STRIKING THE BALANCE: HEALTHY DISCIPLINE vs UNHEALTHY DISCIPLINE

Having actively embraced the sport of running for many years and completed 20+ full marathons or ultra runs, the role that discipline plays in achieving success in sports became quite apparent to me. It took countless hours of practice, even on days when I didn't feel like training, to conquer each mile. After running distances I never thought I could, I believed I knew everything there was to know about discipline. My notion changed, however, when I recently came across a mind-shifting piece on the subject in Tennis legend Rafael Nadal’s book, 'Rafa: My Story.' Here is the excerpt:

“To deny yourself necessary pleasures would be counterproductive. You’d end up feeling bitter, hating training, and even hating tennis, or becoming bored by it, which I know has happened to players who’ve taken the principle of professional self-denial too far. It is possible to do everything, I believe, but always keeping a balance, never, ever losing track of what’s important. In exceptional circumstances I might even skip morning training and train in the afternoon instead. What you can’t do is make the exception the rule. You can train once in the afternoon, but not three afternoons running. Because then training becomes secondary in your mind, it ceases to be the priority, and that’s the beginning of the end. You might as well prepare for retirement.”

In essence, it's about treading the fine line between healthy and unhealthy discipline. This distinction plays out not only in sports but in our work lives too.

Here’s what Healthy Discipline may look like: A software developer follows a balanced schedule with coding, collaboration, and intentional breaks. This approach maintains productivity and creativity without burnout, fostering both professional growth and personal well-being.

Here’s what Unhealthy Discipline may look like: A student obsessed with straight A's sacrifices sleep, social interaction, and self-care. This relentless pursuit leads to physical and mental health issues, diminishing the genuine joy of education and turning growth into a struggle.

Striking the balance between healthy and unhealthy discipline is akin to crafting a well-tuned instrument. Too much rigidity, and the strings may snap; too little, and the melody is lost. In sports, work, or any aspect of life, understanding when to push ourselves and when to pause is essential.

What are your thoughts?

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BEING ANTI-FRAGILE

This week, England's legendary fast bowler Stuart Broad surprisingly announced his retirement from cricket. Amid the ensuing wave of well-deserved praise, a reporter asked about his infamous 2007 T20 World Cup experience. Broad, then 21 or 22, became the first bowler in T20 history to be hit for six sixes in an over by India's Yuvraj Singh.

Reflecting on that challenging day, Broad said-
"Yeah, it was obviously a pretty tough day." He confessed to rushing his preparation and lacking focus, but then stated, "I learnt a lot... I pretty much based a whole mental routine through that experience... I started building my 'warrior mode'."

Broad turned a career low into a learning opportunity. Sixteen years later, he's a cricket stalwart with more than 600 test wickets, a feat achieved by only five bowlers in the game's 140+ year history.

Broad credits that early setback for his competitiveness, stating, "I think it steeled me up to make me the competitor I am to this day, and has driven me forward a huge amount."

This resilience illustrates a trait known as Anti-fragility. In his book "Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder", Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines the concept as,

"Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive & grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder & stressors & love adventure, risk & uncertainty. Anti-fragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the anti-fragile gets better."

Contrary to a fragile mindset that breaks under stress, an antifragile mindset benefits from volatility and shock. It's clear that Anti-fragility is a potent competitive advantage.

In essence, here is what I gathered to be Broad's 3 point playbook to become anti-fragile-

1. Embracing Challenges: Broad turned a career setback into a growth opportunity, an essence of anti-fragility.

2. Self-reflection and Learning: He acknowledged his rushed preparation and lack of focus, creating a foundation for development.

3. Building a Warrior Mindset: Broad developed a "warrior mode", practicing mental resilience to better handle stress and volatility.

In your opinion, what are some practical ways we can cultivate this quality of anti-fragility in our lives and workplaces?

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HOW SIMPLE NUDGES ELEVATE PRODUCTIVITY?

One of the tips that Amantha Imber shares in her HBR article "What Super Productive People Do Differently" https://bit.ly/3oCjTzy resonated quite well with me.

Amantha says 'Nudge your way to better behavior.'

If you’re trying to set better work habits, small behavioral hacks can lead to the biggest payoffs. If what is closest to your bed before you sleep is the book and not the phone, you'll be more likely to read.

Recently, while reading the book- 'The Art of Bitfullness' recently, I came across an eye-opening study.

An experiment was conducted with 800 smartphone users by Professor Adrian Ward from University of Texas.

People were randomly divided into groups where one group had their phones on their desks, face down. Another group had to keep their phones in their pockets or bags, but out of sight. The third group of people were asked to leave their phones in another room during the tests.

In all three groups, some were asked to turn off their phones.

The participants were then given tasks that needed cognitive effort.

Even though all participants reported giving their full focus and attention to the task at hand, the participants whose phones were in the other room significantly outperformed those whose smartphones were on them.

It didn't even matter if those who had their phones had turned them off. If the phones near or on them, their capacities diminished.

Prof. Ward said "We see a linear trend that suggests that as the smartphone becomes more noticeable, the participants' available cognitive capacity decreases. Your conscious mind isn't thinking about your smartphone, but that process-the process of requiring yourself to not think about something-uses up some of your limited cognitive resources. It's a brain drain."

Inspired by this, I tried distancing myself physically from my phone during deep work. It works, and astonishingly well at that.

The invisible lines of influence are often the strongest. A nudge in the right direction can alter your productivity journey.

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How Generative AI can Unlock the Future of Efficient Work?

The story of human evolution consists of momentous leaps. I was recently reading the best seller 'Sapiens' (by Yuval Noah Harari) with my son. Earlier in the book, it highlights one such leap: the invention of fire. By enabling cooking, fire dramatically reduced the time our ancestors spent on basic survival, freeing them for more complex endeavors. For instance, cooking saved early humans up to five hours a day that our cousins, the chimpanzees, spend chewing raw food.

This idea of time-saving through innovation recurs throughout history. Take the invention of the wheel, for instance, which revolutionized transportation, transforming time-consuming journeys into faster commutes.

Today, we've crossed another transformative threshold with Generative AI. Jaspreet Bindra, in his LiveMint article (link in comments) titled 'Generative AI will require us to recalibrate how we do our work' (my sketchnote summary included), cites a recent tweet by renowned software engineering leader Kevin Beck:

“I had been reluctant to try ChatGPT. Today, I overcame that reluctance. Now I understand why I was hesitant. The value of 90% of my skills just plummeted to $0. The leverage of the remaining 10% surged 1000x. I need to recalibrate."

This points to a profound realization: the true potential of AI is belatedly recognized by many but is nonetheless inevitable.

However, if you look at the news today, much of the conversation about AI focuses on its negative impact on jobs. This overshadows an equally important aspect: how AI is positively transforming work. I appreciate how Jaspreet makes a distinction between a job and work.

A job is an economic role we play, and work encompasses the tasks we undertake within that role.

Work essentially spans three dimensions: Act, Show, and Create.
- Act: the direct role we play in our job - a chef cooking, a coder programming.
- Show: how we present our work - reports, presentations.
- Create: crafting something new - an innovative dish, a complex algorithm.

In the early days of Generative AI, we associate its value more with the 'Create' function, but its potential to redefine 'Act' and 'Show' is enormous.

Consider a teacher leverages AI to generate personalized reports ('Show').

Envision a financial analyst, whose AI assistant processes vast amounts of market data, identifies patterns and trends, enabling the analyst to focus on strategic investment recommendations ('Act').

A graphic designer, who leverages AI to generate initial design templates based on specified themes or concepts, freeing the designer to concentrate on the creative refinement and originality of the final output ('Show').

It's time for us to recalibrate how we approach work with Generative AI, just as our ancestors did when the discovery of fire reshaped their existence.

Are you ready to embrace the shift? What challenges do you anticipate?

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OVERTHINKING IS THE BIGGEST WASTE OF HUMAN ENERGY

Tennis legend, Arthur Ashe, once famously said, "There is a syndrome in sports called paralysis by analysis."

In simple terms, paralysis by analysis is a state of over-analyzing a situation, which often leads to poor execution.

Ashe himself fell victim to paralysis by analysis on occasions. For instance, he faced Jimmy Connors (known for his aggressive style of play) 7 times in his career, winning only once. Ashe was so focused on strategizing to defeat Connors that he often ended up making a number of unforced errors.

However, Ashe eventually learned to overcome his tendency to overthink his performance, paving the way for him to win two more Grand Slam titles.

The phenomenon of overthinking one's performance isn't confined to sports; it significantly affects our professional lives as well.

So, how can one overcome overthinking?

The answer to this question comes from a college administrator and part-time tennis coach, Timothy Gallwey, who wrote a book that profoundly influenced how professional athletes train. The book, 'Inner Game of Tennis', focused less on technical aspects such as grips and swings, and more on the mental state of a player.

Gallwey suggested that people should stop overthinking about playing well and instead, quieten their minds. He believed that self-doubt, criticism, and lack of focus become hurdles in our performance. We all have an inner voice that points out our flaws and pushes us to improve. Giving in to these thoughts can affect our performance. By calming our mind, we silence this inner voice, which lets us focus only on what we're doing without judging ourselves. So, Gallwey sees relaxed concentration as the key to good tennis.

Given Ashe's story and Gallwey's philosophy, how do you think overthinking can be addressed in our work lives?

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EXPLORING GENERATIVE AI TRENDS VIA METAPHORS

A while ago, I read Gary Kasparov's book "Deep Thinking," which discussed the evolution of chess and technology that helped shape some of my thinking. In the mid-80s, Kasparov was one of the first chess players to play a computer in a public setting and comfortably beat the machine. However, in ~1999 he lost for the first time against IBM's Deep Blue, leading people to write obituaries for both Kasparov's supremacy and chess as a sport. Today, the champions like Magnus Carlson leverages computers to improve his skills.

Chess has seen the evolution of humans beating computers, computers beating humans, and finally, humans and computers working together.

As the saying goes, "To know where you're headed, understand where you came from." While knowing history is an effective way to connect the dots and anticipate the future, it's not the only way. As we continue to witness rapid advances in the Gen AI space, a new and exciting way is emerging to help us understand the space: through the use of thought-provoking metaphors by influential thinkers and leaders.

Recently, I sketched these metaphors and am sharing them below (These are shared by various thought-leaders, I have been introduced to most of these via Jaspreet Bindra's session/posts)

#1 English is the new coding

With the IT revolution, coding became the new language of success. Today, with the emergence of LLMs like ChatGPT, the ability to use language and prompts is becoming the new essential skill, making English the new coding.

#2 Chat is the new search

With the integration of Generative AI models into search engines like Google and Bing, search is becoming more conversational and less reliant on keywords. As a result, it's possible that chat-based interfaces will eventually become the new way we search for information.

#3 AI won't replace you, a person using AI will

By augmenting human intelligence, AI can help us solve problems faster and more effectively than ever before, adding tremendous value to our work. Rather than competing with AI, we must learn to harness its power to our advantage, unleashing new possibilities.

#4 The amount of intelligence in the universe will double every 18 months

This idea is based on the assumption that as technology continues to advance at an exponential rate, it is able to process information at lightning-fast speeds. This opens up new avenues for analyzing and utilizing vast amounts of data, leading to exciting breakthroughs in scientific research, and beyond.

#5 Generative AI is the new cloud

Large foundation models like GPT4, Bard, etc. will be built by the BigTechs, on which thousands of startups will build specialized products; much like SaaS and other startups built their companies on the BigTech clouds.

#6 Google is a search engine, ChatGPT is a thought engine

Google helps us find stuff. ChatGPT helps you think & create stuff

Which of these metaphors resonate the most with you?

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