Friday 20 August 2010

Election Day

As with anything that bothers me in life, I have brought my thoughts on the Australian election today back to the Rubik's cube. 

In Australia it is a crime not to vote.  While I fully intend to go vote as soon as the polls open in just under an hour, I'm very much feeling like this is a waste of my time. 

Not one party has put information into my mail box actually saying what they plan to do for the country.  Every single flyer has been aimed at criticising and decreditting another political party.  So, am I meant to vote on the people who criticised the best, am I meant to vote for those who didn't clutter my mailbox with political negativity or do I vote for whichever party I used to think would do a good job?  Tough question really. 

Our of those 3 choices the last seems logical, but its worthiness as a strategy is questionable given the newness of the party leaders in both major political parties.

If I think about this situation using the cube it makes me think that it's like twisting various sides of the cube hoping the pieces will land in the correct place without knowing where each piece is heading as you twist a particular face.  Or you could think of it as holding a messed up cube behind your back and trying to solve it while not ever looking at it.  I think most people agree it is highly unlikely you will magically solve the cube by doing this.

Today - I see my vote as an unfortunate attempt to twist the cube blindfolded.  I have not particular idea abot what each possible move will do to the cube, and I'm sure I hardly know the ins and the outs of our country's problems.  Perhaps I should base my decision on the party who I think are the most intelligent/logical because they will have the best chance of solving our national cube!

Summary:
- If you don't look at something and identify it's imperfections and problems, you don't know what you need to solve it.
- If you act without knowing what the result of your actions will be, you are less likely to improve the state of your cube than if you know how your actions will affect each part of the cube.
- If you don't look at the cube and it's problems while fixing it, you likely won't get anywhere.

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010

Thursday 19 August 2010

147 Rubik's Cubes!

Earlier this year I delivered a time management seminar to final year medical students using the Rubik's Cube analogy. 

Their feedback was extremely positive and very encouraging.

Having realised the uniqueness of my Rubik's Cube analogy, and its marketability, I have decided to run the occasional seminar on:
- Time Management
- Emotion Regulation
- Social Skills
All of these workshops will be based on the Rubik's Cube analogy.

Much to my delight I was able to find a large supply of very reasonably priced Rubik's cubes at a discount supplier yesterday.  The mechanism for each cube is smooth and the stickers are arranged the way Erno Rubik intended.  These cubes are only 2mm shy of having the same dimensions as the official Rubik's company cubes, and each comes nicely packaged in a presentable cylindrical container.

Now I will be able to provide all of my worshop participants with cubes to aid in their discovery and exploration of this analogy.

Saturday 14 August 2010

Faith, The Messiah and The Cube.

In my introductory post for this blog I pointed out that there are 43 252 003 274 489 855 999 possible combinations in which the cube can be messed up! 

There is only 1 combination where the cube is completely solved.

While talking with Carole about this blog and the analogy, we discussed that there is that 1 arrangement where the cube is perfect.  So in 43 252 003 274 489 856 000 people, there should be 1 perfect person/life. 

For me, it was easy to identify who this 1 perfect arrangement would be; God!  Or more appropriately, the son he sent to earth, Jesus. 

So then, for anyone with faith, it makes sense that they would aspire to have their cube appear as close as possible to that of their 'perfect' person.  Most religions have 1 particular person who is considered perfect.  There are the great prophets, Jesus, Alah, God, etc...

For those without faith, there are always people who they may perceive as having a totally solved cube.  And whether or not those people really do have a totally solved cube, the person looking up to them thinks they do and is therefore aiming for that same solved cube. 

I thought it was worth including the link between faith and the cube, even if it is just for fun.

Perhaps for me, now, the phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" will conjure up a whole new image.  A comedic picture of Jesus solving a Rubik's cube and holding the finished product enters my mind.  :)

Until next time...

Keep Cubing!

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010

People are sharing the love...

I thought I would detour from my postings regarding the Rubik's Cube as an analogy to life to thank my many friends who all sent me copies of a recent article about the wonderful cube.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/every-rubiks-cube-can-be-solved-in-20-moves-or-less/story-e6frfro0-1225904702436

Google scientist have now proven that every combination of the cube can be solved in 20 moves or less. 

I found the article quite interesting because I'm sure there would have been a more simple mathematical way to prove this phenomena using permutations and combinations; as opposed to the trudge work that these google enthusiasts outsourced to their super computers. 

Regardless, it's nice to have some form of evidence that the cube can be solved so readily. 

Perhaps taking this analogy back to the Cube as a model for life...

Certainly, a person could sit there and ponder for hours, calculating the exact 20 (or fewer) moves needed to solve the cube without un-necessary movement.  However, in the time it takes to do that, someone who has trained themselves to systematically solve the cube using various strategies that apply to various mixed up patterns they see in the cube, could have finished the cube and had coffee in the meantime. 

My point?  It may be more practical sometimes to simply work on a problem with a series of strategies than spend forever seeking out the perfect solution, when a bunch of less than perfect solutions combined will get you the same result with some extra manipulation, but less time...  Perhaps I should keep this in mind next time I become a perfectionist in my approach to something. 

Summary:
- The 3X3 Rubik's Cube can always be solved in 20 moves or less
- Using less than perfect strategies with persistence can achieve the same result as the perfect solution.
- Approaching the problem systematically and strategically may actually be faster and more efficient that spending forever trying to work out the shortest possible solution.
- Building skills for solving different parts of the cube will give you a way to solve the cube no matter how it has been messed up.
- The shortest possible sequence od moves needed to solve the cube will change depending on how the cube was messed up. 
- Skill building is essential for have a guaranteed method for solving the cube and living life!

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Cheating will never get you the perfect result.

I'm sure there are some people out there who in their frustration, trying to solve the cube, have approached the puzzle the same way I did at the age of 6 before I understood how it worked.

For someone unable to solve the cube using it's mechanical device, the quickest way to get an apparently perfectly solved puzzle is to remove each stick and then carefully rearrange these in their correct places. 

But is the result really 'perfect'? 

Peeling the stickers off and replacng them will inevitably damage some of the stickers.  These will not look as clean and smooth (or 'perfect') once the cube has been completed.  The cube will always appear worn/damaged once a person has peeled off the stickers and re-stuck them.

As well as the worn/damaged look, the cube has other issues once the stickers have been peeled off.  Stickers aren't magnets, they are not deisgned to be removed and re-positioned multiple times.  Every time a sticker is peeled off it loded some of it's stickiness.  Once the sticker is placed back onto the cube it doesn't have nearly as much strength to adhere to the cube as before.  Every time the cube is handled/messed up the stickers that once held firmly in place risk falling off.

So while cheating by pulling off the stickers and replacing them is a fast way to get an almost perfect cube, it's not really that helpful in the scheme of things.  The person who cheated to solve the cube didn't gain any skills in terms of working out ways to fix any part of the cube the next time it gets messed up.  They reduced the cosmetic beauty of their cube and they decreased the durability of the puzzle (the stickers being more vulnerable to falling off). 

Summary:
- To someone with no scientific skills in solving the Rubik's cube, the fastest way to obtain a 'solved' puzzle is to remove the stickers and reposition them into the correct places.
- Stickers are not designed to be unstuck and re-stuck.
- Stickers inevitably become damaged while being unstuck and repositioned, so even the solved cube will not be 'perfect' (just close to)...
- Once the stickers have been peeled off once they are vulnerable to falling off whenever the cube is manipulated at a later point in time; the durability of the cube is lessened.
- By not trying to work out how to solve the cube using the mechanical device, the user learns no skills in fixing either part of the cube or the entire puzzle at a later date.
- You can only cheat so many times before the stickers will no longer hold onto the cube.

Someone who cheats in life can be seen as someone who is depriving themselves the opportunity of learning skills to manage situations, damaging their overall image, decreasing their durability (how well their life holds together), and limiting themselves to a certain number of challenges they can handle before their cube is completely worn out.

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010

Monday 2 August 2010

Resilience

In my previous post I introduced the principle of taking the cube back just one step; 'take it back to the blue'.

I talked about just focusing on fixing 'the top layer' - in life terms, bringing things back to a workable level.  It may seem then, like it really doesn't matter what state the bottom two layers of your cube look like - I mean, hey - it's not like anyone sees those two layers. 

So let's consider things a bit more.  If you have a completely solved cube and then someone rotates one side of the cube 90 or 180 degrees.  Your blue side is definately going to be messed up.  Now consider a cube where the top layer is perfect, but the bottom two layers are completely messed up.  Until someone messes up the top layer, both cubes technically look the same (since we can only see that solved surface layer).  But when we rotate the side layer of the cube that started with 2 messed up bottom layers, the two cubes look very different.  The cube that started completely solved will be easy to analyse and 'repair' once the side is rotated.  The cube that started with messy bottom layers will be somewhat more complicated to look at and analyse what is going on once the side has been rotated. 

With the second cube it will be harder to work out what needs to be done to just fix the top layer.  To an untrained eye, the cube may appear to be in a worse state of chaos than it really even is. 

You can see where I'm going with this.  Both cubes started out looking the same to everyone (except the cube owner - ie. person living the life).  Then each cube suffered the same insult/disaster.  One cube was nicely organised and solved prior to the insult; it was easy to recognise where things went wrong and what needed to be done in order to repair the blue side.  It doesn't take much intellectual energy in the first scenario to bring the top layer back into place.  The second cube looks worse once the insult has been suffered; this is because all of a sudden when the side got rotated, people can see some of the 'mess' that was below that perfect top layer.  So other people can see the mess, and the person trying to fix the cube has to filter out that mess in order to determine the damage and repair it. 

It makes sense then to try and keep your bottom two layers as close to solved as possible.  It will then take less energy to analyse and fix the cube when it suffers some kind of insult.  This will make you resilient.  Obviously, if you set yourself up such that problems are easier to solve, each problem will take less energy to deal with. 

So what constitutes the bottom two layers of your cube.  The answer is "I don't know".  This is because everyone is different.  But there are some basic things that affect most people's bottom layers.
- Your health status:  Look after your health, keep it in order, exercise, eat right, sleep appropriately
- Your financial status:  Plan, budget, don't spend beyond your capacity, you don't have to be wealthy to manage this part of your cube well
- Identity:  Know who you are, know your values, know what your goals are and what you want to achieve.  Know what your cube should look like!
- Support:  Have people who know you (and who know your cube).  If your cube get's really messed up it's likely they'll be able to help guide you as to what it should look like while you try and fix it - hey!  They may even be able to help you repair it.
Those are just the basics of the bottom two layers of your cube.

Summary:
- Plenty of people have got the top layer of their cube solved and beautifully presentable for the rest of the world.
- Depending on how tidy your bottom two layers are, your problems may be easy or hard to solve (even if you suffered the same insult as someone else, the state of these bottom two layers can change the degree to which it is easy or not to repair the damage).
- Keeping your bottom layers as organised and solved as possible will minimise the trauma you experience from problems and maximise you abililty to cope with life. 
- Basic things to help keep your bottom layers looking good are knowing who you are, maintinaing good health, planning things well, and knowing who you can turn to for help and support.

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010

One step back.

The first session I had with the psychologist who introduced me to the idea of using my Rubik's cube obsession to understand emotion regulation and social situations, we came up with the phrase "take it back to the blue".

For someone unaware of the cube analogy, the catch phrase above would seem somewhat strange. 

Remember how I hold the cube; blue face up.  Also remember how the top layer of the cube is the part of your life that everyone else sees.  Now let's take a scenario where someone does something to upset you, or damage something in your life...  Say your top layer was solved, looking pretty good.  When the other person damges you, or some aspect of your life it's like them messing up your cube.  Clearly you need to 'keep things together' (ie. get your top layer solve again).  It will take longer to fix the whole cube up again than to just fix the top layer.  So, when someone 'messes up your cube' - take it back to the blue!  Be aware that you don't have to fix the 'whole cube' (or in life terms - the whole problem and mess) for things to become 'functional' again:  It is that top layer that matters, the rest can be worked on later.

The first time I used this principle of "Taking it back to the blue" was the first night I discovered the principle.  I was in hospital, socialising with some of the other patients.  We had decided to play a game of pool.  I sunk one of the balls for my team.  A lady on the other team started to get very tense and agitated.  She was clearly upset at their now 'losing' status.  Everyone could see she was upset. 

Usually when I play a game I'm very competative.  I play to win...  I needed to analyse the situation.  In normal circumstances I would have ignored the distress of the lady on my opposing team - after all, I want to win.  But this night I stopped and thought.  I realised that our game was not about who won and who lost...  For the others it was about having some fun, for myself it was a deliberate attempt to practise socialising.  when I realised that winning (my sub-motivation for playing that evening) was not the be all and end all of the night I realised I didn't have to fix the entire situation. 

There is no way I could have changed the personality of the woman who was upset at now being on the losing team.  There was no way I could instantaneously change my inbuilt drive to win.  I couldn't change the rules of the game, but I did have another shot (thanks to sinking the ball). 

To take things one step back, back to where everyone was playing to have fun (and I was learning to handle social situations), what could I do? 

I deliberately sunk a ball for the other team with my extra shot.  Twist!  We took it back to the blue...

By sinking a ball for the other team everything became light hearted again.  The other lady's personality was the same, but she returned to be fairly relaxed once things evened up again.  The result was that everyone kept enjoying the game, despite the fact our team lost the potential to sink one of our own balls. 

Interestingly, because that game of pool remained fun, people kept playing.  Had the game been upsetting for some parties then a lot of people may have chosen to stop playing before the next game.  Instead, we all played happily for another hour or so. 

It took a while for me to get to the point where 'taking it back to the blue' happens naturally.  For the first dozen or so occasions of using this principle I had to actively think through what the ultimate goals of various situations were, what small thing I might have to do to bring the situation back to a managable level and how I might do that. 

This one principle as by far been the most useful one for me in terms of lessening my anxietyin social situations (and over life events).  When I used to see a messed up cube (or life problems), I felt like I had to fix the entire puzzle.  A lot of times that simply wasn't going to be possible in the near future.  Once I learnt this principle I learnt that I didn't have to fix it all at once, I just needed to bring the cube back to an acceptable state.  In most situations this is managable (sometimes it can take an enourmous amount of energy to do this, but it is far more managable than solving the entire cube).

Summary:
- Someone causing you grief or messing up something in your life is like them messing up your cube
- People only see the top layer of your cube
- It is easier and faster to fix just the top layer of the cube, rather than the whole thing
- Once you fix the top layer of the cube you will be in a 'safe' position to work on the two bottom layers (and whatever damage they sustained)
- Take it back to the blue!

(c) Arlene Taylor 2010