Category: Everything else

Ensue vs. pursue

The less help you ask for and need, the more help you get.

The less money you need, the more bank loans and credit cards are offered to you

The less friends you need, the more friends you make.

The less you care about failure, the more you succeed.

The principle here is that most good things in life can’t be pursued. They ensue. Sure, you can pursue a title or an achievement. But, when you look at things that make you happy – peaceful sleep, engaging work, good relationships – they often ensue.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. And, of course, all of this means making choices that require us to need less, spend less, love unconditionally more, work much harder and with purpose, and to embrace failure and the stupidity that we feel when we learn something new.

That can either be liberating or depressing.

As always, your choice.

—

Hat tip to the great Viktor Frankl for the spotting the ensue vs. pursue principle half a century ago.

Talent -> Skill -> Work ethic

Watch a bunch of 5 year olds playing a new sport and you’ll quickly be able to spot the ones with natural talent.

8 years later, however, it’ll get harder to tell which ones were the talented ones from the group you first saw. This is also because 9 out of every 10 who started out at 5 are probably not even playing in this group. The differences observed at this stage become less about talent and a lot more about skill.

A further 8 years later, you’ll be hard pressed to remember if the survivors (again 1 out of 10 you saw 8 years back) were among the original talented 5 year olds. In this group, everyone has above-the-threshold talent and skill. It is work ethic that sets them apart.

Talent is what we are born with. It has a lot to do with our mental and physical make up. Some bodies, for example, are just a lot more suited to long distance running. Skill is when we wrap process around that talent. We use that mental and physical make-up and coax it to do a series of counter intuitive things that enable the individual to perform that skill at a certain level of consistency. For a soccer player, it is often learning collect the ball and make a difficult pass/take a shot in one fluid movement. Talent helps speed up the skill acquisition process. And, the speed of the skill acquisition process determines if you have what it takes to become a professional in what you do. However, skill alone doesn’t do much in a professional’s life. Sure, prodigious skill could result in a brief spell at the top. But, again, it is work ethic that makes a top top professional.

You’ve seen this in every field. Michael Phelps is a great example of natural talent (he was born with an abnormal wing span) who was able to learn the basics of swimming very quickly. But, it is when his coach coaxed in an unmatched work ethic that the became a machine that won a record number of Olympic medals. Whether it is Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant, Jerry Rice, Rafael Nadal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher or Tiger Woods, you’ll be hard pressed to find a superstar who doesn’t have an awe-inspiring work ethic.

And, while we are at it, I’d like to call attention to two important points. First, talent isn’t completely overrated. It helps greatly in the first stage. But, the irony is that we often see above-average talent triumph prodigious talent because they have to work a lot harder on the process. I once met a ticket collector on the DLR in London who used to be a teenage player at Chelsea football club. He said John Terry (Chelsea’s captain and legend) was among the least talented and skillful players as a teenager. All the others, however, just lacked the discipline and work ethic he had.

Second, notice how being professional involves mastering yourself and things you control. Talent isn’t in your circle of influence. Skill sort of is. But, work ethic? It is completely what you make of it.

Ray Dalio’s Principles

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. Bridgewater Associates grew to its current size thanks to its far-above-normal rate of returns. We did a case on Bridgewater Associates at school as an extreme example of employee culture. I use the word “extreme” because Ray Dalio has built a firm on a cultural “hyper-transparency.” At Bridgewater, employees seek out conflicts in pursuit of the “truth.” Given the rather cult-ish nature of the firm, it attracts a certain kind of person.

I was intrigued by Ray Dalio as some of his interviews revealed a disciplined and obsessive (is there any other kind of billionaire?) person who had an interesting take on markets and life that has evolved over time. For example, he has taken note of every investment decision he’s taken since the 1960s with the rationale behind them. And, over time, he’s studied the data to understand how the economic machine really works.

His approach to both the markets and life seemed very aligned around a principle-based approach he shared via a 109 page document with called ‘Principles‘ that is shared on Bridgewater’s website. So, I took some time over the past week to read the document. I was more interested in the part around fundamental principles as the management principles were derivative of that. These are a collection of quotes (similar ones grouped together) that resonated/made me think –

“Principles are concepts that can be applied over and over again in similar circumstances as distinct from narrow answers to specific questions. Principles connect your values to your actions.”

“Truth, more precisely, an accurate understanding of reality, is the essential foundation of producing good outcomes. Dreamers who achieve great things are not divorced from reality. Instead, they understand nature’s principles and make their invention to harness them. E.g. Flying.”

“The desire to evolve is probably humanity’s most pervasive driving force. And pursuing self interest in harmony with the laws of the universe and contributing to evolution is universally rewarded. Self-interest motivates people to do the difficult things that benefit them and that contribute to society. That, in turn, means they get rewarded financially.”

“Adaptation is simply adjusting appropriately to changes in one’s circumstance.”

“The quality of our lives depend on the quality of the decisions we make. Good decision makers learn to think about the second and subsequent-order consequences of their decision.”

“Happiness is often determined by how things turn out relative to expectations. You can choose to either have high expectations and strive to exceed them or lower expectations. Most choose first oath and hence have to keep evolve to be happy.” (My critique here is that Ray is talking about the feeling of happiness in the first bit. The state of happiness isn’t linked with outcomes. It is a way of being – in my opinion.)

“Pain + reflection = progress”

Ray Dalio’s approach to life and the markets has been to understand the principles that drive them. For example, he shares his mental model of the financial markets on a website called EconomicPrinciples.org. While I’m not sure I would have come to the same conclusions outlined in his approach to management, the document demonstrates incredible clarity of thought and alignment of values, principles and actions.

There is one footnote in the document where Ray asks every person to develop a “Principles” document. He also wishes he could read the principles of folks like Albert Einstein.

I wish that, too. Thanks for sharing this, Ray.

A beautiful mind parallel

I wrote about dealing with insecurities by making a case for selfishness a week ago. There are were a couple of sentences in that post that I thought I’d revisit.

“I am of the view that you don’t ever get rid of your demons. But, you do learn to keep them at bay. So, I don’t think you ever truly get rid of insecurities. You just learn to accept their presence, work with them, and consistently let your best self shine through.”

This was the single hardest concept that I have grappled with over the years. I initially operated with the assumption that you build self-confidence brick by brick and reach a point when you don’t ever see your insecurities again. It turns out that that is not true.

A parallel that came to mind was John Nash’s experience as depicted in the Oscar winning movie ‘A Beautiful Mind.’ In the end, Nash is shown to come to terms with his schizophrenia, but the characters from his delusions don’t go away. They’re still there. He’s just learnt to ignore them and carry on with his own life.

That’s a great way to think about insecurities. The best outcome of dealing with them and building our self-confidence isn’t that they disappear. We just learn to develop the self-awareness necessary to overcome them. Courage isn’t the absence of fear and insecurities, it is the realization that there are things more important than fear.

And, from personal experience, it is definitely the happier path…

Maximizing learn-rate – Being kind to yourself

If your response when you taste failure is to beat yourself up, it is natural that you will eventually fear failing.

But, isn’t that what we all do?

Maximizing learn-rate is on top of my mind as I had 2 days of ski lessons this week. After an encouraging first day, I had a challenging second day. And, as we progressed to a slightly tougher slope, I found it much harder to execute what I thought I’d learnt. For a good few minutes, I began wondering why I wasn’t getting it and, soon, I felt paralyzed. Negative self talk is the first step of a cycle that takes us nowhere.

The next step was to reverse the self talk and just try again.

It went better. I need more of that as I practice today.

My understanding of the situation is that my skill level is just what it is. Self talk isn’t going to improve it. But, as I start learning a new skill, there are many insecurities that get in the way of performing at the skill level I am at. It takes a while to build the confidence required to shove the insecurities aside. And, negative self talk is as potent a confidence destroyer as they come.

This post in one line? To learn better, be kind to yourself.

Maximizing learn-rate – look for the counter intuitive

Learn-rate is simply the speed at which you learn. And, I have a simple tactic for maximizing your learn-rate. Just look for what’s counter intuitive.

Every skill you attempt to pick up has a few elements that are counter intuitive. I’d argue that the more counter intuitive elements there are, the harder it is to learn the skill. Here are a couple of examples –

– If you are trying to learn the guitar, you have to learn to gravitate towards pain. Our natural reaction is to stop doing something if it is painful. When learning the guitar, it works the other way around. If you feel your fingers hurting when you try playing the F-chord, that’s a sign that you need to do a lot more of it.

– If you are learning to serve in tennis, you should look at where you want the ball to go. This is completely against our instinct to look at the racket and the ball. Also, we have to toss the ball higher than our normal zone of comfort.

– If you are learning to ski, there are a collection of counter intuitive ideas. First, you should always lean forward to keep control. This goes against our instinct to pull back when we move fast. Second, to turn right, you must put your tilt your left ankle and put your weight on it. Thirdly, like in tennis, you must keep your eyes on the trail in front of you. Finally, you have to go slow to go fast. This means you spend a lot of time making S-shapes so you don’t just speed down the hill, lose control and fall.

So, when you’re picking up your next skill, keep an eye for what’s counter intuitive and spend all your energy learning it. It works like magic.

Customizable

We are all exposed to industrial systems sooner or later in our lives. An outcome of having 7 billion people on the planet is that we’ve had to build industrial systems – school, college, the factory, etc. One consequence of these systems is that we’re conditioned to think of life like an assembly line – go to school, then get into a great college, then get a prestigious first job, then an elite masters program, then work in an exploding start-up and then build our own company. Or, the other way to think about it would be – study hard till you’re in college, then work hard while finding a partner, marry the partner, have kids, send kids to school, and let the cycle go on. Not much seems customizable. If anything, it feels like a never-ending list of things that just “have to be done.”

We crave connection as human beings. And, a result of this craving combined with technological advances is a slew of services like Facebook, Twitter, and the like. However, if we’re not careful, these can soon lead us to believe that there is a certain socially acceptable way to have fun, to go on vacation, or to even relax. After all, can it be a great vacation if it doesn’t make for a great profile picture?

But, here’s where it all breaks down –
1. Every bit of life is customizable. While large groups of us exhibit similar kinds of behavior (=> industrial systems work on average), we all have unique quirks. And, our happiness is entirely dependent on our quirks.
2. As a result, happiness exists in the customization. The less we feel like we’re going through life working through a pre-designed checklist,  the more we’re likely to be happy. The less we care about what others think, the more likely we’ll find our custom approach.
3. The less stuff we “have to do,” the happier we will be.

Our life is entirely what we make of it. And, the first step to making it what works for us is to realize that everything we take for granted was invented by people like and you and me.. and, that it is all customizable.

I will do nothing else..

..until I make progress on my number 1 priority.

To this day, I haven’t found a single app or hack that accomplishes important work better than when I make this commitment. I’m just learning to be disciplined at breaking lists down into groups, prioritizing them and then getting to work.

Like all good things, the commitment just sets the stage for great follow up. There’s no way of escaping that.

The half-life of a failure

I heard back on 2 project outcomes yesterday – one went really well and one didn’t go so well. Guess which one I woke up thinking about?

The half-life of a failure is much much longer than the half-life of a success. So, the question then becomes – is there a way around it? Here’s how I think about it –

In the short term, I’m not sure there is. Successes and failures are a part of life and we have to learn to accept that failures stay longer with us. We expect negative emotions very intensely. There is no getting around that and you aren’t going to change your response overnight.

In the medium term, there are a few ideas that can help. The first is to develop a coping mechanism. I have developed two coping mechanisms that tend to help me. First, I give myself a certain stretch of time (depending on the size of the failure) to play victim. And I allow myself to kick myself and curse things a bit. Once I’m done with playing victim, I think about I learnt from the process and write about it. This part enables me to look back at the process that led to the outcome, draw my own conclusions about what went wrong and look forward to things that I should do better. The beautiful part of writing a daily blog that talks about seeing failures as learnings is that failures help me keep a steady pipeline of content. That’s not a bad outcome.

And, finally, in the long term, I see it as a part of a quest to become more zen – to accept the things I cannot change and focus intensely on the things I can. Every minute spent on a past result is a minute taken away from a future process, after all. I know this but it doesn’t make executing on it any easier.

As you can tell, I am in the “medium term” bit. This process has taken me about 6 years to internalize. Let’s hope I’ll be writing about the long term part 6 years from now. :-)

Being entrepreneurial vs. being an entrepreneur

The media loves the entrepreneur’s story. Just search for Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Larry Page and you will find no shortage of press articles and books that detail their obsessive habits, their exercise routines and anecdotes from their childhood. Why blame the media? We love the entrepreneur story too – the story of the one person who came about and changed everything. Many dream to be that person. It is definitely a worthy dream if the goal is to make a positive difference during your time on the planet.  And, it is definitely one way to approach the many problems our planet and the human race faces.

The other way is to just be entrepreneurial – wherever you might be. The entrepreneurship concept is built around three phases – idea/problem -> initiative -> action. Those who go about registering a new company to solve the problem/execute the idea are called entrepreneurs. As you might have guessed, this post is about all those who don’t, all those we will call entrepreneurial.

Let us consider the story of Brent James at Intermountain Healthcare who has been at the forefront of a movement to make health care better by making it easier for doctors to access data and make better decisions. Or perhaps the many change-makers at hospital networks and medical device manufacturers around the world who have helped save an enormous number of lives through changes they lead. Perhaps we could think about those in companies that have led agricultural innovations or maybe the early team at Twitter including folks like Jason Goldman who have helped make Twitter an agent of change around the world. Brent James and folks like him may not have started companies but, as change agents in large organizations, have probably driven more tangible change than most could hope for.

The way I see it – there is a small group of people who will have the combination of smarts, resources, and luck that Musk, Bezos and Page have had in shaping the world tomorrow. And, while they will undoubtedly make huge dents to life on this planet, the change they will make will be dwarfed by the change made by the many entrepreneurial folk who are driving change in their neighborhoods, tribes, communities and companies. These people may not have articles dedicated to their childhood on Fortune magazine and may just be lauded in an internal company-wide memo. But, it would be foolish to underestimate the impact that they have on our lives. We’ve been innovating at an unprecedented rate of late. That’s not because we have more superstar entrepreneurs. In fact, the number of superstar entrepreneurs has stayed constant over time. For every Bill Gates, there always was a Rockfeller. However, with more availability of information and resources, we do have more people who’ve been taking initiative and attempting to make a difference wherever they are.

So, you might have many reasons to not be an entrepreneur. That’s completely okay. There is, however, no excuse to not be entrepreneurial. You have more access to tools that can drive change than ever before. You can also spot people who’re out there attempting to make the world a bit better. If you don’t feel strongly enough about pushing an idea forward, be good at spotting those who are and join them. Just ask Tim Cook and Jonathan Ive – that works too.

We make the world better.. together.