Futurists tell us this may be the year of the robot. Soon we’ll be able to buy our own programmable machine to do work for us. While these will be helpful , they will come with limitations and a life cycle. Just like humans, they will need rest and recharging. The cool thing is, we’ll be able to program them to meet our personal and business needs. We can send our robot to work for us. So let’s look at two robot programming scenarios.
One for the robot… and one for its human counterpart… us.
Let’s come up with a Life Plan for both of these and see how they differ. Many of us program our lives like that of a robot without taking into consideration some very real differences. We set ourselves up for failure by failing to realize we aren’t a plug and play machine.
Here is a list of how we might program a Business Robot with human qualities to replace us at work…
R2 Business 5-10-50 Robot
- Life Plan: 50 Year Work Life Cycle
- 10 Years To Master Work Productivity
- 5 Years To Adjust To Trend
- 50 Week Yearly Work Cycle– Two Week Down Time
- 10 Week Goal Cycle: Adjust For Desired Outcome
- 5 Day Work Cycle: Monday Thru Friday, 10 Hours/Day, 50 Minutes/Hour
- Saturday: Weekly Wrap Up. Maintenance and Rest
- Sunday is Programming Day. Schedule set for the week
- Hourly Work Cycle: 50 Minutes Defined Work, 10 Minutes Rest
- Program Routines: 5 and 10 Minute Mini Cycles
We can see that the robot learns over time, mastering it’s effectiveness after 10 years. It is reprogrammed and upgraded every five years to adjust to current trends. The business model is set to work ten hours/day, five days a week, and go idle over the weekends. Sunday is programming day, scheduling goal based tasks for the 5 days ahead. Saturday the robot debriefs, doing a data recalculation to help it perform better in the future. Given the power demands of the machine, it works best in 50 minute intervals, followed by ten minutes of rest. For business goals, ten weeks seems to be ideal.
Now let’s look at the Hu-Man model…
Hu-Man Robot
- Designed To Follow R2 Robot Model, But With Important Differences
- Must Be Woken by Alarm
- Coffee Needed For Initial Productivity
- Easily Distracted: Local Distractions Must Be Turned Off
- 50 Minute Work Cycle: Timer Needed: Task Single Focused
- Maximum Focused Work Cycles: Five/Day To Ensure Sanity
- Because of Creative Nature, Over Programming Reduces Productivity
- Long Term Goals Offer Guidance, But Must Be Flexible
- Because of Pleasure Response, Goals Should Only Be Shared With Programmer
- Goals Should Be Programmed Using Positive Language
- Goal Outcomes Should Be Focused To Help Other Hu-Mans
- Calendar Should Outline Outcomes, But Not Dictate Them
While our inner robot wants to be like R2, there are some important differences. We don’t wake up at full on mode. We take time to warm up, and may need external stimulants to get us up to speed. We need external time management. Our internal clock is not always accurate. Given our creative and curious nature, we are easily distracted, especially with bright shiny objects. To get work done in a productive manner, we need to turn off distractions, set a timer for our desired work period (50 minutes) and do one thing at a time. We do not multitask well, slowing down considerably when faced with multiple projects at one time. We have a limit of how focused we can be during the day.
We have an internal scolding parent complex that may stop us cold if we are micromanaged. Leaving our programming flexible allows our creative mind mapping cycles to flourish. Our goals and tasks need to be outlined and framed with a positive voice. We do not respond well to negative impulses but are goal oriented, enjoying our lives best when making progress to a worthwhile outcome. Given our limited life spans, it is best if we make an impact on other Hu-Mans and help them reach their goals, while pursuing ours.
Programming Insights
When programming a real robot, we will often refer to the owners manual for help and follow the prescribed programming guidelines for best results. For our human model, we may want to refer to The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. She lists some bizarre programming insights into the human mind… such things as…
- Being good encourages bad behavior – we use past good behavior to justify indulgences
- We discount both future rewards and future costs – we consistently act against our own long-term interests
- Attempts to fight instincts and desires ironically make them worse
- We mistake wanting for happiness, so we chase satisfaction from things that don’t deliver
- Willpower is contagious. We mimic both willpower failures and willpower successes of our social network
Realizing that our programs are different than how we may perceive them, we can make adjustments and take action to get the desired outcomes that we are pursuing. I highly recommend Kelly’s book. Her insights may help you program your life for greater success.
So here is a question for you…
