A Learning a Day

Every once a while, we evolve some weekday routine with the kids. This may be a change to a morning drop off routine, an evening pre-sleep routine or something we do over the weekend. When this happens, we celebrate the sheer awesomeness of this new practice and fall in love with it.

Until some variable that made the old routine great changes.

That signals that it is time to change again. The same process follows. Evolve. Fall in love. Realize it is broken again.

The beautiful thing about this evolution is that it reminds me of the importance of continuous evolution. Things change. The best thing we can do is embrace that change and evolve ourselves.

It also helps me appreciate the power of recognizing the impermanence of things.

Change is the only constant.

I was on the bike lane approaching a traffic signal. There was a car well ahead of me about to turn right.

As the traffic signal and turn were still some distance away, the car could probably have completed the turn without any change in my pace. If I had to estimate the odds, my guess is that the probability I would need to brake to allow for the car to turn was 10%.

But, the car stopped to let me through.

That was very thoughtful of the driver.

It made me think about how I might have behaved in the same situation. And, I’d be willing to bet that I’d have just gone through as it was very likely there was going to be no impact on the bike.

But, as I bike a lot more now, I’m more appreciative of these little gestures as it is much easier to accelerate in a car vs. a bike. This driver’s gesture will impact how I behave in such situations going forward.

Walking a mile in another person’s shoes is powerful. Perspective makes us better humans.

My favorite idea from the book on Netflix’s culture – No Rules Rules – is “The Keeper Test.”

Netflix encourages employees to ask their manager this question from time to time – “If I was leaving for another job, would you fight to keep me?”

If the answer is “YES! Of course” – everything is great. If the answer is no, it is time to part ways. And, if the answer is anything in between, it is time for some candid feedback and recalibration.

The candor, transparency, and clarity that the question inspires resonated with me.

Thinking we’ve learnt or even understood something because we read a book is like thinking we can play professional tennis because we saw Roger Federer play.

Learning follows absorption, synthesis, and action.

We only learn something when it becomes part of how we operate.

When we’re reading into a cryptic comment (usually sent via a chat or email app), we can choose one of two interpretations – the kind one or the unkind one.

The kind one assumes good intent and mutual respect. The unkind one assumes the opposite and, on our worst days, can make us feel like we’ve been punched in the gut.

A lesson that I’ve learnt many times over – especially during the past year – is: default to the kind interpretation.

That’s not just because it is true 95%+ of the time (it is). It is also because it helps us respond with optimism and kindness – both of which help us either address the situation constructively and/or diffuse it.

In 2019, malaria killed over 400,000 people. 94% of those deaths were in Africa. The best vaccine available today is only 30% effective.

That may change in the next two years.

Building on mRNA techniques used in the COVID-19 vaccine, researchers have identified a promising candidate. It marks the highest ever protection studied in lab mice.

Malaria is a difficult illness to treat. And, traditional vaccine methods haven’t cut it. RNA based vaccines, however, are promising (this article has more on this). Success with the COVID-19 vaccine has ushered in a promising wave of vaccine research for HIV, Cancer, and Multiple Sclerosis among others.

mRNA technology represents a giant leap forward. I think we’re going to see many more such promising vaccine candidates in the next 3-5 years.

In the long run, it may well be the single biggest positive outcome from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Problems have solutions. That’s what makes them problems. A problem without a solution isn’t a problem, it’s simply a situation.” | Seth Godin in “The Practice”

This articulation made me chuckle.

It reminded me of the serenity prayer “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Take 1: The Queen died. The King died.

Take 2: The Queen died. And the King died of a broken heart.

A few extra words of context have the power of transforming our perception of the facts.

One implication in our day-to-day – it is nearly always worth taking the first couple of minutes of every meeting we drive to set the context.

Context matters.

In the first few months of working-from-home, I used to miss the ability to take a walking 1:1 meeting. Our offices are in the suburbs and walking around a park nearby always lifted spirits and stimulated good conversation.

Zoom made that challenging. Attempts at walking on a video call just didn’t feel as comfortable.

So, over the past months, I’ve been taking most catch up calls via an old fashioned audio/phone call. The downside is that we don’t see each other on video. But, the upside is that I can take these calls while going out for a walk.

There’s no replacement to walking side-by-side. But, the call + walk combination combines good conversation with air and exercise to the day – a winner.

We discovered George Ezra’s song “Shotgun” a few weeks ago. We’ve listened to it at least a hundred times since. It inspires dancing more often than not.

And joy.

Lots of joy.

Good music frequently reminds me about the power of enjoying the simple things. It is so amazing to be alive at a time when it is so easy to listen to great music – no matter where we are.

Joy needn’t be expensive.

There’s so much magic around us.