Buffer: A Potent Tool of Precaution

“Plan ahead: It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark.”

Richard Cushing

Nigeria has a tropical climate with a mixture of dry and raining season. 

However, the country also experiences seasonal flash floods, which are sometimes lethal especially in rural areas and overcrowded places.

One of such lethal floods happened in 2012. As it turned out, more than 350 people died while over 2million people were displaced and dozens of buildings collapsed and several hundred houses became uninhabitable.

Though the flood was serious, a significant portion of the tragedies on record was a result of lousy care in town planning and building construction.

And that’s what informed the choice of my topic today; how we can guard both ourselves and our projects against preventable problems of life through buffer and thorough planning—in advance.

In this direction, an American climate scientist, Dr. Mark Cane rightly stated, “Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous.” 

In other words, a man can be ready for anything if he thinks his plans deeply through beforehand. With due care and thorough planning, our projects and plans will survive almost any chaos.

However, with normal efforts at planning and execution, our projects will always be at the mercy of changing seasons, at the risk of rework or even on the brink of destruction.

In essence, the key lesson here is that, on any important projects, it wise to build in formidable buffers to safeguard them against any unexpected problems.

Buffer in this sense is defined by Encarta dictionary as, "something that reduces shock or impact or protects against other harm."

To explain it through the lens of construction, I interpret buffer as the ability of a system to carry a load—or withstand a pressure— that is far greater than what it is required or expected to carry.

You see, if our project plans are designed to handle only the difficulties we can foresee, they will likely breakdown whenever something unexpected happens. Therefore, it is a smart move to create a potent buffer in our project plans for them to withstand anything out of the ordinary.

While there are many ways to apply buffer in our daily life, the core idea is just one: to protect ourselves from unforeseen difficulties or situations by building a shock absorber into our plans to mitigate the effect of any undesirable incidences that can undermine our expectations.  

It is safe to assume that all plans come with their own invisible challenges. And since the future is always is uncertain, building in a solid buffer is how we can protect our project plans against eventualities of life; it is how we ensure that our process can withstand all contingencies.

Finally, regarding the attitude of an excellent planner and the concept of buffer, Denis Waitley, the author of ‘Seeds of Greatness,’ brings everything together nicely when he said: “Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.”

Habit of Altruism

“Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.”_Og Mandino

Dictionary defines altruism as ‘an attitude or way of behaving that is marked by unselfish concern for the welfare of others.’

Based on the current reality of our times, I think now more than ever is the time we need to put the virtue of altruism into an immediate widespread practice.

With the huge global phenomenon of COVID-19 and its popular preventive measures of isolation and social distancing, some people might think this is not the time to go big on being selfless.

They may reason by the fact that the plague has already infected over a million people, killed tens of thousands and destabilized the lives of over a billion people on the planet. 

However, despite the need to take care of ourselves first and foremost in the midst of this terrible situation, I believe there is still something many of us can do to help those less fortunate than us.

For those of us who are still lucky to be healthy and well-off, instead of being paralyzed by fear and anxiety, we should rather focus our attention on whatever we can do to care for people who are worse off than ourselves.

There are many ways to be altruistic during a difficult time like this. And you don’t need to do a lot to offer a compassionate help. Just think of one thing you can actually do and go ahead to do it.

For example:

You can give money or food to those in real need. 

You can use your time to educate people on how to stay safe via internet. 

And you can and should connect more with your loved via phone calls to show that you deeply care about them.

Realize that the habit of altruism doesn’t need to be imposed by an epidemic or emergency. It should instead be a conscious demand on ourselves to be generous because of our good nature as noble and responsible human beings. 

You see, when you focus your attention on others, your own worry will reduce and you will also have the pleasing conscience of knowing that you are serving an earthly purpose beyond sheer personal needs.  

In his book, ‘Deep Survival: Who Lives and Who Dies, and Why,’ Laurence Gonzales says:

“Helping someone else is the best way to ensure your own survival in a life threatening situations. 

It takes you out of yourself. It helps you to rise above your fears. Now you’re a rescuer, not a victim.

And seeing how your leadership and skill buoy others up gives you more focus and energy to persevere.

The cycle reinforces itself: You buoy them up and their response buoys you up.

Many people who survive alone report that they were doing it for someone else—a wife, mother, son—back home.”

Finally, know that making altruism a habit is one of the best things we can do—not just for the good of others—but for the ultimate good of our own soul both in this world and the hereafter.

Health is Life

“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind and spirit.”_ B.K.S Iyengar

 

A healthy living is a life based on discipline and knowledge; it is a life guided by principles and values. It is a life full of promise and vitality.

Healthy living is both an important and wide topic, so a whole lot can be written about it. But for now, I will write very briefly on the subject leaving detail exposition till a later time.

For starters, we need to realize that overall wellness requires a healthy body, a healthy spirit and a healthy mind. A sharp mind works better in a fit body and both function optimally under the control of a virtuous spirit.

Therefore, if we fail to care for ourselves in the most complete form, our health will be deficient in proportion to the measure of our neglect. Since health is life, we can’t afford to trivialize our well-being in any way.

As I noted earlier, today’s article will be short. So I want to focus on just one of the trio: the body. In subsequent posts, I will write on the other two components of a healthy living person: the mind and the spirit.

 

Healthy Body

 

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”_Jim Rohn

 

First of all, to be physically healthy, we need to eat properly. Our body requires regular balanced diets to function at an optimal level. So we should make sure we are eating for purpose and vitality rather than for indulgence and vain pleasure.

Secondly, to have a healthy body, exercise is also an essential contributor. To have maximum physical health, we need to do more than eat right; we need to engage in the proper measure of physical motions. We can achieve this by engaging in regular aerobic practices.

Thirdly, quality sleep is an indispensable element of sound health. This is made super clear by professor Mathew Walker, in his bestselling book, ‘Why We Sleep.”

He writes that sleep is our life support system which we must view not as a luxury but as a non-negotiable part of our daily schedule.

To make us understand the true importance of sleep, Walker emphasizes that quality sleep not only helps us renew our physical energy; it also boosts our mental alacrity.

Finally, remember that contrary to the common saying, health is more than wealth; health is life. And keep in mind that being responsible and disciplined are the cornerstone of healthy living.

So give your health the special attention it deserves by putting it ahead of all the priorities in your life.

Bookend Your Day

“Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night.”_William Blake

                                                       

Encarta defines bookend as follows: “Make something occur, on both sides or at the beginning and end of something (else).” 

I first heard of the concept of daily bookend from the Darren Hardy, the author of a great audio book entitled, ‘The Compound Effect.’ 

In his book, Darren explained the concept as a strategy for making the most of our mornings and taking complete charge of the evenings.

In essence, when you bookend your day, you deliberately plan to accommodate spontaneity during the day but you fiercely refuse any interference at the star and end of every day.

This one concept, if thoroughly understood and applied can elevate our game to a whole new level. As Darren Hardy clearly conveyed; it is one of the best kept secrets of highly effective people.

Whenever I study the biographies of great leaders of nations and industries, one strong pattern that I notice is that the kind of things they do early in the morning is extremely different from the engagements of an average person. They use the start of their days to accomplish tasks of supreme value.

And this is easier for them to do repeatedly because of an intentionally designed evening routine, which reduces the amount of friction that could stand in the way of their high performance every following morning. 

Evidently, a habit driven routine is the simplest strategy we can use to make steady progress towards our goals because it enables essential things in our lives to move on auto pilot; it enables us to stay on course towards realizing our ambitions in an almost effortless fashion. 

Roy Baumeister, the author of ‘Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength,’ says that when we strategically design our daily routine for high performance; we are making a very smart choice in the management of a precious but limited resource of willpower.

From practical experience, a good routine not only conserves our willpower; it also provides the very support we need to withstand the ups and downs of everyday life.

Once a morning routine is thoroughly established, we will easily tackle some of the important tasks of the day before the chaos and interruptions of life could ever get in our way.

How to Start Your Bookend

With this insight into the power of routine, I am guessing someone is pumped up to get started right away.

To such a go-getter, I suggest you first determine the most important things you want to accomplish at this stage in your life, business or career. 

Then try to install the key behaviours that must happen for you every evening that will enable you to make the most of its following morning. 

Secondly, after you have installed the right evening-to-morning habit, eliminate any suboptimal behaviour— especially during this period of your day— that could easily sabotage your efforts in the long-run.

The final and perhaps most critical element of effective bookend strategy is this: 

1} Make your decision clear.

2} Make your decision non-negotiable.

For bookend to be truly effective, your routine must not only be clear; it must be iron-clad. 

For example: instead of deciding, I will sleep and wake up early, everyday.

It should be: I will sleep and wakeup at the exact same time, every single day.

Please understand that if you are not serious about this last part, then you’re not really serious about becoming highly productive in your mornings. 

You see, highly effective people are not superhuman in anyway; they have just learned to be earnest with what most people tend to be careless about.