http://www.toach.net/blog Working as Expected Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:24:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en At the end of each year, I like to review what I did, things I liked, things I didn't, how I grew and other interesting things I learnt. This year I thought I'd share some of my explorations in Travel... First off, I did plenty of travel. This year I traveled to ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/12/28/this-years-travel/ An easy question to answer - it depends... Being in control of your emotions does not mean you can't get angry, upset, sad or even happy. It means you have choice of what emotion you feel when. At least in the western world, 'emotional control' often implies no emotion at all. A ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/12/22/can-you-control-your-emotions/ I've been investigating lies and lying of late (in case you didn't notice the other posts). In doing so I discovered some very interesting research on self-deception. Such interesting research that it fits into many different areas. From life, sports, business and other pursuits. And the research hints at top performers ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/12/03/self-deception-is-good/ Last week I discussed the idea of non-verbal clusters. If you read it, you probably said to yourself, "Of course". Yeah, you're an intelligent aware human, you know this basic stuff. So how come we so often miss these clusters until after the fact? You might have had the experience, but ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/11/19/how-do-we-miss-the-message/ In a general post, I wrote about how to improve your lie detection. Now when I state lie detection, I'm also talking about every other thing a human can do. Truth detection, for example, is much harder than lie detection. Emotion detection is also a useful skill. You may think that's ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/11/12/non-verbal-clusters/ Last week, I was in China having another adventure. During my stay I had the joyous opportunity to visit a few large bustling markets. These markets are full of small (usually no larger than a few meters square) open stalls, filled to overflowing with all kinds of merchandise and staffed with ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/11/06/how-to-haggle/ Events have no meaning in themselves. Imagine you've planned a huge party. You've planned the food, layed out the tables and drinks on your lawn. Put up streamers and lights preparing for a big night. The sun is high as people arrive. Soon the party is rocking, everyone enjoying themselves. Suddenly, ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/10/29/meaning-and-belief/ From my previous post, I forgot to mention one of the most important aspects needed to improve! (and not just lie-detection either) That aspect is feedback. It's all well and good to think you caught a hint that something was wrong. It's another thing entirely to follow up and find out ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/10/22/how-to-improve-your-lie-detection/ Stressed and under pressure? Take a breath and put to one side all that stress and pressure that you're under. We'll come back to it soon enough. Now we've got a break, let's ask a few questions to give us some perspective. What is your outcome from work? Two years ago, where ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/10/15/today-is-the-day/ Recently the TV series "Lie To Me" started it's second season. A show detailing the adventures of a human lie detector. And throughout the show, they offered hints on how to tell if someone is lying. Hints like micro-expressions, word choice, body movements, gestures and more. All very interesting. Unfortunately, even ... http://www.toach.net/blog/2009/10/01/are-you-good-at-telling-lies-are-you-good-at-noticing-them/