Observations from a Hospital Waiting Room: The Abilene Paradox

I was at the hospital with my wife on Tuesday. I'm not telling you that for sympathy, though. I'm telling you that so I can tell you a story from our visit. You should know that my wife was at the hospital for day surgery. Trust me, it's a key plot point.

If you haven't had surgery, there's something you should know to fully appreciate this tale. Are you ready? Here it is: you're not allowed to eat before surgery.

Our story begins Monday evening (the night before surgery). We had dinner around 7:00 PM. As you've probably figured out (because all my readers are above average), this was to be my wife's last meal before surgery.

How do you improve?

How do you improve? (How to improve your skills as a trainer)(How to make the most of your participants practice time)

How do you hone your skills?

Yesterday, I was playing Magic: The Gathering with my son. Those of you who are familiar with the game can skip to the next paragraph. For those of you who aren’t, Magic is the game that spawned the collectible card game genre. To play, each player assembles their own deck of cards from among the thousands of possible cards. Since the cards are shuffled before play, there’s a strong element of chance to the game. That being said, players can improve their odds through good deck building (such as using better cards or cards that work well together) and skillful play (making the best of the cards they’re dealt).

As I was saying, my son and I were playing Magic. Typically, players will assemble their own decks, carefully selecting the cards they’ll include for maximum effect. We were using ready-made decks he’d bought from the local hobby shop. We’d decided not to look at the contents of the decks beforehand, preferring to be surprised. Since we weren’t familiar with the decks (or the cards in them), we didn’t know how to make the best use of the cards we were being dealt.