[Dean's World] Rudy Rummel: Ten Heuristics of Life and Learning

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Rudy Rummel:
Ten Heuristics of Life and Learning
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1149473443.shtml


   N. Gregory Mankiw, a noted professor of economics at Harvard, has
   published his [1]"My Rules of Thumb" in which he passes on his wisdom
   about work. Before I retired from teaching, I did the same thing in a
   speech I gave to faculty and students. It was my attempt to pass on
   the insight and wisdom that comes from age and experience. A former
   student of mine who attended the speech read Mankiw's article, and
   suggested that I do the same thing with my speech. This post is from
   my notes, and is organized into ten heuristics:

   1. Never assume a negative about your abilities or what you can do.
   Let reality provide the negative through your failure. This is
   fundamental in life and work, as in not asking the boss or bureaucracy
   whether you can do something. Just go ahead a do it, and maybe they
   won't say no. One of the most impressive case of this is the blind
   student Tim Cordes who got a medical degree with honors from the
   University of Wisconsin, and is also a black belt in kwon do and
   jujitsu.

   2. Keep in mind that the power to achieve = interest X capability X
   will. I have known very intelligent students whose interests were so
   diffuse, or their will to work so lacking, that they could not succeed
   in school. Then I've known those who were not so bright, but worked
   hard at what they wanted to do, or had such a deep and highly focused
   interest in what they were doing, that they achieved well past what I
   expected of them.

   (Continued [2]here)

References

   1. http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:-chb0XQ9dz4J:post.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/papers/My_Rules_of_Thumb.pdf+%22my+rules+of+thumb%22+mankiw&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=safari
   2. http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2006/06/ten-heuristics-of-life-and-learning.html