will require building lots different skills, and integrating them all to be like a human.

Often talents pop out and we wonder where did that come from? Why am I the only one who knew the answer? How come no one else understood him? Why didn’t they know what she meant? My favorite - “It was easy. Anyone could do it.”

We sometimes get mentors who recognize our talents and start to lead us. Often we muddle through and struggle what to do. You are far from alone. Often wonder what should be doing with these different gifts I have.

The hell of life is we are born for greatness. But we neither know why, or what our talents are. Finding out may take our whole life.

Happy hunting, and share what you learn.

Eating Like a Kid

I eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a minimum of peanut butter and ‘no such thing as too much jelly’. It is the way I like them, health benefits lost be dammed.

You might not think I am a kid being 6’ 3”, gray haired, glasses and well past 50. But that is how I chose to bring my daily lunch.

You wouldn’t know my choice from my sister likes triple peanut butter. She would have liked the way my wife who made them for me putting peanut butter on both sides, which I hated.

My dad loved open-faced peanut and butter sandwiches he grew up with in NJ. His open-faced sandwiches had a normal amount of peanut butter and jelly on one slice of bread.

The point you don’t know what any customer will want. Which peanut and butter mix are you going to offer? Typically we offer others what we like. Instead be prepared to adjust.

Understand your customer’s needs, desires, and fears as well as you can. Listen for complaints and idea. Offer great products and services.  Find customers who want what you do well.

To succeed, really LOVE your customers. Find people who want what you offer and take great care of them. Leads to much more success than being $.01 cheaper.