A Learning a Day

This week’s book learning is final part and “bonus” learning from the ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You’ by Cal Newport series. (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The thesis from last week was that we find a mission only once we are at the cutting edge of our fields. So, how do we put that mission into action? Here’s a story..

Kirk French was an archaeologist at Penn State with a mission – to help educate people about archaeology and have fun doing so! So, when the archaeological department received a call from a random person who claimed he had unearthed the treasure from the Knights Templar in his backyard, Kirk didn’t laugh along with his other colleagues.

– Instead, Kirk decided to visit the man and actually understand where he was coming from (and had lots of fun helping the man understand the facts..!)

– A couple of similar visits later, he started taking a video camera with him and launched a documentary project called “Armchair Archaeologist” and began doing so in his spare time

– He raised some money from Penn State for his project soon after

– A few months down the line, a production group contacted Penn State for TV show ideas – Voila! Kirk sent some of his footage

– They, in turn, sent his footage to the History channel and they paid up front for 8 episodes!

That’s how the TV show – “American Treasures” was born. Kirk asked his best friend, Jason De Leon to join him as co-host and he was on his way!

While this is just an isolated story, Cal demonstrates how one success after another occurred after tons of little bets!

In summary –

Don’t follow your passion -> Apply deliberate practice, the “craftsman mindset” to what you do

-> Be so good they can’t ignore you -> Build career capital -> Exchange career capital for more control
-> You will find a mission once you are at the cutting edge of your field (think small i.e. in terms of next step)
-> Take lots of little bets to make this mission real..!

I hope you enjoyed the series as much I enjoyed it..

Here’s to taking lots of little bets this week!

Reading a book implies “finishing” them. It’s akin to the 20 million people who have bought and read the ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. That does nothing.

READING a book, on the other hand, involves really understanding what’s in it. How do you do that? Here are a few ideas.

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Take notes. See how Derek Sivers does it.

Keep bookmarks as you read, and go back and take note of the learnings. Put the learnings up on a blog or email it to a few friends. If you can think of no one who would like such an email, feel free to email it to me on rohan@rohanrajiv.com. I LOVE these! (For the long term, it might also be worth finding a few geeky friends.)

Start a book discussion club with 2-3 friends who are geeky enough to love idea. Pick a book for the week and discuss learning. A great way to learn is to teach.

Start a book learning group at work and do one lunch per week where you each share your biggest learning.

Summarize a book in 3 pages and send it across to 10 people.

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Some of these are better than others. Besides, once you get started, I’m sure you’ll figure out a better way that actually suits you.

And yes, I am aware there’s no difference between “reading” and “READING”. It’s akin to “listening” and “LISTENING” (i.e. really listening).

We all know it makes all the difference the world.

A friend and I got talking about rejections the other day as she spoke of a particularly bad one she had received via email.

I walked down memory lane myself and picked out my most memorable (read: strongest/worst at the time) rejection. I thought I would share. I had just met a Professor in university – we will not mention his real name – and I had written to him with a “learning” email that I mentioned I helped create, and would love to stay in touch with. His response was as follows.

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Dear Rohan,

I would appreciate it if you could stop sending me these emails. They are meant for the intellectually disabled, and I doubt if I am.

_____________

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I still remember looking at my computer screen in dismay then. I laugh about it now but the fact is that rejections like this can be really tough depending on where you are on the confidence curve.

Such rejections are a nice reminder of how difficult it can be to put yourself out there. They are also a lovely reminder to make sure we take absolute care when we say “no” to someone.

Then again, it follows my observation that the more you have failed yourself, the nicer you are to others..

If you are stuck between a rock and a hard place or hanging off a cliff, what would you do? Scream for help or pretend you don’t need it with a dash of bravado?

The answer seems obvious. Our reaction, as well, would be obvious.

Why, then, do we bother with the bravado in our normal lives? We are often between a rock and a hard place at work, in our relationships, with our finances etc. Why, then, do we not scream for help and get help?

Ditch the bravado. Ask for help. Learn. Move on. It’s okay to be in a bad place.

Once again, it’s okay..

This is a hack that has gone a long way in making my work life better. Here’s a fact – a lot of people who work with you (especially senior) might care for you and want to develop you but may just not have the time. Also, there’s the accompanying fact that you will most likely get more out of time with them than vice versa.

You’ve got to make it easier for them by respecting their time. A simple idea that has helped me is to take lots of walks and run errands with my bosses, clients and pretty much any colleague I work with. This means walking with them to the car park, the bike stand, to a store while they’re looking for something, to get something for a quick bite etc.

I’ve received a lot of great advice about work and life during these times. More importantly, I have gotten much closer to to my co-workers thanks to these walks. In fact, I can think of one really close work relationship that got that way on the back of nearly a month of walking down to the car park every evening. (I used to prepare a list of questions and topics for discussion every day as it was a good 10 minute walk!)

Conversely, if you are unable to find time for someone you’d like to spend time with, you know what to do!

Besides, a touch of fresh air doesn’t hurt..

If it comes down to saying that, it has failed..

Better to accept failure and move on rather than tout the line.

Popularity often results in people following what you say versus what you do (think: politicians). In Steve Jobs case, you could argue he was not just popular, but was followed by a mass of people who had an almost cult-ish admiration for the man.

The trouble, then, is when you go out and dole bad advice. In his case, his famous Stanford commencement speech had 3 pieces of advice. Two of these were fantastic.

“You can’t connect the dots going forward”

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

The trouble is that he sandwiched this with a piece of advice that went on to define his talk – “You’ve got to find what you love.”

The trouble with great people making elementary mistakes is that their mistakes are often magnified. It is the same with Jobs. I’m sure he did it with all good intentions.

I reflected on it after spending time with some fantastic minds during the “workshop with no name” on Saturday when it felt like many of the members of the group believed Steve Jobs stood for the person who got to where he was because he never practiced and stayed “original.” It almost felt like the message they had gleaned from the hundreds of articles that glorify Jobs is that he did incredible things because he channelled some mythical natural ability. If they did the same by finding what they loved, they’d be just like him.

I’m convinced this is bad advice. Why? Because it strips away merit. And merit only comes from hard work and deliberate practice.

If you feel this is bullsh*t, I’d highly recommend taking a bit of time off and reading Cal Newport’s fantastic book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” He just gets it. You won’t regret it.

PS: As an appetizer, here’s a glimpse of Cal Newport’s approach to picking apart the passion argument in “Don’t follow your passion”

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

The question from last week was – if we don’t worry about following our passion, how do we account for “missions/callings“?

Cal studies numerous achievers who have advanced to their cutting edge in their fields and found a pattern.

– They did not have a mission figured out when they got started

– For the most part, they had no clue what they even wanted to do when they got started

– In all cases, they found their mission ONLY after they acquired career capital (else you only end up with lots of enthusiasm about your “calling”, with nothing to show for it!)

– Why? The next big ideas in any field are found right beyond the current cutting edge, in the adjacent space that contains the possible new combinations of existing ideas

A good career mission is an innovation waiting to be discovered in the adjacent possible of your field. So, if you want to identify a mission for your working life, you must first get to the cutting edge – the only place where these missions become visible.

The conclusion here is simple – The more experience you have, the more likely you are to love your work and find a mission.

Hence, advancing to the cutting edge in a field is an act of “small” thinking, requiring you to focus on a narrow collection of subjects for a potentially long time. Once you get to the cutting edge, however, and discover a mission in the adjacent possible, you must go after it with zeal: a “big” action.

The usual way – think big and act small. ( Sketch by EB)
Cal advises us to think small instead and act big

Once you have the career capital required to identify a mission, you must still figure out how to put the mission into practice. If you don’t have a trusted strategy for making this leap from idea to execution, then like most people, you’ll probably avoid the leap altogether.

What strategy is that? Coming next week as the “bonus” part of this series..

Here’s to thinking small and focusing hard on getting to the cutting edge of what we do this week!

is to teach.

And the best thing about teaching is that it’s not about ramming learning down someone’s throat.

It’s creating an environment conducive to learning and facilitating the process.

At some point in the next few weeks, I will be looking back at the year and at the many initiatives I undertook. Some succeeded and some failed.

One of those that I failed at was my 100% attention initiative. It has gotten much better in some aspects, like attention during conference calls, but hasn’t improved much in some cases, like attention during personal calls. I offer up my natural ADD as an excuse but I know it’s weak because I can do it if I want to. It’s just not a habit yet.

So, I thought I’d pick out a post from Brad Feld called Golden Retriever Eyes. This is a post I can relate to, completely!

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These are our golden retrievers (Denali and Kenai).  They are looking at Amy, who happens to be standing next to me as I’m taking this photo.  Notice their eyes – they are giving Amy their 100% undivided attention.  We call these “Golden Retriever Eyes.”

I have a special talent.  When Amy is talking to me, I can be doing something else (e.g. typing on my computer, reading a book) and – when she says “Brad – you aren’t listening to me,” I can repeat back the last two sentences that she said to me word for word.

For a number of years in our relationship, this was effective (at least for me.)  At some point, Amy realized this wasn’t satisfying to her – she’d figured out my special talent – and realized that her assertion (that I wasn’t listening to her) was close (I was listening, but I wasn’t paying attention.)  After several “conversations” (definitely a euphemism in this case) about it, Amy realized she didn’t want me to just listen, but she actually wanted me to pay attention.

So – give your special friend “Golden Retriever Eyes” when she is talking to you.  That’s what she really wants.

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Brad’s post absolutely nails it. I do listen. But, I don’t pay 100% attention and sure as hell don’t give folks close to me “Golden Retriever Eyes”.

Here’s to that..!

What are your experiences with attention?