Happy Year of the Rooster

Wishing our readers a very Happy Year of the Rooster.

Sincerely,

Compass360 Consulting Group

Taking on the Lensten Challenge (A Note for the Martial Artists)

(updated at 18:18 hr)

The Lensten Challenge is an annual event that Rick Matz of Cook Ding's Kitchen has developed to motivate the lazy martial art players to exercise.   My associates and I are participants of this "virtual" event.

Different Strokes For Different Folks
Following is a sample listing of the various daily internal martial arts training sessions:

• the serious Baguazhang player usually walk a circle that is two to three meters in diameter for 30  to 120 minutes per day;
• the above-average health-conscious Taijiquan players preferred the activity of performing the long (88+ moves) set with a fast tempo and the short set in a slow tempo all within a 30-45 minutes period every 12 hours;and 
• the earnest Yiquan player usually focuses on performing the various standing postures all within 70-90 minutes.  Most of the time, he/she preferred to practice the basic "Holding the Post" posture (zhan zhuang).

The traditional followers of certain Wudang martial art sections were famous for climbing steep mountains on rainy winter days and nights while carrying certain implements and objects on their back for the purpose of building or reinforcing their meta-physical fortitude.  

Side Notes
The Lensten Challenge has more meaningful "physical reason" to improve the integrity of one's physical and mental being than the Krispy Cream Challenge.   Eating 12 doughnuts during a running event is not a good idea.

Happy Year of The Monkey

Wish you and your family a very fine year.

Sincerely,

Compass360 Consulting Group

Renewing the Winter Tradition of Reading the Classics and Other Matters

(An Oldie but Goodie)

As mentioned before, being mindfully aware is the key to succeeding in any endeavor. Sometimes it does not hurt to re-read the classics (super text of know-how) to remind us of the various fundamentals of life. 

Recommended Classics
In a previous post, we discussed the topic of taking one quiet weekend to re-read the classics (The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Dao De Jing, Zhuang Zi, etc.) during the winter season while standing.

One of the following weekends, some of the group will be re-reading some of the following books:

• Against the Gods (The Remarkable Story of Risk);
• Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories;
• The Protracted Game;
•  The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go;
• The Tao of Physics; 
• Strategies for the Human Realm;
• The Tao of Deception;
• 100 Unorthodox Strategies;
• Dao De Jing;
• Zhuang Zi;
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; and
• other unique strategic classics.

Here is an abridged list of the past "hot" books that we have read:

• Anti-Fragile; 
• Made to Stick;
• The Physics of Wall Street;
• The Signal and The Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail- but Some Don't 
• Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe

For those who are audio listeners, we recommended the following books:

• Sawyer's translation of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China
• Sawyer's translation of Sunzi's The Art of War

The rest of us will also be working on our Tangible Vision and our Compass Script while drinking hot tea.

This specific tradition and the use of the standing table have also enabled us  to hone our strategic and tactical skills.

Other Traditions and Suggestions
Following are other interesting yearly traditions that some of our strategic associates have always abide by:

• Renewing one's yearly subscription of Business Week, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist;
• Reviewing and updating one's tactical playbook;
• Reviewing and updating one's contacts notebook;
• Backing up the data bank. 
• Upgrading one's own technological infrastructure;  and 
• Updating one's own security practices.

Our friends at Cook Ding Kitchen and other strategic groups have always reminded us to abide the subsequent list of suggestions that would help the underdogs:

• Donating some cash or books to your local libraries;  
• Donating some cash and/or food to your local charities; and 
• Offering strategic advice to your local non-profit charities.

Comment From the Compass Desk
Practicing the process of reading the configuration of a situation, reflecting on the pluses and the minuses and adjusting to the  situation, is the daily proclivity of a good strategic implementer.

In our case, we preferred the practice of assessing, positioning and influencing.  We will discuss about that specific practice in a future post. 

# # #
...

Happy Year of the Ram

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Year of the Ram.

-  Compass 360 Consulting Group

A Note on the "Clean Off Your Desk" Day (Using a Standing Table)

Winston Churchill using a standing table

Today is Clean Off Your Desk Day.  It is always a psychological benefit to operate from a "clear, clean, neat and tidy" base of operations. 

Trivia
It has always been said that those who wanted to achieve great things, have usually operated from a standing desk.  

Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchhill were some of those great achievers, who have used standing tables for their work.   It has been rumored that Donald Rumfeld, Michael S. Dell and Christie Aschwanden are also standing tables users 

Minor Jotting
Before utilizing a standing table, achieving a state of centerness is quite helpful.  We will include the benefits of using a standing table and the various technicalities in a future post. 

The above picture is from Standupdesks.com

Renewing the Winter Tradition of Reading the Classics and Other Matters

(Updated at 12:22 hrs.)

As mentioned before, being mindfully aware is the key to succeeding in any endeavor. Sometimes it does not hurt to re-read the classics to remind us of the various fundamentals of life. 

Recommended Classics
In previous posts, we have discussed the topic of taking one quiet weekend to re-read the classics (The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Dao De Jing, Zhuang Zi, etc.) during the winter season while standing.

One of the following weekends, some of the group will be re-reading some of the following books:

• Against the Gods (The Remarkable Story of Risk);
• Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories;
• The Protracted Game;
•  The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go;
• The Tao of Physics; 
• Strategies for the Human Realm;
• The Tao of Deception;
• 100 Unorthodox Strategies;
• Dao De Jing;
• Zhuang Zi;
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; and
• other unique strategic classics.

Here is an abridged list of the past "hot" books that we have read:

• Anti-Fragile; 
• Made to Stick;
• The Physics of Wall Street;
• The Signal and The Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail- but Some Don't 
• Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe
• Bill James's Baseball Abstract

For those who are audio listeners, we recommended the following books:

• Dr. Ralph D. Sawyer's translation of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China
• Dr. Ralph D. Sawyer's translation of Sunzi's The Art of War

The rest of us will also be working on our Tangible Vision and our Compass Script while drinking hot tea.

This specific tradition and the use of the standing table have also enabled us  to hone our strategic and tactical skills.

Other Traditions and Suggestions
Following are other interesting yearly traditions that some of our strategic associates have always abide by:

• Renewing one's yearly subscription of Business Week, Wired, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist;
• Reviewing and updating one's tactical playbook;
• Reviewing and updating one's contacts database;
• Upgrading one's own technological infrastructure; and 
• Updating one's own security practices.

Our friends at Cook Ding Kitchen and other strategic groups have always reminded us to abide the subsequent list of suggestions that would help the underdogs:

• Donating some cash and/or valued books to the local libraries;  
• Donating some cash and/or food to the local charities; and 
• Offering strategic advice to the local non-profit charities.

Comment From the Compass Desk
Practicing the process of reading the configuration of a situation, reflecting on the pluses and the minuses and adjusting to the  situation, is the daily proclivity of a good strategic implementer.

In our case, we preferred the practice of assessing, positioning and influencing.  We will discuss about that specific practice in a future post. 

Side note 
The book reading tradition and the walking of precipitous heights originated from an associate who studied from a Wu Dang practitioner/TCM expert.

Happy New Year!

More Food For Thought: A Pragmatic Idea for December 25

Comments From The Compass Desk
On this holy day, many people will pursue the historical strategic approach of  eating Chinese food .

Click here on the Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas Day.  

A few of our associates favorite Americanized Chinese food is  the General Tso Chicken.
While it is an slightly over-rated dish, some people consider it as comfort food. Click here for a quick history lesson on this "fun" dish.

#
The late and great Red Auerbach the former coach of the Boston Celtics (a professional basketball team) , always had Chinese food for dinner regardless whether his Boston Celtics team won or lost a game.   ... He always insisted that his team consumed Chinese food for dinner, especially before a game. 

The presumption was that good Chinese food should never create the feeling of "heavy" with the eater.  Whether Coach Auerbach and his team have ever completed a Chinese "nine course" banquet, is a different story.   

"Being light is right" is the basic principle of consumption.  ...   The state of lightness enables one to be agile and mobile.  Conclusively, this state causes one to feel balanced. 

In our case,  some of us have always followed the Compass Principle of being balanced. 

Chinese Food + Netflix = A Good Day

Be  safe. 

The John Batchelor Show on WABC: An Intelligent and Informative Radio Show for the Smart Strategists and News Addicts:

(updated 10.05.2014)

Anyone who is interested in the current slew of global news and foreign policy, should listen to The John Batchelor Show . It encompasses four hours of infotainment that brings to listeners breaking news with a carefully cultivated team of sources and correspondents around the world.

Batchelor does a 7-day-a-week radio show from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. (est) on WABC and is well-versed in national and international affairs

Profile
John Batchelor is a novelist and a host of a national radio news show that is located in New York City, who does his homework in knowing the next set of news stories and his many guests.

The Show 
The first three hours focuses on macro national matters and earth-shaking international affairs with great depth.

The fourth hr of the show is usually focuses on a book that depicts a specific historical or a scientific topic that many intelligent people would find intriguing.   We will elaborate more in our next post.

Click here for part 2.

Side Notes

Reading the WSJ and NYT while listening to this show is one of my favorite practices.  I occasionally see how certain news stories are connected to my current reading items..

If you are a radio fan, visit the C. Crane company. We have never received a freebie from them or anyone else. We are just a big fan of their specialized radios and their assortment of electronic products.

Scripting to a Victory (The Bill Walsh Way)

(updated at 15:15 hrs)

One of the most interesting traditions/practices in sports is the scripting of the game plan.  From the 70's to the early 90's, Coach Bill Walsh innovated and utilized the concept of scripting the first 25 plays in his games. Then employing the results as a springboard to dominate his competition.

This process model has assisted him to win three Super Bowls and two college bowl games. 

His many prodigies have also employed it to win their shares of high stakes games and championships too.


The Basics of Scripting
Scripting is one of those unique practices that is worth learning and using. This practice enables the implementers to maximize their level of strategic efficiency.  It is quite easy to learn,  but moderately difficult to implement for the obvious competitive reasons.

Retrospectively, the completion of a script usually provides the principal script developer/chief decision makers the feeling of self-preparation. It also gave them a level of confidence.

The basic essentials are: a clipboard, some lined paper, some good writing pens (with red ink, blue ink, black ink and green ink), patience, persistence. a well-temperature room with an extreme state of quietude, a coffee pot of warm water, some tea leaves and the skill of assessing, positioning and influencing. 

Having an assortment of white boards, a tablet PC and/or a smart phone is not always essential for script development.  But it never hurts to have them.

The Compass Project 
We are currently working on a book project that focuses on the fundamentals of scripting through our macro process model of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing. 

This book is focused on the fundamentals of shaping and staging the competition through the application of an array of Chinese strategic principles and stratagems by scripting the right meta-tactical plays.  

How to Script One's Gameplan
One needs to know the objective, the approach, their means and the modes of each competitor before deciding on the different types of scripted plays and the order of the scripted plays.  

This approach enables the offensive play caller to decide on the approach for staging the competitor for a knockdown or a knockout while utilizing their opponent's proclivity as one of the key indicators. There are other key indicators that will be discussed in our current book project .

The Problem of Losing One's View of the Big Tangible Picture (BTP)
In the heat of the battle, some people usually forget the specifics behind their objectives and begin to panic while mis-comprehending the circumstances for staying on course or exiting from the gameplan. 

Our solution is the usage of the Compass PACE guidelines. It guides the offensive play callers to know when to stay on course or when to change direction in certain situations.

Building the PACE Guidelines

The development of the PACE guidelines before the scripting of the array of tactical plays, allows the chief strategic decision makers to understand what is their target and what direction they are pursuing. 

What are the PACE Guidelines

• Priority Objectives: This category focuses on the ranking and the specifics of the targets
• Approach: This category focuses on the definition of the strategic timing points for being efficient and flexible
• Condition: This category focuses on the possibility of certain positive case scenarios and the contingency plans 
• Exception: This category focuses on the possibility of certain negative case scenarios and the contingency plans 

This tool also allows the offensive play caller to know when to stay on course or when to change direction.

We will delineates the psychological reasoning for using the PACE guidelines in a future post.

Identifying the math and physics behind anything relevant is sometimes easy. 

Establishing the Adjustment of the Big Tangible Picture
Once the scripted play is called, the offensive play caller knows something about the defense while the defensive play caller might know something about the state of the offensive team.  Based on the previously called play and other factors, the defensive play caller could possibility figure out the offensive play caller's next possible play. 

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.”  
- Walter Scott, Marmion

Once the allotment of the scripted plays are called, the game of cat and mouse begins.  The offensive play caller might decide to recirculate some of the previous scripted plays or run a variational change off those plays.

A Mini-Test Case of a Scripted Play 

From a Opening (Starter) Plays Script  

Situation: 1st down and 10 or 2nd down and short, on one's own 30 yard line.

After implementing a quick trap to strong side from the pro set formation (slot left, TE Right) on the second play (regardless of the result in some instances), the offensive play caller might signal the same play with either one  of the following options in the 26th play:

• same run play with a different set of shift and motion by the wide receivers
• a play action pass with a five step drop; and  
• a play action pass with a QB rolling out to the weakside.  

Each option is depended on the previous response and the projected response of the defense.  The strategic state and the strategic efficiency of the competition usually determines the manner of play calling.

Side note: Most playcallers preferred the 15-20 plays script model for the psychological reason that they feel that they would have a good read on the competition's intent and methods.  A few might run a 25 plays script for the obvious reason of exposing the probable deception lead by the defense.  

Those who are deeply skilled in the art and science of strategic shaping and staging, preferred the 25 plays option. 

Comments From the Compass Desk 
Regardless of the array of innovative concepts that Coach Walsh has contributed to the game of football, the script is one of the most useful tools that could be applied to modern day life.

In an unpredictable setting, the tool enables the implementer to strategize in terms of contingencies. 

Click here on some of the basics of scripting 

As mentioned before, the smart strategist could build a script with the following items: a quiet and well-temperatured room; a ream of lined paper; colored pens and a good set of assessment skills. (In some instances, high tech tools are not needed.)

There is a psychological reason for using pen and paper for the initial stage. Those who have seriously studied Yi Quan or Taijiquan, would understand why. 

# You do know how to assess. Do you?  

Whenever you watch a football game, ask yourself if the offensive coordinator is calling a well-scripted game. 

Side Note
We didn't published our book on assessing strategically through the employment of Sunzi's strategic principles because of the quantity of Sunzi's type  of books that were being pushed in the published books marketplace.  Most of these books were quite average or below average regarding to their concept of applications and new ideas. 

Some of them repeated the same obvious points- "if they do this, you do this" type of approach without ever emphasizing on the importance of comprehending the strategic state of the situation. They also outlined the same old idealistic rules of thumb.

For the apparent reasons, the approach of utilizing the rules of thumbs and the simplification of perspective is for amateurs.

These writers have not thoroughly learned the process of "assessing strategically", one of the holy grails behind the Sunzi's essay. Some aspects of this skill can be found in Jiang Tai Gong's Six Secret Teachings. 

Our intent was not to get lost in the abyss of high noise and low signal.
.  
What makes our book unique is our focus on the connectivity between the scripted plays to the categories of adjustment plays and situational plays. 

Whenever the book is published, we hope that you like it.

A Few More Side Notes
Click here for a field level example of assessing, positioning and influencing.

For the Niners Faithful, we recommended this great book by Daniel Brown- 100 Things 49ers fans should know and do before they die  and Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh's book -  The Score Takes Care of Itself.  

Our associates at Cook Ding's Kitchen have always reminded the novices and the neophytes that one cannot successfully strategize if he or she is not able to stay focused on their immediate objective. They also reminded them that the reading of the Art of War does not help either.  

# # #

Happy Chinese New Year . Welcoming the Year of the Horse

Source: elsoar

Wishing our readers 

a Happy Year of the Horse.

Source: ChannelNewsAsia.com 

Food For Thought: An Idea for December 25

Chinese Food + Netflix = A Good Day

An Interesting Perspective

Comments From The Compass Desk
The late and great Red Auerbach the former coach of the Boston Celtics (a professional basketball team) , always had Chinese food for dinner regardless whether his Boston Celtics team won or lost a game.   ... He always insisted that his team consumed Chinese food for dinner, especially before a game. 

The presumption was that good Chinese food should never create the feeling of "heavy" with the eater.  Whether Coach Auerbach and his team ever completed a Chinese "nine course" banquet, is a different story.   

"Being light is right" is the basic rule.     In our case,  some of us have always followed the Compass rule of being agile and mobile.

Happy Holidays!

The Winter Tradition of Reading the Classics and Other Matters

(Updated at 12:22 hrs.)

As mentioned before, being mindfully aware is the key to succeeding in any endeavor. Sometimes it does not hurt to re-read the classics to remind us of the various fundamentals of life. 

Recommended Classics
In a previous post, we discussed the topic of taking one quiet weekend to re-read the classics (The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Dao De Jing, Zhuang Zi, etc.) during the winter season while standing.

One of the following weekends, some of the group will be re-reading some of the following books:

• Against the Gods (The Remarkable Story of Risk);
• Sherlock Holmes Detective Stories;
• The Protracted Game;
•  The Thirty-six Stratagems Applied to Go;
• The Tao of Physics; 
• Strategies for the Human Realm;
• The Tao of Deception;
• 100 Unorthodox Strategies;
• Dao De Jing;
• Zhuang Zi;
• The Romance of the Three Kingdoms; and
• other unique strategic classics.

Here is an abridged list of the past "hot" books that we have read:

• Anti-Fragile; 
• Made to Stick;
• The Physics of Wall Street;
• The Signal and The Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail- but Some Don't 
• Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe

For those who are audio listeners, we recommended the following books:

• Sawyer's translation of The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China
• Sawyer's translation of Sunzi's The Art of War

The rest of us will also be working on our Tangible Vision and our Compass Script while drinking hot tea.

This specific tradition and the use of the standing table have also enabled us  to hone our strategic and tactical skills.

Other Traditions and Suggestions
Following are other interesting yearly traditions that some of our strategic associates have always abide by:

• Renewing one's yearly subscription of Business Week, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist;
• Reviewing and updating one's tactical playbook;
• Reviewing and updating one's contacts notebook;
• Upgrading one's own technological infrastructure; and 
• Updating one's own security practices.

Our friends at Cook Ding Kitchen and other strategic groups have always reminded us to abide the subsequent list of suggestions that would help the underdogs:

• Donating some cash or books to your local libraries;  
• Donating some cash and/or food to your local charities; and 
• Offering strategic advice to your local non-profit charities.

Comment From the Compass Desk
Practicing the process of reading the configuration of a situation, reflecting on the pluses and the minuses and adjusting to the  situation, is the daily proclivity of a good strategic implementer.

In our case, we preferred the practice of assessing, positioning and influencing.  We will discuss about that specific practice in a future post. 

# # #

Succeeding in Life by Being Mindfully Aware

Many years ago, Mr  D , an associate of ours, spent time learning the Wudang martial arts system from a Mr. Li.    (From our understanding, Mr. Li has now retired somewhere in Northern California.)

About 17 years ago, Mr D took the time to teach some of us the many interesting Wudang traditions and exercises that would assist any budding strategists in the practice of mindful awareness. During the session, he offered an efficient but pragmatic perspective of those fundamentals

Modernization of the Practices
We recently had a long discussion on these traditions and decided to document these unique practices.  During the session, we also integrated some other unique practices that were quite effective in chaotic times and create the following listing of those practices:

• Climbing a steep hill during the rainy season;
• Take one quiet weekend during the winter season to re-read a set of classics (The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Dao Dejing, Zhuang Zi, etc.) while standing;
• Reciting the technical principles of Baguazhang quietly during one's internal martial art training session; 
• Humming Bach's "The Art of Fugue" in a moderately low tone while performing Baguazhang's circular walking exercise in a fixed frame mode;
• Reciting specific principles from the Art of War essay while analyzing a situation;
• Reflecting on a critical situation in a warm, fireplace-lighted room while listening to Bach's Goldberg Variations (The Goldberg Variations piece is great for calming those who need some time and space to contemplate and cogitate.);
• "Fasting" for an unknown number of hours before making a grand decision;
• Re-fueling one's tea collection before the end of the winter season.
• Maintaining the daily habit of scripting.
• Practicing Taijiquan on a hot day before drinking Oolong tea; 
• Walk 10,000 steps a day.

Our friends at Cook Ding's Kitchen are big fans of this category of pragmatic practices.

The Next to Final Comments

As mentioned before. the objective of this unique list is to develop an efficient state of mindful centering and awareness.  You do know how to do that.  Do you?

"Psychology is Strategy" is our first clue to understanding the other grand meaning behind this unique listing of practices. 

Comments From The Compass Desk

One could only succeed in their endeavors  if he/she is mindfully aware of the Big Tangible Picture of the situation and know how to strategize effectively.  You do know what is in your Big Tangible Picture!?  . . .  Do you?

One could stay ahead of the curve by being mindfully aware of the Dao of the situation.  We will include details behind this unique view and the specific psychological reasoning behind each of those mentioned practices in a future post. 

Our Current Objective

We do one thing. We do it well.  Then we go on.