Category: Thoughts

Increased output necessitates decreased input

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

Increasing output by decreasing inputs may seem contradictory. But if you read yesterday’s post, you’d know that given diminishing returns we may already be reducing our potential productivity. In nearly every case, we are. We lump so much into our lives that it’s impossible to create as we should be creating. Barely getting enough done.

So, if our productivity suffers from too many inputs, we must reduce them to reach peak productivity. Hence entire movements on time management and minimalism.

Maybe peak productivity isn’t the goal. Maybe it’s a simpler life. Or fewer bills, less stress, less to clean. Maybe it’s just the search for more happiness.

Whatever it is, it can’t be found by throwing more and more at it. It’s better to try and remove one or two things at a time until you can find some breathing room.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Abundance Trap

by MAÔ, posted in Work

How easy is it to get lost in the minutiae of having so much? So many emails, or obligations, or *gasp* books to read.

You would think that the more inputs we put into our life, the more product we should have to offer. In economics, the downward side of that bell curve is an example of the Law of Diminishing Returns. “Advantages gained from slight improvement on the input side of the production equation will only advance marginally per unit and may level off or even decrease after a specific point.”

And it seems that we all run in the mode of diminishing marginal productivity. We don’t realize it, but we constantly reach input overload, causing our productivity to level off, or even decrease.

So where is that sweet spot? The point on the graph where you’re at optimal performance, not wasting any input while maximizing your output?

Finding it may be impossible, but we can try to get as close as we can.

Weekly Rundown

by MAÔ, posted in Social, Writing

Another week has come to an end, and before you know it the first month of 2020 will be over. New Year not so new anymore? I understand. But here’s what I’ve come across this week.

Reading: Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I’m about half-way through, so it should get wrapped up, maybe this weekend. There’s a familiarity I feel when reading this. I’ve only done one solo hike – the Wicklow Way just south of Dublin – and that was mostly accidental. Much like how Strayed went from concept to hike in, I believe, six months. Becoming found by getting lost is a concept I think many, perhaps all of us are familiar with.

Listening: Let the Games Begin by Aloe Blacc. I heard this playing recently, and it ear-wormed itself into my head so I had to track it down. It’s uplifting while at the same time being catchy. I hadn’t really listened to Aloe Blacc since 2010 and his Good Things album.

Spending time: Watching a lot of Jeopardy. I’ve taken the test twice – once in 2016, and again last year. Neither time I was satisfied with my performance, and, since I’ve not been called by the show’s producers, I’m guessing they weren’t either. But I’ll try again next week, and testing is January 28-30.

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Perfection is a moving target

by MAÔ, posted in Inspiration

It’s always a distant reminder of what we’re not. We can strive to reach it. Yet, when we arrive where we swore it was, it’s suddenly moved farther on. Perfection is not something we can ever attain, because we are our own harshest critics.

There is a benefit to using perfection as a guidepost, because we can make improvements in those areas that we push forward.

It can also be a setback when we’re focused on the perfection, rather than on incremental improvements – always comparing ourselves to what we’ll never be.

As the old maxim says, “It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.”

To the audiences

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

Everything we do has the quality of being received by an audience. Each product we ship, or piece of art we create; the conversations we have, and even those silent moments we experience, where it is ourself that receives the message. In every moment we transmit with an expectation of reception.

It’s unfortunately so simple to send a signal that was not intended, or to mix the message up completely. Most experts suggest that communication is equal parts message and medium, and that effective communication takes into account both, on the part of giver and receiver.

So when the message is the most important thing to get across, take the time to make sure it’s being received correctly. A little forethought can save a great deal of stress later.

Why not?

by MAÔ, posted in Writing

The key to all creative thinking is to ask, “Why not?” The most innovative thinkers don’t view the world as it is, but as it might be. And while there are many blocks that prevent us from looking in such a way as to imagine new possibilities, the potential is there all the same.

When investigating a problem, don’t assume something won’t work just because it hasn’t been tried before. Remember to ask, “Why not?”

 

Defend your schedule

by MAÔ, posted in Organization

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.”

— Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

We all have a list of things that we want to accomplish. And probably a bigger list of things that require our attention. And, if we’re honest, an even longer list of items that others need from us.

When we make time, we take time from other items that could be consuming our attention. The economic principle of opportunity costs. What we are giving up.

Remember: The most successful people are generally those who eliminate the unnecessary from their lives.

Jeopardy!

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Watched the Greatest of All Time competition over the last two weeks – Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and James Holzhauer competing for $1,000,000. Which made me wonder about trivia challenges and the like.

I’ve liked trivial knowledge for most of my life. Reading a lot made that easy, and I seem to retain many facts, though admittedly some are easier to recall than others. (I have trouble recalling dates and years, and geography isn’t something I’m strong at.)

But who wins trivia challenges? In this Salon article, we’re told Jeopardy! isn’t about IQ. At least, not all of it. It’s a game show, so we’re relying on television drama and a buzzer that Ken Jennings called “a cruel mistress.”

But all the contestants know facts. Many may even know most of the answers. So where does IQ come in? Looking up the intelligent quotient, it’s “a number used to express the apparent relative intelligence of a person,” and from the Mensa website: “…it is an indication of how well one performs on mental tests compared to one’s contemporaries.”

If the average IQ is 100, and Mensa takes those of 132 or higher, where do trivia buffs fall on the scale? All over the place! According to Adam Holquist, contestants are split between “normal people” and super-performers. And on Vox, there’s a case to be made for the individual IQ score not really being predictive of performance.

So, yes, trivia buffs know a lot. But there are plenty of people who don’t play trivia games that know a lot too. And we all know a lot about something, even if no one is asking questions about those topics.

For a bit of fun, there’s a Twitter roast between the contestants from the GOAT shows highlighted on the Woman’s Day site.

There are no re-dos in life

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

But there are reinventions.

We can’t go back and change how we reacted to a situation. Or make a different decision when the opportunity arose. Or bobbed when we should have weaved, etc.

So maybe we kick ourselves, reliving that moment over and over again. “If only I’d done it this way,” or “that way.”

Whatever the case may be, we cannot undo it. We don’t get another shot at that moment. It’s gone.

What we do have is the here and now. And at this moment, we can reframe our understanding of the past. Instead of kicking ourselves for missed opportunities, or shoddy decision-making, we can reinvent that moment as a time of learning.

We learned how we don’t want to react. That same situation will likely never come around. Similar situations will. And when they do arise, we’ll have a better idea of how we want to respond. We’ll be able to move forward, rather than dwell in the past.

Weekly Roundup

by MAÔ, posted in Social

Hello again, campers! Ready for your campfire tales? No? Not really?

I finished listening to the Camp Red Moon short anthology, and it took me a while to recognize the voice in the second story. Kevin T. Collins, who’s performed the audiobooks to the Sam Capra series by Jeff Abbot. Speaking of, it’s about time for another installment in that series.

Anyway, here’s what’s on my plate this week.

Reading: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Just getting started, and I haven’t seen the movie either, but I recognize the desire to travel, isolate, and found yourself. A lot of my library seems geared towards those sentiments, even if they all haven’t been read yet. A 26-year-old, reeling from tragedy, decides to make the 1100-mile solo hike.

Listening: You Learn from the Alanis Morrissette jukebox musical Jagged Little Pill. I had this in the nineties (it’s probably still floating around my cd collection somewhere). This ensemble number is really touching, and I enjoy it a lot.

Doing: Goal setting. I’ve been using a couple of resources – Designing Your Life, Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, & Tim Ferris. Before I start making cuts to some of my projects and interests, I want to make sure I’m doing it for the right reason. So having those goals set are important.

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