Next time you go for a walk, find a small round pebble that you can carry around with you always.
This pebble will be your good luck charm. It would bring you good luck as long as you carry it with you. In good times it would remind you to be grateful for your good luck. During bad times it will keep you aware that things could have been much worse, if not for your good luck.
The only condition is that you have to have complete faith in your good luck charm. If you doubt the power of your little pebble, it cannot work as your good luck charm.
Don't believe me?......Try it out. Get your good luck charm.
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Using your subconscious mind can substantially increase your productivity and your multitasking abilities.
We have two minds, the Conscious and the Subconscious. The conscious mind acts within our awareness. It works under instructions and/or approval from ‘Self’. The subconscious mind acts in the background. We become aware of its activities, if at all, only after the activity has been executed, hence it is spontaneous and fast. Our 'Self' does not interfere with the actions of the subconscious mind. There is no self doubt, no dilly dallying, and no instruction or approval delay.
We use our conscious mind for activities that we are not used to. With practice and experience, the sub-conscious mind can take over most activities. For a new driver, stopping the car requires him to consciously step on the brake pedal, look into the rear-view mirror and steer the car to a side. An experienced driver can stop the car, without consciously stepping on the pedal. His subconscious mind would take care of all the necessary steps. Similarly, if a writer is experienced at typing, his conscious mind can concentrate on the article, while the subconscious mind can do the typing.
You can increase your productivity and multitasking abilities dramatically by letting your subconscious mind take care of more and more activities. In addition to practice, it would also require conscious efforts to develop the confidence of leaving things to your subconscious mind.
The outcome of the game depends on the cards that got dealt to you, and the way you play your cards. It also depends on the cards that got dealt to others, and the way they play their cards.
You cannot do anything about the cards that got dealt to you or to others. You also cannot do anything about the way others play their cards. The only thing in your control is how you play your cards.
Playing your cards well is necessary if you want a positive outcome. But it is not a guarantee since others may be playing better. However, not playing your cards well almost guarantees a negative outcome, because at least some of the others would be playing their cards well.
[Prior Reading: The Concept of Groups]
The Stock Market is a perfect representation of group behaviour.
Millions of individuals (and Financial Institutions – run by individuals) participate in the buying and selling of stocks. Each individual takes a buy, sell or hold decision for each security based on his/her perception of the expected price movement. The actual price movement, in turn, depends on the sum total of the buy, sell, or hold decision taken by each individual. In a cyclic process the individual decisions are influenced by price movements, and the price movements are influenced by individual decisions.
Despite the Stock Market behaviour being a reflection of the consolidated individual behaviours, no individual or entity is able to consistently and correctly predict the price movement. People form perceptions on the price movement with all kind of analysis, but no one can be sure. There are heavy weight opinion leaders in the industry, e.g. large fund managers, historically successful investors, etc. They can influence the perception and behaviour of a large number of investors. Yet they are not able to predict or influence the actual price movement.
Sometimes positive sentiments create a self reinforcing cycle, often termed as the Bull Market. The prices of stocks keep on rising despite no major fundamental change. The Stock Market moves up. The investors feel that it would move up further, and hence they are willing to trade at higher prices. This in turn, further pushes up the stock market. The reverse is termed as the Bear Market, when the prices start falling without any fundamental change. This happens when the negative sentiments get triggered. The trigger may be something completely unrelated.
Despite all expertise, analysis and experience, the Stock Market behaves like an independent entity with a life of its own. Each and every individual influences the behaviour of the Stock Market, yet no single individual can understand, control or predict its behaviour.
Understanding the concept of groups is required to be able to appreciate the insights on group behaviour that I would be posting over the next few days. The insights on group behaviour are important because our behaviour is almost always masked by the perceived group behaviour.
Groups are a set of people with some common characteristics. A group can be as broad as "All Men on earth" or it may be much smaller such as "The Class of 1997, Harvard". Groups may be temporary, e.g "people on Times Square on 31st Dec 1999". Or they may be permanent, "All women born in the year 1985". All of us are part of many groups. We may be part of a group by choice (e.g friend circle, work group, club); by birth (religion, ethnic group); by situation (e.g. At Times Square on 31st Dec 1999); by force (e.g. passengers on board a hijacked flight); or by many other criteria.
Some groups are almost always dominant on us, e.g. family. Other groups are dominant for a brief period, e.g. the diners in a restaurant. At any given time our behaviour is heavily influenced by the groups that are dominant on us at that time. The behaviour of the group, in turn, is the sum total of the actions of each individual in the group. This is a self reinforcing cycle. On one hand it can lead a group to lay down their lives for a cause; and on the other, it can lead to violent mob behaviour that can shame mankind.
Confidence is the faith and respect that you have for your gut feel.
You make hundreds of conscious or subconscious choices every day. Many of these choices result from decisions. As discussed in an earlier post, a decision is choosing an alternative from logically similar alternatives, based on your gut feel. Each alternative is equally good or bad, intelligent or stupid, safe or risky.
You appear and feel confident when you support your gut feel and focus fully towards achieving the objective of your decisions. Your focus and commitment helps you achieve the objective, which in turn increase your faith in your gut feel, and hence increases your confidence. This is a positive confidence building cycle.
When you do not support your gut feel. You start doubting your decisions from the very beginning and attempt your objectives with fear, apprehension and concern. Your lack of support for your decisions often leads to failure which further reduces your faith in your gut feel, and hence decreases the confidence. This is a negative confidence destroying cycle.
To increase your confidence, start supporting your gut feel. Your gut feel cannot be wrong because the outcome of your decision depends more on the support and respect that you have for your decision, and less on the decision itself.
