Shingles, You and System Two

First let me assure you THIS ARTICLE IS NOT about “stinging, tingling, aching, numbing, throbbing, sores interspersed with quick stabs of agonizing pain”.  This is a story about stress.  Business stress, personal stress and interpersonal stress.   They all suck and the first thing they suck is energy.  The challenge is finding the REAL source.

 This contribution is not designed to follow the progress of the Credit Union Leaders Book club as an application of the ideas in Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow. 

The shingles virus lies dormant in virtually anyone who has had Chicken Pox and only shows up in 1.2-3.4 healthy individuals per 1000 during their lifetime and is often the result of a compromised immune system or stress.  This is my second bout in just the last several years which is why I never buy lottery tickets.  This time the sores showed up around my left eye following the ophthalmic sensory nerve branches.  Which brings me to the good, and entirely unexpected news.

Before I knew I had shingles I was simply exhausted.  Since I was due for my annual physical I asked them to check my testosterone as well thinking “Low T” might be the cause for my malaise.  The results not only solved a yearlong worry but most likely uncovered the cause of my recurring seasonal setbacks. 

Last year for the first time my PSA (test for prostate health) was high which can be both serious and the treatment is expensive.  All year long I have taken natural supplements promising spectacular results while worrying what I would do if they didn’t help. 

The results are in and all those expensive supplements were …………a waste of money.  My PSA is the same as it was last year.

The difference is now we have done a little more of the hard system two quantitative work.   Instead of assuming those high PSA readings were a sign of a problem in one area I now know that they are actually a symptom of health in another.  My testosterone levels are off the scale high which would, according to my Dr., may lead to a higher PSA levels.

IDEAS IN ACTION

The first lesson I will take from Rahm Emanuel.  “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

The second lesson comes from the Ritz Carlton training manual which teaches their managers to avoid system one solutions by always asking why five times.  Everything in work and life works in interdependent systems.  Identify the core causes instead of jumping to superficial solutions.  Faster, as we are learning, is not always better.  Force your system one to take a back seat and test your assumptions you may find strength in unexpected places