Category: Everything else

Footballer (/soccer player) Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field due to a Cardiac arrest at Euro 2021 a few days back. I’m happy to hear he has since recovered.

I wasn’t watching the match live. So, I learnt about it after it happened and saw some of the footage/reactions. 4 events that stood out:

(1) His teammates formed a huddle around him to shield him and the crowd from witnessing the moment of his then likely death. What an incredible gesture.

(2) Inexplicably, UEFA made the decision to let play continue. Even if they asked the players for their view, I’m not sure the players could/would have been in a fit mental state to continue. It is similar to asking someone suffering from concussion if they want to play. Another example of how often we underestimate the impact of mental health.

(3) Anti-vaxxers decide to use the moment to further their cause. They claimed Eriksen’s cardiac arrest was caused by the vaccine. His club team later shared he hadn’t been vaccinated as yet. Another fascinating mini episode in the long-running series on human behavior.

(4) Moments like this always serve as a reminder of the fragility of our lives. Here was an incredibly fit and talented 29 year old football star who nearly lost his life on the job.

As Gabe Marcotti, a writer on ESPN, nicely put it – “Sports, career, money … it all crumbles to dust when faced with what really matters: life.”

“If you want to get in shape, it’s not difficult. Spend an hour a day running or at the gym. Do that for six months or a year. Done.

That’s not the difficult part.

The difficult part is becoming the kind of person who goes to the gym every day.” | Seth Godin, The Practice

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This was beautifully put. Habits stick when they fit with our culture and identity.

Change that culture and identity and we change our life.

Much of what we call talent is a skill that became so because of focus, work, coaching, and persistence.

Every few weeks, Morgan Housel shares stories on his blog. I have no idea where he sources them from. But, I’m always impressed by how good they are. Today’s post had a collection of good ones – below is my favorite.

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Skateboarder Tony Hawk landed a 900 – two and a half spins – at the 1999 X Games. It was the biggest achievement the sport had ever seen, the equivalent of the four-minute mile.

It catapulted Hawk into legend status. His video game came out a year later and sold 30 million copies. Six Flags named a rollercoaster after him.

But here’s the craziest part of this story: fifteen years later, an eight-year-old landed a 900.

Hawk was also the first person to land a 720 (two spins) – a feat later accomplished by a second-grader.

A lot of sports work like that. One person raises the bar over what previously seemed impossible, and that becomes the baseline for a new generation to build upon.

Just qualifying for the Boston Marathon requires a time that, 100 years ago, would put you within nine minutes of a world record.

A gold-medal gymnast 70 years ago would not make the cut in a local competition today.

Same with technology, business, and investment knowledge. One generation builds on the impossible feats of the previous one. It’s like compound interest.

A fifth-grader recently landed a 1080 – three spins, unthinkable in Hawk’s day. Asked what he thought of the achievement, Hawk replied: “It represents everything I love about skateboarding: constant evolution.”

Which is a statement you can apply to just about any field.

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It is also a statement we can apply to ourselves.

How much are we evolving everyday?

One of my favorite stories from Dan Ariely – a Behavioral Economics author and Professor – is about how roommates and spouses consistently overestimate their contribution to the household.

When his research team asked roommates to estimate their contributions, the totals consistently added up to more than a 100%.

It is one of those studies that I think about from time to time. When I find myself thinking about my contribution to chores as I attend to them after a long day, it reminds me of just how wrong I likely am… and chuckle.

You’re on the highway and see two cars ahead of you. The gap between the two cars ahead on the next lane doesn’t seem to be much.

But, as you move closer, you realize there may just be enough for you to switch lanes.

Move a bit closer and, suddenly, you realize there is more than enough. You’re going to make it.

Once you get there, you make it comfortably.

Every time I experience this, I’m reminded of the quote – “When you’re at the beginning, don’t obsess about the middle. The middle will look different when you get there.“

Indeed.

Every once a while, it is worth asking ourselves – how do I make a big decision?

To answer this, we need to ask 3 questions:

(1) How have we made big decisions in the past?

(2) What was the process when things worked well? And didn’t? (Process includes – how did we go about thinking about it? How did it feel?)

(3) What would our ideal process be?

It is worth taking the time to synthesize our approach because big decisions tend to have outsized consequences on our life. Deciding to change careers, go to graduate school, relocate, buy a home, etc., are all moves that have the potential to change every aspect of our life.

And, the crazy part is that there is no single correct decision in most of these cases. It all depends on the context.

Most importantly, the best decisions for you are those that work for you. So, it helps to understand how you can make a decision that is likely going to work for you.

For example, I know folks who only make such decisions when they feel the logic behind the decision is unassailable. I also know folks who only make such a decision when it “feels” right. For what it’s worth, I’m in the latter category.

Again, there’s no right answer. It all depends. However, once we understand our preferred process, it makes it easier to replicate when we make the next big decision.

A few years ago, I shared a learning about picking watermelons.

We love watermelons. So, it is a learning I think about every summer. The image below explains it beautifully.

The watermelons that look the worst taste the best. As the “field spot” color moves from white to yellow to nearly orange, the watermelon goes from “nearly ripe” -> “very ripe.”

I’m grateful for this learning as it conveys three things every time I think about it.

First, we’ve enjoyed great watermelons for five years now. Amazing how one insight that helps you understand the nature of a thing can change how you experience it.

Second, appearances can be deceptive. That is important – in fruits, with people, and in life as a whole.

And third, we learnt this thanks to our moms speaking to a random person at Costco who seemed to know what he was doing when he was picking a watermelon.

Learning can come from surprising places if we’re curious.

I am often in conversations about career choices. And, while some ask the “Am I doing it right?” question explicitly, most ask it implicitly.

And, in every one of these conversations, I start with a variant of – “There’s no right answer.”

It is a helpful reminder in any conversation about careers (or life for that matter).

All we can do is ensure –
a) we know what we want.
b) we have as much information/awareness as possible on the situation and people involved.
c) we are thoughtful about the likelihood of us getting what we want with the choice we’re making and what we will need to do to make it happen.

In the long run, thoughtful choices and good process lead to good outcomes. That’s about all we can focus on.

Over the past months, I’ve loved serendipitously discovering sketches by Liz Fosslien.

Here is a compilation of 5 from recent months that have resonated.

Thank you for sharing these, Liz. Beautifully done.