Perceived Utility Factor

Why do we do the work we do? The answer is simple, isn't it? What we are doing is useful to somebody or for something.

1. Everybody is always doing some thing or the other. (I'm busy now, later man!)

2. These things are useful. (Aw, come on! Why would I do it otherwise?)

3. Why isn't the world a better place than it is? (Wait a minute, I didn't say anything about the world, did I?)

The simple answer was wrong, 2 is a lie. Not all work is useful; some lines of work can even be called destructive!...and damping forces (intrinsic inefficiency) are always in operation. But assuming that you are not evil and are not satisfied by the answers Just for a living/I don't care/Because I have to, why do you do it?

We do things because of their Utility Factor - we think it is/will be useful for somebody or for something. The Perceived Utility Factor (PUF) of what you do gives you a sense of significance and purpose; it puffs your ego up, so to say.

The higher the PUF, the happier you are.

So they tell you how every job has its own dignity and also how important what you are doing is (remember TPS reports!), and you are happy... to have made a difference but...

There exists a RUF (Real Utility Factor) as well! No matter how significant you think your work is (and by extension, you), ultimately it is worth only so much in the real world! The RUF can be a real motivation dampener! Reality, reality go away/Little Johnny wants to work.

The disparity between the RUF and the PUF is what leads to dissatisfaction.

The RUF will always be significantly smaller than the PUF. And that is the answer to why the world is not already a better place! :)

- Thomas Jay Cubb

Asides

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1. The dual measure for this is the Futility Index (Thanks to my friend Ashish Chaterji for putting this succinctly). There are two variants for this as well - Real and Perceived. Frustration is caused when the Perceived Futility Index exceeds or equals the Real Futility Index.

2. Satisfaction is a number! It is directly proportional to the ratio of the RUF to the PUF

The Satisfaction Index, SI = k* (RUF/PUF)

Employers need to ensure that SI never approaches k (that RUF/PUF always less than 1) because otherwise the employee will lose motivation. Sometimes they do this through promotions :)!

More on these later.

Exploitation Classified

To feel needed and important is a very basic human need, Man being a social animal. This lays the foundation for most social relationships, many of which are parasitic, the rest (well, almost!) symbiotic. Unpleasant realization this, but like it or not, everybody is being used, everybody is being exploited. All the time.

Exploitation is in fact so natural a state of affairs that we generally ignore this or unknowingly substitute it with less disturbing, more comforting notions like love, duty etc. This may be true even in cases where you might think you are the exploiter!

People are used like -

1) Candles
You burn to give them light in their darkness. You show the way. Without you, they could never have been sure whether they were on the right track. But when it is light again, and you are burnt out, they scrape away what's left of you.

2) Bandages
You help heal their wounds. Without you, they would (possibly, if they have clotting problems) bleed to death. You soak up their bad blood. But when the wound has healed, and you are all dirty, they throw you in the trash can.

3) Tea-bags
You refresh them when their energy is sapped. Without you, they could not have had that thought which made all the difference. They savour your flavour. But when they've had their drink, and you have no more strength left in you, they throw you in the sink.

4) Bubble-gum
You give them something to do. They chew you up, relishing your juice, moulding you as they feel fit. When they feel like it, for your pleasure (you fulfill your purpose in life) and their pleasure, they blow you up as a bubble. But the bubble is burst, and they spit you out!


README
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1. This is actually a blueprint for a poem I'm writing; I started off with the tea-bag idea around 3 years ago. Don't know when or whether I will complete it. So sharing the idea as-is, in prose form. This is a recurring theme for me, check out a previous exploration Use And Throw, if you must have a poem! :-)

2. This *MUST NOT* affect a relationship that you and I may share!!! Hate the message, but don't kill the messenger!

3. This classification excludes those relationships based on pure evil.Or, does it?

4. Nobody even cares about doormats and tissues! Even the poet ignores them! :)

Plan Hazy, Plan General

I have a plan. A plan for everything, no matter what. And, it's worthless.

There are just too many things that are out of control, too many unknowns. Shit will happen yes, but you cannot possibly know of what consistency!

So, realize that your plan is just a plan and not more important than what's actually happening around you. Realize that your Plan was just a figment of your imagination at an earlier point of time when you didn't know what was gonna happen. Plans are based on inaccurate estimates of an unknown future.

Plan Hazy, Plan General. Things will be ready when the time is ripe, and not sooner. Especially in creative endeavors, omni-plans more often than not will kill the goose.

A plan gives you a sense of importance and provides you an illusion of control. "No matter what happens, I know what to do"

Plans also give you something to put the blame on. "I failed because things didn't go according to plan." Re-read... "I failed" - that was probably the key and more true part of that statement. Things rarely, if ever, go according to plan. And if they do, then it is because you over-estimated and over-allocate something somewhere.

Time-bound plans based on sequential completion of minute tasks are the worst of all. There are people who plan like I will drink water at 10, pee at 12, drink again at 1230, pee again at 230 and so on... because they "know" that it takes 2 hours for that process. This is no way to live! You drink when you are thirsty and when you can, and pee when you wanna go and you can. Such micro-planning piles on the pressure unnecessarily and causes errors and unnecessary disappointment.

But still, people overplan - plan to a granularity that borders on the ridiculous. First A happens, then B happens, then C, then D... What exacerbates the situation is when you associate deadlines with each of them. (hmm.. interesting word...dead..line..) Isn't it enough that A,B,C,D.. happen? Why worry about the order in which they happen?

Take things as they come. Take stock and do what's possible. You can run but you can't hide from reality. You can track everything but you can't plan. Beware the OmniPlan! Beware even more the OmniMicroPlan!

- Thomas Jay Cubb
(Thanks to Grasshopper Madhu for raising the question: What should I do now? Nothing's going according to plan)

Insignificance

Here is a bitter pill to swallow:
"If not you, it's just another you."

Special Creatures
We are born and grow up thinking we are special. However, the blunt truth is that you were born out of an accidental collocation of random elements. Momma's blue-eyed boys keep hearing things like "you are so cute!", "that was superb" even when things were anything but! Hear something repeatedly enough and you start to believe, even the impossible.

The programming of self-belief is actually a survival tactic that is wired in to our genes; the world needs us to survive for otherwise there will be no world! :) If you were to confront the truth of your utter insignificance too early in life, you definitely would not survive for too long; the world needs its assholes. Of course, there is this possibility (very improbable, since most of us have to be average) that you, in fact, are very special and you need that self-belief to deliver your goods; the world needs your output (not you, I have to remind). It just increases the odds.

My Way Or...
We refuse to accept the randomness and illogicality of it all; we need to feel special. Realize that there might be no higher purpose, there might be no meaning, and there is nothing you can do about it, nobody even cares. So, we invent benevolent (someone who cares), anthropomorphic (someone like our special selves) gods and say that Ours is the One True Way. What we are really doing is worshiping ourselves (Our Selfs) to feel happiness and comfort.

..The HighWay
Hinduism, insofar as I know such things, is the only faith and embraces the concept and truth of insignificance. It accepts multiple faiths, even atheism :) There are many gods and you are free to worship the gods of your choice, and in the way that you choose to. Even the gods pray to other gods...

My interpretation of this - polytheistic tolerance is possible only if you accept the fact that what you believe in doesn't really change anything. Do what you need to, to feel happy and good about yourself, while you're here. You are insignificant in the universal scheme of things. The universe goes on with or without you.

Cubbism
Accept the truth and the reality of your insignificance. The sooner you do this, the sooner you will find happiness. Happiness is the absence of conflict.

End Pillow
So, your account was hacked, eh? At least, somebody thought you were important enough and that you had important secrets! The more plausible explanation is less comforting: that you were just one among the people the hacker chose in order to establish his significance! Hey, but he chose you, didn't he?