Reflections on "Rookie Smarts"

As part of doing Personal Progress for church, I re-read the book Rookie Smarts for the Knowledge project.  I just wrote this reflection on the book.

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For this project, I chose to re-read the book "Rookie Smarts" by Liz Wiseman. The subtitle of the book is "why learning beats knowing in the new game of work" and focuses on why being a "rookie" can often be an advantage in terms of doing our best work and feeling most energized and fulfilled. In the context of this theme within Personal Progress, I feel this is significant since, rather than devaluing knowledge that we've already gained, the book emphasizes the need to always be learning new things/knowledge and not being afraid of venturing in new areas, jobs/callings, etc that we lack experience with. I think this is an important message to keep in mind as I progress both in my career and my service within the church.

The book starts off poising two questions that serve as the foundation for the rest of the book

1 When is *not* knowing more valuable than knowing?
2 Why are you often at your best when you are new to an undertaking, doing something for the first time?

Subquestions then include things like

1 When does experience become a burden?
2 Why are we so often at our best when we are newcomers, when logic tells us we might be underskilled, underqualified, clueless, and potentially dangerous?
3 And, why do some people thrive in these conditions while others disengage or operate disastrously?

Some interesting context-setting quotes are

"While experience provides a distinct advantage in a stable field - like the realms of bridge building, ballet, or concert piano performance - it can actually impede progress in an unstable or rapidly evolving arena. When the world is changing quickly, experience can become a curse, trapping us in old ways of doing and knowing, while inexperience can be a blessing, freeing us to improvise and adapt quickly to changing circumstances. In the new world of work, where knowledge is fleeting and innovation cycles spin so quickly that many professionals never face the same problem twice, rookies are often top performers, drawing on the power of learning rather than falling back on their accumulated knowledge."

"When there is too much to know, the only viable strategy is to know where and how to find information you need when you need it ... when there is too much to know, having the right question may be more important than having the right answer."

"The critical skill of this century is not what you hold in your head, but your ability to tap into and access what other people know. The best leaders and the fastest learners know how to harness collective intelligence."

"This book is about living and working perpetually on a learning curve."

"Too many of us are living in the past tense - talking about what we learned, experienced, did - when what we really need to do is start living in the present tense or even the future tense - talking about what we're learning and what we're planning and where we're heading - as if the adventure is still on. If you are at the top of your game, it might be time to position yourself at the bottom of a learning curve."

"Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. -Doug Larson"


Specific Rookie modes are

1 Backpacker - little to weigh them down and with the freedom to venture out and explore new possibilities bring openness to their work
2 Hunter-Gatherer - marshal a network of experts rather than relying on own expertise
3 Firewalker - take small, calculated steps, move fast, and seek feedback to stay on track
4 Pioneer - improvise and work tirelessly to provide for basic needs keep things simple and focus on meeting core needs 


One of the most challenges aspects of being a veteran is that you feel you have a reputation and ego to defend - so you are more afraid of failing and more protective of the status quo. We're also more prone to giving advice than taking it and ignore information that may challenge what we feel we already know and how things already works.

We can replenish our rookie smarts by having an insatiable curiosity, a humility that makes you a lifelong student, and a playful but intentional approach to achieving your goals. Key to be a perpetual rookie - "The real skill of the perpetual rookie is knowing when to play the role of the veteran and when to don the rookie cloak. In times of tumult and transition, the best leaders know when it is time to stop, unlearn, and relearn ... the highest-performing rookies were most often in executive roles. These were smart, seasoned executives who had made internal or external career moves and were now leading in a new domain ... in which they had no experience. They brought the best of both worlds a veteran's wisdom of experience, leadership skills, and organizational savvy and a rookie's tendency to ask naive questions, learn quickly, build new networks, and unlock new possibilities."

Reflections on "Essentialism"

As part of doing Personal Progress for church, I re-read the book Essentialism for the Choice & Accountability project.  I just wrote this reflection on the book.

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For this project, I re-read the book "Essentialism" by Greg McKeown. This book is incredibly relevant for the choice and accountability theme as it focuses on us making conscious decisions in our lives regarding where we're going to devote our times and energies and where we're won't. Too often, we buy into the false notion that we can do it all or that we don't need to make trade-offs in our lives. McKeown instead advocates for the notion that we can do anything but not everything in life and that we should do "less but better". "The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials , and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless." 

McKeown reminds "if you don't prioritize your life, someone else will." This is "not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but cutting out some really good opportunities as well." It's the "tough trade-off between lots of good things and a few really great things." McKeown points to people's highest point of contribution being at the intersection of three key questions

1 What do I feel deeply inspired by?
2 What am I particularly talented at?
3 What meets a significant need in the world?

In a gospel context, we know that agency led to a war in heaven and that it's important for us to act instead of being acted upon. In his book, McKeown points to our "invincible power of choosing to choose" as he says "for too long, we have overemphasized the external aspects of choices our options and underemphasized our internal ability to choose our actions. This is more than semantics. Think about it this way. Options things can be taken away, while our core ability to choose free will cannot be ... The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away - it can only be forgotten."

McKeown speaks of the importance to distinguish the "trivial many" from the "vital few" and points out that "the overwhelming reality is we live in world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable."

Speaking of trade-offs, he says "we can try to avoid the reality of trade-offs but we can't escape them ... the reality is, saying yes to any opportunity by definition requires saying no to several others ... it is easy to see why it's so tempting to deny the reality of trade-offs. After all, by definition, a trade-off involves two things we want ... a Nonessentialist approaches every trade-off by asking, 'How can I do both?' Essentialists ask the tougher but ultimately more liberating question, 'Which problem do I want?' ... Instead of asking, 'What do I have to give up?' they ask, 'What do I want to go big on?'"

As part of making decision / trade-offs, he suggests making space to really think and reflect, being clear on the question at hand that you're trying to answer, using play to spark exploration, get enough sleep, and using extreme criteria "If it isn't a clear yes, then it's a clear no".

Essential intent is essential (pun intended). "An essential intent is both inspirational and concrete, both meaningful and measurable. Done right, an essential intent is one decision that settles one thousand later decisions. It's like deciding your going to become a doctor instead of a lawyer. One strategic choice eliminates a universe of other options and maps a course for the next five, ten, or even twenty years of your life. Once the big decision is made, all subsequent decisions come into better focus."

Saying no ins't always easy and emotion can get in the way. Emotions and social pressure "distract us from the reality of the fact that either we can say no and regret it for a few minutes, or we can say yes and regret it for delays, weeks, months, or even years. The only way out of this trap is to learn to say no firmly, resolutely, and yet gracefully. Because once we do, we find, not only that our fears of disappointing or angering others were exaggerated, but that people actually respect us *more*. Since becoming an Essentialist, I have found it almost universally true that people respect and admire those with the courage and conviction to say no ... we need to learn the slow 'yes' and the quick 'no'." 

McKeown points out that if you don't set boundaries, there won't be any. "When people make their problem our problem, we aren't helping them we're enabling. Once we take their problem from them, all we're doing is taking away their ability to solve it."

To succeed, we can plan well, remove obstacles, have small win, create routines, focus on the hardest thing first, and focus on what's important now.

Reflections on "The Happiness Curve"

As part of doing Personal Progress for church, I read the book The Happiness Curve for the Divine Nature project.  I just wrote this reflection on the book.

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One aspect of divine nature that I explored is how our personal happiness changes over time and how that how that serves God's plans and purposes for us and enables us to become whom He would want us to be. In particular, we go through a transition in life whereby we shift from focusing more on ourselves of our needs and ambitions which is competitive by nature towards focusing more on the collective good connection and compassion which is collaborative by nature. We stop worrying about how we compare to others or what we've achieved compared to others and more about whether we're making a contribution in the world. But that change can be challenging and uncomfortable - particularly during our 40s which is right where I am - and results in a trough in our "happiness curve". Some people worry that our happiness will only continue to decline as we get older but research slows in general the opposite to be true and we start becoming happier as we reach 50 and beyond. In the meantime, we can find ourselves feeling dissatisfied with life for no real objective reason and then feeling dissatisfied about feeling dissatisfied which can be very frustrating. We might be tempted to make dramatic changes in our lives what sometimes people characterize as a "mid-life crisis" but is typically not really a "crisis" in the real sense of that word it's more of a "midlife malaise". Sometimes making dramatic changes like changing jobs/careers, moving, etc may make sense but sometimes it can just lead us off-track and not really address the real underlying issue which, to a certain degree, time and an associated change in viewpoint/outlook will naturally address. We get to a point where we expect less and appreciate more.

To truly achieve my divine nature, I need to compare myself less to other people and focus instead on what God wants me to become and living my life well. I also need to remember that this is a phase of life that will pass and get better which hopefully will give me hope and optimism. The only way *out* is *through*. I also need to remember that sometimes it's hard to "guide the elephant" - the elephant is the mind's many automatic, involuntary processes the rider is the mind's controlled, voluntary processes "the elephant's mission is to make us successful in producing offspring in doing the things that will lead to the successful completion of the mission of life on earth. The elephant is especially concerned that you get prestige. The elephant was created by evolution to complete the mission. And happiness is not the goal of the mission ... the trick is to depend less on trying to talk the elephant into being satisfied ... and instead to give it an environment where the things it wants and the things the rider wants are in closer alignment.".

One other thing that I can remember and appreciate is that I've achieved a lot already. "It does seem that by the time people are in their forties, many people have achieved a lot of what they've hoped to achieve so there's this grand question of Now what? Is this it? ... We do not feel ready to give up the competitive drive of youth, and we have yet to reap the rewards of the communitarian values of older age." On the "appreciate" side, though, one other thing to remember is that "blessing counting can have self-defeating side effects by reminding us of the privileged nature of our objective circumstances, it can make our subjective lack of gratitude seem all the more like a moral failing or emotional ailment ... gratitude is harder in the trough of the U, so cut yourself some slack ... midlife crisis begins sometime in your forties when you look at your life and think 'is this all?' And it ends about ten years later, when you look at your life again and think, 'actually, this is pretty good'."

Things to look forward to and try to achieve now living in the present, taking each day as it comes, savoring the positive, dwelling less on the negative, accepting, not overreacting, setting realistic goals, prioritizing the really important people and relationships in life. Also recognizing that "I can't save the world, I can save my little corner of it." There's also a lot of talk near the end of the book on the power and benefits of wisdom - which my patriarchal blessing speaks to me having/gaining.

Reflections on "God's Many Voices"

As part of doing Personal Progress for church, I read the book God's Many Voices for the Faith project.  I just wrote this reflection on the book.

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For my project, I chose to read "God's Many Voices" by Liz Ditty a woman I used to work with at Tellme. In her book, Liz shares many ideas regarding how we can learn to listen God's messages to us through lots of different methods and mediums that we may not normally consider and that we can become expectant to hear his voice knowing that God loves and cares about us. In the forward to the book, John Ortberg says "the central promise of the Bible is not 'I will forgive you' the best promise in the Bible is 'I will be with you'."

I especially liked statements like:

"Are you looking for God, or are you looking for answers?"
"It's possible to seek God's voice but not seek God."
"We have to move only toward Him and His love, not toward His wisdom or blessing or direction."
"This story that we find ourselves in now is not our quest to find God, but His quest to be found by us."
"We don't listen to God's voice so we can know the answers we listen so we can know *Him*."
"The promises I made for Lent were made *to* Christ, but they weren't made *for* Him."
"Jesus said, 'If you love me, you will keep my commandments John 1415 ESV. Do you see how love comes first? Obedience isn't our gateway to love it's our response to God's love."
"Asking the Holy Spirit to help us enter a conversation with God, we have to desire most of all His company, not what feelings He can give us or what answers He might have to our pressing questions. After all, silence can be the sound of two people who are happy simply being together."
"It is less important to us to *know* God's will than it is for us to *want* God's will."
"God's will is more often about who we are than what we do."
"God calls us to relationship before He calls us to action."
"Instead of praying, 'God, make it better', I need to pray, 'God, make it count'."
"One way we learn the dependability of God is by trusting Him to give us exactly what we need for today."
"It's not difficult to live the Christian life alone. It's impossible."
"He wants us to live our whole lives with Him, in a constant awareness of His presence and love."
"Each of our dark emotions is on a thread that connects us to something deeper we may not be aware of jealousy reveals desire, fear reveals insecurity, anger reveals pain."
"My faith doesn't have to be enough. Your goodness is always enough. Thank you."
"True worship is being willing to be interrupted."
"Seasons remind us to *expect change*, and God whispers, 'Your right now is not your forever."
"May we create more than just an image *of* God's glory. May we create *as* God's image and *to* His glory."
"Worship isn't just complimenting God it's wanting God. It's acknowledging that His ways and His understanding are greater than our own - not just saying so but by aligning the details and decisions of our lives with that truth. It's investing in our relationship with God and His way of life."
"My life, simply lived loving God, is my foundational act of worship."
"But God doesn't want us to give Him our desires and cringe at the thought of what He might give us in return. He wants to *be* our desire. He also wants us to be the kind of people who want and who love good things, who deeply love Him ... 'Your will not mine' has always been a statement of trust and hope, of believing in God's good plan rather than dreading it. God wants us to desire His will because we believe He is good, His gifts are good, and His plans are good."
"God has searched my desires many times now. He is teaching me to want good things, like working with Him and not just serving Him."

There is a good exercise/example on pages 54-55 of the book in terms of taking a single scripture and really understanding all of its implications - in this case, "I sought the Lord, and he answered me he delivered me from all my fears." Aside in NYC on a business trip, I experienced for myself her couch example on page 37. Later pg 63, she says "I entered into the story as best I could".

Also liked "the idea of internal furniture" with regard to how we might have a personality clash with certain people. "We all have a sort of arrangement of furniture in our minds. We've arranged it so it feels like our own comfortable home. We have reasons for the size, shape, and order of things, reasons that are all very personal. When we interact with people, it can be like letting them into our living room. Sometimes it's nice to visit with them there, but some people come in and kick their feet up where we don't want them to, or leave their muddy boots on, or actually pick up a chair and move it to the other side of the room and say, 'That's better.' As the host we have to choose how we respond." Later, it says "God gently speaks to us about our character when we are annoyed, offended, hurt, or angry with each other. Every time someone kicks our furniture, we have an invitation to make our lives a home for Christ instead of a museum for ourselves."