The Hindu Business Line : Install `a new operating system for the brain'

Reaching what you want is easier than you think, promises Mark Joyner in `simple.ology' (www.landmarkonthenet.com) . Only, you need to see the world differently.

The first law he prescribes is that of straight lines: "The shortest path between any two points is a straight line." Hey, we all know this, don't we! May be, yes; yet "our actions are usually radically curvy lines, or straight lines in the wrong direction," he frets. "Anything that we allow to pull us off the path to getting what we want is a type of insanity," defines Joyner, in a fresh light.

The opposite of insanity is science, he adds. Science, according to Joyner, is not so much about lab coats and beakers, as about "a useful way of looking at the world." He explains science, in brief, thus: "Try it. Pay attention. If it works - great! Now you know a little something. If not, you can try something else. Take notes." It's not that insanity doesn't try; but it doesn't pay attention, nor keep any notes. Worse, when things don't work, it continues doing over and over again anyway.

Which explains why "the average worker gets only about 30 minutes to 1 hour of actual work done every day." Non-working `office hours' get spent in socialising and `joking with each other'; and also, in "playing solitaire on their computers, or staring at their screens without really doing anything effectual," occasionally looking around perhaps, to check if the boss is coming.

To tackle the low productivity problem, the boss may bring in the experts, `the same old ineffective routine,' and they would invariably suggest a new training and motivation programme. Alas, `the magic tricks' work only for a short while, and things return to the usual rut, because there are `the invisible walls around the asylum', says the author.

Argumentum ad hominem (Latin for `arguing against the man') is `one of many linguistic artefacts that bind our minds'. The perpetrator of this fallacy `attacks you or the people behind your information,' rather than `addressing the argument itself'. Another wall is `double bind,' a catch-22: "An unresolvable dilemma whereby two conflicting, or equally unsavoury, options are presented by an authority figure to an unwilling victim," as in a quote of Gregory Bateson, cited in the book. And there are more walls, thicker and steeper!

But there is an escape route, assures Joyner. Install `a new operating system for the brain' with `defensive weapons to break your way out,' he urges. The key is UMF (utilitarian model flexibility), to help you with `disposable reality'.

Rule 1 of UMF is that thoughts are not things, but models. Classify your thoughts into two categories, viz. representations of the observed, and of the imaginary, the author advises. Rule 2, the heart of flexibility, is that we have the ability to choose our models. You have the ability to choose what to believe, or to construct varying models of the world, and also "you can pull yourself in and out of these models at will depending on what suits you," cheers Joyner.

There are four more laws of `simple.ology' that the book describes in detail. As addendum, there is a `maintenance plan for your new brain'.

Worth following the straight line... to the bookshop.

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