Al Gray

Category Archives: Thinking

Reason

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A friend sent me the BB&T Philosopy Statement and I ran across some interesting comments on thinking in a section named “Reason”…

 Clear thinking is not automatic. It requires intellectual discipline and begins with sound premises based on observed facts. You must be able to draw general conclusions in a rational manner from specific examples (induction) and be able to apply general principles to the solution of specific problems (deduction). You must be able to think in an integrated way, thereby avoiding logical contradictions. We cannot all be geniuses, but each of us can develop the mental habits which ensure that when making decisions we carefully examine the facts and think logically without contradiction in deriving a conclusion. We must learn to think in terms of what is essential, i.e., about what is important. Our goal is to objectively make the best decision to accomplish our purpose. Rational thinking is a learned skill which requires mental focus and a fundamental commitment to consistently improving the clarity of our mental processes.

Approaching your work like an Olympic event

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Today I visited BAM Nuttall in Camberley, UK and, while waiting for the meeting attendees to gather, happened to pickup a copy of their newsletter “Engineering Matters”.

In it I found an introduction from Paul Emms Director, Engineering that spoke to me. Here’s an exerpt:

“As spring moves into summer many of you are looking forward to the 2012 Olympics. I found myself thinking about how an athlete prepares for such an event – how do become the best?

Athletes analyse what they do, identify small improvements, analyse again and so on, always focusing on improvement. There may be no big innovative idea but there is a 100% commitment to improve what they do.”

Paul goes on to use this as an analogy as to how we ought to look for small improvements that we can make in our work, put them into practice then DO LOOP. I think this is a good way to approach, and admit that I sometimes set lofty goals (Win the gold!) without defining practical incremental steps. The result is akin to a track star thinking that they can step on the track and make one herculian effort without preparing and working up to it. Paul is on to something I think.

Travel = Life?

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For some of us, travel is a significant part of our job. And it’s not uncommon for people around us to ask questions like, “How can you do that?”, How do you maintain relationships when you travel so much? Don’t you hate it?”.

And many that spend their life on the road don’t have a great answer for those questions and, in some cases,even feel a little bit guilty as to why we don’t “hate” travel since it’s perceived as taking something away from our lives. Don’t get me wrong…poorly managed, travel can have a negative impact on the traveler’s life.

But I also find the following sentiment refreshing…

“Travel is at its most reqarding when it ceases to be about reaching your destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life.” – Paul Theroux