johnmaconline

Some days start to get away from you.

I’m not talking about the flow, necessary wandering, or spurious opportunities that pop up and you should follow. You know what I’m talking about — the “all of a sudden it’s lunch time and you realize you’ve been working on everything, yet nothing.” You got 400 tabs in the browser open. Windows scattered all over the desktop. Papers strewn about the desk. 

That’s Resistance.

But its OK. You can stop it here. You can pull it back and get on track. Here’s what works for me.

First, grab your list. Or, if you didn’t actually make one, do it now. Second, pick something you can knock off right now. Like a 5-minute kinda task. It doesn’t have to be the most important. It doesn’t even have to be something that’s requiredfor today, but it has to be useful. 

Schedule the appointment.
Send the email.
Review the document.
Create the Pull Request.
Submit the expense form.

It’s NOT:

Clean your desk.
Clean your inbox.
Closing tabs and windows. 
Organizing. 
Getting a snack.
Taking a shower. 

Those are Resistance tasks. They’re not helping you. 

It can be an almost mindless task, but it’s gotta be productive. It’s gotta help you move forward. 

Do it now and then cross it off. One down. 

That’s how you pull it back. Now you’re on your way. 

You might have the greatest product on earth, but if nobody knows about it, it will fail.

You might have the greatest marketing and messaging about your product on earth, but if your product isn’t any good, you will fail.

It’s both-and.

It’s a spectrum, of course. Great messaging can pull along mediocre products, and a great product can weave itself into the culture through mediocre messaging.

But make no mistake — you’re gonna need both.

We live in a world obsessed with speed. 

“Go fast and break things.” 
“First to market wins.” 
“Hustle harder.”

Sometimes, that’s what we need to do.

Sprint when feedback matters more than perfection.
Sprint if it’s a two-way door decision. 
Sprint if you need the momentum to fuel the team. 

But if you’re sprinting in the wrong direction, you might not get to where you want to go. Sometimes, we should stroll a bit.

“Measure twice. Cut once.”
“Haste makes waste.”
“Well begun is half done.”

Stroll if the stakes are high and failure is permanent. 
Stroll if it’s a one-way door decision.
Stroll when reflection creates insight. 

It’s not all or nothing, however. Fast and slow aren’t enemies. They’re partners. 

If you’re a leader, get good at knowing how and when to shift gears.

Sprint to learn. Stroll to decide.

It sucks out there. Just keep scrolling.

It’s amazing out there. Just keep scrolling.

You want more of that? Just keep scrolling.

You want more stuff? Just keep scrolling.

You want more distractions? Just keep scrolling.

You want more titillation? Just keep scrolling.

You want more reasons? Just keep scrolling.

You want more “I told you so?” Just keep scrolling.

Your device and The World behind it will happily provide you with all of whatever you want. You just have to keep scrolling.

Because that’s what they want.

Ghandi’s famous quote goes like this:

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Except Ghandi never said that. Or, at least, not quite like that. Here’s what he really said:

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”

The quote we use today more closely resembles a quote from the early 70s by a Brooklyn educator named Arlene Lorrance who was the creator of an effort called THE LOVE PROJECT. 

“One way to start a preventative program is to be the change you want to see happen.That is the essence and substance of the simple and successful endeavor known as THE LOVE PROJECT.”

This, of course, isn’t exactly the quote either. Which begs the question: Where did it come from? (Or, at least, it begs the question from my engineer self.) 

No one, apparently.

(Note: Here’s an interesting article discussing the origin story for that quote.) 

But here’s the thing — it doesn’t matter. It’s a powerful quote, regardless of it’s factual origin, because it conveys a powerful message that resonates with us as humans.

It starts with you. Be the change. 

When I first started working as an intern at GE Astrospace, my entire work experience until that point was in situations where the boss always told me what to do.

“Paint that window.”
“Clean those dishes.”
“Make that pizza.”

And when I was done, I’d ask the boss what to do next.

“Dig that hole.”
“Gather the trash.”
“Prepare the ingredients for tomorrow.”

This is how I thought work worked. I have a boss. The boss tells me what to do.

Therefore, for the first couple weeks of my internship, I beat a worn path between my desk and the boss’s desk, constantly asking him what I should do.

“Here, read this to learn about total dose testing.”

I’d do it, and an hour and a half later, “OK, done. What should I do now?” Like a child.

Then he snapped.

“I can’t constantly be telling what to do. You’re gonna have to figure it out. Talk to Jim. Talk to Rob. It’s time to act like a grown up here.”

Yes, he said it was time to act like a grown-up.

Oof.

And then I started to figure it out.

Once you figure out how work works, you’ll never worry about AI taking your job.

From the late 90s on, Steve Jobs famously wore the same thing every day — black turtleneck, 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. 

One of his reasons (supposedly) was to reduce decision fatigue. Specifically, to not waste any brain cycles on picking out clothes. Others, such as Zuck and Obama have adopted similar approaches. 

Decision fatigue is a real thing (from Perplexity):

The decline in the quality of decisions made after a prolonged period of decision-making. It occurs because decision-making is a cognitively taxing process, and as mental energy depletes, individuals become less capable of making sound choices. This phenomenon can lead to poor decisions, procrastination, or reliance on default options.

Causes:

1. Volume of Decisions: Making numerous decisions in a short period drains mental energy.
2. Complexity: Decisions that involve weighing trade-offs or significant consequences are particularly exhausting.
3. Stress and Emotional Load: High-stakes or emotionally charged decisions exacerbate fatigue.
4. Modern Life Overload: The abundance of choices in modern life, from trivial (e.g., what to wear) to significant (e.g., career moves), stretches cognitive resources.

I’m sure you know decision fatigue. 

“What do you want for dinner?”
“I don’t know. What do you want?”

Etc.

We all create routines in order to avoid wasting brain cycles. It’s a great life hack and, quite frankly, necessary in the overloaded culture we live in. Plus, routines keep us disciplined and (when healthy) keep us moving in the right direction. 

However, every once in a while, we gotta ignore the machine that we’ve created and tap into our humanity. We gotta purposely waste some brain cycles. 

Order something new. Wear something different. Listen to a different voice. Question a core belief. 

Maybe those wasted brain cycles become the most important.

I’ve noticed something about me. Maybe it happens to you also.

When I get overwhelmed, buried, and feel like there is just too much to do, I start to try to multitask. And then nothing gets done. 

“I’ll start on this.”
“But wait, I need to pay attention to that.”
“Oh, can’t let this other thing slide.”

I take a step in one direction. Then, in a different direction. Go left. Go right. Go back. 

That’s Resistance.

The antidote is to go back to my list, make sure it’s prioritized, and then start at the top. Finish one. Move on to the next. Linear.

Stop walking around randomly and keep walking in straight lines. 

Ah, I missed it. Coulda had it for less than the expected amount.

The Joachim-Ma Strad did fetch a pile, $11.3M, but it was expected to go for between $12M and $18M. 

Do I regret this missed opportunity? Should I regret it?

Regret feels heavy because hindsight is 20/20. We think, “If only I’d done XYZ…” But also, my social media feed is filled with the “no regrets!” bros. 

It’s a confusing world out there when it comes to regret. 

Missed opportunities aren’t just failures to recognize or act. They’re also gifts wrapped in regret. Regret is a teacher. Regret teaches us what matters and what doesn’t. Also, how to move forward without the burden of thinking we should’ve known better. Maybe we could have — but should have?

The past isn’t that simple, and the future isn’t that knowable. 

Maybe the real missed opportunity is believing we could’ve done it differently.