Put chaos to good use

Big success is made up of small steps

Author

Bozhidar Ivanov
May 28, 2024

As I stare at the endless list of things I want to organise and get done (and low-key want to break down crying), I return to a quote from Philip Ball’s book (more about it below). Writing about how life functions as a complex hierarchical organisational structure, he says “[Molecules] are noisy, random, unpredictable - and life does not so much battle to maintain order in the face of those influences as find ways to put them to good use.“

It is tempting to want to find a way to put your whole life in order with the right organiser or bullet journal, but everything - from the endless universe to the molecules that make up our anxiety-ridden brains, are made up of chaos.

And somehow, things work - they may not be always perfect, they make break down and cause problems, but they do work - so put your chaos to good use!

And if you are feeling lost, remember - if a donner kebab can completely break down and still be awesome - so can you!

Measuring your progress from 2 points of view 🚀

What do your goals and life have in common? They both work in hierarchical ways. Jake from CreativeHackers has provided advice on working on big goals through acing small ones - through the lag/lead metric system.

  1. Lag metrics - Your long-term goals

  2. Lead metric - The required steps towards the bigger goals.

Examples:

Lag metric: John Grisham wanted to quit law and become a full-time author.
Lead metric: Write a page a day. Every day.

Lag metric: Brian Koppelman wanted to be a Hollywood screenwriter.
Lead metric: He wrote for 2 hours with his writing partner every day before going to work.

Lag metric: Jerry Seinfeld wanted to be a famous comedian. He needed better jokes.
Lead metric: Jerry wrote a new joke every day for years.

Jake’s advice on applying this method the best way?

  • Set your lag metric (long term goal)

  • Break it down into lead metrics (process goals)

  • Build your process

  • And stick to it. If you fail to stick with your lead metrics you will fail your lag metrics.

  • Once you understand the process you need to do it every day. It removes the unpredictability of creative success.

📚 Shelf Shocks 💥

Today’s children and teens are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and mental challenges. Social psychologist Haidt claims this is a result of, among other reasons, the devious effect of social media apps on people whose views about themselves and the world have not fully formed.

He explores the effect of technology, the underprotection of children in the virtual world, and the rise of overprotectiveness in parents in the real world - that have deprived children of essential learning mechanisms to understand the world and learn to be better, stronger, tougher members of society.

🎧 Summary

We all like Amazon - it helps us shop quicker and easier, it saves us money, it is always on the customer’s side if things go wrong. But some of its dark secrets have come to life as last year, the Federal Trade Commission launched a huge lawsuit, claiming the business is a monopoly.

Reporter Dana Mattioli brings a revealing inside look at the tech behemoth, crafted from hundreds of interviews, to expose how Amazon handicaps its competitors and uses its might to eat up market share in multiple industries, slowly turning into a threat to the global economy.

🎧 Summary

While scientists have a good understanding of the principles of life and biology, Philip Ball writes that there is a lot more “magic“ that goes in chemistry becoming living matter than we can comfortably explain today.

His book offers a great introduction to the modern landscape of biology and educates the reader on the many things we know - and don’t - about how life works. The language can get technical, but if you push through, you will glimpse a rich portrait of the life sciences and the life-changing promises the future may hold.

Want to self-publish a book? Lulu Press is an online publishing service that simplifies self-publishing to print, leaving you with the pleasant part - writing!

They offer a range of printing options - including comic books and magazines - and also allow you to sell it on their bookstore, allowing you to keep most of the revenue. Get started here!

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