Natural Knowledge Integration: Transforming Towards Regeneration

Integrating Natural or knowledge of our natural world will be a transformation. A transformation is a thorough or dramatic change. W. Edwards Deming helped spur a change from what he called “the prevailing style of management” toward one focused on quality improvement.

Changes from Deming inspired quality focus, which resulted in more quality and lower levels of waste and cost. To get to something better, we must improve our processes. The better outcome can generate comprehensive net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, and synergistic benefits for everyone and everything.

Transformation in Process

A transformation means it is different. We must find a better way. Dr. Martin Luther King III provided us with an easy way to understand why we need a transformation. As he explained:

In other words, we can’t change what we are doing. We must do things differently.

Better Transformation Example

Mechanistic human ways cannot drive out waste; only nature or the ways of nature can do that. Pathogenesis or learning more about the origins and or causes of disease cannot create health, the presence of physical, mental, and social well-being. Pathogenesis cannot drive out pathology; only salutogenesis, the origins of health, can do that.

Salutogenesis is about finding and practicing the cause(s) of health. The secondary benefit, or by-product of being more healthy is less disease and or problems. Of course, unavoidable problems (i.e., COVID) do happen, and being healthier means we will have more ability to overcome difficulties BECAUSE of more physical, mental, and social well-being.

Starting the Transformation

Dr. W. Edwards Deming created foundational principles for any system seeking improvement. Deming created his 14 points and his System of Profound Knowledge for quality improvement. Here is an idea of how we can adapt them for sustainability and regeneration.

Deming’s 14 points for Sustainability/Regeneration

Adopt a Holistic Perspective: Recognize sustainability as a comprehensive concept encompassing environmental, social, and economic dimensions. Understand that regeneration is more about actively restoring and replenishing resources so they are better than before, not just about minimizing harm.
Embrace Systems Thinking: Understand ecosystems as interconnected systems where changes in one part affect the whole. A focus on the process that is continually improved is vitally important. Process improvement should be undertaken by considering the short and long-term consequences of actions on the environment and society.
Focus on Continuous Improvement: Continuously seek ways to improve processes for better outcomes that minimize waste, pollution, and resource depletion. This is about building efficient resilience and regeneration, which does not necessarily mean maximized efficiency.
Put People First: Prioritize the well-being and dignity of all stakeholders, including students, employees, communities, and future generations. Encourage participatory decision-making and inclusivity.
Build Strong Partnerships: Collaborate with diverse stakeholders, including government, businesses, NGOs, and local communities, to leverage collective expertise and resources for sustainability and regeneration. Focus on building strategic alliances that mutually benefit partners and the environment.
Empowerment and Education: Equip individuals and organizations with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to contribute effectively to sustainability and regeneration efforts.
Lead with Purpose and Vision: Set clear, university aligned goals and objectives using the principles of sustainability and regeneration. Inspire and motivate others to embrace these principles as core values.
Drive out Fear: Create a culture of trust, openness, and transparency where individuals feel empowered to innovate and take calculated risks to advance sustainability and regeneration goals.
Break Down Silos: Break down barriers between departments, disciplines, and sectors to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation for sustainability and regeneration.
Encourage Learning and Adaptation: Embrace a culture of experimentation, learning, and adaptation to rapidly changing environmental and social conditions. Encourage feedback loops and continuous reflection. Generate living labs.
Eliminate Arbitrary Targets and Quotas: Instead of focusing solely on short-term financial targets, prioritize indicators and metrics that measure progress toward sustainability and regeneration goals.
Support Intrinsic Motivation: Recognize and support behaviors that contribute to sustainability and regeneration, such as innovation, collaboration, and stewardship of natural resources.
Facilitate Inclusive Decision-making: Ensure that decision-making processes are transparent, participatory, and inclusive, considering the needs and perspectives of all stakeholders, especially marginalized communities.
Embed Sustainability in Organizational DNA: Integrate sustainability and regeneration principles into all organizational strategy, operations, and culture to ensure long-term viability and resilience. Highlight this as integral to the organization’s mission.

Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge for Sustainability/Regeneration

This theory provides a framework for understanding and improving systems. Here’s how it can be adapted for sustainability and regeneration:

Appreciation for the Whole System: Recognize the interconnectedness of environmental, social, and economic systems. Understand that sustainability and regeneration efforts must reflect how they positively impact ecosystems, communities, and future generations.
Understanding Variation: Acknowledge the natural variability in environmental and social systems. Seek to understand the causes of variation and how they impact sustainability and regeneration outcomes. Use data and analysis to identify patterns and trends.
Theory of Knowledge: Embrace a humble and curious mindset, recognizing that our understanding of sustainability and regeneration constantly evolves. Value diverse forms of knowledge, including scientific research, traditional wisdom, and community expertise. Prioritize learning and continuous improvement.
Psychology of Change: Recognize the importance of human behavior and motivations in driving sustainability and regeneration efforts. Understand the psychological barriers to change, such as inertia, fear, and cognitive biases. Employ strategies to inspire and empower individuals and communities to adopt more regenerative, sustainable behaviors.

By applying the adapted version of Deming’s 14 Points and his System of Profound Knowledge, we can begin the transformation to integrating natural knowledge. Using Deming’s adapted philosophy will help us gain deeper insights into the complexities of sustainability and regeneration. These efforts will enable a more effective transformation to using natural, holistic approaches that will benefit everyone and everything.

Please share your successful transformation effort. Thank you for being part of the solution.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com.

Beneficial Backyard Food

We can create an everything and everyone benefits interaction with the Three Sisters. The three sisters are plants, corn, beans, and squash, which benefit each other as they replenish and regenerate our life-giving soil. In other words, we can do this to Practice Paneugenesis because planting the three sisters is a way to create a net-positive, regenerative, pervasive reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interaction that benefits everyone and everything. Here is the story:

Please share your results.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Lessons from Taleb’s “Antifragile”

Nasim Taleb’s 2012 book, “Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder,” is a powerful, thought-provoking read. I mentioned this book in my “Choosing Options Beneficial” post and in the “Opposite of + or -NOT Neutral” to highlight some facets of the book. His main idea is that uncertainty and variability make us stronger, not weaker. This powerful and important message emphasizes the need for us to take action. As I had noted:

“Unlike the societal desire for the absence of stress, he clearly documents the necessity of stress. Upon reflection, this idea is obvious. We cannot become more than we are unless we push past our current capabilities. Going past our current capabilities causes stress, uncertainty, disorder, and confusion. As most of us have learned, becoming the person we want to be means we must engage in a process of improvement. That process means we will experience stress, uncertainty, disorder, and confusion.”

Skin in the Game

Throughout the rest of the book, he emphasizes the idea of ethics and “skin in the game.” By this, he meant that if people or professionals provide advice, they should follow it themselves. If they do not, we should ignore their advice. This means that if the advisee experiences a gain or loss from following some guidance, the advisor should experience the same outcome.

He cited Hamarabi’s code as having done the same. The code codified the idea that people must have skin in the game because others rely on the advice provided. Common sense rules such as:

We should only get on a plane if the pilot does, too
People voting for war need to have at least 1 descendent exploded to combat.
Engineers of a bridge must spend time with their families under the bridge they built
Anyone making an economic analysis must have something to lose

I emphasize a simliar concept to my students and also follow it in life. I explain to them that they are role models and I know from experience: people will only take to heart advice that you follow. For instance, when I see students or people I know when I am out, especially at a restaurant, they check out what I am eating to see if I practice what I preach. If I were not, much of what I had shared would lose value. As Winston Churchill explained,

“I no longer listen to what people say; I just watch what they do. Behavior never lies.” – Winston Churchill

Presentation by Taleb about Antifragile

If you are interested, below is a presentation by the author about the book.

Practice What You Preach

In Antifragile, Taleb repeatedly cited financial advisors as an example. He suggested we should only follow their investment strategy if they have it in their portfolio. As we all know and Taleb affirms, everything gains and loses from volatility depending on its state of fragility. The more fragile, the greater the loss, and the more antifragile, the more likely the benefit.

If you know me or follow this column, know that all I put here and teach are things I personally use to generate selfish, selfless synergy. I practice paneugenesis to generate comprehensive benefits. However, as noted in the Choosing Options Beneficial post, sometimes I fall short. It is a continuous improvement process that often means learning from our mistakes.

Take Home Message

Without question, I am biased. However, a takeaway message I got from his book was that we should practice what we preach. My other interpretation of the message is that we should be part of the solution. To be part of the solution, I heard him say we should put some skin in the game. To me this means we should choose to create net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interaction so everyone and everything benefits.

Keep in mind that choosing to do what I suggest means Practice Paneugenesis to generate comprehensive improvements. I work at doing this and I know this means taking a risk. However, as Taleb noted,

Food will not have a taste if you are not hungry
Results are meaningless without effort
Joy doesn’t exist with sadness
Conviction has no meaning without uncertainty
An ethical life cannot exist without personal risk

Please share about the interactions you choose to create and the comprehensive benefits you can generate. Thank you for being part of the solution.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Choosing Options Beneficial

A confluence of events helped emphasize a lesson I need to relearn. That experience led to this post. Along with what I was reading, writing, or actually NOT doing, it made it clear I must take action. This expands Andrew Huberman’s repeated findings, which I have highlighted in many other posts:

Beliefs do not change our actions, Actions change our beliefs.
Andrew Huberman, PhD – Stanford

For more about taking action, see Hearing a Repeated Message, Become by Doing, Spooky Simple, Prevention can Be Harmful, and more.

In addition, this post and these experiences were only possible because of the help provided by the talented Alex Davis. Thank you for your assistance.

Regret – Unrealized Potential

I was motivated to write this post because of the powerful human emotion of regret. Despite knowing the lesson described here, I did not put it into practice. I did not apply what I knew. As I learned and have observed, this human limitation is common. I, therefore, am writing this post to help myself and, hopefully, others do better.

Hindsight is Amazing

As we all know, hindsight makes things obvious. However, as Kierkegaard explained,

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Soren Keirkegarrd

This means we understand after. It also suggests the most important part of living is to live by getting experiences in life. Steve Jobs called these valuable life experiences “Dots.” (see Dots Enhance Meaning and Lead to Deeper Understanding)

As Jobs noted, experiences are important and valuable, though we cannot know its value until later. He used the example of classes he took that helped him realize the value of multiple fonts. As he noted in hindsight, the value of the information could not have been known when it was obtained. Not knowing is hard, he suggested, “…so you have to trust that it will all work out.”

The Translation Gap

Hindsight highlights the ever-present translation gap between discovery and implementation, which can last centuries. This type of gap even exists in climate change. According to David Orr, the weather we experience results from atmospheric deposits 20 years ago.

In Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s thought-provoking 2012 book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, he expounds on the difficulty of applying or putting innovations and ideas into practice. He documented that this often happens due to humans’ difficulty understanding how to apply information in a new context. He suggested the extended time between discovery and implementation may be because of what he calls “option blindness.” By this, he means we do not see how we could “exercise a better option.”

Take Home Message

The embedded take-action recommendation is to gain more experience learning how information can be used by getting more experiences in new contexts. By living more fully.

An obvious example of failing to apply what we know is putting wheels on suitcases. Mayans had wheels on kids’ toys, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that someone thought to put them on a suitcase, and it was not until the 2000s that it became common. Another example is how long it took medical doctors to wash their hands before delivering babies, despite Semmelweis’s overwhelming evidence (see Semmelweis Reflex) showing that doctors’ germs were leading to maternal mortality. Failure to take action by doing rather than just thinking has been suggested to be why there is often a long translation gap.

My Regret

I know that most knowledge is gained by doing, and doing is what can help me gain more knowledge. Despite seeing the movie “Small Island, Big Song,” getting multiple reminders from my neighbor and wanting to go, I did not attend their live performance. I should know better and will focus on getting more experience because I know it enhances the quality of my life.

We are all in this together. The better we all do, the better we all do. I hope, like me, you will strive to engage with life more to generate comprehensive improvements. To improve, I will work to create interactions, such as seeing “Small Island, Big Song” live, to create regenerative, net-positive, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits.

Accentuated Regret

Although this was not done purposefully, Alex accentuated my regret for missing the “Small Island, Big Song” performance by publishing this powerful song he was inspired to write and perform following their performance. I thought he captured the message of the “Small Island, Big Song” group in his tribute song. Enjoy!

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Intuition First, Reason Second

Jonathan Haidt is one of the many fantastic scholars whose work I review regularly. I find it helpful when the findings or explanations of one expert help me apply and understand the findings of another. This post is about how Jonathan Haidt’s work helped me better understand Daniel Kahneman, the Heath brothers and others.

Thinking Fast & Slow

In many posts, including Emotions Drive Actions: Create a Strong Positive Picture and others, I discuss findings about the brain and how it impacts our lives. Often, I refer to Daniel Kahneman’s great book, Thinking Fast & Slow. From this and other sources, I understand that the older part of our brain is faster, and it automatically, almost immediately, generates emotional reactions. I also understand that the slower, logical brain is a beat slower than our emotional brain. Thus, the title of Kahneman’s book, Thinking Fast & Slow. This helped me understand why I feel things almost immediately but have to understand them later.

New Understanding

Jonathan Haidt, PhD, helped me better understand how these 2 parts of our brain impact our lives in his 2012 book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. PS – I don’t think the title does it justice. It is very comprehensive.

In the book, he explains that intuitions come first and strategic reasoning second. In other words, our emotionally driven automatic explanation for a situation jumps to our attention. After that emotional response, our logical brain creates an explanation for why that answer was derived. The reason we create is not derived after a thorough consideration. This means our brain does not do a careful analysis, and there are no peer reviews about the reasons generated to see if those reasons are good or even logical. We just create “a” meaning for the answer intuited. (for more about this introductory concept in the book, see this review)

Unjustified Reasoning

This means we need to check ourselves. In our hurried, often distracted life of the 21st century, we should stop, review, listen, and think again—as Adam Grant recommended in “Think Again,” which was a very Helpful Book.

How it Helped

This helped me understand why I should review what I am doing with an open mind. I try to think, how can I generate comprehensive improvements? Do my actions make sense? Why? Will these actions be net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, and synergistic so everyone and everything benefits? If not, how should I adapt my actions?

I think this will be helpful – what do you think? How do you think this could help you?

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Book Recommendation

I posted this review on Good Books. I recommend Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein’s new book, Look Again: the power of noticing what was always there.

Posted review:

Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There Sharot T.Cass Sunstein
Sharot and Sunstein provided an insightful and helpful perspective. I am probably biased in favor of the book because it highlights many things uncovered in my research and things covered in my writings. The perspective provided in their book helps us better understand how and why we do what we do. They note something in the beginning that, if you are like me, I had not paid much attention to it. Specifically, they state, “What is thrilling on Monday becomes boring by Friday.” As they noted later, it is less thrilling because of habituation or the repetition of actions completed. The reputation of action generates less emotional reactions, meaning we respond less over time.

They encourage us to dishabituate because it can help us find better ways and should help us be more alert. Right now if we see what we expect, we cruise through life. We don’t react unless what we experience contradicts what we expect. To support this, they describe how accidents went down, rather than up when Sweden switched overnight from driving on the left side of the road to the right. They noted that this dishabituated people, and due to the change, they focused more and improved safety. This was an example they provided of how things can improve if we shake things up in our lives. Multiple examples are provided about creating experiences that can help us dishabituate.

In a new way, they explain the management saying, “We manage what we measure.” In their terms, they explain that we do not change what we do not see. They use these findings to help us better understand how and why misinformation is believed. A culmination of these ideas describes how habituation enabled Nazi Germany to happen. I thought these profound quotes used in the book captured the concept:
“Every step was so small…one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.” – anonymous German citizen
“We shall become prisoners of culture unless we become aware of the process and force ourselves to confront it.” – John Howard
“We humans can adapt to a lot. It is easy to sleepwalk into a state of chronic stress and distraction without ever reflecting that things could be different.” – Tom Hartford

Throughout the book, they provide what, in retrospect, seems obvious. For instance, they point out that habituation is necessary because if we don’t habituate, we may not strive to improve. As is also obvious, we do not habituate to learning because learning, by definition, is change. They also note, as I have noted about wellness in the post Experiencing Wellness = Progress Toward Desired, post (https://positivehealthleadership.org/…) that we strive for progress, not perfection.

To emphasize their push for us to dishabituate, they point out how our habituation has enabled us to live more difficult lives than may be necessary. It is also noted that most accidents happen due to habituation. When we are habituated, less and less focus is used on our actions.

They end by suggesting we must up our game and institute “Progress: Breaking the chains of expectations.” In other words, we should Exceed Expectations (see Exceed Expectations—Updated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ7sK…)). They explain that we often set low expectations so we don’t experience a negative prediction error. A negative prediction error happens when there is a gap between what we expected and what happened. This, they note, generally may only mean lower happiness for the short term but progress for the long term.

Overall, it is a very good book that captures many common ideas in useful ways. I recommend others read it and are inspired to raise their expectations by shaking things up. I hope this was helpful.

In retrospect, I realized I had written some things as an undergrad in 1988 that focused on these ideas. Let me know if you find these helpful: To Risk & Life’s Lessons.

To Risk…
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to appear sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
Placing your ideas and dreams before a crowd risks their loss.
To love is to risk
not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing, have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, or live. Chained by their attitudes, they are slaves; they have forfeited
their freedom.
Only a person willing to risk is free.

LIFE’S LESSONS
1. Life teaches you to accept your mistakes as an adult and not to grieve about them as a child.
2. Life teaches you to build your roads today, for tomorrow is uncertain, and yesterday is gone.
3. Most importantly, life teaches you that if you think about yesterday, you will always wonder, “What if?” or “If I’d of only…” so concentrate on today so you never wonder.

If you think about yesterday, you will want to hide
yesterday’s outcome because, as they always say,
“hindsight is better than foresight,” but remember, you made the best decision you could have in light of the situation; accept your decisions and live!
for today!!!!!

ALWAYS REMEMBER:
What you do TODAY is important because you pay for it with a day of your life, a very high price indeed,
when tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever;
NEVER regret the price you paid for a day!!!!!!!!

ALSO KEEP IN MIND:
It is not a bell ’til you ring it, it is not a song ’til you sing it, and it is not a life ’til you live it!
So, don’t worry, BE HAPPY. After all, worry is the most unproductive of all human activities, and if you do worry, you just make it double:
IN CONCLUSION
Learn from your mistakes and go into tomorrow with a smile!

CMB 10/22/88

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

There is No Tomorrow

The popular musical “Annie” gives us a powerful call to action. How so? It is in her song. Annie sang the now famous refrain,

“..Tomorrow, tomorrrow
I love you tomorrow
You’re always, a day away
Tomorrow, tomorrow
I love ya tomorrow
You’re ALWAYS a day away
Musixmatch

Annie explains that we should take action now rather than use the common refrain, “I’ll do that tomorrow.” Doing it tomorrow is like saying it will never get done. It will never get done because “Tomorrow” never arrives, “It is ALWAYS a day away.” There is NO TOMORROW. Tomorrow never arrives. It is, by definition, always a day away.

Take Action

What do you want to do? Do it now! If you want to practice paneugenesis and generate comprehensive benefits by creating net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits, do it now! It will not be perfect—probably not—but it will be closer to what you want it to be than if you do nothing. Please share what you do.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Opposite of + or – NOT Neutral

Neutral is not the opposite of positive. It is Negative. Likewise, the opposite of negative is not neutral. It is positive. With that understanding, it means the absence of disease, a neutral state, is not the opposite of disease. The opposite is flourishing well-being. To enable improved well-being, we must choose to improve. I also discuss this concept in the post Wellness is the “Opposite of Loneliness” and The Opposite of Paneugenesis??

To clarify the concepts of positive, negative, and neutral, Elie Wiesel 1928–2016, Romanian-born American writer and holocaust survivor, explained:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
Elie Wiesel, in U.S. News and World Report 27 October 1986

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, in New York Times 11 December 1986

Antifragile

As before, Nassim Taleb provides an powerful and enlightening perspective in his 2018 book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. He helps clarify how we should think about positive, negative, and neutral. Like Nassim, as noted by Jonathan Haidt at about the 35-minute mark in his excellent 2016 presentation at Duke, “Two Sacred values in American Universities,” the title, “Antifragile,” is problematic. To me the title is a problem because anti only refers to what is not rather than what it is. Despite the problematic title, the book, “Antifragile” is excellent.

Thoughts about positive, negative, and neutral was an important issue for Nassim Taleb in his books introductory section (or book as he refers to it). As he explains, the concept of antifragile are things that benefit from shocks, trauma, disorder, uncertainty, and stressors. In other words, it would be things that get better from living.

He recognizes that this is hard for us to comprehend because it is not linear. We cannot easily understand how improvement comes from harm. We can understand rebirth to how we were, or getting back to where we were, the same. This is what happens with the Phoenix,a bird reborn from it ashes. It becomes what it was, not something better.

A Hydra is Better from Harm

The Hydra is the example he provides as something that becomes better from harm. In the case of the Hydra, if you cut off one of its heads, 2 grow back. This means the Hydra becomes better and stronger from harm inflicted. Becoming stronger from harm is his concept of Antifragility

Life is harmful or difficult. It continuously hits us with stressors from which we become who we are. From this perspective, it means we can become better from harm—of course, not too much harm because that causes damage. Low-level stressors, the things we can experience daily, can make us stronger. We can consciously choose to engage in things in our lives that make us stronger, like lifting weights.

No Stress Means Atrophy

Choosing to be stressed or challenged in life is important because if we avoid challenges, we become weaker. He demonstrates that the absence of stressors weakens us. All living things need stressors, or they whither and die. Unlike the societal desire for the absence of stress, he clearly documents the necessity of stress.

Upon reflection, this idea is obvious. We cannot become more than we are unless we push past our current capabilities. Going past our current capabilities causes stress, uncertainty, disorder, and confusion. As most of us have learned, becoming the person we want to be means we must engage in a process of improvement. That process means we will experience stress, uncertainty, disorder, and confusion.

We are Not Machines

Mechanical or non-biological devices are different than biological or organic entities. We are biological, organic entities, because we are self-healing, recover from stressors, have a high degree of interdependence, and overcompensate from shocks. Non biological machines, unlike living organisms, require continuous repair and maintenance, they do not need recovery, have little interdependence, under compensate from shocks and have material fatigue or wear and tear from stressors.

“Machines use it and lose it, organisms use it or lose it.”
Frano Barrovic as quoted by Nassim Taleb in “Antifragility”

Method for Improvement

In other words, we must make a conscious effort to overcome and improve from life to become who we want to be. We must consciously choose to improve from our consistent exposure to life’s stressors in an effort to generate comprehensive benefits. To generate these benefits we must work to create net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless synergistic benefits so everyone and everything benefits.

A Practical Example

To improve, I stressed my system and had fun on a hike with my daughter. We hiked the Wave Cave Trail on superstition mountain in Phoenix, Arizona in the Tonto National Forest. The next day my hamstrings were sore, but it was fun, memorable and exciting. This action, or part of my life helped me spend time with my daughter and I was able to stress or exert myself climbing the trail. This is one of the ways I consciously choose to have a positive influence on my. Overall, it was a great day that enhanced my well-being. (See picture below of us at the top)

Revisit Everyone/Everything Benefits

As highlighted by W. Edwards Deming with quality management, and Russell Ackoff (see below), when the system improves it does not mean each part is more profitable. A part is never only better in isolation, it is better because the whole has improved.

For example, human resource departments that hire and assist employees cannot generate a profit. Instead, every department should contribute to a human resources department so the organization improves. If it is a better organization, all employees benefit.

Reinvention Needed

This means parts must reinvent themselves to become more collaborative so they benefit the whole and not just are bailed out as our banks were. Reinvention is what happens in nature through the process of evolution. A better system benefits everyone and everything, each part is not of more value until it becomes more collaborative. Sometimes parts die unless they reinvent themselves. While this is hard to clarify, better parts improve the system without necessarily experiencing direct benefits.

As I shared previously, Russell Ackoff’s presentation clearly documents how the parts must benefit the whole to enable improvement.

Please share your thoughts on how you have taken action to improve the whole.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

All Good Eating Style, Part 2

The information is shared in the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s podcast, The Exam Room. Please share how this discussion impacts you. Make it a great day, year and life.

Last weeks post shared the benefits to everyone and everything with All Good Eating Style. This weeks post documents how it has benefited Joseph Blair, a hulking giant at 6’10” and 255 pounds basketball player and now coach. As he notes in this podcast, players and other coaches in the NBA are taking notice.

In this discussion, Coach Blair clearly outlines how the all good eating style inspires conscious living which leads to better choices. These choices become things that benefit everyone and everything which generates selflish, selfless, synergy and better basketball. Overall coach Blair explains how his eating style is a way to generate comprehensive benefits by creating net-positive, regenerative, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic benefits for everyone and everything. Listening to this discussion inspired me to make better choices.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

All Good Eating Style

Everything we do has a ripple effect because everything is connected (see It is All about the Ripple…, Creating a Positive Ripple from a COVID-19 Response, and others). We also desire a good life. Nobody sets out to be bad or make their life worse. If these are taken as a given, that means we all consciously take actions that we believe cause good, not just avoid harm.

Food choices are a highly pervasive activity because they impact so much. Many people eat 21 or more times a week or over 1000x/year. For this reason, food choices cause many ripples and impact most things. Food, therefore, has a powerful impact on personal and planetary health (see Making Food Choices Plant Strong Benefits All, Growing Healthier Food, People, & Communities, and many more).

Making plant-strong food choices causes more good, not just less bad. Plant-strong food choices also decrease the probability of experiencing bad things, such as disease and infirmity, as a side effect or byproduct of creating more good. To document the powerful impact of plant-based food choices, Dr. Michael Gregor from Nutrition Facts.org shares scientific findings about food. He explains how our food choices can generate net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, and synergistic benefits so everyone and everything benefits.

Our food choices are an opportunity to take beneficial, purposeful actions that improve the quality of our lives while also generating universal benefits for everyone and everything. Please share your experiences.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Let’s talk. Contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

The Power of Knowing

For an interesting experience, without reading ahead – Read the paragraph below:

“A newspaper is better than a magazine. A seashore is a better place than a street. At first, it is better to run than to walk. You may have to try several times. It takes some skill, but it is easy to learn. Even young children can enjoy it. Once successful, complications are minimal. Birds seldom get too close. Rain, however, soaks in very fast. Too many people doing the same thing can also cause problems. One needs lots of room. If there are no complications, it can be very peaceful. A rock will serve as an anchor. If things break loose from it, however, you will not get a second chance.”
From Robert Barton, MD’s, “On Being Certain: Believing you are right when you are not”

If you are like me, when you first read it, it did not make sense. It was very confusing. Yet believe it or not, one word can change all that.

Click here to find that word.

Now that you are informed, read the paragraph again.

Power Provided

Wasn’t it amazing how much just one word could do to improve your understanding of that paragraph? Think what an education can do to improve your understanding. Improved understanding also relates to reading. Reading is really powerful and amazing at helping us understand (see Reading is Powerful).

Knowing made all the difference. Knowing however takes work, we must become exposed to many things, reflect on those experiences, read, test, and hypothesize with trial and error. As Steve Jobs recommended in his famous 2005 Commencement address at Stanford, we need to collect more dots, and it will make all the difference. Dots are experiences(see Dots Enhance Meaning and Lead to Deeper Understanding)

Make a Difference

We all want to have a life with meaning. Knowing can make all the difference. Without knowledge, things are confusing. The first reading of the paragraph without that one word was confusing. Learning is powerful because it can help us understand how we can generate meaning and purpose. That one word gave the paragraph meaning.

Learning and then knowing more can also help us understand how to generate comprehensive benefits, the practice of paneugenesis. Knowing will help us create net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. Learning and the later experience of knowing takes work. That work is worth the effort.

Take action, gain knowledge and please share your knowledge so we can know more. Working together can help us help everyone and everything. I look forward to hearing and learning from and with you.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker, PhD

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Lets talk, contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

Normal Curve and 80/20 Relate

People often refer to the Normal Curve and the 80/20 rule in society. In “Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference” by Malcolm Gladwell, he describes the 80/20 rule as:

…Economists often talk about the 80/20 Principle, which is the idea that in any situation, 80% of the “work” will be done by 20% of the participants. In most societies, 20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes. 20% of motorists cause 80% of all accidents. 20% of beer drinkers drink 80%of all beer…
Paraphrase from Gladwell’s “Tipping Point” Chapter 1

William Macaskill reiterated this sentiment in his book, Doing Good Better, that the top 20% makes the most difference. This book discussed effective altruism, something that got bad press by being associated with Sam Bankman Fried. Macaskill explained:

The 80/20 Rule is like fat-tailed distributions, and they are not intuitive, making it difficult to understand… most value generated comes from the best activities (20%)
Paraphrase from William MacAskill’s bok, “Doing Good Better“

He explained: “…Find the very best programs so a lot of good can be done.” That means the 20% in the 80/20 rule are the outliers. Upon review, this is similar to the normal curve.

Normal Curve & 80/20

In a normal curve, 68% of the population is represented by 1 standard deviation from the mean, as represented above. That means 16% of the population (close to 20%), on both sides of the average, are outliers. The left represents the 16% that are below the average and the right represents the top 16% of performer because they are above the average. That 16% on the right is similar to the 20% represented in the 80/20 rule. That is, most of the good stuff happens because of the “fat tail” of the distribution.

Outliers

Outliers are powerful. They are things that are out of the norm. Really good, or really bad. They are so powerful that Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book of the same name, Outliers. This book could be seen as a supplement to his earlier book, Blink. In Blink, he discussed people who would instantly what to do. It was, however, the previous 10,000 hours put in at at task, a criteria discussed in Outliers, that gave a person the expertise to know the answer in a Blink!

Being an outlier can be good or bad. Either way, it can be powerful. The important point to remember about outliers is that they should not be discarded or ignored – they should be studied. Learn what makes them great and use those successful processes.

Being the 20% for Good

To be the 20% that makes the most difference, it will be necessary to generate comprehensive benefits. To generate comprehensive benefits and to be part of the good tail, we need to create net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. Examples of this include A Way to Practice Paneugenesis, A Paneugenesis Process for America, Create All Good – Paneugenesis – in Prisons?, PracticingPaneugenesis – An Example, Support for the Practice of Paneugenesis so Everything Benefits, and others.

Please share how you have become part of the the 20% to generate all good.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

Lets talk, contact me @ BeWellr@gmail.com

The Anchor directs Outcomes

Kahneman and Tversky identified many guiding mental shortcuts. Anchoring was one of the powerful heuristics or mental shortcuts they described. (see Undoing Needed because Mental Illusions Impact Us) An Anchor is a heuristic or mental shortcut that influences our decisions. Something becomes an anchor when it is the first thing we hear or think about. It becomes an anchor because all additional information will be compared to that initial anchoring information. For instance, when negotiating a price for a product or service, the first price mentioned becomes the anchor.

A basis, or latent underlying construct that guides us creates an anchor. The basis, which is the underlying theory or model, then becomes the anchor that guides our future decisions. Having an inappropriate anchor can, therefore, cause us to make poor decisions. Elinor Ostrom shared why using the prisoner dilemma as an anchor or basis has led to poor decisions.

Prisoner Dilemma Anchoring Limitations

In her powerful book, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, ©️1990, Elinor Ostrom, made a profound statement regarding the Limitations of the prisoner’s dilemma game. If you are unfamiliar, the short video below explains the Prisoners Dilemma Game:

She relates the Prisoners Dilemma Game to the Tragedy of the Commons and The Logic of Collective Action because all have the same premise. If you are unfamiliar with The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin see the video below or links for more information.

Dr. Ostrom demonstrates that all these models, including the Logic of Collective Action, assume personal self-interest overrides collective self-interest. Using any of these models starts with the assumption that humans are bad. Using this as a basis limits or “mutes possibilities” as one of my students remarked.

Power of Cooperation

If all actions were driven by our self-interest, we would not be here today. We survived through cooperation. Dr. Ostrom explains that we need theories that talk about cooperation and how we get better together. As Dr.Ostrom research documents that when cooperation, rather than competition, is used for Common Public Resources, the benefits to all parties are greater.

Kitty Genovese provides a powerful real life example of what happens when we have a negative basis. Kitty Genoveses is the famous 1964 murder that the New York Times reported happened as 38 eye witnesses did nothing. It suggested that by-standers didn’t care and would not take action. As it turns out, this was a self-fulfilling prophecy or confirmation bias. Reporters saw what they thought was true. This story, however, is not true and has been debunked. The most extensive story I saw was by her younger brother Bill Genovese. He wanted to know the truth and in his search he created the movie The Witness. Full movie available below the 5 minute discussion that asks, “Is the Bystander effect Real?” Please see related findings in the videos below.

The inaccurate reporting of Kitty’s murder caused good things to happen. I raised awareness to our social connections and it did help develop the 911 system. Rosenthal suggests that was why he wrote the article and book as he did.

The Genovese murder continues to be highlighted and discussed as the “Bystander Effect” to encourage people to cooperate in life. In a reframing, I think about this as support for trulyengaging in life by being a citizen of the world, not just a consumer of society. For only when we actively engage in life, can we have our best and most satisfying life.

More Supporting Research

To be a citizen in society means participating and working to improve the whole as one makes their own life better. Cooperation and improvement are supported by the work of Dr. Alia Crum, Dr. Kelly McGonigal, Dr. Carol Dweck and more that highlight improvement are real and possible. See Concept: Create More Good, Not Just Less Bad, Mindset Research – Amazing Presentation, Failure Doesn’t Exist… and many others.

To change our actions, we need the growth mindset, as described by Dr. Carol Dweck, to see stress as in our life as helpful, as described by Dr. Kelly McGonigal, and to understand how events can help us be better, as described by Dr. Alia Crum. However for any of this to happen, a positive basis to build from would be helpful.

A Positive Basis

A positive basis that encourages growth through cooperation must be the starting point for improvement beyond the stastus quo. Paneugenesis creates a positive basis. The practice of Paneugenesis is how to create all good through net-positive, pervasive, reciprical, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. These interactions mean improvement happens through cooperation. As I note in the video below at about 1:50, if the best we can do is zero, then not bad would be good. However, we can do better and to be better we need to have a positive basis.

Please share how you use a postiive basis to create all good by using selfish, selfless, synergistic actions to help yourself as you also benefit everyone and everything. We look forward to hearing about your experiences applying a positive basis for creating good. Make it a great, day, year, life!

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

If you want to contact me:
Email: BeWellr@gmail.com

Creating a Better Year

Every new year, many of us make resolutions and vow to be better next year. For things to move in a desired direction, we should do something, but what should we do? To do something we must make a choice. Evidence suggests it is not resolutions, but choices that can create a better year. Creating something better is what must happen, it won’t happen without effort. Below are some ideas that can enable better choices by limiting options and staying true to one’s values.

Do What You Love and it Isn’t Work

We have all heard, do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. The problem is, how do we know what we like? It seems strange, however, when we commit to something, it becomes what we like. That means you need to search for and find why what you do resonates with what you want to be – your identity. James Clear highlighted this idea in his December 28, 2023 Newsletter quote:

“You will love whatever you pour your heart into. Passion follows commitment.”

Too Many Options

All of us know decisions are hard. Many suggest it is because we have too many possibilities. How can too many options be a problem? As it turns out, too many choices makes it hard to decide. Thebn when we do decide, the other options can leave us less satisfied for the choice not taken – FOMO(Fear Of Missing Out). As Herbert Simon and then Barry Schwarz suggest, we need to satisficers not maximizers. We can’t always maximize.

We are afflicted by the Paradox of Choice: Why more is less as Barry Schwarz as is noted in the title of his book. This situation is commonly called analysis paralysis or paralysis by analysis as described by Will Smith in his book, Will.

Why Is It So Hard to Make Decisions?

All of this came together when I heard the December 24, 2023 excellent “No Stupid Questions” – Freakonomics podcast, Why Is It So Hard to Make Decisions? I encourage you to listen to Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan‘s excellent podcast. It has wonderful insights.

Make it Simpler

So how do we make better choices? As they noted in the show, better choices are possible when there are fewer choices, but those choices must be of high quality. A method to have fewer choices that are of good quality is to decide what is important. Focus on your values, and use that as your guide. When I make choices my criteria are that I want it to be good for me – selfish. I also want to contribute toward a better world with my actions – selfless. These actions should also benefit the whole – synergy. Being Selfish, Selfless, and Synergistic is my simple guide to life and it makes my decisions easier because there are less choices.

How Does it Work?

My selfish, selfless, synergistic guide helped me with a recent car purchase.or that reason, I chose a Prius, a Prius prime. This car is great looking and fun to drive – selfish. The car lets me drive mostly electric, without range anxiety – selfless & selfish. The choice also burns less fossil fuels – synergistic. These reasons made it an easier and good choice for me (see Impact of Systemic Change).

Making the Year Better

Better choices improve our lives as I discuss with these other posts Our Economic Choices Demonstrate our Values, The Simple Choice, Making Food Choices Plant Strong Benefits All, Empower Yourself by Making Hard Choices! As I note in those posts, it’s not about doing with less, but making simpler value based choices that improve the quality of my life .

Choosing selfish, selfless, and synergistic options can generate comprehensive improvements because we will be practicing paneugenesis. Paneugenesis is the practice of making choices that create regenerative, net-positive, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. The more of us that do this, the better our year will be. Please share how you made your year better.

Feeling Good for Doing Good

I am suggesting something simpler, yes, but it is not easier. In time these choices will become an automatic habit that are part of your identity. You will need COURAGE to make choices that stay true to your values. Your Courage will automatically follow the strong why. The strong WHY of these choices are the purpose and meaning they provide to make your life better. These actions then cycle back as evidence or data that enables you to feel good for doing good.

To help you C(see) how this can be done, with colleagues, I wrote an article about how I use the 7 C guiding framework to teach: Using the 7C Framework for Teaching & Learning Health Education & Promotion: Authors: Craig M. Becker, PhD, Lei Xu, PhD, and Beth Chaney, PhD, MCHES.

Try using these 7 C’s to create a better year.

Accept the Challenge to build a better Life
Use Courage to do something new that you believe will make things better
Develop Competence so you enhance your capacity to do more
Have a Commitment to work through difficulties
Create Connections to use your competencies and help other succeed…
Make Contributions is the by-product of following the previous C’s
Build on Consequences with continuous and never ending improvement

Let us know how it goes, please share your successes.

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

#SelfishSelflessSynergy

Please share your thoughts and questions below.
Contact me: BeWellr@gmail.com

Salutogenic/Pathogenic Difference

The difference is profound and slight, but outcomes are dramatic. I saw what I believe is a the misuse of salutogenesis in the published article in JAMA Psychiatry, published online December 20, 2023, Population Salutogenesis—The Future of Psychiatry?

Basis

Health, according to WHO, is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. Salutogenesis is the origins of health. Salutogenesis therefore is about health creation or the creation of physical, mental an social well-being, something we want to promote and have. Salutogenesis should then be about a process to create a positive state of being that is good and better than was possible previously, better than our previous status. It can’t just mean recovery from a problem to a previous non-bad, or neutral state of health. That is not better, just a return to the status quo.

Prevention is not the desired outcome of salutogenesis, that is a return to the status quo. Prevention is a side effect benefit of improved well-being. Prevention as an outcome could and should mostly be associated with pathogenesis. It is a pathogenic outcome that is avoided because pathogenesis is the origins of disease and infirmity, something we want to avoid and prevent.

Powerful Complements

Salutogenesis and pathogenesis are more complements than they are different because both are needed. The video below highlights the differences that are complements.

Acute versus Chronic

Both pathogenesis and salutogenesis are needed. Pathogenesis is needed in emergencies to save lives and for short-term illnesses. Salutogenesis, while it is more about long-term well-being, is also about feeling good for doing good in the present. It is the now that makes a better tomorrow possible while it helps us feel better now. The sensation of feeling good for doing good.

Good health results from the process of engaging in health promoting actions. One result of engaging in health promoting actions is good health, over the long term. It can also be called, chronic wellness, as it was phrased by my colleague Michael Stellefson (see Planting a Tree Model for Public Health: Shifting the Paradigm Toward Chronic Wellness) and in this post, Chronic Wellness Article Published. “We defined chronic wellness as persistent, positive conditions enabled through engagement in health-causing actions.” In this sense, while salutogenesis is mostly about long-term well-being. Although salutogenesis provides long-term benefits, it also provides positive affect acutely.

Outcome Difference

The article that brought this issue to my attention again was in JAMA Psychiatry. The article suggested what seemed to be misleading outcomes and recommendations when discussing salutogenesis. It stated:

…funding public health salutogenic measures can be viewed not as an expenditure but as an investment…
Jim va Os, PhD, Opinion – View Point, E2 – JAMA Psychiatry, Online December, 2023

That is salutogenic, an investment in improved well-being. However, it then got confusing, stating:

A shift toward preventive health can decrease the need for expensive clinical interventions, ultimately leading to cost savings.
Jim va Os, PhD, Opinion – View Point, E2 – JAMA Psychiatry, Online December, 2023

While that may be accurate, it is a limited view. Seeing salutogenesis only as an act of prevention is limiting. It was why, after presenting at the 2nd Annual Research Seminar on Salutogenesis in Finland I wrote Salutogenesis 30 Years Later: Where do we go from here?

Need Better

I wrote the article and am making this post because if we only use salutogenesis as a method to pursue pathogenic outcomes, we are missing out on creating health – an outcome desired by all. It is this health creation that was Aaron Antonovsky’s vision. If we do not create a condition better than was possible before, all we can do is return to where we were. Lets make it better, a possibility enabled with salutogenesis, or health creating focus. I also phrase this better outcome as Exceeding Expectations as I share in this video:

Prevention as a Side Effect

Of course being healthier with salutogenic methods is also a MORE effective way to prevent disease, but it is secondary. It is obvious. If one is healthier, their immune system is stronger, they suffer from disease and infirmity less. If they do get sick, unavoidably, i.e. COVID, a recovery is likely to be faster and better or because they are healthier, they will not get sick at all.

Salutogenesis = Improved Well-Being

Salutogenic outcomes are about creating something new and better, not just avoiding a bad possibility, although that also happens. As I note, salutogenesis is a way to practice paneugenesis by generating comprehensive improvements. These improvements are driven by the paneugenesis process of creating net-positive, regenerative, pervasive, reciprocal, selfish, selfless, synergistic interactions so everyone and everything benefits. Please share how you generate comprehensive improvement by practicing paneugenesis.

REAL Wellness

REAL Wellness is another related approach that captures improved well-being beyond the absence of sickness. The concept was developed by Don Ardell, one of the fathers of the Wellness or positive health movement. He explains:

REAL wellness is an acronym for the four dimensions of a positive lifestyle that promotes mental and physical wellbeing. These are:

Reason – supported by science, critical thinking
Exuberance – focus on happiness, meaning, joy
Athleticism – evidence-based nutrition & exercise
Liberty – strategies that boost personal freedoms

Don Ardell notes he defined real wellness because “..,since it was introduced by Dr. Halbert L. Dunn in the 50’s and 60’s and expanded in “High Level Wellness: An Alternative to Doctors, Drugs and Disease” in the late 70’s, the word wellness has been widely adopted and broadly interpreted. What began as a concept focused on self-responsibility, meaning and purpose, a quest for levels of physical and mental wellbeing beyond the absence of illness and a respect for environmental awareness was broadened almost beyond recognition.”

To reclaim wellness, he states: “REAL wellness is positive, uplifting, hopeful and independent of the medical system, corporate worksites, spas and tourism and products and services. It can be a part of endeavors promoted by all these sectors of the economy but the concept is specific to a way of thinking and acting that enriches the prospects for wellbeing. “

Be Well’r,
Craig Becker

Be selfish, selfless, & synergistic so everyone and everything benefits!

#SelfishSelflessSynergy

Please share your thoughts and questions below.
Contact me: BeWellr@gmail.com