Author: alearningaday

This week’s book learning is part 4 of a 5 part series from ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ by Cal Newport. (Parts 1, 2, 3)

Cal Newport’s 3rd principle is simple – control is one of the most important things you can bargain for (and not a promotion!). Why?

-> “Great Work” is defined by 3 traits: Creativity, Impact and Control. A job with these traits, especially control, is rare.

-> If we want something that’s both rare and valuable, we need something rare and valuable to offer in return .

-> These rare and valuable skills are our career capital.

-> And, the craftsman mindset leads to acquiring career capital.

Example: Steve Jobs gained a bit of control in his life when he sold out the first bunch of Apple I at the local computer shop.

However, to get even more valuable control, he needed to increase the value of what he had to offer. So, he took on $250,000 in funding from Mark Markkula, and worked with Steve Wozniak to produce Apple II – a new computer that was unambiguously too good to be ignored.

Cal warns that it’s dangerous to pursue more control in your working life before you have career capital to offer in exchange. Else, you run into a hard truth of the real world – it’s really hard to convince people to give you money.

So, just because you are committed to a certain lifestyle doesn’t mean you’ll find people who are committed to supporting you.

 

To those enthralled by the myth of a true calling, there’s nothing more heroic than trading comfort for passion. The passion theorists indicate that the biggest obstacle between you and work you love is a lack of courage to follow your dream. The downside of this is that it strips away merit.

In reality, great work doesn’t just require great courage, but also skills of great (and real) value.

So, what about “missions”/”callings” then? That’s in principle #4 – coming up next week..

Here’s to looking for control vs promotions this week!

I’m in Singapore for a few weeks and would like to test an idea out. I always find myself very inspired to ‘give back’ when I’m in Singapore and Chennai. Perhaps that’s because I studied in these place and feel like I “received” a lot.

After previous experiments with workshops in schools, universities, I’d like to try out a new idea – I call it “The Workshop with No Name” and I’ll now answer a few obvious questions.

Why? I’ve been learning a few concepts of late that have begun to have a profound impact on me. I’d like to learn them and create habits around them. The best way to learn is to teach and discuss.

How? The idea is to do a 2 hour small group workshop on the NUS (i.e. National University of Singapore) campus next weekend, sometime in the morning/afternoon. Date and venue to be decided.

This is the kind of workshop where we will all be attendees. The facilitation will be more directional, than specific.

What? The what question is tougher to answer. So, I will break it down.

What are we looking to achieve? Actionable next steps on these ideas that we can implement in our lives to be “awesome.”

What are these concepts? Regular readers will be familiar with “deliberate practice.” That’s an easy example – how do we apply deliberate practice into our lives?

Also, if you do have a specific problem you need help with, you are welcome to bring it in.

What will it be like? Geeky. Tough (potentially). Learning filled.

I am determined to ensure it’s a very small group and thought I’d extend the invitation to those of you who read this from Singapore. If you like the idea and want in, please send me a note on rohan@rohanrajiv.com and I’ll let you know.

PS: Of course, like all things on this blog, it’s free..

Of late, I’m working hard to ensure I qualify my opinions with my biases. This happens naturally at work because every presentation or data crunch is preceded by assumptions. The way I see it, assumptions are to analysis what biases are to opinions.

And stating my biases helps me in three ways.

First, it reminds me that I have my own (strong) biases and my opinions would be different if these biases were different.

Second, I take my own opinions less seriously because these biases are subject to change.

Finally, it helps the person on the other side. Thanks to having strong opinions that are subject to change, it leads to people feeling less disoriented. (What? Didn’t you just say the exact opposite 6 months ago?)

All in all, it’s something that just seems to be adding value, and is a habit I hope to keep up.

When we put in effort, society points us to in the direction of a a couple of questions –

Did you do better than him/her?

Did you win?

The only question we ought to ask, though, is

Have I been the “best I can be” and given it my best?

We are the questions we ask.

Doing little things every day is what differentiates those who live well and those who don’t.

In fact, I’d go on a limb and a say that does with the consistent good habits are those who achieve extraordinary success.

I think we misunderstood the message from the heavens on who the world really belongs to. It doesn’t belong to the geek, the meek or to the intelligent, it belongs to the disciplined.

And, reminders and lists are the salt of the earth when it comes to helping us be disciplined, and as an extension, live well.

Go on then. Make those lists.

It’s a very simple thing to do – spend 5 minutes at the end of the day to plan out the big rocks for the next day.

It’s all about starting the next day with “small wins.”

How do you set yourself up for small wins? As an example, do the hard work of backing your car into the drive way so you can just drive out in the morning.

Planning tomorrow’s work is similar to backing the car as you can show up in the morning and just get going.

Make it frictionless. Make it easy to notch up small wins. The big wins will show up soon enough.

It’s amazing how powerful these 2 letters are, together.

In combination, they have..

.. shot down many a great idea.

.. killed many a great initiative.

.. caused rejection paralysis in human beings all over.

.. resulted in many singles wondering if they would ever find a partner.

.. infused fear, which has crippled action, time and time again.

The idea that pops straight to mind is one of rejection, of worthless-ness, of disappointment. The word i.e. the two letters in combination, implies none of that, of course.

So, the next time, we hear a “No”, let’s remember to separate the idea from the word. We hear a million words in any given week.

Why let one stop us from doing great things?

Let’s face it – there are very few events we actually control. For the most part, life just happens to us. And we spend a big chunk of our time reacting to these events.

That said, there are big parts of certain constants we actually do control.

For example, we don’t control what others think of us at work. But, we do control how we go about doing work. Or, we don’t control what our final exam papers look like. But, we do control how we prepare for it.

It’s easy to get into one of two modes of thinking –

“I don’t control anything.” So, who cares, right?

“I have too many choices.” Do I play politics, back stab that colleague, pretend I was working at 2am on Monday morning? Cue decision paralysis.

We have a penchant for complicating things. Let’s keep things simple – work hard, study hard and as Steve Martin would say..

‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’

Best wishes for a good week.

This week’s book learning is part 3 of a 5 part series from ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ by Cal Newport. (Parts 1, 2)

We spoke of the “craftsman mindset” as the best way to build career capital. Today, we will take a deep look at the 5 habits of a craftsman –

1: Decide what capital market you are in. There are 2 kinds of markets –

Winner-take-all: One killer skills with a few winners all over the world (e.g. hollywood script writer)

Auction: Diverse collection of skills. Here, there are many different types of career capital and each person might generate their own unique collection (e.g. CEO of a Fortune 500 company)

2: Identify your capital type. Ignore this if you are in a winner-take-all market as there’s only one type of capital. (i.e. be amongst the top 10 script writers in the world to make it in Hollywood)

For an auction market, however, seek open gates i.e. opportunities to build capital that are already open to you. Open gates get us farther faster. Skill acquisition is like a freight train: Getting it started requires a huge application of effort, but changing its track once it’s moving is easy. (e.g. keep moving upwards in an organization and then laterally instead of trying to move laterally and start from scratch)

3: Define “good”. Set clear goals. For a script writer, the definition of “good” is clear – his scripts being taken seriously.

4: Stretch and destroy. Deliberate practice – that uncomfortable sensation in our heads that feels like physical strain, as if neurons are physically re-forming into new configurations.

5: Be patient. Look years into the future for the payoff. It’s less about paying attention to your main pursuit, and more about your willingness to ignore other pursuits that pop up along the way to distract you.

While the craftsman mindset can be applied to most kinds of work, Cal also indicates three disqualifiers for applying the craftsman mindset. These are jobs that

1. …present few opportunities to distinguish yourself by developing relevant skills that are rare and valuable.
2. …focus on something you think is useless or perhaps even actively bad for the world.
3. … force you to work with people you really dislike.

Over to principle #3 then. Coming up next week..

Here’s to developing the 5 habits of a craftsman this week!

Want to finish that bar of chocolate? Play that extra hour on the play station? Wear that expensive dress and go for a fancy dinner?  Curl up in your bed and just read a book in quiet?

Go for it. Don’t think twice.

Tomorrow, we can go about worrying about all of life’s little problems – our waist lines, crazy projects, bosses and plan.

Tomorrow, we will exercise, work, and study.

Today, we will indulge.

Tomorrow, we will do.

Today, we will just be..

Self control is so incredibly critical to long term happiness. But it’s nice to let go once a while and give in. The key is once a while of course.