ContrariLand

The graph below is simple, but powerful. I don’t know how many times I have shared it with my 11 year old son. 

I am late to read this book which was released in 2018. My delinquency was not due to lack of interest. I took 5 things away from it, all of which I continue to ponder. 

Identity Drives Habits

The typical approach to habit building is work towards a specific goal, ideally one that is “SMART”. In this book Clear suggests that goals can make you successful the first time, but systems will make you successful the second time, and beyond. Instead of specific goals, your identity will become the true north you will follow. 

Paul Graham writes about the importance of keeping a small identity. This concept is especially relevant coming into Thanksgiving week. I have family members whose views are 100% correlated with those on Fox News. Trump and the 2nd Amendment are their identity, and it would be impossible to move them off any of those views. 

Verse 76 of the Tao te Ching says “Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry.”

About a decade ago I had a colleague who gave every ounce of his identity to his job. No other interests. No girlfriends, hobbies or anything. I remember telling him that it was dangerous, because when work stuff went sideways he would wear it too deeply. Plus it makes you boring. 

Discipline = Freedom

The actual phrase I took from Jocko Willink but the idea pervades this book as well. If you have the discipline to do the work, you will have time to play. Great message for kids and adults (and we should all play more). 

Successful people are often the best at handling the boredom that comes with achieving mastery and success. Great writers have written thousands of good sentences, but also thousands of bad ones. Major league infielders take hundreds of ground balls per day, the same drills that little leaguers do. It’s not boring if you find the small intricacies and can enjoy the process. 

Quantity becomes Quality

The book offered an interesting story about a photography class. The professor said the final grade would be based upon your best photo. The class was split into two groups. One group would only need to deliver a single photo, but the other would have a number of assigned photos to deliver through the semester. The second group had far higher grades, as they earned the experience. 

The lesson is not to simply aim for the A+ work. Some days it’s C- work, but that is part of the process. 

What is Fun to You but Work to Others ?

I have often wondered whether it makes more sense to spend time honing strengths or developing weaknesses. The author argues the sweet spot is to find those things that you do for fun but that feels like work to other people. This reminds me of Scott Adams’ overlapping circles of expertise. 

It’s an interesting thought exercise. What are you doing when time seems to move too fast? I need to spend more time on the question.

Curious > Smart

I love the egalitarianism of this mindset. Anybody can be curious, while there is a definitely a genetic component to intelligence. 

I remember back when John McCain was first running for President in 2000. At the time I thought spending years in the Vietnamese prison kept him from accumulating knowledge, which would be a detriment to his intelligence and candidacy. What a dumb thought. He had a ton of curiosity and eventually wisdom, both of which overwhelm “knowledge”. 

A good book. Of course at the end you need to figure out how to use it! What habits do I want to take on? A random assortment, but I will share:

1. Talk to more strangers, 
2. breath more through my nose and 
3. drink more tea.