Strategy, Technology, and Teaching?

The game of chess is a strategic two-person board game. A game in which you maneuver against your opponent by cornering them into a position in which they ultimately have to surrender.

If you are looking to understand how to better play chess, or where it was originated then I suggest you go to google. The purpose of this post is to show you a new perspective about teaching. Now you are probably wondering what does chess have to do with teaching?

Let's try this, I suppose chess can be used metaphorically to describe teaching. The person who wins lays out a foundation for the person who loses to learn and understand how to play the game better. Okay that was a weak attempt, now let's dive into the post.

My Grandfather was an avid chess player. He would play everyday without fail against his neighbour.

"When you do something repeatedly everyday it doesn't make you better. Doing something everyday that's challenging you does."

I want to stop here and examine this fact. Playing against someone of the same level as you will not make you any better. Playing against someone weaker than you will make you worse, and playing against someone better than you will make you better.

Studies have proven this and I will write a new post about the level of which you want to be competing against.

Let's continue, playing chess against my grandfather was something I did not look forward to, and that's strange because naturally I love competing.  I don't see the point in any game unless there can be a loser or a winner. Fuck the playing for fun crap.

I was young, it was in my childhood days, and from what I remember I did not like the game itself. Not because it was challenging, okay maybe a little bit because of this, but also because I had no patience in sitting and playing the game.

Some children amazingly have the patience to sit there and play. Beating your opponent in anything is a rush on it's own. Tactically mastering your way to defeating the other person, who wouldn't like it? It makes you feel smarter and you accomplish it all by yourself.

Moving on, my grandfather was a great chess player, and I sucked at it. When I would make a move he would give me this funny look. It was a look of confusion followed by disgust. He would always beat me. I would get so frustrated but, worse of all I felt I was not learning how to play better each time.

My moves as he would call them were "irresponsible" he would tell me what I did wrong and sometimes he would correct me and tell me what I should do. But, I never excelled, or at least that's what I thought.

Was my grandfather a good teacher or a bad teacher or somewhere in between? How do you define what a good teacher is? Does everyone have there own definition of what a good teacher is? Could a teacher be considered good to one student and not good to another?

If you enjoyed the first part of this post I gurantee you will enjoy the rest
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Would your behaviour change being in front of the public?

Would you act differently? Say things you wouldn't normally say? Would you be more or less reserved?

I know I have been doing a lot of business-related post so today we're going to change it up, we will examine human behavior. I suppose it is interrelated to business isn't it? If you don't know the answer by now let me answer that for you, of course it is.

I find human behavior fascinating especially when you start to really understand it better.

Being curious about how things work and dissecting them into removable parts brings out creativity, at least it does with me. To be curious all you have to do is deploy a set of questions to see how things can be different than they already are.

Why are things the way they are?

How can things be better? 

What would it look like if it was the opposite?

Today's topic is "would we act differently in the public eye? In front of the camera or on radio? At a party?" The answer to the series of questions in my opinion for the 99% of us is yes.

There is a minority of people whose personalities do not change on or off camera. However, we are very much like chameleons and we tend to rub off even when we don't realize it, on other people and vise versa.

What do I mean? Do you ever notice when you are watching a lot of T.V. or spend the day with someone you tend to use some of the lingo of which you normally do not find yourself using?

The question should probably be "how would we act differently if we were in the public eye?".

Why do we act differently? Do we worry about who we actually are? Do we have to hide our flaws? Why not embrace them?

"What makes us vulnerable is what makes us human."

People can relate to vulnerability of course. Your flaws provide a connectivity to people who share similar flaws as you. Does this mean we cannot relate to Artificial Intelligence? Will save this topic for another time, let's keep going.

Do you have nothing to be proud of? Do you feel ashamed and self-conscious because you are not as good as the person whose doing similar things to you? Well sure, this is what makes you human.

Recognizing that you have flaws and so does everyone else around you will raise your self-esteem. Did I say this was going to be easy work? Certainly easier said than done.

You should be proud that you made it to this day, and to this very moment. Give yourself credit for the talent or skill that you have cultivated, if it's beating someone over a game on your Xbox (master strategist), or writing an SAT exam and graduating from high school (academic achiever).

You have accomplished milestones even if you do not think so. Self-awareness I believe is key to conquering your self doubts.

It is great to challenge yourself and always look towards achieving something greater. What I am asking is for you to honor all the small wins along the way. because those will create a momentum for you to keep achieving.

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." Nathaniel Branden

Momentum is important especially to keep yourself out of a potential and deadly rut. No, life is not all peaches, and there will be some depressing moments.

If you want to read the end of this post and get some actionable takeaways go to Karasingroup.com

How does scarcity create more value?

I had an epiphany today. I was jogging, it was a weird day. Sunny and hot yet, the rain was coming down. It was refreshing. While I jog I listen to audiobooks. It helps to distract me from the actual jog.

Why do I need a distraction from jogging? Because it isn't something I look forward to doing, same with exercise. As good as it is for you, it is hard work and the results are not immediate. So consistency becomes necessary, and because the results are not immediate it is that much harder to get motivated to do.

This isn't what the epiphany was about although, it will tie in at the end of this post. I was listening to Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath and something clicked that I wanted to share with you. I feel when you nail this piece of information you will understand how to produce results.

I have written about understanding people, their behaviours and actions, and that people are emotional rather than logical buyers.

Well the puzzle came together for me after I have written my last post and during my jog listening to Decisive the following day.

Running a business is hard work especially when you are just starting out. You have a product or service you want to sell but no one is buying it. So you start dropping the value of what it is worth so it sells, and you start listening to people who want to see you succeed yet they have no clue what it takes to make your business profitable.

Helpful Advice is only given to you when you ask for it, unless it is unsolicited advice of which almost every time you have no use for. Try A and you will get B or do it this way because it works for me.

This advice seldom works. Understanding that your clients are people is the first thing you need to do.

They are human just like you and I. Next understand that these same people buy on impulse. When you get them excited about something they want to buy it that much more. Their logical self however, will stop them form making the purchase.

So how do you remove them from their logical self? By applying the scarcity principle. Why does the scarcity principle work? Because it doesn't allow people to distance themselves from making the decision based on their emotion.

"You want people to buy with emotion because emotion sells."

How do you apply the scarcity principle? First by getting the person excited about the purchase. Validating what they may be contemplating. Without the first part this second part will not work.

Next let the person know that there is limited time left on the purchase since someone else is interested in buying it and there will not be any left of that same product if they don't buy NOW. In terms of service apply a limited time promotion that must be purchased NOW.

When people hear that there is no time left and they need to make the purchase now you figure out who is serious about making the purchase and secondly when people do buy it creates a social acceptance for the next person.

"This is the last person that bought this, and here is what they said about it." When people hear this it makes them more comfortable that someone else went first. This further increases your chances to make the sale.

You find out if what your selling is something that people want, if that something is of any value to the person buying it. The problem is that most times people buy things that are of no value to them at the time.

Your approach to the sale is the most important. Anyone can sell anything, its how you do it that will increase your chances of making the sale happen.

I have learned this before but clearly it went straight in one ear and out the other. Now that I am teaching you this I feel it will stick with me from now on.

The best way to learn is by teaching.

So there you have it. Understanding that people buy based on their emotions. Another thing I should mention, and I learned this in Dan and Chip's book. What happens throughout the day will affect people's buying mood.

If the person had a shitty day it will be much harder to convince them to buy whatever it is your selling.

The best advice I can offer you is to get to know the person who is shopping for your product or service. Understand their needs and create value for them by doing what you think is best for them. "Always put the customer first."

Right now I am enjoying a quick relaxing getaway in the beautiful wine country of B.C. Even though I am not a drinker it is still a beautiful sight with beautiful people. You to deserve a break, so take a little time to relax but not to long because the hustle will be waiting for you.

Thank you for reading this post. To be continued....

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