Optimization

A correlation in math is when there is a relationship between 2 variables. In other words, there is a connection or a pattern between two things.

For example, we might find a pattern between the number of hot chocolates sold by coffee shops and the number of heaters sold by hardware stores.

• On days when coffee shops sell more hot chocolates, we might find that hardware stores also sell more heaters.
• On days when fewer hot chocolates are sold, we might find that fewer heaters are sold, as well.

This doesn’t always mean that one thing causes the other. Selling hot chocolates does not cause people to buy more heaters.

There might be a third underlying factor (like the temperature outdoors) that is actually causing these results.

A correlation can be positive or negative. The hot chocolate sales / heaters sale pattern was an example of a positive correlation.

Here’s an example of a negative correlation:

• If people buy more things online, then they may buy less things in person at brick-and-mortar stores.
• So increased sales at a giant online retailer might predict lower sales at small local businesses that don’t have an e-commerce website.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The O stands for optimize.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

Watch SEOT YouTube Video #19:

SEOT Step to Success #19 is to FIND CORRELATIONS

In order to find a correlation, we need to keep track of 2 variables. We need to be measuring 2 things.

Let’s say, our goal is to be a happier person.

• We decide one way to achieve this goal is to make sure we get better sleep so we’re less cranky.
• We decide to measure something to see if things are improving and we start to keep track of how we feel in the morning when we wake up on a scale of 1-5.

Over time, we might start to notice that the quality of our sleep is improving. Or, maybe it’s staying the same.

Why is that?

The problem with only looking at one measurement is that we’re not really sure what’s causing the change (or lack of change).

We might have a hunch and think the nights where we put away the phone and read before bed also happen to be the mornings when we wake up happier.

So, maybe we start to keep a sleep journal. Every night before going to bed, we just make some notes about what we did that day.

• Did you drink coffee?
• Did you use your device before bed?
• Did you eat late?
• Was it a stressful day?
• Did you go to bed around the same time?

After a while, we can look for patterns. This doesn’t have to be on a graph, although it can be if that’s the way you think.

Is there a correlation between days when you drink a lot of coffee and the quality of your sleep?

Do you find the nights you put away your device before going to bed are also the nights where you wake up more rested?

It might mean that less screen time before bed leads to better sleep, although it might not. Maybe the days you put away your device before going to bed are also the days you happen to go to bed earlier… and more sleep leads to happier mornings. 

Think about your goal.

• What are you measuring to see if you improve?
• What else could you start to measure to see if there are any correlations or patterns? (In other words, what hunches do you have about what’s causing your results or lack of results, and how could you start to measure your hunches?)
• How much time do you think it will take before you might be able to see any relationships between what you are measuring. Do you think you’ll start to be able to see a pattern after one day? one week? one month?

Remember, everyone is different. Achieving goals can be a very personal thing.

This is your chance to become a student of yourself. You’re learning about what works for you and what doesn’t work for you.

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

Pivot is a movement in basketball where the player with the ball can move in any direction with one foot as long as the other foot (the pivot foot) remains planted on the floor. 

A pivot in business is when you fundamentally change the direction of your business so you can improve or survive in a market.

Likewise, a pivot in life is when you dramatically change what you are doing.

When the Coronavirus pandemic changed the world, a lot of businesses and communities were forced to pivot in order to cope with the change.

• Full service restauraunts had to explore online delivery models.
• Schools had to figure out online learning and video-conferencing.
• People who lost their jobs had to figure out how to pivot and find something else or chase their side-hustles.

Pivoting has become part of mainstream life and that’s a good thing because change is inevitable – as much as we hate to change.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The O stands for Optimize.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

SEOT YouTube Video #15:

SEOT Step to Success #15 is to PIVOT and TRY SOMETHING NEW

Optimizing is about trying to get better results. So, what do you do when you don’t get the results you’re after?

Well, sometimes, there’s value in sticking to the plan and giving things time to work.

Many financial coaches will point out that even if the markets go up and down, the stock market goes up over long stretches of time, so you should keep investing, even when the numbers look bad.

On, the other hand, there is a time to admit you need to evolve or become extinct.

If you’ve been spending a lot of time, energy and resources trying to improve, and you’re not seeing the results you want, it might be time to pivot and try something different. 

Pivoting can be hard and scary. People who are used to the old you and the old way of doing things will resist.

• You may need to find new allies who are in line with your new direction.
• There will be a steep learning curve as you learn new skills and try new strategies
• Without a doubt, doing something new can be incredibly scary – and that’s okay.

Think about something you really like that used to be new.

Today, it’s probably comfortable and familiar, but when you first started, it was probably scary. Sometimes, the unknown can be scary. But, new things are only new once and eventually, they become old and familiar.

Think about your goal. What have you been doing to try to get to that goal? Are you getting the results you want?

If not, you have three options:

• Should you stick with the plan and give it more time to see if things get better?
• Is it time to tweak something you’re doing to see if you can get better results?
• Or, is it time to pivot and try something completely new to see if that can help get you to your end goal?

Pivoting is about change. And, change can be scary. But, remember that new things are only scary at the beginning and eventually, we’ll adapt and get used to it.

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

Bonus video clip:

It’s actually really hard to find stock photography of a specific basketball move (i.e. pivoting.) Here’s what it looks like in more detail:

Unstoppable Pivot Footwork video.

The normal boiling point of water is 100°C (or 212°F) at sea level.

If you take a pot of room temperature water, put it on the stove and heat it up, you are transferring thermal energy to the water.

Eventually, that water will become saturated with thermal energy, and it will change phases from liquid to gas. This is called vaporization.

When the water is at this boiling point, the vapour pressure of the liquid is strong enough to overcome the surrounding atmospheric pressure. This means bubbles of vapour can form anywhere throughout the pot of water. And, so the water boils.

Let’s take a moment to think about the boiling point of water as a metaphor for achieving our goals.

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The O stands for Optimize.

(It’s explained more in the goal setting slideshow)

YouTube Video #11

SEOT Step to Success #11 is to STICK TO THE PLAN

Sometimes, it takes time for a plan to work.

If you’ve been driving in the wrong direction for a while, it can take some time to get back on course.

When you put a pot of water on the stove, and turn the heat on, you’re on the right path to boiling water. Just because you don’t see results right away doesn’t mean your plan isn’t working. It can take a few minutes before the water starts to bubble and a few more before the water starts to boil.

In other words, at the beginning, it can look like nothing is working even though you’re on the right track. You just need to give it time to be able to see progress.

• Just because you spend one night doing homework doesn’t mean you’ll ace your next test.
• Just because you do one workout doesn’t mean you’ll get shredded.
• Just because you save 10% of your income for one paycheck doesn’t mean you’ll have enough to retire.

But, these are all steps in the right direction. Sometimes, you need to give it time and stick to the plan.

Yes, there may be better ways to boil water.

• Put the lid on.
• Use a smaller burner.
• Try the microwave.
• Use an electric kettle.

But, make sure you give your current plan enough time to see what the results are like.

Think about your goals.

• What strategies are you using to try to reach your goal?
• What are you measuring to see if things are progressing?
• How much time do you think it might take before you start to see results?
• Why do you think that?

There’s no right or wrong answer, but sometimes, you need to stick to the plan instead of just changing plans right away when things don’t work as you hoped.

Good luck!

(Hey, teachers! Check out this growth mindset lesson package or this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

Something happens to most of us when we get older.

We become afraid to take risks.

Think about it. When you watch little kids, they run around, they fall down, they pick themselves up and they keep going.

If you ever watch a kindergarten class, students are excited to be there, they want to ask questions and explore. We call this play-based learning.

But, something happens to most of us as we grow up and move through the grades.

• We stop raising our hands to answer questions.
• We become afraid to make mistakes.
• We pay more attention to what our classmates might think.
• We try to fit in.
• We learn that often, there’s a right way and a wrong way to answer questions on the test.

School can often be about going through the curriculum in a hurry to get through it all. We need to cover material that’s going to be on a standardized test. We’re often in a rush to memorize facts and jump through hoops to get a good mark.

It’s rare that we get a chance to stop, observe and wonder about things.

SEOT is an acronym to help us reach our goals. The T stands for tinkering.

(Psst, teachers – check out this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

SEOT Step to Success #4 is to STOP, OBSERVE, and WONDER

Innovation requires tinkering.

It means playing around, and exploring what happens. It’s about trying to improve something in a really casual way. We’re just messing around with something to see what happens. It probably won’t work, but who knows? Tinkering is about wanting to see what happens.

As you work on your goals, take a moment and making a conscious decision to stop and observe what happens.

• I wonder why I feel that way.
• I wonder how I could get a better result.
• I wonder what would happen if I did this.

Think about your goal. Think about what you want out of life. And for the next minute, come up with a bunch of sentences that start with “I wonder…”

• I wonder if there’s a faster way that I could get these YouTube videos out.
• I wonder if I don’t do this, what will happen?.

Try it now! Just wonder. You don’t need the answers, just wonder. Start with wondering and see what happens.

Good luck and don’t forget to check out our Goal Setting Slideshow!

There is an idea floating around today that if you put in 10,000 hours of work, you can become an expert, or at least very very good at something.

This is an oversimplification, but it makes intuitive sense: The more you do something, the better you get.

The idea of 10,000 hours comes from a study in 1993 that looked at violin players at an internationally recognized music school. Based on interviews, the study found that good musicians and the best musicians practiced around 10,000 hours before they were 18 years old.

Sometimes, if we’re being honest with ourselves, we don’t achieve our goals because we’re not doing the work.

On the other hand, sometimes, we can put in an incredible amount of effort and still not get the results we want.

Have you ever heard the phrase, you need to work smarter, not harder? It means that sometimes, just working hard isn’t enough.

(Psst, teachers – check out this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

SEOT Step to Success #3 is to MEASURE PROGRESS.

Find something you can count or measure to see how much you’re improving. If the numbers aren’t going in the right direction, we need to ask ourselves what could we do differently?

NOTE: This is different from keeping track of the number of days you work on your goal.

• Keeping track of your goal streak is about effort
• It’s a trick we use to help us put in the time (instead of just forgetting about our goal and playing on our phones.)
• Remember, just because you’re working on your goal doesn’t mean that you’re working towards your goal. Does that make sense?

Imagine my goal is to visit my family who live in a different city.

I can get in my car and drive all day in the wrong direction and still not end up at my family’s house.

In this example, counting the number of hours spent driving doesn’t necessarily track my progress towards my goal.

(I mean, normally it does, if I’m driving on a road that leads me to my destination. But when we’re working on goals, it’s not always obvious if we’re doing the right stuff.)

Something else I could measure might be the number of kilometres from my current location to my final destination. If the distance gets smaller, it means I’m probably getting closer to my goal.

Take a moment to think about your goal.

What could you measure to see if you’re making progress?

What number do you need to reach in order to have a little celebration?

• Is it the mark on your next quiz?
• Is it the number of math questions you can solve correctly in your homework?
• Is it how far you can run in a certain amount of time?
• Is it the number of followers you have on Instagram?

Try it now!

If we can find something to measure, we can optimize what we do to give us the best chance of achieving our goals. Good luck!

Good luck and don’t forget to check out our Goal Setting Slideshow!