The very needed attitude of verifying

In today's fast paced and ruthless world, people usually tend to agree with the stated without any questioning of the fact. When the sales guy in the saree shop shows a 9 yards saree and says it is 9 yards, you trust his word and choose the design and colour to buy. When the investment deposit form says Rs.25000 invested at 13.32% p.a. gets you Rs. 41650 in 5 years, you trust the calculation. When shop sales guy says the table I am interested in is 4 by 3 feet, one tends to strike a match with our requirements in mind and move to other factors.

But, in days of ignorance, marketing and plain lies, you should not trust what you hear on the face of it. In the first instance, when my mom came home and tried the saree, it was 8 yards, not the nine the shopkeeper confirmed it was. His defence on returning, everything we sell is 8 yards as 9 yards. Do look at the below picture: a part of the deposit form from Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd.: 

Turns out the actual rate of interest in the cumulative option of 5 years is 10.75% p.a.compounded annually, not the high 13.34% p.a. by which I was actually attracted to the scheme (13.34% is simple interest and why would any sane person look for simple interest in a cumulative scheme?). In the third case, the table shown to be was actually 4 by 2.5ft and not 4 by 3 ft. It looked suspicious measuring it by my eye and I asked for a tape to measure it. It was only 2.5 ft by width. The sales guy only had a sheepish smile to respond with.

Such are the various cases of buying in today's world. It usually was in finance, a phrase called "Buyers beware", but in today's case, almost every single fellow is up to tricks fooling customers.

The concept of trust cannot be blindly held. A more sane logic of he is the expert of things and we should trust him also does not find meaning nowadays. The shopkeeper knows that the worst case for him is that he will have to reverse the sale or better, exchange it when they complain. There is a perverse upside to the seller at the cost of the buyer. There are not many ways to get over it as of now, except to be aware and verify things, however untrustworthy you may seem to be.

A mandatory pain in their arse sanity check is necessary before buying to prevent a pain in your arse at a later point in time.

Ideal personality: Why MBTI is so not right..

When I first knew about the MBTI test (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator) and that I was supposed to take it, I thought I was definitely strong in some areas and was kind of in the middle for some of the other parameters.

I was administered the MBTI test at my management school and I found it very hard to choose one of the two answers when asked to choose from. I had fair amount of instances on either side and if it was another day, I could have as well ticked the other option. With many a questions in limbo, I didnt really feel the test helped in testing me, or I was not quite the normal guy falling quite clearly in such sharp black and white categories (as it should have been perhaps).

Somewhere down the line in the last 1.5 years, I have been able to see that all for each pair of MBTI, one preference or the other is more beneficial depending on the circumstances. Sometimes, keeping your mouth shut helps to prevent further embarrassment and trouble, while at times going out of way to shout out your point is beneficial.

 

Similar with Sensing and iNtution. Wiki says { Individuals who prefer sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches, which seem to come "out of nowhere". They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data. On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information. } Again this preference is and should be based on the situation (or atleast that is how I have always used it). Without intution, how else can one even try to understand such vague things like atoms, their chemistry, radio frequencies, nuclear physics, integration and differentiation in mathematics, visions of leaders, faith on god, etc. On the other hand, how can you ever make a sound decision without any basis. Both extremes seem ridiculous.

If you think over it, even the other two pairs will be like that.

 

MBTI test says that these are personal preferences only and nobody can be a perfectly any of the 16 different conmbinations and it is not strictly a type to be classified into. People do exhibit both sides of a pair. The point why then classify it like that? Why not have three things instead of a pair. The third should be the center region in between the extremes of the pair.

And that I think is the perfect personality!

A person capable of being in neither of the MBTIs, but right in the center for all the four pairs and one who feels most confused as to what he really is after being given the test. He will be the most suitable in the ever so dynamic situations of the current and future worlds where prefering different ways to different situations and maybe even different ways for same situation at a different time is required. [If you understood the last statement, I assure you that you will qualify as "intelligent and wise" in Ajit's Intelligence test ;) ]

A perfect personality is a flecible one capable of handling a delicate as well as a hard situation. He is flexible in approach and knows when to stick to what and what is to be achieved. Extrovert helps in life to make new friends and contacts and achieve the unimaginable but being introvert and doing your own work is beneficial when you have a job in hand to complete all by yourself. The perfect personality should be able to do the right mix of both extremes right one after another or sometimes even simultanoeusly. e.g: Being introvert while being extrovert like when you go to a party and introduce yourself or make an effort to meet up someone(extrovert behaviour) but hardly talk anything (introvert behaviour). It is in a way like playing good cop, bad cop alone and seeing which is the best way the situation can be handled and then choosing the suitable role.

The message of AIDS

http://www.globalideasbank.org/site/bank/idea.php?ideaId=386

What AIDS has done to her, we need to do the same to the planet...