The Engineering Mind:
Given a Chance To Embed One Behavioural Trait In You, What Would You Choose ?
Would you choose to have more patience, would you choose how to think more deeply, would you choose to have good communication skills ? Would choose to be less anxious ?

Given a choice, I would choose to have the trait which enables me to know how to learn. Let me explain. If I do not have communication skills, I can learn them right ? If I do not have patience I can learn to have more patience right ? If I cannot introspect too much I can learn how to do that right ? If I am always too anxious I can learn to control the anxiety right ? Basically if you know how to learn, you can bring just about any change you want to in yourself. It can take time, but you shall still achieve it.
I have somewhat taken a few steps in knowing how to learn anything. Whenever faced with a problem to solve that I cannot find myself currently capable of solving, I use what I call the engineering approach to solution of problems. Basically the approach is identify the variables (this in turn cannot happen without a mind that is constantly curious and observant about everything), carry out experiments by making changes to the variables, gather feedback from the experiments, and make new changes to the variables based on the feedback. I have used this approach and found that it is indeed very very potent. I can see that a lot when I play sports. When something does not work, I try to identify logically what could be the factors in play for the particular shot or action or run of play. Then I modify my behavior with intuitive guesses about how those variables should be altered . After due calibration and practice I am able to get the perfect action or shot or strategy. Obviously there are somethings you cannot do much about, like your mood, which profoundly affects the way you play. So all desirable effects are not completely under your control. But somethings like attitude etc can make a lot of difference. I observed one day that I was playing with this extra jovial person alongside and whenever he would win a point he would laugh like he had won over the world. This would have the effect of boosting my confidence (he was my partner) and completely deflating that of the opponent. I have been trying to use that approach of positive thinking and sometimes I have seen an almost instant effect. After losing a string of points in a doubles match, my attitude had become very negative about being dependent on a partner in a game (and most often it is not someone who plays too well.). Then I tried to modify my thought and said to myself, Ok maybe I don't like my performance being dependent on someone else, so what ? Let me make the best use of what I have. After this thought it was almost as if a light bulb had been turned on inside me. All my shots went well and it rubbed off on my partner as well, who started playing well too. After this we hardly lost a point and won the match comfortably which until then had been going head to head.
There are many other small things that I am able to figure out, like for example why my shots are going out of the board, maybe my action makes the bat go too high. In almost an instant I a able to correct the error. Then if someone is able to put so much spin on the return to my serve that my partner is not able to lift it, then I make an appropriate change so that I myself do not put too much spin on the serve. When I did this I found that the opponent was able to smash the serve easily. Then I realized that I am serving too fast. I immediately stripped the serve of all spin and all speed. A completely vanilla serve which you would not generally be drawn to do. I did that serve and immediately got 3 points. Then my opponent was able to adjust to the new serve and get the return right, but he still could not serve in a way that my partner would not be able to return the serve. All he could give back was a vanilla return to my vanilla serve. But again as I pointed out one cannot do much about things like mood. When you mood is down, you are not left with enough bandwidth to think logically about anything, also your hand is not that stable and the actions not that smooth. One can absolutely do nothing about a playing in a bad mood. Maybe one can try to perk oneself up and then create the platform from where the engineering mind can take off.

I do not know whether the phrase "engineering approach" is appropriate for the way I think about things. But from whatever I know of engineering it is basically a systematic application of insightful ideas. I am also so overawed by the fact that it is only using the scientific and engineering paradigms that Europe has literally taken over the rest of the world (America is basically a European byproduct). It is only with the engineering approach that we have now cities traveling on water (massive ships), we have massive transport vehicles flying in the air (aeroplanes), we have a connectivity devices in our palms for the cost of a good shoe.
What technology and science have given to the world is unparalleled in the history of the earth for sure. I really dont care where the approach originated I still admire it and genuflect to it for its sheer potency. It would be foolish to reject this paradigm, only because it originated in some other country of the world. It would be the best way to hold us back in the dark ages while the rest of the world forges light years ahead of us.