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I never intended to a structure of my posts in the first place, but I am discovering an interesting structure emerging. 2 interesting themes I came across in the past fortnight or so. (Sometime it could be farther, but typically a recent find and it may not be a recent post.) And 1 interesting story or anecdote worth sharing with the world with a wider lesson… Almost like a parable maybe!
So here goes my explorations with a brief analysis of my explorations.
Scaling Yourself
I just finished publishing the 2nd issue of my newsletter and started thinking of what I should share in the next issue. Within 60 minutes, I came across this fascinating article. I am sharing here the reference for all of you to read in detail - To Do Your Best Work, Use the 85% Rule. The core idea actually came from Hugh Jackman’s conversation with Tim Ferris on the podcast.
I am going to paraphrase a small story here about Carl Lewis as told by Hugh in the podcast. A coach who was fascinated by Carl Lewis, the legendary track and field star who’s won nine Olympic gold medals. For every race, Lewis would have a slow start in the first 40 meters but then go on to win the 100-meter sprint.
In the (slightly modified) words of Hugh Jackman about the phenomenon:
Carl Lewis did the exact same thing at the 50-meter mark, 60-meter mark. His breathing was exactly the same. His form is exactly the same as had been between meters 25 and 50. Whereas everyone else starts to push to the end — Carl Lewis stayed exactly the same, and then he would just breeze past them.
This strategy, Jackman noted, became known as the 85% Rule. The trick is to work at 85% capacity rather than 100%. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, and definitely, it is not underperforming. It means you have to scale yourself such that when you are operating at 85% of your capacity, you get things done and meet the expectations of the stakeholders (your company, your family, and all other people in your life). In other words, you don’t push yourself to the edge and burnout. So how do you scale up and build yourself for getting to that level?
The answer came a few days later in the form of this talk by Scott Hanselman - Scaling yourself. The key trick to scale yourself is to understand what needs to be done and what needs to be dropped. Get more done in less. Choose the 85% of your strength to only move the necessary muscles and save up on unnecessary movements with the right form. Go through the talk in detail to get more context and insights on how the self-scaling needs to happen.
Let me share a few pointers and ideas from the talk which are really impactful.
Understand the difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Effective - is doing the right things and efficiency is doing the things in the right way. Be effective - choose the right things and then be efficient.
David Allen’s getting things done framework to understand the different types of work.
Pre-Defined Work - Work you've set up ahead of time. (Plan it well and decide what to do)
Work As It Appears - Work that interrupts you (Classify the work based on the below matrix)
Defining Work - You sit down and think about what work you need to be doing (Question which work is effective… And how mundane things could be made more efficient.)
Eisenhower matrix of delegation .
Important and Urgent - Do it.
Not Important Yet Urgent - Delegate it.
Important and Not Urgent - Defer and schedule it.
Not Important and Not urgent - Drop it.
Ankur warikoo adds an interesting dimension to this by asking which of the works maximize the energy. Meeting friends is not urgent or important (maybe!) but it relaxes and gives you lot of energy. Time is not just prioritization/allocation but energy too. You needn’t always be doing 100% imp and urgent tasks always. You can chill and relax once in a while. You can read Ankur’s thoughts on time management here - Managing Time
Actionable insight: Don’t check email early in the morning. Defer it to later part of the day. Use a good system like email labels or other tools to manage email effectively. (I am currently testing out some tools…will write about these in a later date.)
Multitasking is a myth. But there is a good way to combine things - Listening to favourite podcasts while exercising… Optimize and merge things that can be done together.
I think this is definitely a fresh perspective to improve ourselves, increase our peak work and then keep doing 85% so that we can execute without burning ourselves out.
Founder Burnout
After coming across the idea of scaling up, I found this tweet on my feed and the tech twitter erupted. Majority of the people praised Ryan for the candidness, honesty and vulnerability with which he shared his story with the world. Definitely read the medium post cited in the tweet to understand the complete story.
As for me, the story really moved me. Here was a person at the cusp of success who has built a company from the ground-up is having a decent run. But personally - he was going through a fertility issue with his wife, a cancer scare, splitting headaches - all the while doing the next round of fundraising and dealing with a troublesome board member. After finding his replacement, he stared at the screen for 35 minutes and then broke down.
One line that stood out in his article - which I would share verbatim here:
Persistence was my superpower. But now I’ve now come to understand that persistence is a double-edged sword, and my decision not to take a break, to not take more off my plate, hurt me, my family and the company. That was the biggest mistake of my career.
The external successes that you see hide very well the internal turmoil that they go through. Sometime grit and persistence beyond the means can really hurt without us fully knowing it. Finding the right support structure - be it family, friends or a coach is extremely important. The most important part is to acknowledge that we need help and ask for it. In my not so distant past, I too did the same mistake, paid quite a price but subsequently came out of it. (That’s a story for another issue!)
Butterflies
Original Story Source: 3 Signs a startup is going to be successful
While this story is about startups and businesses, I would like to generalize and modify the takeaway a bit. So here it goes. (I am using a lot of the same language exactly as the author.)
The author was out for a walk with his 4-year-old. She spotted a caterpillar inching its way across the sidewalk. “Eww Daddy!” she exclaimed, “look at that gross worm. Can I step on it?” She raised her foot above the caterpillar’s suddenly-frozen body.
“You can,” He said, “But you’ll be killing a butterfly.”
“That’s not a butterfly, Daddy,” she replied as she balanced her foot above her victim in the precarious way only a 4-year-old can. “You’re silly. That’s a yucky worm!”
“It’s not a worm,” He explained. “It’s a caterpillar. It might not look like much now, but, if you let it live, one day it will grow into a beautiful butterfly.” He knew that would stop her from stomping. In a little girl’s mind, the only sin more unforgivable than killing a butterfly would be killing a unicorn.
She slowly removed her homicidal leg, knelt down beside the caterpillar, and began to study it. After a few moments, she asked, “Are you sure, Daddy? I don’t see how something that ugly could become something so beautiful.”
The author crouched down beside her. “Lots of things that become beautiful don’t start off looking very pretty,” He further explained. “Butterflies are beautiful, but they’re also incredibly complex and sophisticated creatures. The form of a caterpillar is a more efficient way for baby butterflies to develop all the resources they need to reach adulthood. What looks ugly now is actually preparation for a beautiful metamorphosis”.
(That last line is actually mine!) Metamorphosis. A slow change… but for people looking at you at completely different parts of your journey would find two very different people. An internal churn occurs usually brought out by constant pressure and challenges.
The best ideas and the best initiatives look very ugly on the surface. But give them time. Allow them to breathe. Slowly but steadily they grow into something really beautiful. Crouch beside the idea, observe and watch it grow. Feed the worm of an idea, leaves/time. Then the beautiful butterfly readily emerges.
P.S. : Let’s hope we find our butterflies soon. Thanks for reading the post. If you like it, please do send your thoughts and feedback as reply or tweet at me @satyadileep.