10 Things in Life That Aren't Fair -- and What to Do About Them (Part 2 of 2)

"If life were fair, Elvis would exist alive and all the impersonators would exist dead."– Johnny Carson

In Part 1 of this series, I discussed some of the means that life deals us a bum hand, and some of the ways nosotros can deal with that. In this post, I go along the list, starting with some oddnesses about factors that seem to play equally big a role, if non even bigger, as individual merit in determining or life success.

1. Virtually CEOs are tall.

90% of Fortune 500 CEOs are of to a higher place average height. Some 30% – compared with only about 4% in the general population – are half dozen'2" or taller. Since it'south highly unlikely that a random sample of 500 people would show this great a deviation from the national boilerplate, the only caption is that tallness conveys qualities that are seen as "executive cloth" even when the tall person might lack those qualities or exist merely humdrum. By extension, shorter-than-average people with incredible leadership skills might be passed over in substitution for less-stunning but taller candidates.

What to do nigh it: This is even tougher than appearance problems, since there'south no expert way to increment your meridian (you tin can wear lifts, I suppose, but will ever hazard exposure). Again, confidence is primal, and the scattering of shorter-than-boilerplate CEOs out there (less that 3%) are distinguished past their confidence. Study the behavior of shorter CEOs like Jack Welch or Barry Diller. Think "tall" – be seen, make yourself heard. Shorter CEOs likewise tend to be those that work their way up in a company, so commit for the long booty; taller CEOs come up from executive job searches, where they have less personal history and more "wink" in play. And, of grade, you tin become an entrepreneur – hopefully y'all wouldn't supersede yourself with someone taller!

2. People purchase brands.

Brand loyalty is i of the major factors influencing people'due south ownership decisions. Part of this is "following the leader" – if I know the brand, it must be considering people are talking about information technology, thus it must be skilful." Part of it is packaging design. And part of it is comfort in previous knowledge – the brand you lot know and kind of like is a improve bet than the one off-brand you lot don't know and might dearest or detest.

What to exercise about information technology: Commit yourself to trying something new every and so oft – possibly every month, supercede a favorite brand with a brand you lot don't know and encounter how you like it. You pay a huge premium for branding, often at the expense of quality, so it's worth it to shed a brand hither and there. For durable purchases (as opposed to consumables like food), develop a systematic mode of comparing your brand against the competitors – Apple (or Microsoft), Ford (or Chevy), Nike (or Adidas) might not e'er be the best way for you to go, even if y'all've had good experiences with them in the past.

3. People do, in fact, judge books past their covers.

It'southward a publishing manufacture fact – book covers are what take hold of and hold attention long enough for a purchase to be fabricated. If information technology were something nigh the content, you lot'd await authors to have some say, but often they have no contractual correct to even run across the cover before it'due south published, let alone approve or disapprove. (More often, authors can disapprove, but publishers reserve – and usually practise – the right to ignore the writer'southward disapproval).

What to do about it: If you're in the authoring game, let book embrace designers exercise what they do best – they know their domain far better than yous exercise. For buyers, bank check reviews – lots of handheld software allows you to admission Amazon and other sites with reviews while you're standing in the shop. Also, get used to using your library – nearly libraries have online reservation systems that are nearly as constructive as Amazon at getting your called books to you lot in a couple of days. That way, you minimize the risk of bravado coin on books that plough out to be less than the cover promises.

4. Nigh people would rather non choose at all than choose between ii equally good options.

This is decision paralysis of a sort – when presented with 2 equally practiced options, we freeze. Ii options where one is clearly ameliorate nosotros handle fine, but not where they are as proficient, or for that matter, difficult to compare on the same criteria (the apples 5. oranges dilemma).

What to practise about it: The standard response to difficult decisions is to list pros and cons, but where things are more or less equal, or where pros and cons aren't comparable, this isn't helpful. A meliorate selection is to re-frame the decision – the think out a mode of looking at the choices in a way that is comparable. One fashion to exercise that is to look at goals and objectives – what is the goal you promise to meet past choosing 1 or the other, and which one is better suited to that goal? This moves you past the immediate characteristics of the objects nether consideration – that is, one tastes delicious, the other offers ii hours of solid motion picture excitement, so if your goal is to accept fun for as long as possible, yous might spend your $10 on the flick and not the super-sundae.

v. The all-time ideas often get lost for lack of funding, competence, or experience.

The people who think upward brilliant ideas aren't always in a position to make them happen. They lack sales skills, people skills, marketing skills, or, quite frequently, just enough coin to bring an innovation to market place or the mainstream. Or a showtime-upwards gets bought out by a monopolistic corporation just in order to quash their project.

What to practice near information technology: If you're in a position to practise then, seek out start-ups without the skills to succeed and support them however yous can. If you're an idea person yourself, seek out people with the skills you lack – do not could on your idea to succeed for its greatness.

Well, that about covers it – equally before, I'd love to hear what you think is unfair about life, and how yous've dealt with unfairness in your ain life. Let us know well-nigh it in the comments.

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Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/10-things-in-life-that-aren%e2%80%99t-fair-%e2%80%93-and-what-to-do-about-them-part-2-of-2.html

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