Dog Day Musings

/ The summer dog days mean it is also a great time to do three things:

1. Reflect on the first half of the year.

2. Reconfirm your priorities for the second half.

3. You can go for a walk at 9 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m., and it not be terribly cold, at least in San Francisco. Also, enjoy ice cream!

This week’s newsletter is mostly just musings and Framework.

/ Trying to think fundamentally about processes and organizations.

If I want to follow the general dogma of “challenge everything,” is it fair to question why anything is done in a certain way?

I run into three scenarios after challenging something

1. I don’t see the full picture initially —> I learn more context —> I see why it is done in a certain way (this is a “me” / information differential problem)

2. I get the full picture of why misaligned incentives / ego / unfortunate paradoxical situations explain why something is done less efficiently on purpose and is seen to be “effectively unfixable” in 99/100 situations.

3. I conclude that, at that time, it is being done in a suboptimal way, and I very reasonably think my way is better and feasible.

How it relates to the Framework: Being candid and critical about what people say and do is important. A lot of the time, you might realize that “Oh, I get it now why things are done this way. Ok, that makes sense.” and “Ah, this situation is tough. I disagree with this person’s decision-making, but I probably am missing context or am ignorant/not as sharp as them, so they are probably right.” But sometimes you’ll find an older/more tenured/experienced person believes X and you believe Y. Maybe the answer is that you are correct, or you are both somewhat correct because the environment has changed, or they have a mental bias/blindspot or you have a creative solution to a previously unsolved problem. This influences primarily Judgment and Decision Making, and some Pattern Recognition.

/ Beliefs

• That life is gray. Full of abstract. Nuanced, asterisks, exceptions. A lot of the interesting stuff is gray and multi-faceted too. A few examples of this are when you find that the highest-performing entities in a domain have two major skills that are often seen to be opposites. Example: a really great entrepreneur is both a great builder/operator and salesperson. A great thinker emphasizes the importance of both quantitative/logical and qualitative/emotional. A great leader can think about the macro/big-picture thinking and the micro/unit economics/fundamental components of a business and team.

• If you train your intuition, you might be able to come to pretty valid/interesting/satisfactory conclusions about what is outside your scope/knowledge base.

How it relates to the Framework: For the first point, this impacts Judgment, and really Pattern Recognition and Data Processing, with some on Decision Making. It is a mental exercise of pushing your brain to see why two opposing points are important and how a balance of importance between two opposing points is important to consider in making decisions. The second point is more obviously related to Intuition. Translating all that data and patterns into some ability to believe and think about stuff you don’t know about is important because while making data-driven decisions is great and reliable, sometimes you’ll just need to make a call on something. You don’t know what the right answer is. Maybe you won’t know immediately if you are right or wrong. But that decision need be based on something. And that might just be your intuition, gut feeling, inner conscience.

/ A bit more on Framework

While I’m trying to relate the process of “input of curiosity –> process of learning –> output of takeaways” to my daily life and want to improve, I find that my Framework is a bit muddy. There is overlap across those ideas. Even if I say “X relates to Decision Making,” that relation may be more obvious to one person and less to another. I’m thinking out loud about how I can keep trying to make the takeaways (output) of all of this tangible.

Takeways sort of need to be personal to the individual. A lot in life is really variable, and there isn’t a clear “blueprint” (as in step-by-step instructions). A common example is that there are a million self-help books and “How To Make Money” books. If it were simple, there would be less. This is not even talking about how selling the idea of making money is itself a way to make money (questionable on value creation, but that’s another discussion).

Takeaways need to be personal to the individual because the input (curiosity) is intrinsically driven. Teachers can’t tell a student to be curious. They cultivate that over time. The process also feels a bit variable. Like the age-old aphorism of “it’s about the journey, not the destination”, that tells me that for those who believe it, the process really matters, and for those who don’t, it doesn’t.

The saying itself is a bit glib. It is about both. But you kind of need some vigor/fire in both of them to (I think) really round it out. You enjoy the progress, iteration, and growth, and maybe you celebrate once you’ve reached your big milestone (in this case, the output), but because humans love resetting expectations, you set yourself a new milestone another 100 feet ahead up the mountain and keep trekking up.

Trying to tie these together, you digest/dissect some content (input) and see how closely it resonates with you. Then you iterate your process of how you want to acquire more content. And then try to come up with some takeaways and make some personal changes. Ideally, you get external feedback because you’ll have blind spots. Personally, I’ve consumed a good amount of content, thanks to the internet era coinciding with my childhood (mostly) and my parents letting me spend time on the computer. Big plus to aggregate childhood happiness.

Cool New Words

intransigence

Tweets / Memes

-VS

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