# Social Category > General Chat Forum >  Observation

## pmbguy

A few years ago I watched a documentary about human behaviour, memory and attention 
In the documentary a group of about 30 observers are asked to count exactly how many times a basketball is passed between 5 or so basket ball players. The observers are viewing the activity from the bleachers. 
After about 30sec of passing the ball it is put down and the observers had to note how many times the ball was passed. They are also asked whether they recall anything strange occurring at all.
They averaged well in counting the passes.
Very few said they saw anything strange, of those who did only 1 or 2 had correctly recalled the strange occurrence.

The strange occurrence was a man in a Yeti suit running around the basketball court between the players! ........  And almost nobody saw it!  

When the observers were shown the video of what actually happened they were shocked!

It shows us how limited our ability for observation really is. If we were consciously aware of how little we are aware of, we would struggle to function.

Sometimes when I think I cant work through a problem and I cant see the answer, I think of this documentary. It reminds me that there are infinitely more aspects I am not currently observing even though they are right in front of me.

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## Dave A

I recall seeing the video and the story somewhere.

It's the downside of focus. If the observers hadn't been so focused on counting the passes, there's no doubt most, if not all, would have noticed the guy in the Yeti suit.

Something else to consider, especially if you've watched much of Derren Brown's stuff - the subliminal mind probably *did* notice.

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## pmbguy

I am fascinated by the human mind...
How focus can sometimes blinker. 
The other pole is over absorption. Great ideas but not focussed on one for long

I find the method of compartmentalisation very affective for dealing with focus-distraction and memory. I try build specific and general compartments or boxes in my mind, into which I place different and random content, anything. It makes archiving easier and clearer......I am not crazy :Stick Out Tongue: .

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## adrianh

How do you do it mentally? My short term memory is absolutely terrible and I find that I am often unable to access my memory. I would get stuck mid sentence waiting for a word, name or concept (sometimes they come and sometimes they don't). Or I would think about a recent event, like having lunch, and honestly not know whether I had lunch or not.  It just seems that if  I do not make an absolute point of trying to retain an event at the time that it occurs that it gets flushed out of short term memory into the bin. Yet I am able to remember to oddest most complex details of things that capture my imagination. I catch myself wondering what colour underwear I have on and I honestly don't know though I did see the colour a couple of times today. I'll say this much, I would never trust my own testimony in court because I simply cannot say for sure that I trust my own memory.

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## HR Solutions

Yes it is fascinating.  I have the same short term memory loss.  Sometimes I can get off the phone and 5 minutes later I cant for the life of me remember who I spoke to. Perhaps its an age thing.  :Wink:

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## wynn

Thanks, I just remembered to make an important call.

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## adrianh

Some of us came fitted with 1Mb of static sensitive RAM and a 8 bit data bus with a loose plug! unlike most who have 1Gb ofram and a 16bit bus. Then of course there are those who have 16Gb of ram and a 32bit bus. And then there are the heavyweights likee my brother who came fitted with 20Tbyte of ram and a 256bit wide data bus....

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## HR Solutions

lol ... and then there are those that came equiped with 16Gb ram that is faulty  :Smile:

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## adrianh

True, a young know it all that can recite the entire MBA manual and doesn't quite know what to do with the information comes to mind....

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## pmbguy

> How do you do it mentally? My short term memory is absolutely terrible and I find that I am often unable to access my memory. I would get stuck mid sentence waiting for a word, name or concept (sometimes they come and sometimes they don't). Or I would think about a recent event, like having lunch, and honestly not know whether I had lunch or not.  It just seems that if  I do not make an absolute point of trying to retain an event at the time that it occurs that it gets flushed out of short term memory into the bin. Yet I am able to remember to oddest most complex details of things that capture my imagination. I catch myself wondering what colour underwear I have on and I honestly don't know though I did see the colour a couple of times today. I'll say this much, I would never trust my own testimony in court because I simply cannot say for sure that I trust my own memory.


My memory is reasonably good, but my wife would not agree.

What I do with compartmentalisation is mostly.....method of loci

The Method of Loci (plural of Latin locus for place or location), also called the memory palace, is a mnemonic device introduced in ancient Roman and Greek rhetorical treatises (in the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero's De Oratore, and Quintilian's Institutio oratoria). *The items to be remembered in this mnemonic system are mentally associated with specific physical locations*.[1] It relies on memorized spatial relationships to establish, order and recollect memorial content. The term is most often found in specialised works on psychology, neurobiology and memory, though it was used in the same general way at least as early as the first half of the nineteenth century in works on rhetoric, logic and philosophy.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci

The net is also full of all sorts of memory games... research shows it works. It may sound like work or boring, and it is in the beginning, but after a while it can get fun (15min a day). 

http://www.mindgames.com/memory-games.php

This will improve your memory from day one, for work and life.  

My default memory is selective. I use as many visible representations of work paraphernalia as practical to overcome this. I try building visual systems on a big white board, diary, A4 on the wall etc. and in my mind.

I have just been reminded of something I don’t want to forget...

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## Dave A

All that talk of RAM had me giggling a bit - as it stands for Random Access Memory (which seemed fitting somehow  :Stick Out Tongue:  )

But a little research on RAM acronyms yielded this snippet too:




> Read And Modify (original meaning when referring to computer memory)


Also fairly appropriate, come to think of it!

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## Mike C

I think that Adrian makes an important point here.  




> if I do not make an absolute point of trying to retain an event at the time that it occurs that it gets flushed


I remember a teacher at school (many years ago) who, when the scholar would say "I forgot!" would respond with ... "You have to remember first before you can forget."

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## pmbguy

> - the subliminal mind probably *did* notice.


Unquestionably

Members of the same group would probably recall the event later. In similar studies it was found that some participants will recall the event, some recall after one hour, some through introspection-focus, meditation, hypnotherapy, some all of a sardine recall it 1 year later. Some never will recall it.
Nobody recalls the event in exactly the same manner, some recall totally different events

The un-conscience observation of the event is still taken into consideration and calculation by the mind. The fact that the event happened is clearly recorded in our sub-conscience. The human-mind will still add the data and reflect. Thought and behaviour would then be changed if needed.  The sub-conscience will then determine the conscience. However, the event captured in our sub-conscience or conscience is only our perception of the event, Adding a further dimension, perception

I wonder in which manner the “code” for the yeti event is written in the mind of the observers who did not “see” the yeti?

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Dave A (24-Apr-13)

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## adrianh

I do not believe that our memories are like video machines recording whatever we see. Think about it, we are fooled by TV screens that scan faster than our eyes can see, our eyes have blindspots and limit central focus. Our eyes saccade all the time and our minds builds up a picture based on the continual snapshots in different time and position. Further, there are 100's of ways to fol our eyes through "illusions" that use the tricks or shortcomings built into our visual systems. We may store more than we conciously perceive but we certainly don't store our own continuous visual field. Come to think of it the same applies to our ears, we filter our surroundings out and perceive what we are concentrating on, we do not store the entire auditory field. Of course some store more than others and some are better at it than others but I think that our circuitry is optimized in the same way that a JPG file is stored vs a BMP. Further, besides all the physical processing limitations we also have perceptual limitations in that we observe and remember things within our mental frame of reference. If I look at a car I will label and store features based on my knowledge of cars and my wife would store features based on her knowledge of cars. Neither of us might store the information visually and we will probably store totally different information. I would store mostly technical details and she would store mostly esthetic details. If we were to describw the car we saw the descriptions would be vastly different.

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## pmbguy

Forgive my omission. 

The best way to remember anything is to make it a story. 
The human-animal understands very well any story of resource. Make your plan cheese in a story, with 5 sub headings.
In the story, walk around and look at your A4S in your office and your mind.
KISS Keep It simple Stupid

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## Dave S

> Read And Modify (original meaning when referring to computer memory)


So that's why my wife only hears what she thought I said...LOL

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## Dave A

> So that's why my wife only hears what she thought I said...LOL


I think most of us are guilty of that one on occassions.

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## Blurock

I do think memory depends on what you are focusing on at the time. People are like sheep and will do what they are told to do, like noting how many times the ball gets passed. We focus on this because we are told to and we want to get it right. If we were told to focus on something strange occurring, we would immediately have spotted the man in the yeti suit. Very few people have the ability or curiosity to look beyond the obvious, because we are too focused on the task we're busy with.

When you practice or do something over and over, it becomes second nature, like the rhythm of a drum or the ripples on a dam. You get into that rhythm and everything happens automatically, you do not have to think about it and you do not have to use memory to do it. It becomes instinct.

Funny (and embarrassing) thing happened to me the other day. I parked my car and collected my diary and stuff from the passenger seat. With my hands full, I realised that I did not  have my car keys. It was not in the ignition (I always instinctively pull it out as soon as I reach my destination) and I could not find it anywhere in the car. I then got out of the car and looked again. Not in my pockets, not in the car or under the car!

I eventually had to call my wife to help me. We had a good laugh when she found the keys in the sunglasses holder where I instinctively put it with my sunglasses (without thinking). Because I was not thinking or focusing on the action, I could not remember putting my keys with my sunglasses. I thought I was losing my mind! :Blushing:

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## Dave S

> I could not remember putting my keys with my sunglasses. I thought I was losing my mind!


 :Rofl: I think we've all been there, I blame it on the "age" thing... even though I know I'm BS-ing myself. The amount of times I've closed the driveway gate, only to drive round the block to make sure...

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## vieome

What is actually interesting, is how we have moved the topic of the thread from talking about the brain and attention(observation) to a thread on memory another aspect of the brain. Psychologist Richard Wiseman has covered attention in depth, with some great videos showing the concept. Attention is directly related to focus but from my guess it is also related to memory, judging by the memory stories here, had we all had being made to count the basketball passes we would of spotted the Yeti as we would of forgot that the actually task was to count the balls, and our attention being on something else. 

On memory every be standing at the fridge door and not sure if you wanted to put something in or take something out. Of late I find spending time with the kids playing memory games(anything to keep them off their cellphones) helps some what. As the say the brain is like a muscle and it needs it exercise to keep its different functions going. Memory games for memory. Meditation for attention and focus. etc

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## Blurock

I regard focus as very important and essential for a successful task or business venture. To me there is no such thing as multitasking. If you are doing many things at the same time, you are just dividing your attention between the different tasks, but not focusing on one. Learn to focus on the important stuff and delegate the rest. We can not do it all by ourselves.

In business you have to determine your core function and goal and focus on it. All the other stuff are detractors.

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## adrianh

@blurock - my brother has been trying to get that into my head for a very very long time. I find that because I can do things that I do do them. When a staff memer messes something up I would jump in and fix it. Of course losing whatever I was focusing on at the time. 

I suppose the focus issue for my goes to this question; how do you stop yourself from working in the business when you should be working on the business when your natural state is to be working in the business.

On multiprocessing - doing this has proved to be disasterous for me and my business processes. We should be working fifo. What happens with my multiprocessing is that the processes that are being worked on are not alwayswhat should be done but rather the ones that are nice to do. When one of those nice to do processes stalls,for some or other reason it is put on hold, replaced with another andeventually turned into a disaster.

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## adrianh

Attention - focus and memory.

Attention
I think that our own lifestyles couse us to develop ADHD. Think about, you are at home taliking yo the wife, the kid's radio is playing in her room and the tv is on. The program that you are watching on tv is interrupted every 5 minutes with 3 ads that are each 3 minutes long. The ads have noting to do with one another or the progam. Or you are driving to work and you keep an eye on the traffic while you listen to the radio and you see billboards flashing by. Your attentions shifts fromyour own thoughts to your surroundings to the billboards and the radio all the time. You are in the office working on the spreadsheet but you also keep an eye on the email, facebook and twitter and you also have a radar scanning for telephone calls, cell phone calls and bbms......yet we wonder why we have difficulty in competing tasks or remembering what we do.

Focus
I could never comprehend how companies could put creative people in open plan offices with phones going and constant interruptions. It drove me absolutely nuts. I would be working on a program and be interrupted 50 times an hour with calls, with people asking questions or others messing about in the office. Companies expect people to concentrate snd focus on the task at hand (which is great when you are in you own flow) yet they would put those vey same people in environments where it is near impossible to do so. Now that I work for myself I simply turn the cell phone off and take the phone off hook.

Memory
The bane of my life - how do people remember anything important. Sure I can remember lots of odd and interesting facts but I cannot remember so so many things. I've been told many times to use lists, which I do, but how do you remember to look at item 8 in sublist 6 of list 5. The question is this: how do you flag numerous issues for top of the head awareness? Also, how do you maintain all the lists in lists especially when things link up with one another....maybe the answer lies in mind mapping software?

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## tec0

Well you used to get Non-volatile static random access memory that was a bit slower but hell it was robust "no sudden memory dumps" and the page file could be recovered even if the power goes out. It was a wonderful design and could operate on very low power and very slow clock speed. It also made less mistakes thus the "cashless" CPU's could do supper stable crunching. The banks especially loved the robustness and clock-ability. but most CPU's have up to a 9mb cash but yet again the biggest leap came with the old 8087 AKA floating-point coprocessor man that thing was Alien tech... The stability was just there... It was like magic. A lot of people will say it was crash happy... that was never really true you see the main CPU would disregard the instruction cycle if the 8087 refused to accept it. BUT there where some flaws. The coolest bit however was its robustness... most CPU's do day cannot handle heat. The 8087 could handle more then 68 degrees Celsius and more! So much more that the board started to make bubbles...  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Blurock

adrian, are you eating that frog or leaving it for later? 

You seem to enjoy what you are doing because you are a creative spirit and for you, working is like playing. There comes a time in the growth stage of a business that you have to employ more people and delegate tasks that you enjoy doing yourself. Alternatively, you need to employ someone to manage you, so that you can keep on doing what you enjoy doing.

The dilemma for us entrepreneurs is that we do not take orders and we don't want to be told when to work and how to run our business. I'm sorry, but I do not have a solution for that one.

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## pmbguy

> employ someone to manage you, so that you can keep on doing what you enjoy doing.



Adrian. Get yourself a young ambitious Personal Assistant, perhaps a newly graduated university student wishing to gain some experience in your particular field. The salary of the PA will be moderate and would be offset by your greater personal efficiency...
She/he can run around after you all day with a diary in one hand, a tablet in the other and on the phone with her 3rd even a backpack with beer in it. Your actual general day to day workload would be halved.
If things not busy and dont really need the assistant, then she can do general work within the business for that hour or day or whatever.
Your PA can be your eyes, ears, memory, focus and attention
You will have much more time to dedicate your energy and focus on what is most important to you in the business.  
I don’t have a PA, but if I had one I would be involved in the interviewing process.

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## adrianh

@pmbguy - I have been thinking along those lines for years. Having a PA would solve a large number of the problems that I experience.

The thing is that I am ADHD, hyper driven, hyper scatter brained and hyper creative.  So I have lots of thoughts and ideas and things going on all the time. Most people juggle 10 balls simultaneouly but I tend to juggle 100 dropping 30 and adding 70 all the time. I've tried all the suggested solutions list lists, PDA's, software, diaries etc but I always gravitate back to what's familiar (the chaos of scraps of paper, post it notes everywhere etc.)

My problem is that I am unable to record and collate my thoughts in that the recording, listing, collation process takes on a life of its own and becomes a project itself rather than just a supporting function. So I would end up with the perfect spreadsheet (with no real data)....that falls by the wayside soon enough. If I were to hand the though off to another person to take apropriate action it would free my mind up to get on with what needs to be done.

As I sit here I am thinking about the things that I need to do, the phone calls to make, the issues to resolve etc. and I would say that 90% of those could be handled perfectly well by a PA (in 1/10th of the time i would take to do it). The problem with me is not that I don't trust people to do something correctly, I am happy that they will because I taught them myself, it is that I'm just so used to being the local cook and bottle washer that it just comes naturally.

Ok, now to action: I need two new employees and I have made an offer to a young lady to work for me as a graphic designer / laser operator / marketer / general ideas bouncer offer - Maybe I should make part of her responsibilities to be my PA. The thing is that she will be taking over a large part of the work that I am doing and that we will have to work very closely together. I have to teach her everything that she will need to know. We seem to be on the same wavelength so it might just work. I just don't know whether I could sell the term PA to her but that is what she would be doing in a sense anyway with the realm of the laser cutter and associated issues

Your thoughts?

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## pmbguy

It sounds like the lady you will employ (not the PA) will have her hands full, and having her as your PA might eat at her own work load, processes and creativity. She will take some load off you, but it sound like you will just place load back on and end up just as you were before, workload wise. I know I would.

I suggest you also hire a 100% PA

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## adrianh

hmmm...fair enough. The ideal is of course that the lady that I am employing to fill the designer etc. role does just that. You're quite right in that I would probably distact her from doing what she should be concentrating on.

What would consider to be a fair ballpark average starting salary for a 100% PA that is also used in the business for other tasks.

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## pmbguy

I think +- 6, depending, to start with. Increase based on performance and time. I would suggest that HR Solutions or somebody confirm the salary range though.

You might even find the perfect person who is willing to work for free just to prove themselves.

It also depends in how much of a hurry you are. There 1000s of new graduates and young people off all kinds that have not found a job yet (Its May now already). Get 200+ young applicants who are very willing and happy to have any job at all. Then work your way to the best of the best of the best. Advertise privately and through all agencies. Let applicants know that the job is temporary, but you are seeking to make this position permanent.
You will be surprised how many bright young ambitious youngsters have no entry into the workforce.

It must be an ambitious intelligent individual. Gender is not a big issue but a young smart woman would be the best in my mind. Young woman generally work harder.
Properly inspect any previous employment for all applicants.

I read somewhere that one should always try hire employees that are smarter that you are. 
I also think this kind of thing is very intuitive. You will know who to put on the short list.

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## Blurock

> I just don't know whether I could sell the term PA to her but that is what she would be doing in a sense anyway with the realm of the laser cutter and associated issues
> 
> Your thoughts?


How about apprentice manager? That should be encouraging enough. Or maybe manager's assistant?

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## pmbguy

> manager's assistant?


I like that

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## adrianh

hmmm...food for thought...

The girl that I am hiring to help me with the design stuff actually studied architecture and now works as a sales assistant in a clothing store. Imagine having natural creative abilities, studying for three years to learn how to put those abilities to use and then end up passing dresses to ol' ladies in the change room. I do a lot of laser cutting for architecture students at UCT & CPUT and meet lots of bright young people who will probably not work in their chosen industy. I just find it sad that all that talent is lost eventually. Far too many people end up in the rut of doing something they hate just to make a living (what makes it more sad is that "make a living" is to buy $h1t that they don't need to impress people who don't actually care)

One of my ex employees had a masters in fine arts. Man, she could draw and sculpt. Her thing in life is scupting and all she ever wanted to do is sculpt. She is German and she was in South Africa for about 7 years. She could not find a job sculpting. She tried to go it alone but that didn't work out so she returned to Germany last December. The thing that was most striking about her was her passion, she wanted to scuplt and that was it, she would work for me in the day and sculpt in the evenings. She would come to work day after day in her crappy car and tatty clothes but she was on a quest.

Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.

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## pmbguy

> Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.


I agree

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## Dave S

> Bottom line: hire for attitude & aptitude and train for skill. I am perfectly happy to hire a person who has never wrked in my industry but has the aptitude, curiosity and drive. Come to think of it, it is often better to hire somebody like that because they don't come with industry specific bad habits.


I don't think I could've put that better. 

In our industry (Golf Course Maintenance Mechanics), there are no colleges that offer specific training courses, yes one can qualify as a Motor Mechanic, etc. But nothing specific. The equipment used on Golf Courses is however, far more advanced than basic mechanics, so you are forced to hire for attitude and aptitude, give me an employee that knows they don't "know it all" and is prepared to learn, rather than a qualified person that thinks they know it all and doesn't believe they can learn more...

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## tec0

> @pmbguy - I have been thinking along those lines for years. Having a PA would solve a large number of the problems that I experience.
> 
> The thing is that I am ADHD, hyper driven, hyper scatter brained and hyper creative.  So I have lots of thoughts and ideas and things going on all the time. Most people juggle 10 balls simultaneouly but I tend to juggle 100 dropping 30 and adding 70 all the time. I've tried all the suggested solutions list lists, PDA's, software, diaries etc but I always gravitate back to what's familiar (the chaos of scraps of paper, post it notes everywhere etc.)
> 
> My problem is that I am unable to record and collate my thoughts in that the recording, listing, collation process takes on a life of its own and becomes a project itself rather than just a supporting function. So I would end up with the perfect spreadsheet (with no real data)....that falls by the wayside soon enough. If I were to hand the though off to another person to take apropriate action it would free my mind up to get on with what needs to be done.
> 
> As I sit here I am thinking about the things that I need to do, the phone calls to make, the issues to resolve etc. and I would say that 90% of those could be handled perfectly well by a PA (in 1/10th of the time i would take to do it). The problem with me is not that I don't trust people to do something correctly, I am happy that they will because I taught them myself, it is that I'm just so used to being the local cook and bottle washer that it just comes naturally.
> 
> Ok, now to action: I need two new employees and I have made an offer to a young lady to work for me as a graphic designer / laser operator / marketer / general ideas bouncer offer - Maybe I should make part of her responsibilities to be my PA. The thing is that she will be taking over a large part of the work that I am doing and that we will have to work very closely together. I have to teach her everything that she will need to know. We seem to be on the same wavelength so it might just work. I just don't know whether I could sell the term PA to her but that is what she would be doing in a sense anyway with the realm of the laser cutter and associated issues
> ...


Lo Adrian, My brain is also extremely active thus almost impossible to stay focused long enough to see something trough. So I started to use my phone to record ideas, revelations and so on. I then created folders on my computer that range from ramblings to the more important stuff. 

After I got everything organised I take an hour each morning figuring out where my brain is at. Starting with the important “Work related stuff first” I then allocate the work that must be done giving a time frame for each of the jobs at hand. 

The less important stuff goes after working hours and the more important stuff get Mid day attention “before lunch because after lunch the much needed blood that must go to your brain end up aiding your digestive track. 

So think about this record and allocate “jobs” and let your PA handle the “middle stuff AKA stuff that is not supper important but must get done” Freeing your time up for the supper important stuff and allowing more time in the afternoons for your creativity sessions. 

Think about it... It is a simple system and it works really well. Cool thing is you have a running progress record so forgetting stuff becomes impossible.

As a side note go for the person working in the store, they will grab hold of any chance they get to do what they trained to do. If you go for someone that just qualify they still have romantic ideas of going into business for themselves.

Also I know the recording thing sounds stupid but give it two months and you will see it really works well.

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## Blurock

> After I got everything organised I take an hour each morning figuring out where my brain is at. Starting with the important Work related stuff first I then allocate the work that must be done giving a time frame for each of the jobs at hand.


Try putting everything in file 13. So you do not waste time on unimportant stuff. If it was important enough, someone will ask you about it. They can then fill you in on what they put on the note they sent you. Immediate feedback!  :Whistling:

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## tec0

> Try putting everything in file 13. So you do not waste time on unimportant stuff. If it was important enough, someone will ask you about it. They can then fill you in on what they put on the note they sent you. Immediate feedback!


There is really no pleasing you people is there?

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## adrianh

The problem with the file 13 idea is that I am the one who creates most of the projects in the firts  place. The last thing I want to do is to discard them.

But if you are an insurance company that deals with claims then file 13 would be standard operating procedure. I can just see the operation manual. 

1. Receive claim
2. Toss it.
3. Receive same claim.
4. Lose the file.
5. Recieve the same claim.
6. Claim you never received it.
7. Repeat steps 1 though 6 until cliant gives up, threatens to sue, go to Hellopeter or Noseweek.
8. Pay no more than 50% of the value claimed.

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## tec0

Insurance is BS... They take your money and when you need a new car they give you R15k to buy one... (Just because your model is old) But the almost R600k you spend with them (in the years that you are a customer" counts for nothing...

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## Justloadit

Insurance has nothing to do with loyalty!

Its like looking back at your pay check from a year ago, it's long gone.

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## Blurock

> There is really no pleasing you people is there?


Calm down, you are far too tense. You did not notice that it was said tongue in cheek?  :Whistling:

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## adrianh

The perfect position for the perfect PA would be on the lap!

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## pmbguy

No comment :Cool:

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## pmbguy

Has your new lady started yet? The architecture student

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## adrianh

She is hoping to start on Monday. Her ex boss wants her to stay on for another week though, but her collegues are trying to find a replacement quickly. She has been working with me for the past 2 weeks. She was so eager to get started that  we work via email. I would send her JPG's etc and she would return the drawing files. She prefers to use Autocad which is fine because I can import the files into Rhino. She is really great, we seem to be on the same wavelength and I don't have to explain anything in great detail for her to understand what I need. It would be great if she could start tomorrow, I've got so much laser work at the momemt that I am going to have to work the entire weekend. It's amazing how we're being flooded with laser work though word of mouth.

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## tec0

> The perfect position for the perfect PA would be on the lap!


I hope she is OK with your other requirements.....  :Devil2:

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## pmbguy

:Smile: @ adrianh-What does your wife say?....... is she Fit? :Cool: 


This year I decided to get myself an apprentice, I tested my first one about 2 weeks ago, and to say the least it was disappointing, he seemed so keen at first. Smart, seemed like a hard worker. But the penny dropped when we started working, nothing hectic. He must have thought he would just sit back and download drivers and get some face book. When he dropped energy and plak on his first day at around 11, I paid him for the whole day, had a nice chat to him and sent him on his way.

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## adrianh

@pmbguy - She's fit alright! - the wife has actually met her yet. Oh, well, I'll just say I didn't notice because of her superior skills (ADHD you know....)

The way to interview them is to give them a task and see how they fare. If they are too doff then its better for them to hit the road. When I was into electronics I would give them a bit of vero board, components, a circuit diagram and ask them to build it. Not a single one could read components, a schematic or solder worth $h!t. Then there is the BBM / Facebook thing. I don't mind the odd communication but I don't like having people who have full on realtime chats.

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## pmbguy

Young people in general, dont know how to use their hands other than on a keyboard, scared to get dirty... they are. In my mind a good apprentice must take initiative and not be scared to ask any question and be enthusiastic about learning. 

Dont call it ADHD, call it ACE (Active Creativity and Energy). Diagnosing creative and energetic people is far too easy. This is a big reason why I am changing direction away from clinical (psychology). I am fundamentally at odds with what is deemed "Pathology" and how it is subsequently treated, and the reaction of treatment. Our knowledge of the brain is extremely limited. So say for example a person has PDSD and one of the symptoms are flash backs from the traumatic event (among others). The patient is then given, what really are, mind altering drugs. Thats the point, to alter the mind to achieve a healthier state. But here's the problem. The drug may have eliminated the flash backs, but the whole brain has been changed ("Temporarily") in total. Its like having a black wattle tree infestation and deploying a Thermal Nuclear Bomb (1MeGaTon yiEld) to eradicate it. Sure the wattle is gone, but you have changed and possibly damaged the brain. This is only my humble opinion. (I am not saying anybody should go off their meds. In fact, that is a bad idea) 

I say F*%# ADHD call it energy and creativity and ride the bitch
 :Chair: 

Oh yes.....I am thinking of playing a trick on my wife...... I am going to get my friends friend to pretend she is coming to be interviewed. They have not met and she is very good looking..... he he he.......my wife expression will be priceless. I want to somehow record her reaction and observe. I will take the prank all the way....."you got the job"....bla bla bla....I am going to very exited during the interview and flirt with her and she with me :Embarrassment: ......Oho00....its gona be good! One for the books boys! :Cool:

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## adrianh

What you say about the treatment of "mental illness" is very true. A range of symptoms are treated but it also creates a whole host of side effects. SSRI's have some interesting and pleasant side effects though...lets call it the viagra effect.

I also like the ACE idea. 

My wife isn't fazed about such things. The last lady that worked with us was 28, unmarried and not bad looking. She stayed for 5 years before returning to Germany. The thing is that a young female is the best person for the job. We need a person who has a feel for the feminine side of art and creation - you know - a girly girl (I don't mean this in a bad way, to the contrary, I say it with the utmost respect) My wife and I are just too doff to do artistic drawing with feminine flair. We are both 90% left brain.

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## pmbguy

Nobody likes a sausage festival.
It is good to have both men and woman in the workplace. The full circle of human expression is heard and applied. 

As long as not very hot and heavy at the office. I can recall some bad consequences when colleagues date....shit... 

Just playing with the prank thing, I think

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## pmbguy

> SSRI's have some interesting and pleasant side effects though...lets call it the viagra effect.


I am 29 so don’t need it yet, I think I would go howl up and down the city if I had to add mojo!

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## adrianh

Howl up and down the city....

Good one....all men are dogs hey!

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## Phil Cooper

As you get older you suffer from CRAFT syndrome.

Can't

Remember

A

Fuc*&#g 

Thing

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## pmbguy

This shall pass

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## pmbguy

> Good one....all men are dogs hey!


Are you on my wifes side or what?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## pmbguy

After the first day we got Maria...........I said to my wife  “I think she is The One...! “
She works hard, but she has perks, plays MTVB and stuff while she is busy around the house. She loves music. Makes me Coffee and Tea and runs with the phone sometimes.
But hell! Lets just say she is not a metaphysical theorist. Anyway she always surprises me with the most random problem. Last month she managed to break my much cherished Diodaar table 
Shame she was very sorry, I told her not to worry. It was hell funny when I asked her to re-enact the incident.... 
We moved the table closer to the wall at some point and Maria, instead of moving the table, wiggled herself, god knows how, between the table and the wall where she wall trying to clean the mirror. She got stuck and panic set in while she tried to free herself (110kg)......her survival instinct kicked in and she scrummed the table and herself to the floor! Unharmed  




I told my wife that if she dies Maria will take over her position as domestic manager.....while I interview for a wife called “the sequel”  :Smile:

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## adrianh

Dunno about being on the wife's side....my new co-worker is absolutely drool-ishes.... :Thumbup: 

I'm sure glad that God invented cute girls - can't think of a more pleasant way to share a day :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## pmbguy

I think it is actually beneficial to have girls at the office, everybodys evolution kicks in. It has its problems but I believe it is a profitable strategy. Good fun too :Cool:

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## pmbguy

Ladys, Dont be concerned, I am a perfect gentleman and braai expert. Talking about the braai, the sharks and the weather has turned nasty. Time to jam some AOE3. Tomorrow its gardening, I dig it

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## pmbguy

> Dunno about being on the wife's side....my new co-worker is absolutely drool-ishes....
> 
> I'm sure glad that God invented cute girls - can't think of a more pleasant way to share a day


Adrian, you probably lying and she is actually a bergie you lured from the mountain with a dop

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## pmbguy

Just kidding :Stick Out Tongue:  

What is she between 10 - 20? on a rating scale

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## adrianh

0-20 given my own personal preferences I would say 18. I must be honest, I prefer to work with women (not because I am a drooling dog but because I prefer their company) Remember, I have a wife and 2 daughters and I am quite the loner. I really enjoy my daughters because they think so differently to me. They are exceptionally bright young teenagers who are now starting to learn about the real world. We get to speak about so many different topics, and that is exactly what I like about women, they live in a different world to us and it is an amazing world when we open our eyes to see it. My minds tends to be in a very cold logical clinical place most of the time because there is so much left brain stuff going on. Women bring something different into the picture, their views, personalities and vibrance add colour to my otherwise black and white world. Most men are like tractors and bakkies, (hard and dependable) and some women are like a Pagani Huayra (Sleek and elegant in every way). But like a Huayra, it is not about having the car, it is about appreciating the art.

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## Blurock

> Adrian, you probably lying and she is actually a bergie you lured from the mountain with a dop


LOL  :Rofl:

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## pmbguy

You go on then son

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## pmbguy

> 0-20 given my own personal preferences I would say 18.


I mean hott-ness. Scale 0-20. All woman are above average so selection is between 10 and 20.

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## pmbguy

Observation

Perception

It’s kinda like Plato’s forms. Our visual perception as we see it does not exist anywhere else except for in our own minds. It’s like an outward looking filtered mind lenZ, this perception. Reality is far more random and dangerous than we can allow ourselves to know. If we knew how hectic things really are we would boil over with cortisol and die. It’s weird. That’s why I like nature and fishing.
Back to perception, there is no outward real reality we can perceive. Reality as a thought is a personal perception. Reality-Perception Cycle. This is a real chicken or egg one. 
Your perception of the art as beautiful does not necessarily depend on the real (objective) beauty of the art. We can only calculate as to whether there is consensus that the particular piece of art is beautiful. However, whether the piece of art is beautiful in a real objective manner or not, is impossible to truly deduct.

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## pmbguy

@adrianh -so tell me, how good is her work (attitude) so far? 



Also, don't take your eye off work, I mean on, I mean....bum..wow (Happiness)...what are we talking about?

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## adrianh

She's great, love her energy. It's really nice to work with somebody who is very intelligent, driven, doesn't give a $h1t about many of the same things that I don't and also absolutely stunning. If we were in America then she would have been a full on cowgirl (like Shania Twain) I can see her strutting around in riding boots and a Stetson hat.

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