Deal with stuff competently

It comes with responsibility

When Gary Kasparov played chess with a program Deep Blue, he confessed he was not in a mood to play because the machine did not enjoy beating him!! Chess is a psychological challenge. You have to read the opponent’s moves to perform. With machines what can you possibly understand?

Though there is nothing to learn emotionally from machines, there is something that intrigued me yesterday. Machines are competent and responsible. If the algorithm goes wrong, or does not fit the situation, there is a beep and error. If ICU monitor does not work properly our information on patient’s vitals is disturbed, no nurse can efficiently write vitals for every minute continuously and measure all parameters briskly. We are bound to technology in dealing with our patients efficiently.

There was an experiment in the peripheral health set-up in South India, 2 years ago. Chart based treatment vs algorithm based protocol resulted in the latter winning the game. With computers the diagnosis was faster and more accurate as an add on to human deliberation by helping the doctor decide from more accurate decisions on diagnosis that only machines can initiate in the first visit to a rural health set-up.

Artificial rains are possible in a patch of land that is at the brink of desertification with poor irrigation methods!!

Similarly, man is competent enough if we know how to deal with our stuff responsibly. This art can be learnt at any stage of life by both young people, and adults from middle to old age.

Man has made machines, but machines taught us to organize ourselves, program our mind on a daily basis to perform.

Almost 13 years ago there was a mission in Kerala to make old women there to learn the machines so that they can chat with their grand children living abroad, not feel isolated and try online gaming or try to explore internet in any area of their interest. They were responsible adults when it comes to the kitchen, this little digitalization managed their old age in such a way that they overcame loneliness and dementia.

So here’s how we become competent in dealing with stuff:

1. We must continue to do same things everyday, to get a knack of it. When a child is weaned from breast milk, we add one recipe at a time but feed the baby with previous dish also with the newly added variety. Adding a dish every 3 days and not exclusively new dish everyday brings about good growth. Practice makes a man perfect. Go straight line at your own pace, let your competitors fidget, nudge, retaliate or ignore you considering that you are incompetent. No one can beat a person who is a work in progress. So master your art competently. Gymnasts do not become in 1 day.
2. Revise as much as you can until you innovate. I wrote a critical analysis of Bradford Hill’s criteria of disease causation recently as a book chapter. When I was first acquainted with it, several years ago, I just memorized it. Revising epidemiology throughout these years and teaching made me an expert in causation. It enabled me to produce this critical review in just 15 minutes time. And I enjoyed it.
3. Think about your intentions. Go straight line. I am a Pisces woman. A mixture of all signs. I cannot handle stuff if I do not keep my intentions clear. My sun sign taught me this. I was able to self discover. Not only me, competent people have the correct and clear intention to achieve something. I am wearing this ring to impress others or make me feel good? I am reading a book to improve my knowledge or to brag about it at every other gathering and achieve false gratification? Are my research practices questionable? Can I competently handle my flaws, my crisis or am I a burden? Double check your intentions. My going for a country ride with a friend is a pleasure and not a burden to entertain my company forcefully. I need to enjoy the process by really inculcating good intentions. In the west, a father’s brother or uncle leaves a fortune to the nephew who can ease himself in revenue making. In India this very act becomes so tumultuous as many people with vested interests come up to prevent this transcendence. There is so much turmoil in inheriting stuff, that most people prefer to let it go and be thankful for what little they have instead of fighting the clever relatives.
4. Compare only with your previous self if you want to be competent performer on a daily basis. Yesterday I was assimilating all the work I have done on Medium. It provided me the required knowledge to handle my problems, helped me to understand my situation better with what was already online by myself in previous moments of good and bad emotions. This brought me to write similar stuff again helping me deal with new challenges with already sorted methods I thought deeply about that require an action now. Graphically represent your achievement trajectory, and you will get your answer. You know your position now and are determined to go further.
5. Keep good observation. Be sharp. We cannot bow down our heads in front of a cobra that can sting at any time. You are allowing them, making them strike at you or back stab you or derail you from your success. Do not be insecure, just observe and you will know what to do. Relax it is not so bad. The storms have shifted to another place, you are quiet again to face it and make it to your heart’s desire.
6. Appreciate yourself and reward yourself by a warm winter bath, wear a home-made fragrance, have a cup of coffee and write. A good book read to accompany your sleep time is so epic. It is a time memorial hack to organize your mind and achieve a good psyche to handle all emotions, thoughts, work and people. This rejuvenates you to handle the unattended hidden desires and becoming competent by releasing all negativities and revamp yourself. Life can be hard for you. The solution is not hanging yourself, yes literally. Let them come and behead you, why should you do the cowardice. You have all the means to live happy, comfortable, knowledgeable and competent. So why waste this on trivial stuff. Say thanks to the God for he is good.

Be competent. Handle anything and everything to create your life. It should be a life well lived, do not let your time just pass by because you have to indulge and not wait until you become physically and mentally not so able when you grow old. Enjoy!!