Have you ever had a goal drive the wrong behavior?
I never set out to read 100 books a year. I set out to have a consistent reading habit, and given my pace of reading and how much time I set aside each day, the byproduct just so happened to be 100+ books read each year.
That happened for one year. Then two years. Then three years.
At the end of last year I noticed that somehow 100 books had became the goal, not the consistent reading habit I started out with.
I was shying away from big books because it put risk into hitting that round number.
So at the end of last year I decided to intentionally break that goal. On Goodreads (where I keep track of my reading) I chose 50 as my goal for 2024.
But brain patterns are hard to break! I hit 48 books in June. Well, 48 books in half the year would be 96 books for the full year. And 96 is close to 100, sooo….
Dang it!
I found myself avoiding some of the 600+ page books in my backlog once again, which was never the intent. I’m here to learn, not hit an arbitrary number.
So my commitment is that once I finish my current book I will intentionally choose a 600+ page monster. Probably one of these four: “Titan” (about Rockefeller) “The Silk Roads” (about the region encompassing the old Silk Road) “A Peace to End All Peace” (about the fall of the Ottoman empire) “The Guns of August” (about the outbreak of WWI)
Hopefully this will help reorient me towards my habit and learning. If it doesn’t, I may have to resort to disconnecting from Goodreads (and all of that sweet sweet data) since that’s the only way I know how many books I’ve read.
How are you doing on your goals? Are they driving the right behaviors in you, or do you need a reset? Let me know at heykev@kevinnoble.xyz.
Kevin
A Quote
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General Boykin considers this a litmus test for the quality of your company’s leadership development. “If you’re hiring for a leadership role and can’t find somebody internally, then your leadership development needs significant work,” he says.
— Mike Sarraille et. al. in "The Talent War"
Three Things
1 - 📖 Kindle Scribe - The Scribe became my “daily driver” for reading once my Oasis battery developed an issue (and the Oasis has been discontinued by Amazon). They tout the Scribe’s paperlike writing (a la the Remarkable) as a feature, but I never use it. To me it’s just a big-ass Kindle with enormous battery life. It lasts months on a single charge. The heft takes some getting used to when reading in bed, but I’ve generally been pleased.
2 - 💀 Will the SaaS Industry Go Away? - I generally don’t enjoy the “All In” crew, but someone recently forwarded me their conversation from Napa where they shared a really interesting hypothesis; that AI will “obviate” the SaaS industry entirely. What they mean is that AI will make software creation so cheap and easy that anyone who needs software will just build their own instead of paying a per-seat license to a centralized provider - effectively killing SaaS companies. As someone who can write Python despite not knowing Python thanks to ChatGPT, this certainly seems plausible. Remember, the AI we’re using today is the worst AI any of us will experience.
3 - ☑️ TickTick - I just discovered this neat todo and productivity app called TickTick. I’ve been a heavy and happy Todoist user for years, but todo apps are very personal; if you don’t have one that you love, you might enjoy what TickTick has to offer! It has space for notes, ad also includes habits, pomodoro timer, and Eisenhower matrix.
Deeper Dive on The Obstacle is the Way
That problem in front of you? That obstacle? It’s actually the way forward.
The phrase “the obstacle is the way” comes from Ryan Holiday’s book by the same title. I highly recommend it.
Ryan Holiday’s phrase was inspired by Marcus Aurelius’ journal to himself, written in the years around 170 AD, while serving as Emperor of Rome. Specifically, these two sentences:
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”
To be honest, when I read “Meditations” for the first time, these sentences did not get highlighted. The language is a little obtuse, and, well, philosophical. It wasn’t obvious there was anything important there.
You may be thinking the same thing right now! “Marcus Aurelius? 170 AD? Impediment to action? I’ll catch you next week, Kevin!”
Don’t go! 🤣 There are some really powerful messages here for your own leadership development.
Today I’ll walk you through a few things I’ve learned about “the obstacle is the way” since I first ignored those words.
“Whatever we face, we have a choice: Will we be blocked by obstacles, or will we advance through and over them? We might not be emperors, but the world is still constantly testing us. It asks: Are you worthy? Can you get past the things that inevitably fall in your way? Will you stand up and show us what you’re made of?”
Are you familiar with the phrase, “when the student is ready the teacher appears”? I used to think it showed cause and effect. First, the student gets ready. Then, knowing the student is ready, the universe will place a teacher in front of them.
Today I believe that the teacher is there all along. The student - you and me - just have blinders on. As soon as we take those blinders off we see the teacher who was there the whole time.
Do you know someone who keeps having the same problem? Maybe it’s at work, or maybe it’s in their personal relationships. They always seems to find themselves in a similar predicament.
The predicament is the teacher. The student isn’t ready to listen, so they will find themselves in similar situations until they do.
You’re likely a potential student right now! Does your team always do something that frustrates you? How about your spouse / partner? What are the common predicaments in your life?
The problem you have - the thing you don’t like - is the teacher, if you’re willing to be the student.
“It’s time you understand that the world is telling you something with each and every failure and action. It’s feedback—giving you precise instructions on how to improve, it’s trying to wake you up from your cluelessness. It’s trying to teach you something. Listen.”
Look back at your own history. What challenges have you faced in the past? What did you learn from them? Are you in a better situation, or a better person, because of them?
I am.
For as much difficulty as I’ve faced, and would not choose to face again, I know that those difficulties each taught me something. I can’t be the person I am today without all of those prior difficulties. They’re entangled. I can’t remove the difficulties without also giving up part of myself.
Seeing obstacles as teachers is a perspective shift that you can cultivate. The more you do it, the less stress you’ll experience when facing obstacles, the more you’ll grow, and the more energy you’ll have available for the actual problem solving.
So what are some ways we can practice and cultivate this?
Focus on What You Can Control
Where should you put your energy when an obstacle looms?
You should apply your energy against the area where you can cause something to happen. Areas you can control.
I mean, technically you can do the opposite - apply it to things you can’t control - but that’s a whole lot of fire and fury with no hope of achieving a different outcome.
No matter how loud you yell, those clouds are going to do their own thing.
As an example, I love the story of when Thomas Edison’s research and development facility caught fire and was burning down. Multicolored flames, from all the various chemicals, were leaping into the night sky.
Put yourself in Edison’s shoes. He’s just become aware that his precious research is burning down, never to be recovered. This is competitive edge lost. His ability to make money is going up in smoke. What would you do?
Would you wail and moan at the unfairness of it all? Would you get angry and yell at the cause? Maybe you’d even yell at the person who came and told you there was a fire!
What did Edison do?
He said, “Go get your mother and all her friends. They’ll never see a fire like this again.”
You can't stop the fire, so might as well bust out the popcorn and watch the show.
That’s such a crazy response! There’s a lot we can learn from it, but one of the key lessons is not to waste your energy on what you can’t control. Edison would not be able to stop the fire. He could not go back in time and prevent the cause.
What could he control? His attitude. His actions.
He might as well enjoy the spectacle and bring his family to witness it.
“Remember: We choose how we’ll look at things. We retain the ability to inject perspective into a situation. We can’t change the obstacles themselves—that part of the equation is set—but the power of perspective can change how the obstacles appear. How we approach, view, and contextualize an obstacle, and what we tell ourselves it means, determines how daunting and trying it will be to overcome.”
Like Edison, ignore what you can’t control and put your energy behind what you can.
Learn
I already mentioned that the world is trying to teach you, so make sure you’re learning.
When a project doesn’t go as planned, make sure you take time to learn. When your research and development facility burns down, figure out what started the fire and avoid that next time.
In fact, any time you hit an obstacle, start attuning your attitude to one of curiosity. What should I be learning from this? How could I use this to my advantage?
Dwight D. Eisenhower did this brilliantly when the United States was facing the German blitzkrieg. Everyone was shrinking from the onslaught and things seemed doomed.
“Striding into the conference room at headquarters in Malta, [Eisenhower] made an announcement: He’d have no more of this quivering timidity from his deflated generals. 'The present situation is to be regarded as opportunity for us and not disaster,' he commanded. 'There will be only cheerful faces at this conference table.'” (source)
The leadership team and Eisenhower discovered how they could use the blitzkrieg to their own advantage. They discovered something creative within the constraints. As in judo, they used the enemies’ momentum against them. They lured the Germans into an Allied assault.
The obstacle is the way.
I'm sure the smiles became more natural over time.
Get to Work
Talking about solving your problems doesn’t solve them. Taking action does.
It doesn’t mean there isn’t an appropriate time to think. To consult. To consider.
It just means you can’t take too long because you’ve got to get to work.
“No one is saying you can’t take a minute to think, Dammit, this sucks. By all means, vent. Exhale. Take stock. Just don’t take too long. Because you have to get back to work.”
Even with Edison, the story couldn’t end with him marveling at the fire that consumed his facility.
“Within about three weeks, the factory was partially back up and running. Within a month, its men were working two shifts a day churning out new products the world had never seen. Despite a loss of almost $1 million dollars (more than $23 million in today’s dollars), Edison would marshal enough energy to make nearly $10 million dollars in revenue that year ($200-plus million today).” (source)
Got laid off? Take a moment, then get to work.
Boss changed the scope? Take a moment, then get to work.
Didn’t get the promotion? Take a moment, then get to work.
“It feels better to ignore or pretend. But you know deep down that that isn’t going to truly make it any better. You’ve got to act. And you’ve got to start now.”
“Elysium is a myth. One does not overcome an obstacle to enter the land of no obstacles. On the contrary, the more you accomplish, the more things will stand in your way. There are always more obstacles, bigger challenges. You’re always fighting uphill. Get used to it and train accordingly.”
Each obstacle is getting you ready to solve bigger obstacles in the future. In that way the universe is your sparring partner. It’s making you a better person. It’s making sure you’re ready for what’s coming later.
“The next step after we discard our expectations and accept what happens to us, after understanding that certain things—particularly bad things—are outside our control, is this: loving whatever happens to us and facing it with unfailing cheerfulness. It is the act of turning what we must do into what we get to do.”
Here is where the attitude shift becomes really powerful. Can you imagine a world in which you love whatever happens to you? Where you face it with cheerfulness?
Her perspective has shifted; she's facing the obstacle with love and unfailing cheerfulness.
I’m not this way all the time, but more often than not, I find business problems hilarious. I’ve gone through so many cycles of problem-learning-solution that I can usually see the joy in the moment. I still experience negative thoughts here and there, but I’ve been able to cultivate a perspective shift on obstacles.
It’s almost like I can start to hear the story I’ll tell when the years wash away most of the discomfort and all that’s left is a really funny story. As they say, comedy is tragedy plus time 😀
It dials back the drama and the craziness at work. It brings a little more joy.
The obstacle is the way.
Call to Action
What obstacles are you facing right now?
What is the world trying to teach you? Work to cultivate some curiosity and joy towards this obstacle. It’s your sparring partner in service of making you a better person. Remember all those difficulties you’ve surmounted in the past? You’re just on the beginning phase of the next one.
Focus on what you can control. Learn. Then get to work.
Kevin
P.S. - Perspective shifts are hard! If you’ve got questions about this one, email me at heykev@kevinnoble.xyz and let me know what I can help you with.
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