The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer; Evolution:Scarcity

Rethinking your goals….small consistent steps

compounding, ego, Energy, Goals, Human Brain

In my post of 10th Sept this year I had written about how big goals actually get me scared and I don’t move forward. I would rather think in terms of small incremental but consistent goals, keeping myself focussed on taking one step at a time. I had also written about the research and data from Steven Kotler’s book “The Art of Impossible…” where he has shown evidence that a 4% incremental is something that the brain does not show resistance to.

Exactly a month later, I will talk about a book by the famous author Seth Godin- Linchpin. While he’s not only talking about the resistance that the brain offers on very large goals, he is indicating in the same direction. His take is more broader that if you take on massive goals because you have to silence the critics or because you want to change people’s minds, chances are that you won’t be able to hit it.

After you have accepted the huge goal, your brain will throw up all the reasons, why you should not and cannot achieve the goal. And because our brain has pre-dominantly negative bias on things, it will provide you with evidence of all the negative things that can happen, how all the people will laugh at you ,if you decide to go in for the massive goal and don’t achieve it.

Since the brain does not want to put in the hard work , to conserve its energy, it will put up all the resistance and if you decide to give up, it will be the happiest.

I have faced this many times in my career, because my bosses wanted to “shore-up” their numbers and my ego was bloated, I would take a very high target, then not be able to achieve and then feel miserable. But I now realise the challenges which my brain throws up and am trying to become wiser. Ego is something which can be manipulated easily and I have become more and more conscious of it as I have grown older.

So now I try to look for shorter term, smaller targets to hit. Achieve those and then move forward. As Steven mentions, if you can keep at a consistent increment of just around 4%, for the long term, you will actually be able to achieve massively because the law of compounding will come into play

On the other hand if you are a BIG THINKER and DOER, Good for You. Then you should be actually looking out for doing some dramatic things.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Prioritising 80/20 and ferocity together

Affirmative action, prioritizing, problem solving

This is the latest brain wave which I have had. I had written a post on ferocity which was a word I learned from Steven Kotler in his book “The Art of Impossible…”. His thesis is that if you go out at problems with a ferocity, take affirmative action and the more problems you solve, the better you become at solving problems which helps you become even better to achieve your impossible dreams.

I have been working on the 80/20 principle as suggested by Richard Koch on prioritising my day and then also use the Prioritisation Matrix to work further and plan my day based on impact of what I do and where I want to go.

Now comes the brain wave portion. 80/20 and the prioritisation matrix are all about doing less work but more focussed work. While the ferocity logic is about gaining proficiency by solving more. So there’s a slight dichotomy in my opinion.

Except if you can create enough focussed problems and then try to solve them at a go. so instead of planning a prioritisation matrix for a day everyday, we were to build it for a week in advance. Then we try to achieve the most critical parts of these in a day rather than a week.

I don’t know how practical this would be, how much time will I have and whether I will be able to delegate enough, but I will figure out and let you know how effective it was.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Feeling of achievement

Affirmative action, execution, Flow, Focus

When you get into the “flow” of getting things done, it sets off a cascade set of events. One you don’t feel tired even after having done so much work and in addition you are also in the mood to achieve more. Something that Steven Kotler points out in his book “The Art of Impossible….”.

For more than a month I had to close some legal documentation with respect to our relationship with one of the largest OEMs. It was all to be done online via one of the online sourcing portals. Now my problem with technology platforms has always been that whenever I try to make it work, it throws up challenges at me.

These documents had come to me more than a month back, but first my passwords didn’t work, then when I got that in order , one of the trainings that they wanted me to take, didn’t work and finally there was some technical documentation which I had to then get my legal guy to first fill and then give me.

Finally yesterday I got the documentation but when I tried logging-in again, the passwords again didn’t work. so today after I had had enough sleep, I sat down to work on this with a fresh mind. (This is another thing that Steven talks about…..you need to get enough sleep for your mind to work well and get into flow). I read through the password guidelines again, finally logged-in but couldn’t get to the page of the OEM.

To cut the long story short, because I had started fresh, I completed the complete set of activities in about 90 minutes and I had not realised so much time had passed and I finished without even feeling tired.

Also since I have started using the prioritisation matrix suggested by B.J.Fogg in his book Tiny Habits, I also ensured that I was working on those activities first which would have the highest impact for me. So in a state of flow in two sessions I completed so much without feeling exhausted. That’s the advantage of being in flow.

However I still need to make, getting into “flow” state a habit. Haven’t still been able to achieve that.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Novelties

Energy, Flow, Focus, Happiness, Human Brain, travel

I love wide open spaces, I  love man-made unique architectures and I  love to watch scenic places with wild life.

So going to Interlaken in Switzerland and watching the snow clad mountains or going to the Niagara falls and watch the water fall while drinking hot coffee from Tim Hortons or taking a cruise on the Seine River or watching the  aeroplanes land and take off from Delhi Airport, are things which fascinate me and make me feel happy and enlightened. After a visit to these kind of places I feel rejuvenated and more in flow with life and better focused.

Some of these kind of sights I have not had an opportunity to go and see for myself , especially since the last 18 months. So I watch videos on YouTube. I still get a similar pleasure.

So why should you bother about it.

I used to think that the pleasure of seeing these kind of sights is my personal taste.

However it seems the brain has a special network which is tuned to pick up novelty and unpredictable situations. Its called the salience network. While the definition of novelty could vary between person to person, the fact that this network exists -as per Steven Kotler- and is the cause of the rush of dopamine, is good news. If you read his book The Art of Impossible, you will realize dopamine is one of the most potent neuro chemicals.

It means that when you are feeling low or the whole world seems to be sitting on your shoulders, you can change your mood by looking for things which are novel to you.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!