The
other day I was reading a blog post from a guy named Cal Newport.
Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown University. And, he writes a lot. Somethings I agree with and others I disagree.
For example, I totally agree with the premise of Cal's book So
Good They Can't Ignore You. The premise of the book is that “Follow you
passion” is bad advice. Instead, Cal and I agree with the words of Dirty
Jobs host, Mike Rowe, who says, “Don't follow your passion, but
always bring it with you.” Admittedly, this distinction is rather
nuanced. And, it's not the purpose of this post to elaborate.
What I
wanted to talk about was taking action. Newport has written several
articles, about procrastination, and why humans do it. To Cal's way
of thinking, procrastination happens when people don't really believe
in whatever plan of action they have. Meaning, when people don't
believe the odds of the plan are in their favor, they procrastinate.
If
Newport is right, then the solution is very straightforward. Make a
better plan. While Cal is probably on to something, I think he misses
the target by a long shot. I think planning in itself is a very
common way that people procrastinate. The real culprits are fear and inertia. We
fear making mistakes, and we fear failure, so we convince ourselves we need a
better plan. A plan that won't fail. This leads to the common phenomenon known as, “The
paralysis of analysis.”
What's
more, I think Newport has missed the most obvious of explanations. We
humans tend to be lazy. Being lazy is, actually, kind of natural. (In egghead talk, it's "adaptive.") When we observe our
surroundings what we find is that Mother Nature likes to take the path
of least resistance. Whether it's the flowing of water, or a chemical
reaction, or whatever, Mother Nature prefers the path of least
resistance. Humans are, obviously, a product of nature. So, we tend to
take the path of least resistance too.
The
difference is, when we speak of Mother Nature we are speaking of
inanimate objects. Inanimate objects definitely prefer the path
of least resistance. However, with animated objects, things that are alive, the easiest path
can be the most destructive path. Once intelligence entered the cosmic scene, it
brought its good friend competition. Living creatures are often forced to compete for resources.
Rocks
don't compete, rivers don't compete, and mountains don't compete.
These are the resources, they are non-living (let's not get into the whole Gaia hypothesis right now.) But, living things do
compete. What makes things rather complicated is that living objects are made up of non-living objects. Things
like oxygen most certainly are inanimate substances. So, on the one
hand, we are governed by nature's law of least resistance. But, on
the other hand, living creatures must compete for resources.
It's a bit of a conundrum.
As
reductionist as it may sound, I think the main thing that causes
people to procrastinate is inertia. As I'm sure you have heard, objects in
motion tend to stay in motion. And, objects at rest tend to stay at
rest. I wrote about it in this post: This is how you do it
Well,
one thing is for certain, every day, humans must rest. It's not
really a choice. And so, every day, we have to combat the forces of
inertia. With all due respect to Professor Newport, I don't think
your plan has much to do with it. And, I find it rather interesting
that Cal has come to such a conclusion. Because I know, for a fact,
that Newport is a fan of people like Stephen King and Woody Allen.
Both King and Allen suggest that the best way to write, is to write.
Meaning, what's necessary is to overcome inertia and get started. At
first your writing might suck. But, once you build up some momentum
(the opposite of inertia) good things can start to happen.
To take
it to a super nerdy place, we know that energy is what makes life
possible. To take it to the edges of metaphysics, some say that life is energy. Life exists, on Earth, because of the energy from the Sun.
If there were no Sun, there would be no life. The way I think about
it is that life always requires an injection of energy. For example,
if you don't get up and get yourself some food energy, I promise your
life will stop. And, sorry Cal, but you don't need a great plan to find food. What you do need is to force yourself to do it. Fortunately, the hunger pangs are there to remind us.
It might
sound like I am picking on Mr. Newport. And, in some ways, I am. The
reason being is that his advice about planning is at odds with his advice about passion. The whole follow your passion philosophy is
predicated on planning. It says, “Figure out what your brain is
passionate about and then you will succeed.” Which is rubbish, just as Cal talks about in his book. By the way, I do recommend that you read Newport's book So Good They Can't Ignore You. And, if you would like to read his blog, you can find it here. I do think it's a good blog.
However, on this topic of procrastination, I think Cal has swung and missed. I think much better advice is to inject lots of energy (work hard) and be
opportunistic. Meaning, work really hard while staying open to the
feedback. If you pay attention, opportunities will arise that will point you in the right direction. To reiterate, far from being a
remedy for procrastination, I think planning is an excuse to
procrastinate. I think a better plan is to, “Plan to improvise.”
(You knew I had to throw a paradox in there, didn't you?)
When I started writing this blog my intention was to simply post the following picture from Kim Kiyosaki. So much for my plan. I got a little carried away by momentum. As weird as it may sound, I think my attack on Professor Newport is evidence of how much I like the guy. Have you ever heard that paradox, "You always hurt the one you love?" I think I have just added more evidence that the saying is true.
At any rate, here's what I wanted to say about Kim Kiyosaki. If you have not heard of her, she is married to Robert Kiyosaki, the Rich Dad
Poor Dad guy. I used to be frustrated by overly simplistic bumper-sticker motivation. But, what I have come to realize is that they do provide useful little reminders. What's more, keeping it simply is good advice. Here's a
meme that I think illustrates Kim's understanding of the law of
inertia. Sometimes simple is very complicated. Love ya Cal!
