'Smart
Talk' - Review
High-performance people live
in a Whiteheadian world, not
the Newtonian, says Lou Tice
in `Smarttalk,' from EastWest
Books (Madras) P Ltd.
Sir Isaac Newton's view was
that everything was perfect
except people, who were `always
trying to ruin a good thing'.
On the other hand, Alfred
North Whitehead, a philosopher
and a mathematician, looked
at the world as a dynamic
one. The Whiteheadians, therefore,
work on building a new reality
every day, says Tice. "For
them, present reality is only
temporary... They don't sit
around cursing fate, or wishing
for change... They create
change for themselves."
To transcend current reality,
you should see the why and
what, and not worry about
`how', counsels the author.
Another advice, to help cultivate
`thought patterns for peak
performance', is to break
from linear thinking. Tice
reminds you of the need for
a lot of drive and energy
to get from here to there.
Most of that must come from
within - `from intrinsic motivation
that comes from well-defined
values and motives'. Discover
your values by asking yourself
tough questions, exhorts the
author. "It's not an
easy task to sort out your
priorities. It takes some
time... When you get down
the six or seven things that
are most important to you
in this life, you know what
to hang your goals on."
Throw away the ‘have
to’ attitude that losers
adopt in running their lives'.
Instead, look at what is the
best for you and say, `I choose
to, I want to, I get to.'
That way, you call the shots,
and assume accountability
for everything you do, even
as `tremendous surge of power
comes over you.'
A chapter on `the creative
thought process' speaks of
the three parts of the process,
viz. the conscious, the subconscious,
and the creative subconscious.
The conscious part, in turn,
has five basic functions,
`perception, assimilation,
association, evaluation, and
decision'. Tice likens the
subconscious to `a high-fidelity
sensory tape recorder that
captures and stores your version
of reality'. The third part,
the creative subconscious,
enforces your behaviour. How
does all that connect to work,
you may wonder? "The
quality of information you
have stored about how the
world works affects the validity
of choices you make,"
says Tice.
Smart analysis.
- D. Murali
http://BookPeek.blogspot.com
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