#110 - Make Sandals. And Nine Tiny Thoughts
A collection of thoughts from July
In July I started a mailing list. A friend suggested that I do something for those interested in more frequent nibbles for thought. Since, I’ve been sending out snippets every other day to a modestly growing group. I’ve no system yet to gather material but I’ve been surprised by how simply tidbits leap out from the pages I’m reading and from the thoughts I’m occupied with.
As you read through the list you may see a theme or two emerging. That’s to be expected as the list is a reflection of my state of mind and my lifestyle (a few long drives led to podcast-thons). You may also notice how my system of crediting sources has evolved (or not).
Pic credit: Ian D. Keating
This is not going to be a regular end-of-the-month compilation, so if you the ideas catch your fancy and the format and frequency float your boat, write to me at satyajit@satyajit.com with a mention of a recent favorite book and I’ll add you.
Here’s the harvest from July.
I. Geniuses Have Limited Toolsets
‘I think the American psychologist Maslow said if your only tool is a hammer, you view every problem as a nail. I would flip that and say that the geniuses have very limited toolsets. They have a hammer and they’re geniuses in looking for nails. That’s their genius. They have a very limited skill set but they master it and apply it incredibly well.’
– Adam Robinson
II. Power of the Frame
‘The idea of self-control is paradoxical unless it is assumed that the psyche contains more than one energy system, and that these energy systems have some degree of independence from each other.’
This quote is from social scientist Donald McIntosh from the book The Foundations of Human Society published in 1969. Read carefully and you may see that this quote captures the essence of Daniel Kahneman’s System 1-System 2 model and Richard Thaler’s planner-doer model. Yet, such an interpretation of human behavior did not come anytime soon after the book came out.
After a lifetime’s work with Amos Tversky, Kahneman had to recast their work using this two-system model to extract novel perspectives (in Thinking, Fast and Slow). The framing made the difference in understanding self-control and human behavior.
What may seem obvious now is thanks only to the right frame. Without this frame, economists may just have continued to consider humans as perfectly rational agents who never deviated across time or preferences.
III. Tapping into Your Subconscious
Ernest Hemingway had a practice of ending his writing day with something left to write. He would then release his mind completely from the task until he returned to it the next day.
Hemingway’s process had two parts: He applied his mind to a problem, and afterward let it go fully until he returned after a break to reapply himself to the problem. He fed the mind some input (often a complex writing situation) and then got out of the way. When he returned to it the next day, his subconscious had marinated in the prompt overnight. Much longer than if he were shuttling between tasks and constantly thinking about it.
Often, this process brought him a wellspring of ideas when he sat down to write. Most of us have felt the same too–in the shower, during a jog, while doing dishes. But by chance.
Feed your mind, get out of the way, return to what your unconscious mind has for you. Do this often enough and you can make a habit of it.
– Learned from polymath Josh Waitzkin who’s a big Hemingway fan
IV. Natural and Adapted
Are you two different people, one at work and another at home?
‘I don’t know if it’s the best advice I’ve ever received, but it’s the advice that comes to mind when you say it. It’s from my dad, right when I first started working. He said, “Listen, son, don’t have a work personality and a home personality. It’ll just tire you out. You don’t want to have to live two different lives.’
– Ravi Gupta, Partner at Sequoia
PS: I don’t know about you but the first thing that comes to mind when I think of this quote is DISC assessment profiles 😀
V. Uninformed and Informed Simplicity
‘I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity but I’d give my life for the simplicity on the far side of complexity.’
Perhaps just a different way of showing the Dunning-Kruger Effect, but Holmes’ words point to two kinds of simplicity—uninformed and informed.
There’s a difference when Tiger Woods says golf is a simple game and when you or I can’t figure out why golfers are paid so much for swinging a club on grass.
VI. I don’t versus I can’t
When you're saying NO to someone, there's a difference between saying I don't and saying I can't. The difference is between what you offer as a reason: principle or circumstance.
When you say I can't you suggest it's a matter of circumstance. Should the circumstances change, your answer may be different. Saying so, you may encourage future requests of the same nature.
When you say I don't you make it clear it's a matter of principle. That's just what you believe in, or who you are. Few are going to argue with that.
Why do you say no when you say no?
VII. Your Frame Is Invisible to You
Consider the story David Foster Wallace opens This is Water with:
‘There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”'
What it means to me is that meditation is looking at something you otherwise look through. Becoming aware is looking at your own mental frame.
What does it mean to you?
VIII. Listening Is Not an Inherited Skill; Talking Is
‘You have a friend who comes back from a date, and how many times have you heard her say, “The date was a disaster! The guy I was out with, he just listened too carefully,” or how many times have you heard about a couple that are breaking up and you say, “Why did those guys break up?” And your friend says, “Well, the couple broke up because they just listened to each other too carefully.”
My hypothesis is you’ve never heard either of those statements. We’ve all had friends who come back from a date and said, “That guy just would not stop talking.” Or you’ve heard about couples and all they did for many, many years was argue with each other. And why is that?’
— Source
IX. Deciding Outdoors and in the Boardroom
How different, if at all, is deciding in the outdoors versus deciding in the boardroom?
In the outdoors, information is unreliable. It may be accurate but only for a little while. The weather may turn, the landscape may change. The wilderness laughs at formula.
In situations when accuracy of information can change quickly, directive-based decision-making is more common. You see that in the military as well. There's a commander who carries the burden of decision-making in volatile situations.
Business leaders and managers, on the other hand, enjoy more room to delegate and groom those around them. Because information tends to be reliable for longer. The markets may turn but maybe not on a dime. Maybe not in one burst.
What could a troop leader take into account that a business leader may not?
Urgency. Urgency is a fundamental parameter in any volatile setting (war, mountaineering, sports, life?) for decision-making whereas Consequence and Reversibility are probably better parameters in corporate. To make business decisions through the urgency lens could be confusing because so many things are urgent simultaneously. So many things have a positive return on investment at the same time.
Don't be afraid to tweak your framework to the situation. Work out which style is best for the situation.
X. Making Sandals
‘To walk a thorny road, we may cover its every inch with leather or we can make sandals.'
- Josh Waitzkin, The Art of Learning
To me this means you can try and change the world OR you can change yourself.
You can deny the reality of the world OR you can change the fabric of your internal reality.
You can try and make life easier for your kids at every step OR you can teach them to be resilient.
You can try and correct others around you and hope that they see better sense OR you can learn to roll with the punches.
How will you walk the thorny roads in life?
See you next week!