Mr Hyde's Other Notebook

Thought for the Week

A herd of buffalo can move only as fast as the slowest buffalo.

When the herd is hunted it is the slowest and the weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole herd keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

 

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells.
Excessive intake of alcohol, we all know, kills brain cells, but naturally it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.

 

In this way regular consumption of alcohol eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster  more efficient machine.

 

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers.

 

Corporate Trivia Challenge

Always good to lock in the first show of the year. Just confirmed a Corporate Trivia event coming up in a few weeks. 

Sounds like part Teambuilding part Motivation will be required, but will know more after my briefing tomorrow.

http://www.Trivia.com.au

A Dingo took my dinner!

It's true.

The neighbour has a new dog, one of many.
A dingo, who looks more ferocious than he is

However

the open front door I guess was too tempting
as were the chicken wings up on the kitchen bench

An amazing coincidence!

This was quite amazing.

Here I was, settling in for a big day when an interesting letter popped into my inbox.

It was from Walter Taylor. brother to the former president of Liberia Mr. Charles Taylor.
Apparently he's on trial in The Hague, and they want a partner to invest huge sums of money
into hotel and commercial properties in the UK. Was I interested?

Well, yes, but there's one small problem. I don't have the cash to invest at this moment.
Sadly I will have to decline. Another chance slipping through my fingers.

But, here's the thing...

Just as I was resigned to a life of struggle street, another letter arrived.

I've won the lottery. The Millionaires lottery to be precise!

I've put them in touch with each other.

A story to consider

There were these two men, sharing a railway carriage. They didn’t know each other. They just happened to be travelling together. One of the men had, resting in his lap, a cardboard box with holes punched in the top. After some time spent contemplating what might be inside his travelling companion’s box, the other man at last could not contain his curiosity. He said, “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help noticing your box. Does it contain some variety of animal?” The other man, though obviously surprised by this impertinent intrusion from a stranger, smiled politely as he answered, “You’re absolutely right. There is indeed a creature kept inside this box. And furthermore, I may reveal, the animal in question is a mongoose.”

The first man, who’d initiated the enquiry, was astonsihed by this revelation. Spluttering with surprise, he sought some further explanation of this certainly provocative disclosure made by his strange fellow-traveller. “A mongoose? Sir I must confess I had expected it to be perhaps a cat, or rabbit, not a creature so exotic and outlandish. The animal you mention so excites my curiosity that I must beg you, sir, to tell me more. Where are you bound with such a specimen, if I may be so bold?” The other man, who sat with the perforated box on his lap, shrugged wearily as he replied, “Well, it’s something of a personal matter, as it concerns a family tragedy. However, since I’m confident I may rely on your discretion, I suppose I don’t mind sharing my unfortunate account with you.”

“You see,” the man went on, “this sorry tale concerns my elder brother. He’s always been what I suppose you might refer to as the black sheep of the family. He has for many years indulged himself in a predictable and commonplace array of vices, of which the worst is his fondness for strong spirits. His drinking has progressed until he is now in the final stages of delerium tremens. My brother now sees serpents everywhere, which is the reason I am taking him this mongoose, that he may be rid of them.”

“Excuse me,” the other man interjected, looking puzzled, “But, these snakes your brother sees… aren’t they imaginary snakes?”

“Indeed,” his fellow traveller replied. “But this,” and here he gestured meaningfully to the perforated box set on his lap, “is an imaginary mongoose.”

Australian Financial Rescue Package - cheap money available!

I've thought of a way to help the present financial crisis here in Australia - print more money.

These enterprising gentlemen produce a very realistic Australian 1 Million Dollar note.

Printed on plastic, it looks just like a real one would, if we had one.

I love them... you can get yours here

They are a great promotional fun give away.

Secret Business - The Business of Secrets Pt 3 - Comedy Commitment

In the world wide Stand Up comedy boom of the early 1980's, Sydney opened it's Original Comedy Store.
Situated in a downtown basement it was an electrifying environment with great head liners and nervous newcomers, all stage managed by the charismatic comedy veteran Rodney Rude.

Vince Sorrenti, Austin Tayshus, Ric Carter,  George Smilovich - all cut their teeth here, all about to become the new wave of comedy legends in Australia. I did my first show about 6 months after it opened, getting the nod from Rodney after my first "open mike night" and getting paid from then on.

Not that the pay was much, but they had an excellent buffet dinner that I'm sure kept many of us alive, even if we couldn't afford to drink there. I also met my wife there, so it has many happy memories for me.

So over the years, crawling my up from opening support act to feature act, I watched an awful lot of comedy, and a lot of it was truly awful. And over this time I came to realise that there were a few rules and guidelines of comedy that interestingly relate to the work that I'm doing now.

And the first is Commitment.

Not the fact that you need commitment to make a career in the comedy business, or in any business or venture, that's a given, but commitment to the IDEA.

I would often see new comedians try a joke or story and watch it fall flat, mainly because they didn't believe in the idea or the premise of the joke. That doubt telegraphs itself to the audience and they too distrust if it's clever or funny. In exactly the same way, a not so talented performer, with jokes that are not so clever or funny, can do well because they believe in the concept and people are swept up in their enthusiasm. You can often observe this in MC's & TV Hosts when they do a monologue that was written for them. If they don't buy into one of the jokes or comments, they do not deliver it as well as they could.

So to put it into a formula - The effectiveness of the joke is equal to the quality of the joke multiplied by the commitment to it. EJ = QJ X CJ

I actually only wrote that formula out last night after reading something from Dr Robert Zawacki and his book, Transforming the Mature Information Technology Organization.

His formula was ED = RD X CD.

That is, an Effective Decision = The Right Decision multiplied by Commitment to the Decision.

And this simple formula sums up what we try and do in a Facilitated Teambuilding or Planning session.
When the people impacted by any decision are the ones who created it and they are committed to it, it suddenly becomes so much more effective.

You can have a perfect solution provided to any business problem you face, but the multiplying factor of commitment will render it totally useless unless those same people were involved in the process and are committed to making it work.

To read more about the MC and Facilitation services we provide,
please visit  http://www.timothyhyde.com

"I'd like to thank the academy"

I was chatting about motivation the other day and was reminded of this motivational "Mind Hack."

It's perfect for those days when you're not really "up to speed" and need a short sharp dose of motivation and a laugh to get you going. It's perfect for the shower or on your morning walk.

Pick one aspect of your life or work and imagine you've just been given a huge award for it!

It can be something meaningful and significant or perhaps just something small.

Now, make your acceptance speech and make it meaningful.

"I'd like to thank the academy
for their astute understanding
of just how difficult it has been for me
over the last few weeks
and I will endeavour to continue
doing the washing up diligently
as I have been doing the last three days.

Thank you, this means a lot to me."

 

Way too much fun

After a busy week, this is the perfect thing to play with.

Check out what's happened to my normal "peaceful" website !

Have your sound ON.

Once you've seen how it works, adjust the settings on the top toolbar
for your own website and effects. The Led Zeppelin is good,

Watch this!

One of the hurdles that we have to get over if we want to become better "thinkers", is to break out of our ingrained "habits."

As they say " Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

One terrific "Mind Hack" that I sometimes use during my Creative Thinking Workshop sessions is to get every one wearing a watch to put it on their other wrist!

Then during the rest of the session they are to acknowledge when they glanced at the wrong wrist. This can be quite hilarious but also shows us just how strong these habits are.

So, here's your challenge. Wear your watch on the other wrist for the rest of today and let me know how you got on.