Thinking the unthinkable. Alternative solutions to life’s manifold problems.

Imagine when boarding a plane if one were asked the following question. “Would you prefer Cruciform, a Rogallo Wing or one of the luxury three seater parachutes which our airline has just proudly introduced?

Nonchalantly and laconically you retort, “My usual; the Annular.”

In future aircraft might have become much safer due to technology but due to unprecedented public pressure in 2025 after two Airbus A2000s were lost with all 2000 passengers on board, the airlines finally introduced – as an optional extra – the parachute.

The latest optional extra on air flights: One’s very own parachute

Ultimately the parachute which became the favourite was the three seater probably due to the fact that most people felt uncomfortable using a single parachute even in a dire emergency.

Is this a realistic possibility?

This scenario is currently highly unlikely but in the improbable event of a crash being inevitable or imminent, what were odds of surviving a crash – historically none – and what options do the luckless passengers currently possess to mitigate the risk – again none.

Why isn’t a parachute an optional extra and why won’t it ever be introduced?

There is only one answer: it is not the way that things are done!

Unlocking the power of the mind

Once a particular way of doing something has been firmly established, it will become a habit, conventional wisdom or habitual thinking, impeding the adoption of alternatives often superior methods of doing the same thing.

One aspect of work, whether at home or at my workplace, that irritates me are actions that are performed which add nothing to the intention of the complete procedure. Let me illustrate what I am implying by means of a domestic example.

At home we have the kitchen cupboards on one side of the kitchen while the dish washer is on the other side. At any given moment, 50% of the crockery and cutlery are in the cupboard and the other 50% are in the dishwasher. Instead of just using these items directly from the dish washer, we laboriously unpack the dishwasher and place them in the cupboard thereby creating a cycle of these items.

What about having two dish washers side by side with no sink? The one dish washer would act as a cupboard after its contents had been washed while waiting for the other one to be filled up. There would be no need to transfer dishes and plates from dishwasher to cupboard anymore.

Foremost amongst my list of time wasters is shaving. Just get a wife who fancies a beard or at least does not abide them.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the drive to and from work is not only the drive in the traffic but rather the inane responses that the Talk Show Hosts on Talk Radio 702 receive when they pose questions to elicit some intelligent response. Instead they are bombarded by knee-jerk replies and inane thoughts often with disastrous unintended consequences.

Let us take last night. When it was announced that Eskom would institute load shedding that night as two generators were out of commission, there were howls of protest at the incompetence of the current Eskom Management. Furthermore they suggested that they needed to be publically drawn and quartered for their brazen ineptitude. While the public have every right to be outraged by the fact that Eskom has insufficient generating capacity, the current CEO and their spokesman are not the authors of this parlous state of affairs.

Instead it should be Thabo Mbeki who 15 years ago refused to allow Eskom to expand their capacity. Instead he recommended that more heavy electrical users be enticed to invest in South Africa. How short sighted? With a lead time of at least 10 years, the consent for their construction should have been given at that juncture with alacrity. Instead that lead-time was squandered.

In this case, the long term requirements were given insufficient attention.

Many of the vexatious activities in my life fall into the category of petty BUREAUCRACYespecially where those rules serve no useful purpose at all and merely serve to aggravate the recipient of the request ie you and I.

The one which I find totally meaningless is the Security Form. Just to judge the response, I will use the name Noddy with my Employer, Toyland, and contact number being 011-111-1111. Never have I been questioned about such obviously phony credentials.

An real life example in this vein relates to a test of security in Milton House in the Old Rhodesia. As part of a Security Test by the SAS, a member entered the building late at night supplying his name as Mr MU Gabe, an unsubtle corruption of the name of the Enemy Number 1 at the time, Mr Robert Mugabe.

Bureaucracy has to justify its own existence. The following example is most revealing as it exposes this mindset. In the USA all children’s toys have to be tested to ensure their safety. When quizzed, they will readily acknowledge that in excess of 95% of all fatalities caused by toys are a result of children swallowing balloons. Yet never have the authorities attempted to ban the use of this most deadly of toy.

Into this category can be assigned by such items as sugar in New York City which is now considered more lethal than a gun.

Yet another type of tribulation in my life is people proposing supposedly elegant solutions without considering the unintended consequences of those actions. A recent one which has affected me personally relates to the indiscriminate banning of all people over 60 from hiking in the Kruger Park. The fact that as a 61 year old I ran the MTN Half Marathon in sub 2:30 last Saturday clearly in their viewpoint I am incapable of completing a not-so-taxing hike in the Park. SAN Parks has made not one but two fundamental errors. Apart from the fact that I am fitter than most 30 year olds, it is precisely the over 60 year old market which can afford their exorbitant rates that they charge for this most basic excursion!

It is an own goal. What will they do when a 50 year old subsequently dies of a heart attack? Ban everybody over 45!

A measure that the Department of Home Affairs has instituted yesterday – 12^th June 2014 – falls squarely into this category. Whilst the Department of Tourism has targeted countries like China as a source of additional tourists, Home Affairs has proposed that visas only be provided in person to the Applicant. In the case of China, this will only be done at two offices viz Beijing and Shanghai. That means that if a potential tourist still desires to visit sunny South Africa, it could require a three hour plane flight to one of these two towns BEFORE they can purchase the air ticket to South Africa.

What about the Sell By date on all edible products? What is the true cost of this supposedly life- saving piece of advice. Let us take the hypothetical example of a product with a normal shelf life 20 days but which experiences a 5% end of life situation after 15 days. In order to comply with the legislation, what will a compliant producer do? They cannot make the sell-by date 20 days even though approximately 80% of the produce is still edible under normal conditions. Equally it cannot be set at 15 days because 5% will already be past the edible date. To be safe, an ethical supplier might even state that the sell-by date is as low as 10 days at which point they are 100% certain that none of their product is inedible. If many people are like my daughter who is fastidious about these warning labels, this item would have been discarded after 10 days even though there is a high likelihood of it still being fit for human consumption.

Why do we allow such irrational thinking patterns and behaviour? Partly it is due to the rigidity of our way of thinking which calcifies into our way of doing things. One has to force oneself out of one’s comfort zone by compelling oneself to do things differently. If somebody teaches me a useful trick on the computer, I will immediately write it down and place it next to me on the desk. After forcing myself to use the new technique a few times, only then will it become part of my normal repertoire of skills.

As far as unintentional consequences are concerned, create a process of thinking laterally. Do not restrict one’s imagination with preconceived ideas. Invite them all in to be considered. Use the dead time while driving to work as a time to let the mind consider all the possible iterations. Take etolls as an example. Consider how road users will avoid paying them: removing their licence plates is obvious one, using the back roads as another or perhaps they will register their car as a taxi and so one continues. How can one entice users to pay? Offer substantial discounts for early payment.

Finally consider the effect of each.

Eventually this process will become a natural way of thinking without accepting the first consequence of an action that enters one’s mind.

Mostly humans are creatures of habit. Once a pattern has been established, it becomes the norm irrespective of whether it is costly, harmful or even logically irrational.

Consider using these techniques or forever be trapped by one’s established patterns of thinking.