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July 24, 2018

Blink

““The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.” – Malcolm Gladwell

Lessons learnt: First impressions are real. It is regulated by our “adaptive unconscious”, it relies on our knowledge, manifests very fast and without conscious awareness. Although in some way quantifiable, intuitions are difficult to explain rationally. Intuition is built on / is a manifestation of your prior experiences.

In 1986 the J. Paul Getty Museum in California was presented with an intact and very much beautiful ancient Greek statue (a ‘kouros’) for purchase. The art historians thoroughly examined the statue and after a period the museum acquired the statue. Everyone loved it, it looked magnificent and was one of the few in such great condition. Then a member of the board came to see the statue, she immediately knew something was wrong. She could not pinpoint what exactly (after all, the tests said it was authentic). Others followed suit and a second investigation was started. They found out that they had lost $10 million on a fake.

This is how Blink by Malcolm Gladwell commences. It beautifully describes his power to use stories to make scientific explorations come to life. Blink is (of course) not about art history, but about intuition: our two-second judgment or gut feeling we immediately have. In this entertaining book, Gladwell takes the reader on a journey through the science behind intuition. He uses examples about marriage, choking on the golf course and military manoeuvres. Intuition, the power of thinking without thinking, is examined and conceptualized as the “thin slices” of behaviour.

“Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.” – Malcolm Gladwell

One of the first chapters is about doctors and how many times they get sued (in America). Gladwell proposes a question to the readers about what the cause of the number of lawsuits would be. I here propose roughly the same question to you – Which of these two causes would more strongly influence if a doctor would be sued?

The knowledge of their field and subsequent amount of mistakes (malpractices) they made
How the doctors talked to their patients

You would be surprised to find that 2. is the right answer. Much more important was the way the doctors treated their patients than how many actual mistakes they made. Gladwell explains this as follows: doctors are not sued because of their errors, they are sued because of their errors and then something. This something is how they are perceived by their patients. If someone felt that the doctor cared for them, that he or she made an honest mistake, nothing would happen. But if the doctors showed no personal interest in their patients, virtually every mistake would end up in court. In the final paragraph the reader is suggested to listen to that gut feeling and if alarm bells ring, find a new doctor.

From these “thin slices,” the book progresses to other areas of our instincts. In great detail, our snap decisions are examined and analyzed. Further on in the book, this is also related to decision making. In yet another great story the reader gets to experience the “War Games” and learns how one General ends up winning, whilst acting for the outgunned and outmanned ‘bad guys’ (which is not suppose to happen). This chapter illustrates how intuition is related to leadership. Leaders have to make decisions based on incomplete information, to make the right choice your gut feeling should be consulted.

Later chapters speak about the errors of thinking fast. Two of these examples are very striking (and worrying). The first is about the “Warren Harding Error”, how America chose the wrong president. It states that people make their big voting decisions not on who has the best policy or ideas for their country, but that they base it (solely) on appearance (of the president-to-be). The second is about discrimination, how we quickly judge minorities less favourably. Using very fast displays on a monitor, good and bad words and timing of how quickly a person will associate with either kind of word, research has found that people will connect minorities with negative words more quickly. It is something that even people from the minority themselves do and it is very difficult to overcome, but it is caused and anchored in this instinctive thinking.

Critics of Malcolm Gladwell have pointed out that critical thinking too is very important in making the right decisions and that thinking fast is not the solution to all problems. In my opinion, Gladwell is aware of this, yet does not really put too much focus on this. In the end, Blink makes for a great book to read.

Gladwell also has written Outliers and The Tipping Point.

The Book:

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking – Malcolm Gladwell – ISBN-10: 0316010669| ISBN-13: 978-0316010665

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for Leaders

This was the very first article I first shared in the winter of 2013. Although I still agree with the explanation, I do question the value and validity (over time) of these tests and if they even add anything beyond listening to your colleagues and understanding how to communicate effectively.

What do personality and leadership have to do with one another? It turns out, a whole lot! It is not only education, heritage and luck that determine who will become a leader, but personality too. In the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) several personality styles have come on top. This article will explain the basics of the MBTI, the ‘leadership’ personalities and its implications for leadership.

The MBTI was developed in 1962 by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. Their studies were based on the psychological types by Carl Jung. From this, they extrapolated 16 different personality styles, defined by eight characteristics on four dichotomy scales. The questionnaire to measure with the MBTI consists of 26 questions. Some variations use more questions and others say you can define each characteristic by one question.

Although the validity and precision decrease, by asking four questions you can get a good and fast feel for your type.

Attention and Energy: Where do you prefer to focus your attention? Where do you get energy? [E/I]
Information Intake: How do you prefer to take in information? [S/N]
Decision Making: How do you make decisions? [T/F]
Interaction with External Environment: How do you deal with the outer world? [J/P]

If in the first your answer is from other people you are Extrovert. If it is from retreating for a while to power up, you are Introvert. Another indication could also be: talk (E) or think (I). For the second question if you rely on your eyes, ears, and other senses you are Sensing. An Intuition person would answer along the lines of gut feeling or vibe. On the third question, a Thinking person will (solely) consider the facts, while a Sensing type will consider the feelings of the affected persons more strongly. The final question is decided by how you interact with the environment. If you are actively exploring new possibilities you are Judging, if you wait and adapt to new situations you are more Perceiving.

Now take a moment to define you four letters and MBTI-type. For more information and a more extensive test see here.

In the MBTI there are no good or bad types. Every one of them has its riches or benefits and pitfalls or blind spots. In the general public, the most common types are: ISTJ (11-14%), ISFJ (9-14%), ESFJ (9-13%), and ESTJ (8-12%). So how do these compare to those in leaders of businesses?

They show both a strong overlap with the general public, as well as certain trends that are linked to the leaders only. The styles are: ISTJ (18.2%), ESTJ (16.0%), ENTJ (13.1%), INTJ (10.5%). As is evident in both categories Judging is the most pervasive category. In the leader group there are however also only Thinking, and no Feeling types in the top four.

It is theorized that skills like decision making and logical thinking are preferred over considering feelings and making less rational decisions. Within business leaders, you can also see that intuition is valued (but not as much as the more rational sensing). This could be due to the positive effects of making fast decisions or the ability to make decisions based on less information.

But what are the implications of these types, are there really no good or bad types? As you can see there is a strong preference for the Thinking type. The problem with this is that about 65% of the male population and only 35% of the female population have this type. So by default women have a statistical setback in the leadership game.

This disadvantage, however, does not have to be too great. In every great team, it is best to have a diverse account of personalities. For when everyone is an extrovert you may end up with a house full of hens, and when everyone is the sensing type, who will consider the (irrational) feelings of your clients?

To conclude it is clear that some styles are more pervasive in leaders and that these are built on the rational thinkers who take the lead. They have with them the skills to lead a team and to manage a company. And at the same time build on the skills and influences of all the other types with which they are surrounded.

References & Further Reading:

1. Briggs, K. C. (1976). Myers-Briggs type indicator. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

2. Barr, L., and N. Barr, Leadership Development: Personality and Power. Eakin Press, 1994.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESTJ

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISTJ

6. http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html

7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-leadership/myers-briggs-does-it-pay-to-know-your-type/2012/12/14/eaed51ae-3fcc-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story_3.html

8. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/does-it-pay-to-know-your-type/2012/12/13/a12c9e90-4589-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_graphic.html

Adopted from: http://www.workingresources.com/professionaleffectivenessarticles/article.nhtml?uid=10003

July 24, 2018

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey gives you a compass for being effective in business, home and everywhere else. You are challenged to take on a different perspective on life which is introduced via the seven habits. The book is based on years of research by Covey, and with more than 35 million sales can be considered quite the bestseller.

The habits are divided into three categories. The first features three habits that are focused towards independence or self-mastery. They elaborate on 1) being proactive, 2) beginning with the end in mind, and 3) putting the first things first. The second set of three habits focus on interdependence. In conflicts think 4) win-win, 5) seek first to understand the other, only then wish to be understood, and 6) synergize (1+1=3). After discussing both the internal en external habits one key habit remains. That is to 7) sharpen the saw, to balance and renew your energy every once in a while.

Whilst the principles are easy to understand and are accessible the book does a very good job of elaborating on the thoughts and science behind them. This is strengthened even more by providing the reader with a large supply of examples from both personal and business life.

Now in memory, Stephen R. Covey (October 24, 1932 – July 16, 2012) has been one of the (25) most influential people of the last century. Next to a range of best-selling books, leadership institutes all around the world have erupted that practice the 7 principles. And also in the domain of family life, the book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families has become known worldwide.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is a must read for anyone. While the size of the novel may seem like a big chunk to read through, you will have read the whole thing within a week. Next to that, you can easily pick it up every year just to refresh your memory of it.

I wrote this review in 2013 and I think I first encountered the book maybe a few years before that. After that I’ve relistened to it again in 2015 or 2016. I still think the core ideas are great and very useful. I do also agree a bit with this review that argues that there is much fluff in the book and that others (like Triggers) may be a better way to start with self-improvement.

The Book:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen R. Covey – ISBN 0762408332

More on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People:

https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php Stephen R. Covey on the 7 habits

https://www.stephencovey.com/8thHabit/8thhabit.php Stephen R. Covey on finding your voice and inspiring others to do so

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/fifty-habits-of-highly-successful-people.html Graig Harper on fifty habits of highly successful people

July 24, 2018

Humans Need Not Apply

TBD

Jerry kaplan

—

the question whether machines can think, is as relevant als asking if submarine can swim. better, faster.

unemployment and income inequality, whilst economy grows

field 1, machine learning, or synthetic intellect (no feelings or conciousness), give goal and let learn, field 2, sensors and actuators (robots)

EG GPS forged labour

risks: eg stock market 9% crash

worst outcome, fight between capital and labour, Marx predicted it.both forged labourers and synthetic intelligence

increasing wealth may float al yachts but sink al rowing boats

disrupt industries, but not looking at the carnage

1960, do this, then that. then copies that form neural networks. it works now because of exponential growth

give a machine some data, and you feed it for a millisecond; teach a computer to search, feed it for a millennium

ch2 teaching robots to heel

first dumb dangerous assembly machines, now smarter and with machine perception

performing tasks require resources and capabilities. four categories of resources: energy, awareness, reasoning, means (movement)

robot painters example

other trend, coalesce and simplify – phone = 10+ different things

future will look more like the past. complex, but will look simple

ch3 robotic pickpockets

high frequency trading

synthetic intellect observe broad or subtle patterns

ch4 the gods are angry

cookies, cross reference info

persuasion better done by synthetic intellect

what should they do for us, if you give goal, can take bad road to achieving it

fairness

ch4 the gods are angry

ch5 officer arrest that robot

moral agency, percieve consequences and choose between actions

people, companies and synthetic intellect can be moral agents. autonomous vehicles

principal agent relationship

for the law, no need for human of conciousness. only other 2

punish synthetic with stopping pursuing goal

personhood

ch6 America, land of the free shipping

Jeff bezos, books sell online, value in data – not inventory

there is no such thing as free shipping, someone always pays

team wins, buy more (expensive) champagne?

personal freedom, but not as collective. controlled by synthetic intellect

see only top of iceberg. you get small benefit (if at all), rest is for the Amazons

ch7 America home of the brave pharohs

author has the good life, but is not even in the 1%

money = power, to divert society’s resources towards matters of personal interest to you

a robust middle-class is not needed for economy to work. Egypt, pyramids.

40% of workforce can be employed by the capital gains of 1%

5% could spend half of retail money

rich, erosion of meaning. everything freely a, nothing has value. separate wealth from day to day, to keep emotional growth

ch8 take this job and automate it

global warming no problem, but the pace is. same with tech change

replaces workers. replace skills, can we adapt?

forged labourers will displace the need for most skilled labour, synthetic intellects will largely supplant the skilled trades of the educated

synthetic intellects need no order (the organised mind book)

cyclical and structural unemployment

ook studenten/scholierenbaantjes verdwijnen (aardbei plukken) vakken vullen?

automation is blind to the colour of your collar. eg law

EG medical Watson

Oxford research, 47% jobs high risk automation, near future

school, focus on vocational training

his idea, job mortgage

ch9 the fix is in

all other things considered, equality of pay is best factor happiness

give jobless money, they do contribute (eg write the book, volunteer work)

today less people work. household income stayed the same

equal division of wealth. taxes higher if less people benefit

ownership in each other (and companies)

jobs? rebalance workers and jobs

outtroduction welcome to your children’s future

language also lacking. frames our thinking

dark factory, synthetic intellects owning themselves

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/05/21/408234543/will-your-job-be-done-by-a-machine

July 17, 2018

Ending Factory Farming

On Wednesday 4th of July 2018, the EA Rotterdam group had their fourth reading & discussion group. This is a deeper dive into some of the EA topics.

The topic for this event was Ending Factory Farming.

During the evening we learned about why factory farming is bad (animal suffering, environment, human suffering). We discussed the ways that people are tackling the problem. Both with regard to our consumption, the conditions in the factory farms, and to offering alternatives. One of my biggest takeaways is that we won’t easily (or at all) change people’s behaviour, but that institutional change may be able to nudge a lot of people into making better choices.

We (the organisers of EA Rotterdam) thank Alex from V2 (our venue for the night) for hosting us.

If you want to visit an EA Rotterdam event, visit our Meetup page.

Why is Factory Farming Bad

Effective Altruism (EA) wants to solve the world’s most pressing problem. EA’s want to reduce the most suffering, or increase the amount of happiness. Most of the focus here has been on reducing extreme poverty. EA combines both the heart & head (and wants to eliminate the emotional bias that puts a spotlight on certain topics). Cause areas that EA focusses on are ones that are neglected, scalable, and solvable. Factory farming certainly hits all three criteria.

There are 50 billion farm animals that we raise each year. Most of them live in terrible conditions. These animals are responsible for 27% of methane production. And use around 33% of the total liveable land. This not only leads to bad outcomes for the animals, it also adds to global warming which impacts the worlds’ poor the most.

Why Don’t We Seem to Care

One reason why people don’t seem to care is cognitive dissonance. This stands for having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes. And we people don’t really like to have those.

When asked in the TED Talk, most people indicated seeing a shocking video of how factory farms operate. And of course, they found that to be something that is terrible. When asked how many were vegetarian (remember, TED Talk audience) it was between 5-10%, about what you find in the general public. Even these ‘thinkers’ didn’t act on what they had seen.

We can resolve cognitive dissonance in two ways. And as you may have guessed the easiest way is to just not think about it. (the harder is to change your actions to match your beliefs/thoughts).

Many people also like to do another trick and that is to think they are eating the chickens that have roamed around, the cows that have seen the Swiss Alps (75% think this). There’s a 99% chance that your meat isn’t one of those (1% of meat is of the free-roam happy-life kind).

We, people, have a lot to think about. One other phenomenon that takes place here is the collapse of compassion. This means that someone thinks the problem is so big, it’s not even worth considering to be something to solve.

And, wait. Don’t we need meat? Nope, protein, water, fat, etc can all be readily found in vegetarian sources too. This aspect also has to do with the dominant/default option. And that is just meat in most countries. Even in countries where not all people could eat meat many days per week (China) they are eating more and more meat. One hope we had is that China might be a country where public opinion could be tipped very quickly if the government decides to take a negative stance on eating meat.

But telling others that their morals are messed up is not the way to solve this problem.

What are the Ways We Can Tackle the Problem

One of the insights of the evening is that we can’t (and shouldn’t) tackle the problem head-on. We should instead focus on helping reduce meat consumption in more indirect ways.

One way is to offer more alternatives. When there are more options available, some people may choose meat alternatives. This can take the form of ‘just’ veggies, meat substitutes (e.g. pea burgers), and cultured meat (meat grown without the animal).

More and more places offer non-meat options on the menu and there are more and more restaurants that are vegetarian or vegan first
(almost) All supermarkets in The Netherlands now offer vegan/vegetarian burgers, ‘meat’ balls, minced ‘meat’, etc
And cultured meat is in development (wiki, article)

“In March 2018, JUST, Inc. (in 2011 founded as Hampton Creek in San Francisco) claimed to be able to present a consumer product from cultured meat by the end of 2018. According to CEO Josh Tetrick (a vegan) the technology is already there, and now it is merely a matter of applying it. Just has about 130 employees and a research department of 55 scientists, where lab meat from poultry, pork and beef is being developed. They would have already solved the problem of feeding the stemcells with only plant resources. Just receives sponsoring from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing, Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang and according to Tetrick also from Heineken International amongst others.”

That being said, the first two (and only available) alternatives haven’t moved the needle. Here in The Netherlands, we’ve been eating the same amount of meat per person for the last few years.

Cultured meat could even cause a backlash if they experience self-driving car moments (i.e. contaminated meat or other health problems).

So, what will be able to move the needle? One thing that we can do is encourage institutional change. One example from one of the participants is an initiative by the Erasmus University to serve vegetarian lunches as the default (with other options still being available).

Another example is that of WeWork (a global provider of work environments) who is only paying for vegetarian meals for their workers. Though their main point is the environmental impact, it’s a great signal that this company is sending.

“New research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their personal environmental impact — even more than switching to a hybrid car.”

One other aspect that we discussed was: What would have the largest impact, having 100 people eat less meat (say 5 meals fewer per week) or converting 10 people to become vegetarian (21 meals per week)? In terms of maths, the former would, of course, be the better choice, but what about the impact of that person becoming a sneezer too?

We also discussed other indirect ways of changing what we eat. Tax reform may be a very effective way to nudge people to make better food choices. Think sugar tax, for meat.

And soap opera’s have substantial sway in public opinion. We discussed that in Germany they have been used to promote vegetarian eating habits.

What Can You and I Do?

Personally, we can choose to make better food choices. If you’re reading this, try and see what small step you can take. If you’re eating meat, try going without meat one day in the week. Learn a recipe or two without meat (may I suggest recipes with beans). Or if you’re vegetarian, try and see which of your current food choices still has a negative effect on animals (e.g. eggs, milk).

We can provide alternatives to friends and family. Give them an awesome delicious vegetarian recipe when they are coming over. Let them taste, feel, see how great vegetarian/vegan cooking can be. Just don’t focus on identity (i.e. I’m a vegetarian and I’m better than you), just show them what can be done. Make them curious, give them options.

Educate yourself with the resources below or on the website of Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE).

Or use your votes to reduce animal suffering (first video below).

How Does Ending Factory Farming Compare to Other Cause Areas?

Factory Farming is related to other cause areas in various ways. It is a large contributor to global warming (e.g. 27% of methane production). This is something that impacts the worlds’ most poor the most. Economic circumstances (related to raising animals, in a world that wants to pay the least and with global warming) has led to many suicides amongst animal farmers (India, USA).

It’s also related to negative mental health (discussed during a previous evening) outcomes for people working in factory farms.

Another area that is affected is bio-threat. The development (and spread) of superbugs is something that is of real concern on factory farms.

We didn’t do a deeper dive into cost-effectiveness and long-term effects, but comparing different cause areas might be a topic of a future in-depth meeting.

Resources

If you want to learn more about Ending Factory Farming, here are some resources:

https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/lewis-bollard-end-factory-farming/

https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/factory-farming/

https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/bruce-friedrich-good-food-institute/

Also check out Earthling on Youtube

Conclusion

Like the other discussion evenings, we were thrilled to have you all there and I think everyone took away some great lessons. On the one hand, I feel that this cause area (like many other) is a tough cookie to crack. On the other hand, I do feel positive about the change we can make and the change our society will be making in the coming years. Hopefully, in 30 years we will look back at factory farming, the way we look back at slavery.

Want to join us for another evening? Feel free to come over and bring a friend! Please check out our Meetup Page.

July 10, 2018

Public Commitment 2018 – Update

This year my theme is Curiosity. I’ve done some things with it, but there is surely more work to be done there. One of the ways that I’m exploring it is with the catalogue of things I’m keeping with the Timeline.

Here is a reflection on the goals I made previously and the goals I have defined for the remainder of the year. I might update them at the end of Q3 again.

Goal 1: Write a Sci-Fi novella
I’ve started with this goal. But it’s in the very early stages and I haven’t taken the time besides a few spare moments to write more. I do feel that I have a good structure to write around, I just need to take more time to write.

Goal 2: Assemble a personal board
I haven’t done anything with this goal and it’s kinda stupid of me not to do so. It’s something that takes some courage, but after that takes no more than a few hours every month, maybe even less than an hour a week to keep them up-to-date and make a better feedback loop for myself (see more about feedback loops in Triggers). I’m writing this down for tomorrow.

Goal 3: Blog 1x per week
Yes and no, I’ve started blogging again on this website and have rearranged the structure. I think I have a good grip on what I can do here now. I do think that it’s still a lot of work to get things from earlier times on here and to link everything together. So I will take my time to do that and try and keep updated whilst I continue to work on it. I’ve also added some other pages for essays, Spero, Things I Do, and a dedicated page for the book reviews. Of course, I still have to make most of them, but the framework is here.

Goal 3a: Consistently share what I’ve learned on my website
– I’ve let go of the 1x per week, and want to focus on sharing my lessons as I learn them.
– This means more timeline updates, some articles, and some updates around Spero

Goal 4: Track my finances with precision
Yes. I’ve been on point with this goal and have consistently tracked my spending behaviour. What I can now start to do (more) is to also analyse it and start acting more on the things I see. An example would be that I could see that I’m spending too much on dining out, so I can make a goal for the next month.

Goal 4a: Improve my spending for happiness with feedback loops
– The money I spent should lead to happiness because why else spend it
– This means that I will track and fine-tune what spendings lead to what happiness outcomes and what spending I should avoid or lower in the future

Goal 5: Cooking basics level 2
I’m learning more and more about cooking. I can highly recommend Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. In combination with sports, I think I will enjoy cooking more and more.

Goal 6: Bi-weekly sport challenge
I’ve done these challenges only at the beginning of the year. They were a cool idea but in practice, they were too random and didn’t fit my schedule or lead to real results. Currently, I’m doing personal training at CrossFit and I really enjoy that I’m getting better (at flexibility/mobility). I hope that in the coming months I will progress further and will be able to get to my goals as also mentioned in the Happy Body review.

Goal 6a: Hit my fitness goals
– from most to least important: Achieve squat flexibility, be able to do Squat Press, achieve weights on Squat Press and Clean & Jerk, achieve 10% body fat

Goal 7: Share about Effective Altruism
With EA Rotterdam we’ve been keeping busy with events and have had a blast with our in-depth meetups. There are way more options for reaching people, but here again, it’s still a question about the time that we can and want to invest. I do truly hope that I will be able to influence a few people this year.

Goal 8: Make my house even more beautiful
I still haven’t done much with this goal. I did make a water bowl for Max and that was great to do. Now I do want to make about 2 or 3 things before the end of the year. In terms of style, I also have some ideas for making it look even better than it does now.

Goal 9: Do something crazy for love
On our anniversary Lotte and I have an amazing day in Rotterdam. My final surprise didn’t go through so who knows if I will do something else later this year.

Goal X: More slack in the system
On one level this has been true. But on the other hand, I do still fill all of my time doing things. Now with the timeline, I do see that I’m consuming fewer podcasts and that might have a positive impact on my slack in the system. I also listen to more music which is a nice (and not taxing) thing.

New goals:
Goal 1: Write a Sci-Fi novella
Goal 2: Assemble a personal board
Goal 3: Consistently share what I’ve learned on my website
Goal 4: Improve my spending for happiness with feedback loops
Goal 5: Cooking basics level 2
Goal 6: Hit my fitness goals
Goal 7: Share about Effective Altruism
Goal 8: Make my house even more beautiful
Goal 9: Do something crazy for love
Goal X: More slack in the system

July 10, 2018

Cosmos (Series)

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey is hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Here are my notes on some of the episodes:

Episode 1

Test ideas by experiment and observation
Build on those ideas that pass the test
Reject the ones that fail
Follow the evidence wherever it leads
And question everything

Planets from the Sun.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Voyager One is the man-made vessel that has travelled out the furthest.
(listen to more on this excellent Radiolab episode)

We are on Earth, in the solar system, in the Milky Way, in our local group, in the Virgo Supercluster, in the observable universe,

Copernicus discovered that the Earth was not the centre of the universe in the mid 16th century.
See more here

Giordano Bruno took this idea further and discussed that stars are Suns too, with their own planets.
(the news was not received well)
See more here

Cosmic Calendar
Each month is about a billion years (13.799 billion years is the estimated age of the universe)
Every day is about 40 million years
See more here

The Big Bang
January 1st
The entire universe came from a spec, no larger than a piece of dust.

January 13th
The first small galaxies

March 15th
Milkyway was formed
(Sun not yet born)

August 31st
The Sun is born 4,5 billion years ago

September 21st
Life began on Earth

November 29th
Life was breathing, moving, eating, etc
Pioneering microbes (that had sex)

December 17th
First animals on land
Birds, dinosaurs, flowers, etc followed in the last week of December

December 30th
An asteroid strikes Earth and mammals take over the lead from dinosaurs

December 31st, 23:59m46s
All of recorded history is in these last 14 seconds.

—

Around 10.000 years ago we started to shape our environment.
See more here in a video by Kurzgesagt

In the last 14 seconds (on the cosmic scale) we started writing things down.

Only in the last 2 seconds, the two continents found each other
In the very last second, we discovered writing

Carl Sagan is who made the original Cosmos series and inspired Neil to pursue his career in this field (and to educate others).
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June 30, 2018

The Happy Body

This is a book about designing a happy body. And by happy body, I mean a body that is flexible, active, strong, and lean. Here are some of my notes on The Happy Body by Aniela and Jerzy Gregorek.

“If you keep your body happy, you wake up in the morning and you look forward to the day, eager to do everything. If you don’t keep your body happy, you gradually start to fear the day. Then you wake up tired and overwhelmed. Some of the things you want to do seem too much, so you start making excuses not to do them. That’s the first way to tell whether you’re keeping your body happy or not.”

On the other side is that you can also push yourself too hard. You want to be between doing too little and too much.

The goal of the happy body (program) is to achieve/keep youthfulness. I (of course) like this because it’s in line with my thoughts about longevity. They define the following qualities of youthfulness:

Flexibility
Strength
Speed
Leanness
Ideal Body Weight
Good Posture

I think there are also mental processes involved with being/feeling youthful, but of course that is not what this book focusses on.

Measurements

“You can’t improve what you can’t measure.”

For flexibility, they recognise three phases (which mirror the first three of the last list).

Develop range of motion (flexible)
Develop strength in the movement (strong)
Develop speed in the movement (fast)

One of the places where these factors combine really well is in Olympic weightlifting. And again they state that speed is the most important and will help enable the other two.

I measured my flexibility in June 2018 on the following exercises:

The Table (fair)
The Jackknife (poor)
The Bow (very good)
The Corkscrew (good)
The Jerzy Squat (poor)

Strength is the ability of muscles to generate force. An experienced lifter has more fast-twitch muscles and a brain that communicates with them faster and with more intensity.

Men need to be able to press from behind the neck a weight equal to 58% of their body weight. And ideally Clean & Jerk 100% of their body weight.

For me (at 90kg) that would come down to:

52kg Overhead Squat Press
90kg Clean & Jerk

From Sugar Wod I see that my Shoulder Press is estimated at max of 56kg. But for Clean & Jerk I don’t have a score yet (it’s definitely not my body weight).

Speed is a very short chapter and comes down to that the quicker the Overhead Squat Press, the better.

For leanness, they state that men should aspire to 10% body fat, and 13% for women.

The ideal body weight is based on both the leanness and muscle you carry around (and bones, brains, etc of course). For me the ideals would be the following:

194 cm (6’4″)
90,7 kg (200 pounds)

My main goal at the moment is to shed a little bit of fat (lose weight in total) and then slowly also work to convert some of the rest to muscle (lose fat, gain muscle, same weight).

As the last point, posture should also be good. One way to measure that is to stand tall against a wall and raise your hands. If you can touch it with your fingers, elbow/arms, shoulders, butt, and heels then it’s excellent.

The Wisdom of Losing Weight

One must learn to limit, not stop, one’s consumption. Many people have trigger foods which they gravitate towards not only for the taste but also emotional and cultural conditioning. You must avoid your trigger foods totally. To lose weight, you have to change your lifestyle.

You don’t lose weight by dieting (you will lose muscle), working out too much (you’ll become sore and stop), dieting and endurance training (again reduces muscles), being anxious (you will use the wrong energy-system), chemical means (won’t work in the long-term), dehydrating (uhh duh), surgical means.

This is their recommendations:

Time your meals so that you eat every 3 hours (with energy for 2 hours)
Control the volume you eat (if you eat small portions each time, your stomach will adjust)
Eat nutritionally complete foods (but what would they think about Queal…)
Eat high-quality food (less processing is better)

I agree with the advice given. What I think I would like to do differently is think about a shorter time to eat it. But that might be difficult to do in combination with sports. So what I think will be a good schema is the following (the foods I still have to think about more):

6 am: small snack/meal before sports
10 am: meal 1
1 pm: meal 2
4 pm: meal 3
7 pm: meal 4

Recovery

Just as important as training is the recovery. The better the athlete, the more intense the training, and therefore the shorter the training. But he will need more time to recover. So use proper exercise, nutrition, and relaxation.

To find the right balance between your performance and your recovery.

For me that means that I should do better in the sleep and food department, to eat better and take more rest.

They recommend meditation, which I’m also a fan of.

One place you wouldn’t expect rest is in the exercises themselves. That is what they also recommend/recognize and in each exercise, there is rest in the activity. That is in step 3, 1) inhaling, 2) moving while holding the breath, 3) exhaling.

Designing the Happy Body

Now it’s the challenge to go from the current to the ideal body composition. With their clients they found the following to be possible:

Losing fat: 1% of ideal body weight per week
Gaining fat: 1% of ideal body weight per week
Losing muscle: 2% of ideal body weight per week
Gaining muscle: 0,2% of ideal body weight per week

For me, currently (26 July 2018) that would mean it would take:

Losing fat: 7 weeks (from 15,5kg to 9,07kg, at 0,907kg per week)
Gaining muscle: 24 weeks (based on total weight with the ideal fat amount, from 86,3 back to 90,7 with 0,181kg per week)

June 29, 2018

The Power of Habit

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg is one of the finest examples of research applicable to daily life. It is not a motivational/transformational/inspirational book with unlimited quotes by the great men of the world. It, however, most probably will change your life for the better in more significant ways than any (or most) self-help books can. Duhigg takes us on a journey into the mechanics of habits, the cue-habit-reward-craving feedback loop, and explains how habits affect groups and societies in general. It is one of the rare must reads featured on this site!

Habits are formed by four simple mechanisms. It all starts with a cue, for instance getting out of bed. What follows is a habit; eating your breakfast or brushing your teeth. And the habit ends with a reward, a full stomach, and fresh minty teeth. Of course, this habit has not formed without a feedback loop. The feedback loop states that habits are formed by a craving, you will expect the reward before you execute the habit. In the case of eating your breakfast or brushing your teeth, you will know in advance the pleasant feeling of a full stomach and fresh minty teeth.

In The Power of Habit, Duhigg relies heavily on real-life examples to get his (scientifically solid) points across. To show that the mechanics of habits are automatic he builds on the story of Eugene Pauly, a man who through an accident has lost the ability to consciously remember new things. The book explains how he is not able to draw a map of his house, but through habits has learned to flawlessly navigate his house. One finding that is implicitly mentioned throughout the book is that habits are more than brushing your teeth every day, most of our behaviour is automatic (because our brains are lazy).

You are now asking yourself; but how can I change a habit I am not particularly fond of? Duhigg states that habits rarely die out (that is why you remember how to swim when you have not been in the water for over a year). He proposes that you should change the routine, the actual behaviour, but keep the same cue and reward. This is what the AA does, it identifies the cues and rewards why a person drinks (which is rarely to get drunk). Reasons for drinking could be an escape, companionship, and emotional release. This is what the AA offers, regular meetings and a buddy that replace the routines but keep the same cues and rewards.

Further on in the book, the power of habits is taken to the societal level. A habit to help your close friends (strong ties) is one of the underlying causes why the Montgomery bus boycott was the start of the end of segregation. A habit to adhere to the norms of the social group you belong to have helped spread the boycott. And habits are what formed the new identity of the people involved in the change. Habits, therefore, have the power to change not only individuals but whole societies.

Other topics in the book discuss how Target knows that you are pregnant before you have told anyone, how Tony Dungy made his team the Super Bowl champions, and how keystone habits have transformed Alcoa into one of the most profitable and safe companies in the world. One notable tip from the book to end with is the argument for small wins. Duhigg describes that you can create small habits that you can easily succeed in every day. Doing a few exercises every morning, reading your goals out loud, having breakfast, or writing down your achievements each day are only but a few examples. I will no longer keep you occupied with this review and would like to encourage you to read (or listen) to The Power of Habit as soon as possible!

Also see Triggers.

The Book:

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life And Business – ISBN-10: 1400069289 | ISBN-13: 978-1400069286

Eisenhower Matrix – Important things First

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” – President Dwight Eisenhower

The Eisenhower Matrix is one of the best, simplest and clearest time-management tools that you should always use; below is the associated framework

Why

After a long day at work, most people cannot readily name what they have achieved. When asked the question what the long-term impact is of what you have been working on for 8-12 hours, most have no idea. This is where the Eisenhower Matrix comes into play. It is the perfect tool for separating the (1) tasks that you need to do, (2) things to plan, (3) what to delegate, and (4) what to eliminate. Using the Eisenhower Matrix will make you more productive by becoming more effective.

1) Do

The first category is for things you need to do, these are important and urgent. Work for an upcoming deadline on a management report or last-minute preparations on a presentation are examples in this category. This is work that you are most qualified to do. This is where you add value, but mostly in the short-term.

2) Plan

To reduce pressure on the first category, you need to plan your important tasks. This can be research (on that presentation that is due in two weeks) or designing a system to report finances (for that management report). Things you do here are things that have a long-term impact. At the same time, it is difficult to actively engage in these kinds of activities (because of the lack of urgency). Two motivators may help you to spend more time here, a) urgency equals pressure, here is where you can avoid that, b) you can design time-saving devices that make the ‘Do’ category more manageable.

3) Delegate

Tasks that do not add value to your work but do need to be completed, should be delegated. These are tasks that someone else can do more easily and/or will not add to your work outcomes. Emails and tasks that are relevant to other people may fall into this category. Of course, it is good to help your colleagues, but only do this when you are the right person for that task. If you are not the perfect person for a task, delegate it.

4) Eliminate

If it is not important and not urgent, then eliminate the task. Browsing ‘news’ websites, watching TV and exchanging gossip at the water cooler are all examples of this category. Less obvious examples can be the reorganization of your folders, or aligning pictures in your powerpoint that will not be used externally. Busy work and other time-consuming activities should be eliminated.

Examples

Peter reserves the first two hours of his workday to work on planned (2) tasks, during this time he is not to be disturbed
Sarah used to book all her flights herself, but now leaves it to her secretary (3)
James is very well prepared for his presentation (2) and is just adding the latest developments from last week to the slide deck (1)

When to Use

Always. Ok, maybe daily, but certainly weekly. The Eisenhower Matrix will lessen the clutter you have in your life and get you to focus on the tasks that really matter. At first it may take some getting used to, but believe me that you will do this automatically very quickly. Be sure to use it in your work or studies, and maybe even try it out for the rest of your life.

“Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.” – Leo Babauta