Deep Work

Deep Work – Cal Newport

Summary: In a distracted world, deep work becomes more and more valuable. Protect your time and rewire yourself, only that way you can achieve greatness.

Part 1: The Idea Chapter 1: Deep Work Is Valuable Chapter 2: Deep Work Is Rare Chapter 3: Deep Work Is Meaningful

Part 2: The Rules Rule #1: Work Deeply Rule #2: Embrace Boredom Rule #3: Quit Social Media Rule #4: Drain the Shallows

Intro

Jung example, not to escape his professional life, but instead to advance it

Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.

Deep work, though a burden to prioritise, was crucial for Jung’s goal of changing the world

Bill Gates think weeks (twice a year) Neal Stephenson, organise time to have long chunks of uninterrupted time

we lose the value of going deep, because (oa) we have network tools 60% of workweek is dedicated to electroning communication and searching online 30% reading and answering emails

Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.

Rule of thumb: months that a college educated person needs to study to accomplish task. To define Deep from Shallow Work.

spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work. network tools are distracting us from work that requires unbroken concentration, while simultaneously degrading our capacity to remain focused.

Our work culture’s shift toward the shallow is exposing a massive economic and personal opportunity for the few who recognise the potential of resisting this trend and prioritising depth.

Learning something complex like computer programming requires intense uninterrupted concentration on cognitively demanding concepts — deep work

Deep work enables: 1) learning – you must master the art of quickly learning complicated things 2) impact in digital world – only great products survive in this new world (mediocre perish) – to succeed you have to produce the absolute best stuff you’re capable of producing – and this is a task that requires depth

The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it’s becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.

Cal Newport – very accomplished in his field and with writing books – but rarely works after 6pm – minimise the shallow in his life – he gets the most out of the time he frees up – he is comfortable being bored

(schedule for me: work, free, blog?)

Deep good, shallow bad (1984, George Orwell)

Part 1: The Idea Chapter 1: Deep Work Is Valuable

Nate Silver (Moneyball?) David Heinemeier Hansson (Ruby on Rails, Basecamp) John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) – micro, personality traits and tactics overlap – macro, type of work they represent

Erik Bryonjolfsson & Andrew McAfee Race Against the Machine – employers are becoming increasingly likely to hire ‘new machines’ – Great restructuring, dividing jobs (up and down, no middle) – Tyler Cowen, Average Is Over

The High-Skilled Workers – intelligent machines can assist this group

The Superstars – once the talent market is made universally accessible, those at the peak of the market thrive while the rest suffer – the superstars will win the bulk of the market

The Owners – access to capital provides massive advantages – With so little input from labour, the proportion of this wealth that flows back to the machine owners, is without precedent

Winners: those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines, those who are the best at what they do, and those with access to capital.

FLORIS: Become high-skilled worker and leverage capital to become/stay owner in the projects to reap the benefits (ala DHH)

Two core abilities for thriving in the new economy 1. The ability to quickly master hard things 2. The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed

Intelligent machines are complicated and hard to master You must be able to do it quickly, again and again If you can’t learn, you can’t thrive Or ability to perform (high-skilled vs superstars) All depends on ability for deep work

Deep Work Helps You Quickly Learn Hard Things Antonin-Dalmace Sertillanges – The Intellectual Life – to learn requires intense concentration

Anders Ericsson – Peak – deliberate practice – specific form of practice 1) your attention is focused tightly on a specific skill you’re trying to improve or an idea you’re trying to master; 2) you receive feedback so you can correct your approach to keep your attention exactly where it’s most productive.

The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle – oligodendrocyte cells – to learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction

Give and Take – Adam Grant – see productivity as a scientific problem to systematically solve – batching of hard but important intellectual work into long, uninterrupted stretches – it’s important to enforce strict isolation until you complete the task at hand

high-quality work produced = (time spent) x (intensity of focus) – by maximising the intensity of work, maximise the output of work – can only do it a limited amount of time, no extra productivity after that

Attentional residue – switching between tasks has a cost to it

Jack Dorsey – twitter – people who thrive without depth – characteristics of specific job – connection there is most valuable currency

Deep work is not the only skill valuable in our economy, and it’s possible to do well without fostering this ability, but the niches where this is advisable are increasingly rare. Unless you have strong evidence that distraction is important for your specific profession, you’re best served, for the reasons argued, by giving serious consideration to depth.

Chapter 2: Deep Work Is Rare Example, journalists at NYTimes, have to have social profiles – many of these trends actively decrease one’s ability to go deep – the brain responds to distractions

FLORIS: time the moments when I’m taking a break! And when to answer social media and messaging things!

free and frictionless method of of communication had soft cost equivalent to procuring a small company Learjet even though we accept that distraction has costs and depth has value, these impacts are difficult to measure there is a metric black hole – we have a culture of connectivity – does it really help to be more connected (no) – experiment with consultants (BCG) one day per week no communication – more enjoyment in work, better communication among themselves, more learning

FLORIS: At Queal do no communication days? Or already practising this?

The Principle of Least Resistance: In a business setting, without clear feedback on the impact of various behaviours to the bottom line, we will tend toward behaviours that are easiest in the moment.

– many people run work from inbox – If email were to move to the periphery of your workday, you’d be required to deploy a more thoughtful approach to figuring out what you should be working on and for how long. – This type of planning is hard Getting Things Done – David Allen

Surely You Must be Joking Mr Feynman – Feynman – avoiding administrative duties – Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not

Busyness as Proxy for Productivity: In the absence of clear indicators of what it means to be productive and valuable in their jobs, many knowledge workers turn back toward an industrial indicator of productivity: doing lots of stuff in visible manner.

Neil Postman – technopoly – Aldous Huxley – Brave New World – the alternative (no internet) is invisible and therefore irrelevant

Deep work is at a severe disadvantage in a technopoly because it builds on values like quality, craftsmanship, and mastery that are decidedly old-fashioned and non-technological. Even worse, to support deep work often requires the rejection of much of what is new and high-tech. Deep work is exiled in favour of more distracting high-tech behaviours.

– stop doing shallow work – delegate? or just make disappear – deep work for few hours – relax/study rest of time – learn to live fearlessly – be myself – no conformity to society

Chapter 3: Deep Work Is Meaningful

Craftsmanship: Every hit, though forceful, is carefully controlled – work in state of depth – find great meaning in work – clarity about goal/mission of work – but, many knowledge workers ambiguity about goal/mission

FLORIS: What is my goal/mission, what am I good at? – document my own journey?! – how to find the time/make it? – how to live more structured? – only teach what I know/am expert in?!

Deep work can generate as much satisfaction in an information economy as it so clearly does in a craft economy.

Deep life is not just economically lucrative, but also a life well lived.

Neurological – skillful management of attention – who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love – is the sum of what you focus on – ignore the negative and savour the positive

– spend enough time in this state, your mind will understand your world as rich in meaning and importance – Such concentration hijacks your attention apparatus, preventing you from noticing the many smaller and less pleasant things that unavoidably and persistently populate our lives.

– don’t spend your working day on shallow concerns – the world represented by your inbox, in other words, isn’t a pleasant world to inhabit

A workday driven by the shallow, from a neurological perspective, is likely to be a draining and upsetting day, even if most of the shallow things that capture your attention seem harmless or fun. – I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there its. We’d be wise to follow her lead.

Psychological – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – flow – the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile – human beings, it seems, are at their best when immersed deeply in something challenging. – depth over shallowness – going deep is in itself very rewarding (not a focus on content)

FLORIS: Idea, poster with diamond/gold on bottom of concentration chart thing

Physiological – Hubert Dreyfus – Sean Dorrance Kelly – All Things Shining – task is not to generate meaning, but rather to cultivate in himself the skill of discerning the meanings that are already there – a glimpse of the sacred – CAREER CHOICE is not about what fits perfectly, but about finding meaning in the job

Homo sapiens deepensis – A deep life is a good life, any way you look at it

Part 2: The Rules Rule #1 Work Deeply – eudaimonia room example

– people fight desires all day long – desire turns out to be the norm, not the exception – shallow desires will often win – finite willpower? – you have to be smart about your habits

You must be careful to choose a philosophy that fits your specific circumstances, as a mismatch here can derail your deep work habit before it has a chance to solidify.

Monastic – eliminating or radically minimising shallow obligations – all of my time and attention are spoken for – several times over – Stephenson – Anathem

Bimodal – divide time, dedicating some clearly defined stretches to deep pursuits and leaving the rest open to everything else – at least one full day (per deep work session) – e.g. stack courses in one semester – bimodal schedule on weekly scale – be monastic for 2-4 days per week – still value the value received from shallow work

Rhythmic – Seinfeld example, chain, don’t break it – start deep work at the same time – works best with reality of human nature

Journalistic – Walter Isaacson (computer history) – fit it in whenever you can – not for the deep work novice

Ritualise – Everything is specified by routine – artists don’t work from inspiration, work at it every day – great creative minds think like artists but work like accountants – build rituals at the same level of strictness and idiosyncrasy as the important thinkers

– where you work and how long – do not disturb sign – how you’ll work once you start – how you’ll support your work – systematised

Make grand gestures – in expensive hotel – Think Weeks – psychology of commitment

Don’t work alone – tricky relationship between deep work and collaboration – hub-and-spoke – serendipitous encounters and isolated deep thinking are supported – expose yourself to ideas in hubs on a regular basis, but maintain a spoke in which to work deeply on what you encounter

– working together with someone – whiteboard effect – alternate with writing (async)

Execute like a business – Clayton Christensen – Andy Grove – division between what and how of work (need to know how)

FLORIS: tell business how to do it, not what!

1) Focus on the wildly important – the more you try to do, the less you can actually accomplish – The Art of Focus – David Brookshttps://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/opinion/brooks-the-art-of-focus.html?_r=0

2) Act on the lead measures – not lag measures – time spend in a state of deep work dedicated toward your wildly important goal

3) Keep a compelling scorecard – physical artefact – and Toggl online

4) Create a cadence of accountabilty – weekly update to Onno?! – execution is more difficult than strategising

Be Lazy – Tim Kreider – necessary to get anything done – at the end of the workday, shut down your consideration of work issues until the next morning – shut down work thinking completely – 1) Downtime Aids Insights – Ap Dijksterhuis – unconscious mind, distracted group experiment performed best – 2) Downtime Helps Recharge the Energy Needed to Work Deeply – attention fatigue – directional attention (to focus) – talk with friend, listening to music, making dinner, playing a game, restores it – 3) The Work That Evening Downtime Replaces is Usually Not That Important – Anders Ericsson, only so much time you can spend in deep state – other work wont happen at night – shutdown ritual – Shutdown Complete – Zeigarnik effect (don’t have incomplete tasks, in your head)

FLORIS: Update Tasks Daily in Basecamp?!!!!

– regularly resting your brain improves the quality of your deep work. When you work, work hard. When you’re done, be done.

Rule #2 Embrace Boredom – you cannot consider yourself as fulfilling this daily obligation unless you have stretched to the reaches of your mental capacity – daily mental practice – ability to concentrate intensely is a skill that must be trained

Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction. – people who multitask all the time, can’t filter out the irrelevant – take breaks from focus (instead of from distraction) – schedule occasional breaks – 1) strategy works even if you have to be online a lot – 2) keep time outside of blocks absolutely free from internet – 3) scheduling internet at home as well, improve concentration training

Meditate Productively – focus your attention on a single well-defined professional problem – at least two or three such sessions in a typical week – requires practice – 1) be wary of distractions and looping – 2) structure your deep thinking – review of relevant variables, then next-step question, consolidate gains

Rule #3 Quit Social Media – I was less stressed about not knowing new things; I felt that I still existed despite not having shared documentary evidence of said existence on the internet. – infotainment sites (facebook, twitter, business insider) – accept tools as not evil, but have a threshold)

(bad) The Any-Benefit Approach to Network Tool Selections: You’re justified in using a network tool if you can identify any possible benefit to its use, or anything you might possibly miss out on if you don’t use it. – opportunity costs (neglected here)

The Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection: Identify the core factors that determine success and happiness in your professional and personal life. Adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts.

Apply the law of the vital few to your internet habits – identify the main high-level goals in both your professional and personal life FLORIS – build business & share knowledge to help others – to have a comfortable life, enjoy, tranquility – build Queal & own consultancy, plan & enjoy personal time, find work/balance, keep on learning

– think what has significant positive or negative or little impact – drinking more than 2 drinks! (negative overall) – social media (meh) – reading (positive) – solve (business) problems (positive) – improve physique (positive) – go somewhere together

The Law of the Vital Few: In many settings, 80% of a given effect is due to just 20% of the possible causes. – Pareto principle – power law – zero-sum game (limited time available)

– experiment!!! – ban yourself for 30 days from social networks, see what happens! – they are not really that important in your life

Don’t use the internet to entertain yourself – to perform rigorous self-improvement, not much to find on internet, or also easily distracted – put more thought into your leisure time – structured hobbies – set program of reading

If you want to eliminate the addictive pull of entertainment sites on your time and attention, give your brain a quality alternative.

Rule #4 Drain the Shallows – people should enjoy the weather in the summer – Basecamp, Jason Fried, less work in summer

Schedule every minute of your day – we spend much of our day on autopilot – schedule every minute of your day – 30 min (minimal) blocks – if disrupted, reschedule during the day at next moment – use tasks block for email etc, be liberal with it – have backup things if anything is earlier – if an insight, can work on it, reschedule rest – not about constraint, but about thoughtfulness – treat your time with respect

Quantify the depth of every activity How long would it take (in months) to train a smart recent college graduate with no specialised training in my field to complete this task

Ask your boss for a shallow work budget – what percentage of time?

Finish your work by five thirty – don’t work after that – fixed-schedule productivity – Radhika Nagpal (example) – defend your time

Become hard to reach – 1) make people who send you email do more work (see book) – sender filter – reset expectations – people appreciate clarity – 2) do more work when you send or reply to emails – process-centric approach – reduces number of emails – more time on specific emails – 3) don’t respond – if it’s ambiguous or hard to generate response – no question or proposal for me – nothing good happens if you do / nothing bad if don’t respond – Tim Ferriss, develop habit of letting small bad things happen

Conclusion ability to concentrate is a skill that gets valuable things done deep work is way more powerful than most people understand

I’ll live the focused life, because it’s the best kind there is

Poor Charlie’s Almanack

This will be my summary notes of Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger. He is the right-hand man of Warren Buffet and one of the wealthiest individuals on the world. What I’ve heard about the book is that it’s full of psychology, life-lessons, and other strategies for making good decisions. If it’s anything like Thinking, Fast and Slow or Predictably Irrational (but more personal, less research-heavy) then it would be a great read.

• “My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”
• “Physics-like problem solving was to become a passion for Charlie and is a skill he considers helpful in framing the problems of life.”
• The short biography of his life shows that he had a drive, he didn’t think he had enough. In particular, this was related to earning money, I wonder where this comes from. (in the same paragraph it’s also mentioned that he was aware of not spending too much and focus on the tasks at hand).
• Key to success in one word? “rational”
• Warren Buffet on Charlie Munger: “there is honesty and integrity, and always doing more than his share and not complaining about what the other person does.
• “I would say everything about Charlie is unusual. I’ve been looking for the usual now for forty years, and I have yet to find it. Charlie marches to his own music, and it’s music like virtually no one else is listening to. So, I would say that to try and typecast Charlie in terms of any other human that I can think of, no one would fit. He’s got his own mold.”
• On the strategy of Berkshire Hathaway, “they have a spectacular track record of identifying undervalued companies and then either buying large stakes in the public markets or acquiring them outright.”
• He learned a lot by studying the great people from history, he would make them his ‘friends’ and read many biographies during his lifetime.
• “Franklin used his self-made wealth to achieve financial independence so he could concentrate on societal improvement. Charlie admires that trait in his mentor and strives to emulate Franklin.” I hope to one day be in this category of people and/or to combine working and giving.

• Munger was heavily influenced by Cicero. Some lessons are around check-and-balances in society, about the value of being lost in thought, life-long learning, and of having your own point of view.
• “Cicero counsels that the study of philosophy, in a life-long search for basic causes, is an ideal activity, usually serviceable for old people all the way to the grave.”
• “To Cicero, if you live right, the inferior part of life is the early part.”
• He also argues against complaining, like so many do, and to look at a positive aspect of everything. E.g. when getting old you lose sexual vigour but also have less attraction to others who aren’t your partner. This reframing is very much in line with Stoic thought.

• When returning a car he had bought, he was sure to top it up, even when in a hurry. Always do good unto others who help you. I like this very much and makes me think of a friend who is always very attentive.
• “Do the job right the first time.”
• Buy things that are durable (e.g. clothes).
• What I think is the biggest difference in thinking between Charlie and me, is that he can be single-minded and focus on just one thing. I have those moments sometimes but I would like to have that state of mind more often. I guess that I do have a very good skill of combining different areas of thought. But the Deep Work part of it could be better.
• “Find out what you’re best at and keep pounding away at it.”

Chapter 2: The Munger Approach to Life, Learning, and Decision Making

• “Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”
• When thinking about business, and comparing it to evolution, the riches are in the niches.
• “You must know the big ideas in the big disciplines and use them routinely-all of them, not just a few. Most people are trained in one model-economics, for example-and try to solve all problems in one way. You know the old saying: ‘To the man with a hammer, the world looks like a nail.’ This is a dumb way of handling problems.”
• “Just as multiple factors shape almost every system, multiple models from a variety of disciplines, applied with fluency, are needed to understand that system.”
• Mungers uses complex models that eventually lead to simplicity, not the other way around.
• As an analogy to baseball, only hit things in your striking range. Don’t try and go for things outside it. Hit those in the middle very hard. Don’t swing when others would have. This way you will have the energy/money to swing hard when you need to.
• I guess the same goes for time investment and how to live your life. Focus on the things that you know you can do (and thus even expand your circle in which you can hit). Don’t go out on different adventures (e.g. affair), but strengthen what you have (e.g. close friends, sports you already do, etc).
• “All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”
• “A scientific theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.”
• An idea he took from The Intelligent Investor is that the market/humans are rational (at times), but also very irrational, knowing how that works is of utmost value.
• With regards to his investment choices, he also stays within what he can understand, so no to pharma or IPO’s.
• Identify your circle of competence by not only being able to recite what you know, but to answer the next question too.
• Companies are not only assessed on the basis of their financials (this is just the start), one of the main things is the ‘moat’, the competitive advantage they have over their competitors.
• He practices: “extreme patience combined with extreme decisiveness.”
• Sometimes companies/people/species win by outcompeting, at other times they win by outcooperating.
• See page 73 (87) for an investment checklist (The Checklist Manifesto)

• Charlie is also known for his integrity and honesty. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember your lies. So we try and keep it simple by telling it like it is at all times.”

• How to get rich: Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts…. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day-if you live long enough-most people get what they deserve.

Alright that is it for the notes for now. There are many letters at the end, and I will read them, probably, some day.

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps

Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps: How We are Different and What to Do About It by Allan & Barbara Pease examines, exuberates and explains some of the key differences between men and women. It is one of the more recent books in a long string published by this amazing couple. The book answers questions like; What do women really want? How do men think about relationships? And what about biology and love? Taking communication as their perspective, the authors have quite successfully dissected gender difference. Not the most urgent read, but definitely one to savour for the next vacation.

The first chapter is about sex in the brain, who would not want to read about that. One of the subtopics covers the topic; I cannot sleep, I cannot eat. The biological explanation is a low serotonin level and high oxytocin level. The funny thing is that this image, of these hormones found in teens who are in love, is similar to people who are considered crazy. More of the chapter states that people have a lot more dopamine than normally, are more creative and full of energy, and need less sleep or food. They even state that being in love can be compared to being high, the same areas are activated as when you were to take cocaine.

But of course, you are wondering where men and women are different. In the brains on love of the different sexes, different areas are activated. Women have more activation in the areas for memory, emotion, attention and mental images. Men have more activation in the areas for visual processing. Reasons for these differences can be found in many areas. Through evolution, males have had to look for women that have good genes, so they looked for young and healthy. Women, on the other hand, have looked for men showing the capability to protect her and their children. This basic process is still present in our genes, even in our modern society.

The rest of the book takes the reader on a tour of what men and women want. It explores the one-night stand, affairs, and finding the right partner. Two of the latest chapters are about mysteries both sexes have about each other. One of these explains the ‘nothing’ box men have (I can confirm the existence) and why some of the smartest women are bad in the love-game.

By using both serious research and a no-nonsense approach to gender differences Allan & Barbara Pease have done a great job in capturing the reader. One cautionary note should, however, be made. And that is that the differences within both sexes are almost always bigger than between them. This means that on average men are more visually oriented, but that plenty of them are driven mostly by emotion and that there are plenty of women that are visually oriented. Nevertheless, it is an excellent book to read.

More on Why Men Want Sex & Women Need Love:

http://www.peaseinternational.com/ – Official site for Allan & Barbara Pease

http://www.scribd.com/doc/119050506/Why-Men-Want-Sex-And-Woman-Need-Love-English-pdf – Why Men Want Sex & Women Need Love (.pdf)

http://nguyenthanhmy.com/courses/2013/WhyMen.pdf – Why Men Do Not Listen and Women Cannot Read Maps (.pdf)

http://e-edu.nbu.bg/pluginfile.php/331752/mod_resource/content/0/Allan_and_Barbara_Pease_-_Body_Language_The_Definitive_Book.pdf – Body Language (.pdf)

David and Goliath

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell exposes strengths as weaknesses and weaknesses as strengths. In his ever enjoyable writing style, Gladwell takes the reader on a journey through Ireland, New York City, Maryland, and of course Palestine. Using distinctive case studies to guide each chapter the book never ceases to amuse and amaze!

Let us get started right away with the title, the story of David and Goliath. It has been told as an inspirational story for the underdog to achieve victory and take down the giant. David was much smaller than Goliath. He had no armour, Goliath, on the other hand, was covered almost from tip to toe. And David had only a few rocks in a pouch as opposed to Goliath who not only had a sword but also had a spear at hand. You are now probably asking: How in the world did David win? It is because his perceived weaknesses were actually strengths.

Gladwell states that in ancient times there were three ‘classes’ in the armies of those times. They balanced like rock-paper-scissors. And as you may have guessed, David was to Goliath as paper is to rock. Had had no armour and was therefore more agile. He had no sword but could throw his rocks with the precision of a very experienced archer. And this is what decided the battle. Even before Goliath could really identify David, he was struck to the head with the bag of stones. And when he fell to the ground, David used his own sword against him to end the battle and claim victory.

The key message is that seemingly advantageous characteristics can in some (or many) cases be a disadvantage. It is only when the underdog is aware that the normal tactics will not work, he can flip the battle to his advantage by adopting another strategy. Some more recent examples of this have been found when armies outnumbered and outgunned by 10 to 1 have won wars by adapting to the situation and fighting in unconventional ways. In congruence with the third part of the book, it can be stated that there are limits to power.

Next, to the story of David and Goliath, there are many more. Some are concerned with the battles between larger groups of people, whilst some are concerned with the individual. The second part of the book is dedicated to the desirable difficulty, the paradox of the power that overcoming of difficulties can bring with it. The book is as superb as any other book by Malcolm Gladwell. It highlights information that has been around for long, but not yet studied to the extent it has been now. For it will take the average reader only one or two afternoons to finish this book, it should be the next on your list!

More on David and Goliath:

http://test.floriswolswijk.com/psychology-the-tipping-point-book-review/ – Review of The Tipping Point

http://test.floriswolswijk.com/psychology-dog-saw-book-review/ – Review of What the Dog Saw

http://gladwell.com/ – Gladwell’s site

http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131007120010-69244073-what-makes-malcolm-gladwell-fascinating – More on Gladwell

Uncertainty

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields takes uncertainty by its throat and furiously knocks it down. This is no self-help book about overcoming your fear (of spiders). This is a research-driven exploration of the underlying mechanics of uncertainty. And, ok, maybe also a bit of a self-help book, but then one that is next on your list!

F.E.A.R.: False expectations appearing real, the best definition of fear I have heard in my lifetime. Uncertainty and fear of judgement go hand in hand. Jonathan Fields defines judgement as a three layer cake: 1) Judgement from those whose approval you seek (e.g. peers, mentors), 2) Judgement from people from whom you seek money for your creations, and 3) Judgement from yourself. People are always asking themselves two questions: 1) Is this good enough? and 2) Am I good enough?

Two of the many experiments described paint a clear picture of how crippling fear is. The one is an experiment in which people were asked to pick a ball from either a box with a certain (50/50) division of balls, and an uncertain box with a random division between both. The manipulation was the presence of an audience, and people were more likely to choose for the latter when there was no audience present. A natural experiment is that of artists from whom their work was being commissioned (asked to paint with a specific goal). Judges were asked to rate the creativity of two paintings by each artist, one that was commissioned and one that they made for no particular reason/goal. And you have probably already guessed it right that the latter was judged to be far more creative.

The book introduces the concept of uncertainty but then ventures much further. Fields debunks the myth that there are fearless creators, people who are not afraid of anything. He instead proposes that everyone has his or her fear and doubts, but that some have learned to effectively deal with them. One of the first techniques is to find your certainty anchors, to explore and evaluate your lifestyle ritual and alternate between bursts of work and recovery. Later chapters explore building your hive (find the spot where you are challenged just enough), socializing creation (create with others), and training your brain.

Overcoming uncertainty boils down to learning to live, even to embrace, your uncertainty. Field has three questions that you must ask to take control of your life again: 1) What if I fail, then recover? 2) What if I do nothing?, and 3) What if I succeed? Already by posing (and answering) these fundamental questions, you will mitigate a large amount of uncertainty. Real-life examples combined with research and tips make this book one of a kind. From big-time CEO to student, everyone has something to learn from Uncertainty.

More on Uncertainty:

http://www.theuncertaintybook.com/ – The Website of Uncertainty

http://www.accidentalcreative.com/creating/uncertainty-an-interview-with-jonathan-fields/ – Interview with Fields

http://lateralaction.com/articles/uncertainty-jonathan-fields/ – Interview with Fields

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“You will be required to do wrong no matter where you go. It is the basic condition of life, to be required to violate your own identity. At some time, every creature which lives must do so. It is the ultimate shadow, the defeat of creation; this is the curse at work, the curse that feeds on all life. Everywhere in the universe.”  – Philip K. Dick

Lessons learnt: When androids become humanlike (in the EQ department), things start to become creepy real fast. People value ‘real’ things over ‘fakes’. Do not blindly trust your memories.

It is the year 1992, World War Terminus has passed and the world is covered in levels of radiation. Most people have moved to colonies, incentivized by receiving a free ‘andy’ (android) by the UN. Yet still people remain on earth, some because they do not have the mental capacity to come along (only smart people were allowed to go), others because their job requires them to stay on earth. The latter case is true for Rick Deckard and his wife Iran. Rick is a bounty hunter with the San Francisco police department and he is about to face quite the challenge. This is how Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (DADOES) by Philip K. Dick starts.

Over the course of the book, Rick will headhunt 6 andies that have escaped from the colony and who are posing as humans on earth. The story is not too long and can be read within a few hours (just like Animal Farm), more interesting is how the andies are depicted in the novel. They look just like humans, eat food and even dream (but probably not about electric sheep). The only thing that is different is that they have no feelings such as that we humans have. Rick uses a so-called Voight-Kampff Test, something that detects how fast and in what magnitude the test subject responds to different situations (it is comparable to a lie detector). Where in DADOES people are immediately shocked by an example of people eating animals (they are almost extinct and are kept as very expensive pets /status symbols), the andies have a delay in their response. What I find interesting is that tests like this would be very hard to do. Not every person responds in the same way, psychopaths or people with less affect might not even show readings when presented with very grotesque imagery. At the same time, humanoid androids can be programmed to show very sudden or delayed responses, making it impossible to detect who is who (without cutting someone open of course). It leaves a man thinking.

Another interesting aspect of DADES is the mood organ. It is introduced in the very beginning and can be explained as a device that lets you choose your emotion, its duration and intensity. Here is an excerpt:
“Dial 888,” Rick said as the set warmed. “The desire to watch TV, no matter what’s on it.”
“I don’t feel like dialling anything at all now,” Iran said.
“Then dial 3,” he said.
“I can’t dial a setting that stimulates my cerebral cortex into wanting to dial! …
What if we could control our emotions? What would people choose, would we all set it to eternal bliss, or would we then forget to eat and sleep? And what if we could endure the most horrible jobs with a smile, just because you put the settings on happy in the morning. And what about including emotional states such as depression, would you need to know what is a ‘good’ mood again, or can you be happy without knowing what sad is like. With the ying-yang symbol (and philosophy) in mind, my intuitive answer would be no. We are of course not currently that advanced in technology that we can really do this, but I guess that we are darn close.

“I like her; I could watch her the rest of my life. She has breasts that smile.” (Rick about a female andy) – Philip K. Dick

Maybe DADOES was written as just any sci-fi story, maybe it was written to get people to think about the subjects discussed before. There may not be a definitive answer here, but it sure did the latter for me. DADOES was written in 1968, but now still reads as if it could happen within a few years. It is not a book that you need to have read, it is a book that is great for the summer and to discuss with friends. If you are more fond of movies, there is the adaption called ‘Bladerunner’ which you can watch.

More on DADOES

http://www.gradesaver.com/do-androids-dream-of-electric-sheep/study-guide/ – DADOES study guide

http://www.larevuedesressources.org/IMG/pdf/dadoes.pdf – Pdf of DADOES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Androids_Dream_of_Electric_Sheep%3F – Wiki on DADOES

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John C. Maxwell

Lessons learnt: Effective leadership is influence. Leaders grow every day. Leaders chart the course. Leaders develop leaders. Trust is the foundation of leadership. Leaders decide with the available data. You attract people who are like you, people do what they see. Leaders should create wins… continually. Leadership value is measured by succession.

Remember John C. Maxwell from his 5 levels of leadership? Not only is he a great speaker, he has also written 10 books on leadership (and many more on relationships, attitude and equipping). With this many years of experience, one might think that he has learned all there is to learn about leadership. Maxwell disagrees with you there, he states that he is just a student, ever continuing his learnings and at the same time spreading the lessons he has already learnt. In the updated and revised version of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell, you are given an insight into more than 50 years of experience and research, some great leadership stories and lessons you would not dare to forget.

A review would not do justice to contemplate al 21 laws here, therefore I have chosen to introduce the two that I found most important: The Law of Progress – leadership develops daily, not in a day & The Law of Addition – leaders add value by serving others.

1. If you spend €5,- on a latte macchiato every day for 20 years, you will have a great (?) cup of coffee each day. If you save €5,- for the same amount of time, you will have about €55.000,-. This short analogy illustrates that building on yesterday can give you a great advantage, being a leader is not about events (the coffee), it is about the power of process. Sometimes we see great leaders and think that they are formed right there on the spot, or that they had one life-changing event. Maxwell states “Champions do not become champions in the ring – they are merely recognized there”.
2. What if Einstein kept all his discoveries to himself? What if the first Googlers kept their search engine for themselves? What if people only advanced themselves and not others? I reckon the world would be of a lot worse. Leadership is not about how far you can advance yourself, but how far you can advance others. Where you are only one person, there are many people around you who can learn from you (and others) and start spreading the lessons themselves. One example that comes to mind is of Elon Musk and Tesla. Not only has he developed a great company, recently he gave away all patents and now electric batteries are exploding (figuratively). Of course, Tesla also grows because others start using their technology, but others win too – it is what Stephen R. Covey would describe as synergy.

“Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” – John C. Maxwell

In 21 laws, or principles, Maxwell explains lessons that may seem obvious to some people, and quite radical to others. On many occasions, he uses his own life lessons (read: mistakes, and wins) to illustrate how a leadership law has worked out. It will be very difficult to excel at all laws and therefore you will need a strong leadership team within your company. The Law of Explosive Growth explains this principle: to add growth, lead followers – to multiply, lead leaders. One thing I observed whilst reading the book is that a leader has to first know himself before applying most lessons. Many of them involve exposing yourself, making connections and empowering other people. But if you are ready for it, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is a great resource to read and apply in your life.

More on 21 Laws?

http://perspective.org.au/book/202/executive-summary-the-21-irrefutable-laws-of-leadership—-john-maxwell – Executive Summary of 21 Laws

http://www.u-leadership.com/the_21_irrefutable_laws_of_leadership-w.pdf – Summary of 21 Laws

http://www.leaderconnections.com/resources/21IrrefutableLawsof%20Leadership.pdf – Another Summary of 21 Laws

The Power of Self-Confidence

Another classic by Brian Tracy. This time about being self-confident. What I like about this book is that he starts with the foundations: values and goals. Self-confidence comes from within and is not a product of your surroundings.

One of the great stories in the book is about a man that receives a cheque for half a million from John D. Rockefeller. His business was struggling but now he decides to give his whole and becomes profitable within the year. Of course, he never cashed the cheque, and if he did he would have found out that it was someone from the mental hospital pretending to be John D. Rockefeller.

The last chapter of the book deals with self-confidence and how your actions can help you build it. Only through practice, you can become better at something, the same goes for self-confidence. Feeling a little light in the self-confidence area or just want some inspiration to listen to (or read), be my guest.

Think and Grow Rich

Start with a burning desire, make a decision to follow it, and be persistent. That is what Napoleon Hill advises in Think and Grow Rich. How much his advice is grounded in psychology (or how much not), I don’t know for sure. He argues that you should engage in ‘auto-suggestion’ and probe yourself into thinking about your goal (desire) all the time.

On the one hand, I dearly believe that it’s good to have goals and to know what you want. On the other hand, I question the efficacy of pounding an idea in your head – what if it’s not a good idea. And as with the previous book, how much of this ‘auto-suggestion’ will, you actually engage in.

Napoleon Hill states that most of his ideas came from Andrew Carnegie (of railroad/steel fame and riches). This makes me feel more confident about the lessons in the book in one way. At the same time, however, we never get a mention of Napoleon Hill in Carnegie’s autobiography. So I leave it to you to decide if you wish to read it.

The Power of Self-Discipline

Brian Tracy is the master of self-help. With about 100 books to his name, a large training corporation and some other ventures, he has built quite the empire. In The Power of Self-Discipline, he embarks on teaching valuable lessons about motivation, the power of routine and time-management.

Yes, many of the lessons are quite straightforward, but so are the management principles by Peter Drucker. What sets Brian Tracy apart from other experts is his many years of experience and focus on (audio)books. He isn’t trying to sell you training but wishes to give you complete information in one go.

This in no way means that it’s perfect. As with many other self-help books you are expected to take the lessons about time-management and learn how to apply them yourself. Still, the lessons are inspirational and very interesting. If you have some time left on you commute or want to get some extra motivation whilst working out, give it a try!