Effort

I just watched a re-run of a BookTV interview with Newt Gingrich. I usually agree with this guy but not on his views of how to fix schools. Whenever they say the model of what is wrong is in Detroit then I know they will not be interested in fixing the problems in Idaho schools. They are simply not the same. At the core is an entirely different mindset of the people in those two places. The following approach is more helpful to me.

Carol Dweck's book "Mindset" promotes students moving from a fixed mindset, meaning they presently possess all of the talents and abilities they will ever have, to a growth mindset, meaning their abilities grow with effort, practice, and strategies. (Go to my Mindset blog and click on the links.) What are some of the ways we might encourage students to have a growth mindset?

1. Show them that your successes have come because of effort.

2. Ask them them questions that show that you value growth over fixed mindsets eg. "What mistakes did you make today that you learned from?" (Carol Dweck)

3. Ask them them questions that show that you value growth over fixed mindsets eg. "What did you put the most effort into today?" (Carol Dweck)

4. Make statements that show that you value growth over fixed mindsets eg. When they finish something they are proud of say "Wow, you really put a lot of effort into that!" (Carol Dweck)

5. Be an example of learning from your mistakes eg. President Hinckley saying that if the interview for 60 Minutes didn't go well that he wouldn't put his foot in that trap again.

6. Involve them in meta cognition (thinking about thinking). Talk them through your thinking when you were in a growth mindset.

7. Point out growth and fixed mindset actions in television shows as you watch them together.

8. Help them avoid the TV shows that leave out the work that growth takes. This is most of them since the plot usually has to resolve in 30 minutes.

9. If the TV show makes an allusion to the work, discuss what it would take in real life for that good thing to happen.

10. Pass along family attitudes eg. "Any job is better than no job." (Dad)

11. Display quotes about work by respected authorities eg. “Our primary purpose [is] to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1936)

12. “There is no royal road to anything that is worthwhile. Nothing that is deserving of earning or of cherishing comes except through hard work. I care not how much of a genius you may be, the rule will still hold” (J. Reuben Clark Jr.)

13. “Do not ever look down on those who labor in occupations of lower income. There is great dignity and worth in any honest occupation. Do not use the word menial for any labor that improves the world or the people who live in it. There is no shame in any honorable work” (Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Apr. 1982, p. 121; or Ensign, May 1982, p. 84). (Dad was right in line with the apostles.)

14. “There are few things that give me more pain than to see young men and women who do not realize their potential, who do not … discipline themselves into the work necessary to acquire the skills and learning characteristic of a good education. There is too much indolence, too much watching of television, too much sunning on the lawn, too much seeking after pleasure, too much dependence upon the opinions and work of others, too little self-reliance” (Dallin H. Oaks, “The Formula for Success at BYU,” Speeches of the Year, 1979 [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1980], p. 169).

15. Memorize and sing with your family "Put Your Sholder to the Wheel."

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Immigration

Larry Steimle sent this address to family and friends for consideration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I08lOAHGSoQ
In it is a plea to fix immigration problems. Some obvious solutions might be to strengthen the boarder with guards or fences.... What if instead of stopping them from coming here, circumstances were created to make us want to go there. What are the reasons the flow of immigration from Mexico to the US might be reversed?

1. The economy in our country is worse than theirs
2. The doctors in their country are better than ours.
3. They enjoy greater freedoms than we do
4. Crime is lower there than here.
5. They have jobs and we don't.

O.K. All I've done so far is to reverse the existing conditions. I'm not saying any of these are desirable. However, perhaps they have pushed us far enough out of the rut thinking to consider what might be done to bring one of them to a harmless or even helpful reality. Let's work on #5. In what ways might they make working in Mexico more attractive?

1. Implement Google strategies in the factories.


2. Implement Google strategies in think tank companies.


3. Create jobs that require graduate degrees.


4. Perfect the universal translator.
   
5. Create conditions for a new ice age so the gringos would want to go where it was warm and would bring all of their advances in farming with them.


6. Perfect bio domes for working and living areas. (see picture above)


7. In jobs that required hands only, not a lot of brain work, place monitors above the assembly line that would educate and entertain.


8. Make it so that people choosing the educational assembly lines (see #7) could earn their associates after two years of working there.


9. Make it so that people choosing the educational assembly lines (see #7) could learn about the LDS religion from missionaries while their hands were kept busy.


10. In keeping with the tradition of siesta, make available to each worker a clean, quiet, sleep environment for lunch breaks. These might look like the capsule hotels in Japan.


11. Provide an on-campus Wii workout room.


12. Legalize the monopolies of the U.S. Robber Barron era but impose a system for passing along the wealth.


13. Motivate productivity with carrots not sticks, i.e. reward good work but never threaten job security.


14. Promote socializing by creating cohort groups among the workers and assigning a discussion leader for while they worked.


15. Allow workers to somehow create their own job descriptions.
    

Haitian Boat Crash

The story of a small overcrowded boat of Haitians crashing is not a new one. Still, the heart wrench in the details creates a desire to help the "miserably poor" country. The U.S. Coastguard searched 52 hours for survivors. So often we see ourselves as protectors of the helpless but then feel helpless to create the change that would have a long term effect.

In step #3 of FPS we are allowed to ignore for a while the known barriers to solutions. All of the consideration of strengths and weaknesses of a proposal is reserved for the 4th and 5th steps. So for now, what are all of the ways we might alleviate Haitian misery?

1. Implement the LDS Church's PEF program (to educate poor people)

2. Give out Micro loans (to help start home business)

3. Give them reflector ovens like the ones BYU students took to South America (so they can cook without expensive electricity or polluting fires)

4. Merry-Go-Rounds that generate lamp light like the ones BYU students took to Ghana

5. Teach them the intensive farming techniques developed by the Benson Institute at BYU

6. Create housing like the capsule hotels in Japan

7. Use Mayor Giuliani's "Broken Window" philosophy to stop crime.

8. Make U.S. adoption of their orphans easier

9. Create factories for them to work in based on the Google model.

10. Teach them to spin cloth Gandhi style.

11. Make it safe for Doctors Without Boarders to work there.

12. Teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ so they will find purpose in living and be able to make sense of difficult times.

13. Give them clean drinking water through "Operation Blessing" at the 700 club.

14. Create jobs for people like FDR did during the Great Depression. (Jill)

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I needed to add this report on the efforts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Haiti since the earthquake. These people aren't just brainstorming, they are DOING what they can to help.

Of the People, By the People, For the People

The title is from the Gettysburg Address. It expresses the ideal of government accountability. Congress is voting for bills they haven't read and, to me, seem harmful. How can we make individual Congressmen more accountable to the people? (FPS Step #3)

1. Term limits

2. Shortened terms

3. Require a quarterly vote of confidence.

4. Make them read the polling numbers of their constituents on each issue.

5. Have them explain the bills they are about to vote on and how they will vote on a TV channel for that purpose.

6. Have them watch constituents debating the bill and then have them create a summary to prove they understand what they said.

7. Publish their daily time trackers so we can see what we are paying for. (This might be a case of Little Sister watching "Big Brother"!)

8. Make it so that every bill enacted into law would expire within one year and require a new vote for the law to continue in force.

9. Good Historians are "fair to the opposition" meaning they show understanding of opposing views. Make congressmen do the same.

10. Take the bit out of their teeth! Let them somehow feel pain when they go in a direction other than where their constituents want them to. For example: decrease their pay, give them jail time, or more hours of homework.
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If these suggestions seem outrageous, review brainstorming ground rules.

Medical Reform

I had an old college roommate do my taxes for me one year. She told me that I would have enough money to live well on if my medical expenses didn't take so much of my income. So now, when President Obama wants to reform the medical system part of me wants to cheer. Another part doesn't because 1) I don't believe bureaucracies ever increased the efficiency of anything, 2) I'm pretty sure the plans they are considering would put a bureaucracy in charge. 3) Although there are claims to the contrary, I'm pretty sure it would increase government spending and therefore debt.

Step #1 of Future Problem Solving helps us ask enough questions that we can come up with a question worth working on. They can't be yes/no questions. They should be questions that might generate many possible answers. I'll start the list:

1. In what ways might we reign in present government medical spending?
2. How might we convince people they might not be the recipient of a government give-away?
3. How might we convince the majority that it is corrupt to want something for nothing?
4. How can we decrease the number of people in poverty because of medical reasons?
5. What are better ways to detect corruption in medical billing?
6. What are better ways to detect corruption in government spending?
7. How might we pay the same money for medical services without risking poverty?
8. What are the equitable changes we might make in medical services?
9. Who are the best people or groups of people to design medical plans?
10. What are the ways we might take care of physical problems without going to a doctor?
11. Healthy habits for lifestyle and food consumption (Jonathan)
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Stimulus Packages

In the Constitution there are written safeguards to protect the people from the excesses of the federal government. Anything that creates a bigger, more intrusive government has the potential for becoming anti-Constitutional.

The present stimulus package sends the message that government spending is the solution to our individual and corporate financial woes. Permission to spend is granted by the Congress. The more they spend, the more we will be taxed. Money creates one kind of power. Accepting more government spending is accepting a bigger government. Gifts almost always come with strings, i.e. the power to control some aspect of our lives.

Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, described an evaluation as being a stimulus to further student growth (p.76). It made me wonder if there were other, unusual measures, we haven't considered that might stimulate economic growth. It is hard for me to think in terms of trillions so to get my mind around the problem I'd like to apply the question to a person, a family, or a small business.

In FPS there is an emphasis on asking the right questions. One right question for this current event might be, "What, besides government money, stimulates financial growth?" I'll start the answer list. Please add to it in the comment box and I'll edit this list with your thoughts.

1. Work harder
2. Work longer
3. Work less...when the law of diminishing returns is in play
4. Work smarter...more focused
5. Work with others
6. Inspired work...keep praying
7. Bring creativity to your work (Ask me about Brian Tracy's morning lists.)
8. Pay down, then pay off, debt
9. Humility...learning from mistakes
10. Honesty is the best policy in work...avoiding corruption
11. Do a better job of providing what others need...finding the right market
12. Clarify wants as opposed to needs (Emilee)
13. Let Capitalism run its course (survival of the fittest) (Jill)
14. Innovation (Adam)
15. Consider carefully opposite views of best policy. (Marti)

As with any brainstorming, the first answers are always the easiest. Getting past the obvious is where the real creativity comes in. This is the FPS step #3. Step #6 asks us to create a plan using one of the #3 solutions. Can you imagine what a "Humility Stimulus Package" might look like???