Never one for the smaller matters in life, like cleaning, organising, structuring, getting places on time etc. Today I plan to tackle one of big questions - love.

(read more in the full post)

I’ve always believed that fundamentally there are two types of people in the world, the do-er and thinker. While there might be a 100 sub-categories of each, there are still these two classifications that you can apply as a general rule, to the whole of humanity. Combine a do-er and a thinker in personal or professional life and the results can be astounding, combine two thinkers and while on the one hand it will be a great party, it will only be because a do-er has hosted it, two thinkers couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery. They could think up all the components of a great party, but would fall at the first hurdle, usually getting out of bed or locating a brewery, beer, friends or some combination of the three, either way were all staying sober or drinking in do-er hosted parties as normal.

I’m a thinker, which is both a blessing, and a curse. Whilst for all the money in the world I could never put up a shelf, while a do-er is demasculating me and putting it up, I’ve already analysed the profit for every manufacturer in the shelf supply chain, decided what and how should be stored on the shelf, solved world hunger (a plan never to be put into action) and prepared the reward (that i’ll never get round to organising) for the person putting up the shelf. Do-er’s have the same blessing/curse as the the thinkers. Do-ers, while great at putting up shelving are slaves to the moment, acting on impulse without the fore/hindsight to see the picture and context for their actions, which can mean that whilst active they are ultimately inefficent, headless chicken syndrome I guess you could call it.

The more I think about it, the more I want to be a do-er. I’m being left behind by do-ers who rather than talking their entire lives of doing all the things that they want to do (I’m thinking mainly about starting business’ here, my long time plan delayed by good job opportunities), they just do them, falling into things like I do my bed. Why, it might not be obvious, or even matter they just do them and the rest they’ll figure out later. I spend a life time figuring out that whilst i’m good at figuring out, i’m shit at taking that figuring and turning it into anything meaningful, I think long-term the odds for my peace of mind are low, the amount of time I spent building expectations only a do-er could hit, the further I get from what I want to do.

Can a thinker become a do-er? I have no idea, but I’m losing that warm and snuggly feeling thinkers get from late night pondering, and an increasing desire to just do something, even if it a spectacular, epic failure, just so at some point I can bore people with the story of me doing something, rather than planning to do something.

Rules of the universe:

Cash Law - All songs sound better sung by Johnny Cash. The definitive version of Happy Birthday is Johnny Cash’s version. Even the slightest mumble from Johnny Cash is enough to make angels fornicate, en mass. I imagine its so good that you would instantly age an entire year, just so he would have an excuse to sing it you again, I expect that most people get into this cycle until they die, a fast sweet musically blissful death, this part of the law is called “cashtch 22″.

Dullness/Sleep law - There’s a direct link between the length that people sleep and there level of dullness. Think about all the dull people you’ve ever met and I bet they are up at the crack of dawn every day, tidying, alphabetising, re-arranging or just wandering about trying to find things to fill up their day. Dull people don’t need as much sleep as everyone else, they have less to ponder, it takes less to fuel their brains but the essential area of “imagination” is less developed, and demanding. I like to think that they are woken up early by their dreams, which consist of reading the newspaper, cleaning, planning and organising, these dreams are so dull for the sub-concious that it forces them into conciousness to escape the tedium.

Anyone have some more rules of the universe to offer up?

Well actually if you know me well, you probably will. But I answered Jana’s tag (you say five things, then pick five people) over at HipHipUK.

I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule (also known as Pareto’s principle). I imagine for the creator it went a little bit like this:

Pareto: “I’ve had this really great idea”

Pareto’s friend: “Oh yeah right, like the last great idea of yours that nearly gave me scurvy”

Pareto: “The theory was sound, but anyway this one is a winner….

I call it the 80/20 rule. Basically you can achieve 80% of what your doing, with only 20% effort. The other 20% will take 80% of your time.”

Pareto’s friend: “Sounds logical. I like it. Shall we go play highwaymen?”

Pareto: “But hang on there’s more to it than that.”

Pareto’s friend: “Nah its cool, i got it.”

I imagine it a little like this for all great ideas, they’re so great you instantly can’t remember not knowing them. They give you that warm snuggly safe feeling you get when you just know something and that’s one less thing you have to waste valuable mental cycle’s pondering. Anyway I like to ponder so I’ve been applying 80/20 to everyday life.

I’m certain that we all have a base level of happiness. It can be shaken by a major event, in the same way a house can be destroyed by a hurricane, but the rest of the time its fairly static give or take some dry rot. That baselevel happiness I think represents….wait for it….80% of our possible happiness, and is achieved by approx 20% of effort, shock, shock horror. What does that 20% effort/80% happiness consist of?

- getting to sleep in something resembling a bed

- enough money for some grub and a cheeky

- free will, or at least the illusion of free will/freedom

- family, something resembling friends (and no, myspace doesnt count)

Obviously hitting this fairly low benchmark will require more effort in certain places than in others, depending on the cost of living. Cardboard boxes in the park command 250gbp a month in London, so you have to work harder to hit that benchmark even when you factor in increased wages.

So in theory we should all have 80% effort to devote to increasing that happiness. The problem is that we have a little thing called employment. Employment takes the liberty of 80% of our time, delivering anywhere from 0.01-20% of our happiness. In my mind it can’t deliver more, because there is no more spare happiness available above that benchmark.

Thats ridiculous, I love my job, I love it everyday and I dont just want to survive, I want a real bed not something resembling one.

Ah, this I think is the illusion of not knowing. Because its been so long since we just dropped to that benchmark level we have no real idea how much extra happiness we get for the extra time we lose doing all those things we dont want, to earn money we probably dont need, in order to do/buy/have things that contribute to that 20%. Its human nature to prefer to drop from a 6 to a 5 than a 10 to a 7 even if the latter leaves you higher. Its easier to pass on something you’ve never had, than give up something once you’ve had it.

Pt.2 of this one coming sometime in the future, maybe…