Thoughts on business
I recently came across the Japanese concept of Ikigai, which translates to “a reason for being“, or, “the reason for which you get up in the morning.”
From a tweet to a blog post to a TED talk to several articles – all on Ikigai – I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my internal back and forth on whether this thing is useful or is just another oversimplified, overhyped piece of infotainment trash.
Earnest Shackleton was an Irish explorer that led three expeditions to the Antarctic between 1901 – 1921.
His 1914-1917 expedition was a disaster, with his ship Endurance getting stuck in the ice floes and eventually crushed. For over two years he and his crew survived on the ice floes until the floes eventually disintegrated, forcing Shackleton and his team to take their three salvaged lifeboats into the open sea. Against all odds, every single member of Endurance survived their ordeal, with life-threatening situations playing out almost constantly.
What do you know [about x]?
How do you know that?
How confident are you that you’re right [about x]?
In my 2017 review, I wrote about a skill I’ve learned that I consider to be my superpower. That skill, believe it or not, is budgeting.
Writing has always been something I’ve wanted to do, and do well.
There’s just one problem–writing is hard!
Last week I came across a tweet by Patrick McKenzie about the value of writing and sharing what you have learned – in this case, what you learned in 2017.
If you've got two hours to kill the next few days write up "What I learned in 2017 doing X" and put it somewhere where people can read it. (Ideally publicly, but I understand that doesn't work for everyone / every job / etc.)
If you only have ~10 minutes, tweet it.
— Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) December 30, 2017
2017 turned out to be a good year for reading. I didn’t have any formal reading goals, yet I ended up reading approximately 20 full-length books and ~10 more in article form.
Here’s what I read:
It’s now been nearly 3 years since I made the switch from typing in QWERTY to typing in Colemak.
QWERTY is the layout that all keyboards today follow – from typewriters to PC’s and Mac’s, to your phone’s keyboard. It’s called QWERTY because the top row of letters starts with Q, W, E, R, T, Y, and so on.
Colemak, however, is an alternative keyboard layout that’s designed for typing efficiency. Here’s what it looks like:
One of the things I’ve struggled with the most is investing my time and energy into trying to prove myself right, instead of doing what will be most effective in achieving my goals.
This was a difficult problem for me to notice because it always felt like working to prove myself right – to champion my ideas instead of another’s – was the most effective way to achieve my goals.
At the beginning of a new project, business, or even relationship, the information you have at your disposal is typically low. You have to make decisions without robust data or evidence, lest you get caught in analysis paralysis.
Consequently, your decisions will rest on assumptions that can’t – at the time – be tested.