/** A busy February/March had me putting writing on hold but am back to sharing. This post also got pushed back slightly.
Started a new role and excited for the next chapter in my hypothetical “book.”
As usual, all thoughts shared here represent my personal opinions and beliefs and have no relationship to any other entity.
Recent experiences (some from travel) reiterated a strong belief I have.
I want to share some thoughts on it here.
Disclaimer: many tangents and side notes
The Belief
“The most reliable way to positively improve one’s outcomes in life is really just preparation.”
Context/Random Background Thoughts (long!)
I’ve seen an idea mentioned on Twitter and online semi-frequently that in general, “everyone” doesn’t know what they are doing and learns as they go.
It is ok to fail, get lost, and not know what to do.
This isn’t new.
I feel this comes up when people of authority make mistakes. Others may say…
“Look! They had an advanced degree/were in a position of power and leadership and even they made a big mistake.”
…or they had some perspective and/or information that turns out to be wrong because no one knows everything or has a 100% hit rate on good decisions.
No one is immune to wrong turns.
A similar way of thinking about this is each individual person usually comes to a point in their life (some earlier, some later) where they will likely feel lost or fail or be confused about where they have been, where they are, and where they are going. Comparing oneself to others may further emphasize the uncertainty or undermine the confidence one may feel as well.
One can feel better by knowing that many other people have been in similar shoes, of figuring things out as they go, and that in the grand scheme of things, usually, it’ll be alright.
Analogy time:
I think of it as if everyone is swimming forward. At different points in time, people will get tired and sink. Some will sink early, some will sink later. Some will sink further down than others, some will stay underwater longer than others, some will sink more times than others. But, on average, generally, usually, most will come back to the surface, and keep swimming. Now, some will obviously swim further than others, for reasons both in one’s control (they have more stamina) and not in one’s control (the waves push them further), and that is the natural distribution of outcomes of life.
So when I hear/read that thought, that no one is immune to wrong turns, that people are bound to encounter times of difficulty, I often think that:
So…
These may be true for some.
In fact, I know it is true because:
Ok, so we acknowledge that:
a) everyone runs into speed bumps, and
b) some people tend to excel to a larger degree, and this could be for several reasons, internally and externally.
My hypothesis is the best way to engineer an “edge” or advantage is really through preparation. It is in your control and I think it can reliably yield positive outcomes.
Now, where does preparation play into this?
Stick with me.
I remember listening to Naval speak on Joe Rogan’s podcast (podcast here, clip is here, if you want more context rewind a few minutes) and he was concerned about how in his life, he would rehearse his speech and this often gave a false sense of confidence of SOUNDING smart, not being smart. One would think he knew what he was talking about.
He even admitted that he rehearsed himself telling Joe Rogan that he rehearses his own speech!
(This was meta but was a very interesting point)
Ideally, I’d think you get to a point where you are comfortable talking intelligently or comfortably about something, and I think that is achieved through preparation and reps. You could also be, as the Gen Z generation say, “built different.”
This is a great place to be…at some level of comfort where your natural organic state can just achieve flow in your conversation…and mistakes and inaccuracies are permitted!
Another side note: I also like this podcast not just because Naval gives people a lot to think about and chew on themselves but also because in discussing how multivariate people are (and consequently, how multivariate life is), he mentions that “…every human is capable of every experience and every thought.”
Takeaway from podcast: it has a lot of philosophical-like content to think about. Plenty of stuff I disagree with or question, but that is the base case with any content usually.
Now back to my point.
I mentioned this podcast mainly because when he mentioned that he plays these meta games of preparation, I think in some way they are good and necessary to get to a clear stream of thought, where organically you can just be and speak freely.
All of these thoughts eventually got me to the point where I think this:
“Preparation itself, even if it is meta, is healthy and good and should be encouraged. You can only get so far “winging” it (usually), and so preparation is key.”
I also have this related belief of:
“I am comfortable and have the desire to put some level of effort in to ensure I cause the least amount of friction possible in my daily life to me and others.”
And this is where preparation can help me reduce friction.
(me trying to connect the two 🙃)
Unique examples where preparation can be most helpful to reduce friction:
Say you are learning a new skill like swimming or a new sport.
Think about if you go to a swimming lesson, you decide to ask more questions initially so that you establish a foundation faster. It can seem obvious but there is intent and volition to ask more questions than necessary.
Asking more questions —> you learn faster —> you progress faster —> you both satisfy your trainer because they feel they did a better job and you feel better because you progress faster.
You need to go to the doctor to explain a problem.
I like to think your output is only as good as your input. If you spend the first 10 minutes explaining some myriad of symptoms and side tangents, the doctor has to both:
A driving example:
This is one of my all-time favorites.
Let’s say you are at a stoplight 🛑, and you want to make a protected left turn ⬅️. You are at the front of the line, waiting for the light to turn green, with no cars behind you to turn left. The left turn lane is pretty long behind you to allow cars to queue up to turn left (and prevent traffic in the main lanes going straight). Cars turn left semi-infrequently and you know this.
The main lane (going straight) has their light turn red, and the perpendicular lane turns green. You know after their light turns red, it will be your time to go.
You prepare for your light to turn green and it does.
However, you also notice that a car has started to turn into the left-turn lane, but farther behind you, right as your light turns green.
You think to yourself:
“Well, if I immediately go right now when the light turned green, that car will not catch up to me to make the green light on the left turn…they’ll either speed up and run the yellow/red on the turn above speed, or not make it in time, slow down, hit the red light, and have to wait.”
You decide to wait there for about 2.5-3 seconds.
This allows the car to catch up to you behind you, keeps the light green (because it thinks there are more cars there than there actually is), then you go. The car need not speed up unnecessarily and now can easily make the green.
You spent ~2-3 seconds of your time to save someone about 2-3 minutes waiting at a red light.
Spoiler: I have done all of these things. They all reduced friction and yielded better outcomes that I can say were non-trivial (because the driving example was on the way to school and if I was almost late, the person behind me would have definitely been late).
My Chipotle post which I’ll write about later will also highlight this as well.
In all three of these scenarios, preparation —> a clearer input to the equation —> a more productive outcome with less friction.
Why I believe this, why it matters, and why traveling confirms this:
/ I believe this based on personal experience and thinking about what generates differences in outcomes outside of inherent “edge” or advantage. It’s simple but still nuanced. I also think that it only will resonate with you once it is experienced first-hand, especially in ways you do not expect. Although, many activities cannot be fully prepared for ahead of time, given the variability in said activity, so a combination of preparation and ability to be adaptable is important as well.
/ It matters because when you prepare for something and try to reduce friction, the unintended benefit is (I think) you MAY tend to minimize the amount of very bad outcomes. This has also been my experience on multiple occasions.
/ Traveling confirmed this because for two specific travels recently, I spent more time than average preparing for different outcomes.
For example:
I’ve noticed on the past two travels where I’ve spent more time preparing than usual, I have fortunately avoided any largely negative events.
HOWEVER they did STILL OCCUR due to factors rather out of my control (mostly).
So it is a balance. Preparation minimizes negative outcomes, but does not prevent them.
I think this applies to many things?
tl;dr I didn’t really say anything new. Practice makes perfect. Preparation is key. I just framed it in a different way a tacked on some random thoughts/side notes.
Highlights from this post:
Analogy of Life:
I think of it as if everyone is swimming forward. At different points in time, people will get tired and sink. Some will sink earlier, some will sink later. Some will sink further down than others, some will stay underwater longer than others, some will sink more times than others. But, on average, generally, usually, most will come back to the surface, and keep swimming. Now, some will obviously swim further than others, for reasons both in one’s control (they have more stamina) and not in one’s control (the waves push them further), and that is the natural distribution of outcomes of life. As long as you come back up for air and keep kicking your feet, that is good.
No one is immune to wrong turns in life.
Preparation itself, even if it is meta, is healthy and good and should be encouraged. You can only get so far “winging” it (usually) and so preparation is key.
Preparation —> a clearer input to the equation —> a more productive outcome with less friction.
Preparation in small trivial situations can also compound and be beneficial long-term.
Preparation in small trivial situations can also compound and be beneficial.
(this wasn’t in the post but I liked it and put it here)
I’ll admit this was a pretty scattered post, but it is an accurate representation of how I thought through it (with tangents, side notes, and some form of a conclusion).
I should simplify it eventually. And no I did not use any AI-enabled tools to help as I want to maintain some level of authenticity or originality, but will try it in future posts.
Cheers,
Vish
Published on April 19, 2023.