Thought of the Day - Lottery Thought Experiment

[I wrote most of this around the end of June, when there was a $100m AUD jackpot on the lottery. After the draw I forgot to finish it, but in retrospect there are some interesting thoughts in here that are worth posting.]

I'm normally against gambling, on the principle that in the long run the house always wins. I don't deny that some people are lucky and beat the house, just that if it was likely to happen, bookies wouldn't stay in business long. Based on the above, I don't tend to gamble or play the lottery on a regular basis. But every so often, when there is an obscenely large jackpot I'll throw a couple of quid on the lottery. Normally I am left slightly disappointed, it is hard not to wonder 'what if I won?' before the draw. This time however I decided to put my occasional flutter to good use, win or lose.

Recently I have been having a hard time working out what on earth I want to do with my life. I've been thinking about it since I started uni and have yet to come to any good conclusions. There is a classic thought experiment that is supposed to help in this situation: What would you do if money was no object, if you could do whatever you wanted to do, if for example if you won the lottery? It is a little difficult to really get into that frame of mind, money will always matter, there are always too many options. The only time you ever come close to that mindset is buying a lottery ticket, anything is possible, if unlikely.

I'm sure no-one — other than maybe Bill Gates — thinks they would live their life the same if they won the lottery. I mean who fantasises about watching more bad TV, working a job they hate and being dissatisfied with life? Money isn't everything but having a relatively unlimited supply would change your perspective.


Anyway, my thought experiment was this: To indulge my 'What if I won?' thoughts and try to determine from those thoughts, what I really want to do. Rather than focusing on the specifics of having a vast amount of money, I directed my attention to the recurring themes of what I would actually do. I wouldn't say it was a complete success, but there were some interesting trends:

1. Read More - The one recurring thought in almost all of the possibilities was that I wanted to spend more time reading. Literally my first thought was, that if I won the lottery, I would take a pile of books to a cabin in the hills and spend a lot of time reading and thinking. In fact almost all of my fantasies involved reading in some way; from just reading, to building a huge library, to being able to have a 'reading week' every year like Bill Gates. It really seemed to be at the core of what I want to do. The irony being that at the moment I have lots of time to read, instead I sleep and watch bad TV.
With this in mind, I need to strive for a greater level of erudition.

2. Improve Companies - If I did win the lottery, I would still work, if only because it would drive me crazy if I didn't. The one thing I have loved in every job I have ever had, is having an idea so good it feels like an epiphany. Different ideas, thoughts and inspiration, just seem to join up and lead to an answer. They have been rare moments in the jobs I have had so far, but they are what keep me going. Most often these serendipitous ideas are for ways to improve a business, not just in an incremental way, but in a revolutionary way.
With this in mind, I need to focus on jobs with the opportunity to improve businesses.

3. Go To Business School - One of the stranger themes was that I would go to business school. Sure part of it would be because having won a lot of money, you would somehow end up involved in business. But I think the underlying reason is that, if money was no object it would be something interesting to do.
With this in mind I need to consider doing an MBA even if I have no interest in being a manager.

4. Live In The Mountains - Almost all of the location specific thoughts I had involved mountains, generally Alp/Rockies type peaks, but really any relief would do. I don't think I had a single thought of lounging on a beach on a tropical island or the sea. In all honesty, places that are too flat kinda freak me out.

With this in mind, I need to try to live (or at least holiday) in the mountains as much as possible.

5. Learn How To Survive If The Shit Hits The Fan - I think around that time I had been reading too many disaster books (The Stand, Emergency etc), so this was on my mind. However it is probably a good idea to do some preparation for the worst.

With this in mind, I need to ... do something ;-)

6. Travel To See The People I Like To Spend Time With - IM's and e-mail are fine when nothing else is on offer, but seeing people I enjoy spending time with should be the catalyst for travel that I have thusfar been lacking.
With this in mind, I need to make more of an effort to travel to see the people I enjoy spending time with.


There were also some trends that were conspicuous in their absence:
1. Buy a big house, fancy car, jewellery etc.
2. Live a playboy life with a bevy of beautiful women.
3. Give lots of money to charity.

The first two merely confirm that, as I suspected, most of the conventional trappings of money don't appeal to me. I don't feel significantly better-off now, than I did when I was earning half as much in my first job after graduating from university. While chasing money for the sake of it seemed foolish before. It is now more clear, that I am not interested in 'more money' as a goal.

That last one makes me seem like kind of a bad guy. Who could be so selfish, that on having the stroke of luck to win a vast sum of money, wouldn't help out charities. I think this stems from the fact that I don't trust them to use it well. I'm not saying charities deliberately squander money. I just question whether it is used most effectively in absolute terms, or if it is used in a subjective way to make donors feel better. If I was going to give money away, I would want to make sure it was going to have the greatest benefit. Weirdly one of my fantasies involved giving away the winning ticket to an acquaintance (un-named) and disappearing.


It was a nice thought experiment, but in reality it turns out on this occasion the house did win. I only matched 7 numbers across 6 lines. But I think that if I started living life as if I had won the lottery, I would be much happier.

Thought of the Day - Life As A Laboratory

Something a lot of people seem to find strange about me is that i experiment with things, not only that but i actually call them experiments. I don't just buy a new pair of shoes, i experiment with near-barefoot walking. I don't become a Vegan, i experiment with my diet. I don't wake up early, i experiment with my sleep.

To me life is a laboratory, all parts of my life can be optimised, improved and if necessary changed wholesale. On the other hand i think a lot of people get into a (un)happy rut and don't see the need to change, to try new things. While i am sure that i am guilty of that in some areas of my life it doesn't stop me looking to change in others. The great thing about experimenting is that if it doesn't work out you aren't committed to the path, you were just trying it out. It also doesn't preclude the possibility of future improvements or changes. For me one of the most reassuring things about science is that scientists can admit when they were not exactly right or even outright wrong. There are no absolutes, it only takes one exception to break the rules and set you looking for new rules.

I'm sure other people experiment with things and maybe it is because my experiments tend to be a little more extreme, but most people i discuss my experiments see me as strange or at best eccentric. What convinces me that i am on the right path is a lot of the most interesting people that i've met and authors who's books i've read have had a similar attitude to experimentation.

Thought of the Day - Results-Only Work Environment

99% of people are paid for their time and not their results. Which do you think is better for the company and the individual? Unsurprisingly for anyone with half a brain, the results method is better for both.

I really should have posted this when i came across the concept on Tuesday but i wanted to read the book (Why Work Sucks) first to make sure i really understood what i was talking about. The books notes will be up very shortly after this post but i wanted to offer some comentary that wouldn't have been appropriate in the notes.


Having just read the book it feels like the culmination of thoughts that i have been having in my career up until now. It really ties together; behavioural management, self-directed companies (Maverick, Open Minds etc), process improvement (Six Sigma, metrics etc) and even the more recent lifestyle design (4-Hour Work Week).

It also finally puts a name to something i have expereinced first hand, i am a morning person when it comes to work, i like getting up early and making a start on work. I tend to be in the office before everyone else (~7am), i don't take lunch or breaks and i know that after 3pm i'm not really at my best but i have to hang around until at least 5pm because it is expected, because people will call me a slacker if i don't. It doesn't matter if i don't accomplish anything in those 2 hours, as long as i am at my desk people assume i am being productive.
In my first job after grduating from university i took the approach of doing my contacted hours, i'd start early and finish early. The hour before my colleages arrived tended to be my most productive, so i thought logically it was good for the company. However it wasn't long before my boss took me aside and said that he didn't care if i was in early, he wasn't there so he didn't know if i was working or not and leaving before 5pm was showing a lack of comitment. Which sent the clear message to me that he didn't care if i worked or not, just that i was at my desk. It also prompted me to start recording my hours so that if he ever said i wasn't comitted again i could throw my regular >50 hour weeks in his face.
That conversation has stuck with me for the last 4 years and i still record my hours for the same reason. After reading the book it strikes me that it is a huge waste of time. A waste of the companies time because i do it in work time. A waste of my energy because i worry about how it might be perceived if my average hours drop below 45 despite the fact i am only contracted for 38. It also provides zero incentive to improve, if i know i have 2 hours of reduced productivity why not stretch things out to fill them time, the only outcome of working faster is getting more work to do in my least productive time.

I suspect this will be a recurring theme in this blog, so i have given it a tag "ROWE" if you want to group all of the posts together.


Idea from: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/05/21/no-schedules-no-meetings-enter-best-buys-rowe-part-1/

Thought of the Day - Personal Crest

I came across an interesting site today, it has a flash based system to create your own personal crest:
Scion Personal Crest Creator

While it is a little tacky and random it got me thinking, what would sum me up, my values, my interests etc. I came up with the crest below:


At the top i went for a 'grease monkey' to represent my background in engineering. The circuit motif on either side represents electronics and computers which tie everything in my life together. In the middle i went for my interests; books, rock music, snow/cold and TV. Overall i'm quite happy with it, was interesting to have to only pick the 4 interests that summed me up.

Thought of the Day - Job Acceptance

Something that I noted down from Go Put Your Strengths To Work by Marcus Buckingham:

Before accepting a job ask yourself 3 things:
Purpose - What is the purpose of the job? Does it fit with your values?
People - Who will you be working with? Do you think you will get on with them?
Activities - What will you actually be doing? Does it fit with your strengths?

He suggests that the the top is the least important, getting more important as you go down. I would agree, if you don't like what you are doing day to day you would have to be working with some very special people or have a very strong purpose before it would be bearable. On the other hand if you love what you are actually doing the other two are easy to put up with if they aren't right.

Thought of the Day - The Nature of Entertainment

What is the nature of entertainment; what makes something entertaining, what value does entertainment provide and where is the line between something entertaining and something valuable?

This is a fairly key question for me, i won't deny it, i watch a lot of TV. I mean more than a lot, like a few hours every day, often more. But why? If you asked me now i would say because it is entertaining, i might not be able to define what 'entertaining' is but any other answers (i learn from it, it is relaxing etc) would be a bit feeble. Not to seem big-headed but i am a fairly bright guy, i would hope that it's not just a case of "turn on and tune out" but at this juncture i don't know how else to explain it. It seems like giving up TV should be a 30-day trial at some point, probably the summer so if i continue to watch tv afterwards i haven't built up a backlog of days.

I think even more strange is my desire to watch ice hockey, i have always said i don't understand people who watch football but then why do i watch ice hockey? I don't play and haven't for around 10 years, i don't have any real investment even in the team i 'support' and yet i enjoy watching it. I just don't know why.

Lastly what about fiction books? For some reason people equate TV with mindless entertainment and books of any sort with knowledge. Books are somehow seen as superior to TV, even though i would imagine a large majority of books are no more intellectually stimulating than TV.

Are some forms of entertainment better than others and what would life be like without entertainment? I suspect most people think there should be a balance between work, learning, entertainment and relaxation, but is entertainment really necessary?


Somewhat interestingly this idea arose from reading some information about Buddhism and one of the 8 precepts of living a good life is; "7. To refrain from dancing, using jewelry, going to shows, etc.". So it isn't explicitly entertainment but it is kind of implied. At the moment i'm not doing too badly with the precepts. The only one i suspect i would fail is not lying, but that is a bit of a grey area as the literal translation is "speaking truth always" and technically do that, i just tend to omit rather than say anything untrue.

NB This is an extension or possibly a branch from a previous post where i discussed TV and Social Surplus. However in that post i didn't really tackle why i watch so much tv, only that it was probably too much and wondered what i would do with the time instead.

Thought of the Day - Trends

Just had a quick read back through my blog posts so far and significant proportion concentrate on purpose; what i want to do for a living, what my ideal job is, how i can use my strengths to uniquely tackle problems etc. It seems like something i really need to work out and i think i now have plenty of tools to attack this problem, i think i just need to set aside some time to look at it until i find an answer.

It just occurred to me that some of the things i am doing at the moment (looking for jobs, updating my WebCV) might be rendered moot or at least changed significantly depending on the outcome.

Might be a good opportunity to try out 'journaling' for the first time too.

Thought of the Day - Top 10 Values

List of my top 10 values:

1. Creativity
2. Inquisitiveness
3. Inventiveness
4. Intelligence
5. Vision
6. Knowledge
7. Inspiration
8. Punctuality
9. Challenge
10. Introversion

Found through:
Steve Pavlina (original list) and
Douglas Wagoner (web-based test for them)