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Malcolm Gladwell is by far one of my favorite authors. He recently released his new book, What the Dog Saw.

Besides being a very insightful researcher and author, he is also one of the few authors to have all four of his books on the Best Seller list. Incredible considering his first book came out over 9 years ago.

As a speaker he is just as insightful. C-Span recently did an hour long interview with him. So, if you have some time and like Gladwell, you will enjoy the interview.

Read Time: 5 Minutes

“Human Factors research” is the analysis of of how human beings interact with complex systems.  I’m not sure about you but living life well is perhaps one of the most complex tasks we all face. Humanity is constantly in search for greater meaning, finding our our true passions, our callings, and simply what is life all about. Obviously I have a biased viewpoint in that I believe we are all created to be loved by our heavenly Father and to love Him and others in return.  It sounds simple enough, but why is it so difficult? I love analytical research I was recently grabbed by a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers.  I love trying to find out the little things that help to answer, at least in part, the “why” things happen as they do and how that applies to life and our spiritual calling to become imitators of Christ and to live how He lived…serving people. We often learn more about living well by analyzing how we have failed. Not to impose guilt, but to learn from our mistakes so that we do not repeat them. This is obviously easier said than done, because lets face it, who really loves to analyze their shortcomings and c’mon its a lot of work.

In 1979 the Three Mile Island nuclear station came extremely close to a full nuclear meltdown. So close was it that the nuclear industry has hardly still recovered from all the negative publicity it received since then.  So how did it all happen? It was the accumulation of minor difficulties that almost led to a Nuclear Meltdown.  Now I don’t have an opinion on if we should or shouldn’t have nuclear power but the story of how this reactor almost melted down is incredibly interesting and informative to our lives. Here it is a little re-worded from Outliers:

There was a small blockage in the plants “polisher” – a kind of giant water filter. This caused moisture to leak into the air which caused to valves to close which caused the cold water to stop flowing into the plants steam generators. Of course the plant had a backup generator for situations just like this, but for some reason, that was never found out, the backup valves were also closed that day. No big deal because an indicator in the control room showed that the valves were closed. However that indicator light was blocked by a tag hanging from a switch above it noting that the switch above the light was not working. So the indicator light went in noticed do t the repair tag. This caused the special, last resort, relief valve to start working to relieve the pressure. But as luck would have it, it was also malfunctioning in that it was stuck open when it was suppose to be closed. To compound this ever growing problem the relief valve indicator light in the control room was not working as it was rarely used and no one knew that it was broken. By the time the engineers realized what was happening the plant was minutes from a meltdown.

I find that on this journey of life we seem to try and guard against the “big” things form going wrong. Avoiding the big moral failures that we see happen around us almost weekly if not daily in the news. Just as was the case on Three Mile Island, it’s the accumulation of the small that usually brings us to a meltdown, catastrophic life disaster.  I wonder if it is because we are always worrying about the “big” things we ought not to do that we don’t realize the small things that are starting to compound.

Here is the hard part. It is easier to watch out for the big things because lets face it, it doesn’t actually take that much effort.  It is living a life aware of the small habits we are cultivating that is much more demanding. Are you evaluating your habits on some sort of consistent basis? Everything might be fine and dandy, but you might also be one minor step away from catastrophe.  I’m not trying to bring doom and gloom. Far from it in fact. I am passionate about God using all people to make a difference in this world and I absolutely hate seeing people taken out by the seemingly “big thing” that they should have stayed away from.  The fact is it was the small little habits that they should have been avoiding.

How do I do this:

1. Today ask two people that you trust and will give you an honest answer to give you feedback on any habits that they see in your life that in their opinion should be evaluated. Bad habits can impact all areas of our life. The main ones to evaluate right away would be habits that affect your: Faith, Marriage, Relationships, and Passions/Dreams.

2.  Be willing to evaluate their feedback. Consider their advice. Personally I almost always discount their advice at the outset. However if I am willing to come back to it they are almost always right in their assessment.

Today be brave ask for feedback on the little things you do…

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately. I don’t think I’ve been getting anywhere though. It seems like I have so many thoughts and ideas, but they seem surrounded in fog. I know God is peaking. I feel as if He has shown me a glimpse of something special, even spectacular. Its as if He has shown me a portion of a beautiful picture of a finished puzzle and then took the cover away so I couldn’t see the whole finished project. He’s given me 1000’s of pieces and then it seems I’m blindfolded. A hopeless situation. I know I must rely on Him and His working through me, so I submit to His work. But the reality is, I absolutely love these seasons when it seems God is speaking more than He usually does (perhaps I’m just listening more), but it can also be more frustrating. So, all I know is that He has begun a process within me. It feels like change, like transformation. To what end, I don’t know, but my trajectory is fwd and He is guiding me. Do you ever feel like this? So many thoughts, so little clue about what it all means?

I was reminded agin in Phillipians 4 to think on what is right, “Finally, whatever is true,whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”

MalcolmGaldwell in his book “Outliers” Talks about the 10,000 hr rule. Basically it is the assumption (through much research actually) that it takes approx. 10,000 hr’s of practice to become an ‘expert” at any given task or area of learning. So, I embrace the process of learning, contemplation, etc. We are actually instructed in Scripture to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. It’s interesting that we need to get our thinking straight before transformation comes. So I continue to pray and think on what is right. I continue to try and use Phillipians 4 as a foundation for this journey He has me on. What is the journey He has you on currently? Are you spending your time on that journey, on Him? Or what else are you spending your 10,000 hr’s on? What are you becoming an expert at? What am I becoming an expert at? Actually embarrassing to think about for me sometimes. So, what have you been thinking about…is it to have the mind of Christ?

And even more important, Phillipians 4:9 ends with…whatever you have learned put it into practice. 10,000 hours is a lot of practice…Lord I’m not even close, forgive me for losing focus so often.