Chemaclass - psychology

The Eternal Return

2026-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nietzsche proposed a thought experiment in The Gay Science. Imagine a demon visits you at night and says: this life you have lived, you will live again, infinite times, exactly the same. Every joy, every regret, every detail. Would you collapse, or would you celebrate?

He did not mean it literally. He meant it as a test. Can you live in a way that you would willingly relive?

Years passed before that idea found me again. Not as philosophy. As pattern.

Events That Rhyme #

A situation happens. Some time later, a different situation happens. Different people, different stakes, different city. Yet the shape feels familiar. Not the surface, not déjà vu, but something underneath. The same kind of pressure, the same kind of decision, the same kind of room you have to walk into.

It is not that the events are connected. They are not. Causality does not link them. Your brain links them, because exposure to enough life produces collisions of shape. The more you live, the more shapes accumulate. Eventually, the new one rhymes with the old one.

I have felt this many times. Changing companies, closing one chapter of work and starting another, with new people and new constraints, yet the same internal weather rising in me as I cross the threshold. Quieter moments too: a certain light in October, a certain silence in January, that returns each year and brings with it the same kind of thoughts, the same curiosities, the same questions I never quite finished asking.

The Trap of False Wisdom #

The easy conclusion is: I have seen this before, I know what to do. That conclusion is wrong.

The events are not the same. The lesson from the past one does not transfer cleanly. Acting as if it does is the most common way experienced people make experienced mistakes. They mistake recognition for understanding.

Familiarity of shape is not knowledge of solution.

What Repetition Actually Gives #

What repeats is not the situation. What repeats is you, inside the situation.

The same kind of pressure surfaces the same parts of you. The same kind of decision exposes the same instincts, the same fears, the same default moves. The first time, you are too inside it to see. The second time, you start to notice. The third time, you can name what is happening while it happens.

That is the gift. Not predictive wisdom about the world. Diagnostic awareness about yourself.

Exposure Is the Variable #

The people who get this benefit are not the smart ones. They are the exposed ones. The ones who took the difficult job, said yes to the hard conversation, sat with uncomfortable feedback, moved cities when it would have been easier to stay, accepted the project they were not ready for.

Patterns cannot rhyme if you only ever live one shape.

This is why staying open matters. Welcoming change is not personality, it is method. It is how you accumulate the raw material that, much later, lets you recognize yourself under pressure.

Ten Years Later #

Ten years ago I was writing a book of my thoughts. I wrote every few days, just to read it back the next morning and understand myself better. I am not that person anymore.

Every beginning carries the shape of an end. Accepting that lets you stop chasing finality and pay attention to the process itself.

Process over goal. The role you take matters less than the persona you build inside it. The impact you leave is not what you intended, it is the shape of the absence you create when you are gone.

What Is in Your Control #

The events themselves are mostly not in your control. What complications arrive, when, with what severity: not yours to decide.

What is yours: whether you stay long enough to see the shape. Whether you reflect afterward instead of moving on cleanly. Whether you let the next collision teach you something about yourself rather than insisting it teach you something about the world.

The world repeats nothing. You repeat almost everything.

The Real Eternal Return #

Nietzsche’s demon was not asking about reincarnation. He was asking whether you have lived a life worth being. The test is internal.

So ask yourself. If this exact life repeated forever, every detail unchanged, would the honest answer be joy or regret? You are the only one who can answer, and the hardest one to answer truthfully.

I love being alive. The fact it ends is what gives the time inside it weight. If I do not like who I am becoming, I still have time to change. That is the only useful thing recurrence ever offered. Not knowledge of the future. A mirror in the present.

We get one life. Make it one you would relive.

Notes from Underground

2026-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

The Underground Man is not someone you’d want to have a beer with. He’s bitter, contradictory, and painfully self-aware. He knows his flaws and still refuses to change. That’s the whole point.

The book is split into two parts. The first is a philosophical rant against reason, progress, and the idea that humans will always act in their own best interest. The second tells a story from the narrator’s past that shows just how far his self-sabotage goes.

On Free Will and Spite #

The narrator argues that people don’t just want what’s good for them. Sometimes they want chaos. Sometimes they want to suffer. Not because it makes sense, but because it proves they’re free.

“What man wants is simply independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and wherever it may lead.”

He rejects the utopian idea that a perfect society could be built on rational self-interest. Humans aren’t machines. They’ll destroy their own happiness just to prove they can.

The Wall and Inaction #

The Underground Man is paralyzed by over-thinking. He sees every angle, every consequence, every possible interpretation. So he does nothing. He calls himself more conscious than the “men of action” who simply act without questioning everything.

“I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness: a real thorough-going illness.”

There’s something uncomfortably relatable here. The trap of analysis paralysis. Knowing too much can become an excuse to do nothing at all.

The Liza Episode #

The second part shows the narrator meeting a young prostitute named Liza. He delivers a passionate speech about her future, about dignity and redemption. For a moment, he seems almost noble. Then she shows up at his door, and he crumbles. His cruelty returns. He can’t accept genuine human connection because it threatens his carefully constructed self-image.

This is Dostoevsky at his most uncomfortable. The gap between what we say and what we do. The way wounded pride can poison everything.

Key Takeaways #

Rationality doesn’t fully explain human behavior. People act against their own interests out of spite, boredom, or the need to feel free.
Excessive self-awareness can become a prison. At some point, you have to act despite uncertainty.
The desire for control and the fear of vulnerability can destroy meaningful relationships.
Suffering isn’t always something to be eliminated. Sometimes people cling to it as proof of their existence.

This book is not easy or pleasant. But it gets under your skin. It anticipates exstentialism by decades and challenges the comfortable belief that progress and reason will save us.

Digital Minimalism

2025-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

In an era dominated by constant connectivity, the concept of digital minimalism emerges as a refreshing antidote. Coined by Cal Newport, this philosophy isn’t about rejecting technology but rather about using it with greater intention and care. By implementing digital minimalism, individuals can reclaim focus, reduce anxiety, and cultivate deeper, more meaningful relationships.

The Core Principles of Digital Minimalism #

Newport’s approach to digital minimalism is built on three fundamental ideas:

Clutter is Costly: Unnecessary digital distractions fragment our attention and drain our mental energy. By decluttering our digital lives, we regain control over our focus and time.
Optimization is Essential: Rather than mindlessly accepting every new app or platform, digital minimalists carefully curate their technology use to align with their values and goals.
Intentionality is Key: Digital minimalists don’t just cut back on screen time; they deliberately choose how and when to engage with technology to maximize its benefits while minimizing its drawbacks.

The 30-Day Digital Declutter #

One of Newport’s most actionable strategies is the 30-day digital declutter. The idea is simple:

Take a 30-day break from all non-essential digital tools.
During this period, explore alternative offline activities that bring fulfillment.
After 30 days, reintroduce only the digital tools that add value to your life.

This method serves as a reset, allowing individuals to assess which technologies truly enhance their lives rather than simply consuming their time.

The Benefits of Digital Minimalism #

Those who embrace digital minimalism often report:

Improved Focus: With fewer distractions, deep work and meaningful projects become easier to accomplish.
Reduced Anxiety: Less exposure to social media and endless notifications results in a calmer, more present mindset.
Richer Relationships: By prioritizing face-to-face interactions, digital minimalists cultivate stronger and more meaningful personal connections.
Increased Productivity: Fewer digital distractions translate into higher efficiency and greater creative output.

Practical Steps to Get Started #

If you’re ready to experiment with digital minimalism, here are some simple steps to begin:

Audit Your Digital Life: Identify which apps, platforms, and devices are consuming the most time without offering meaningful benefits.
Set Screen Time Limits: Use built-in tools on your phone or computer to cap the amount of time spent on certain apps.
Establish Tech-Free Zones: Designate areas like the bedroom or dining table as screen-free spaces.
Prioritize Analog Activities: Replace digital distractions with books, hobbies, and in-person interactions.
Schedule “Offline” Hours: Set intentional times during the day when you completely disconnect from digital devices.

Final Thoughts #

Digital minimalism is not about rejecting technology altogether. It’s about using it in a way that enhances rather than diminishes our quality of life. By taking a more mindful approach to our digital habits, we can reclaim our time, improve our well-being, and refocus on what truly matters.

Video Summary #

Cal Newport interviewed by Lex Fridman #

Man's Search for Meaning

2024-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

In “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Frankl not only shares his harrowing experiences from the Holocaust but also presents a profound philosophy on the human condition. This book is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, exploring how even in the darkest of times, individuals can find purpose and meaning.

Frankl’s insights into the psychology of survival and his development of logotherapy offer a unique lens through which we can view our own lives. As we delve into the depths of his narrative, we are invited to reflect on our personal search for meaning, challenging us to consider how we find purpose amidst life’s trials and tribulations.

Part 1: Experiences in a Concentration Camp #

Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, recounts his experiences in Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz and Dachau, during World War II.

He describes the psychological stages prisoners went through: shock upon arrival, apathy where they became emotionally numb to survive, and finally, the phase of disillusionment or bitterness if they were liberated.

Frankl emphasizes that even in the most horrific conditions, finding a purpose or meaning can provide the strength to survive. He notes that those who had something to live for, like a loved one or a personal project, were more likely to endure.

Part 2: Logotherapy in a Nutshell #

This section introduces Frankl’s psychotherapeutic method, which he developed based on his experiences. Logotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence as well as on man’s search for such a meaning.

Unlike Freud’s “will to pleasure” or Adler’s “will to power,” Frankl proposes the “will to meaning” as the primary motivational force in humans.

Three Paths to Meaning:

Achievement: Doing a deed or creating work.
Experience: Experiencing something or encountering someone (love).
Attitude: The attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.

Even in extreme situations, Frankl asserts that one can choose one’s attitude towards the situation, which can be a significant source of meaning.

He discusses this concept as the feeling of meaninglessness in modern society, leading to various psychological issues. Logotherapy aims to guide individuals to find personal meaning.

Key Takeaways #

Meaning of Life #

Frankl argues there is no one universal meaning to life; rather, meaning is unique to each individual and can shift over time.

Suffering and Meaning #

Not all suffering must be devoid of meaning; it can be a path to finding or reaffirming meaning.

Responsibility #

Each person has the responsibility to find their own meaning, which also entails the freedom to choose one’s path.

Frankl’s book is not just a memoir but a testament to human resilience and the power of the human spirit to transcend even the worst circumstances through the discovery of meaning.

Quotes #

“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked.”

“We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life, daily and hourly.”

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

“Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness.”

Personal notes #

My favorite aspect of the book is its portrayal of life as an ongoing shift in perspectives, both from within oneself and in relation to the external world. It’s like adjusting a camera lens, zooming in or out based on context, recognizing that we are simultaneously individual entities and part of a larger collective.

This approach helps you gain a broader perspective, allowing awareness of both your limitations and your significance within any given scenario. Consequently, life doesn’t inherently possess meaning; rather, it’s the meaning we choose to attribute to it that shapes our existence.

Animated book summary #

Prisoner's Dilemma

2024-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a hypothetical game set up showing a situation where people won’t want to work together even when it’s beneficial to do so.

It’s just a long way of saying people don’t like to be taken advantage of. It’s often game theory 101.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma illustrates the complexities of strategic decision-making, where individuals must choose between cooperation and betrayal, often revealing insights into human behavior and the consequences of self-interest versus collective benefit.

Premise #

Source: Wikipedia

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The police admit they don’t have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge.

They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a bargain. If he testifies against his partner, he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh, yes, there is a catch …

If both prisoners testify against each other, both will be sentenced to two years in jail. The prisoners are given a little time to think this over, but in no case may either learn what the other has decided until he has irrevocably made his decision.

Each is informed that the other prisoner is being offered the very same deal. Each prisoner is concerned only with his own welfare, with minimizing his own prison sentence.

This leads to four different possible outcomes for prisoners A and B:

If A and B both remain silent,
- they will each serve one year in prison.
If A testifies against B but B remains silent,
- A will be set free while B serves three years in prison.
If A remains silent but B testifies against A,
- A will serve three years in prison and B will be set free.
If A and B testify against each other,
- they will each serve two years.

The Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma #

It is just like the regular game except you play it multiple times with an opponent and add up the scores. But it can change the strategy and has more real world applications as it resembles a relationship.

This is closely related to trust, human behavior, and social constructs in relationships that impact us both individually and collectively.

In the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the best strategy is to start with cooperation, but then mimic the other player’s previous action in the following rounds, rewarding cooperation and punishing betrayal.

Don’t trust, verify.

Invincible

2023-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

The quality of your life depends on the quality of your mind. Unfortunately, we spend little time improving our thoughts, and it is rarely taught at school. As a result, we go through life without really understanding how to use our mind.

We have in our head the most sophisticated object in the world, but we barely know how it works. Most people are unable to direct their mental strength toward the goals they truly desire. They get distracted and frustrated. They can’t resist temptation or persevere in the face of adversity. In the end, they quit.

Luckily, our mind can be trained, and this book will show you how. It combines stoic philosophy with modern psychology, and provides the tools to help you visualize with clarity, act with determination and resist with discipline.

“We suffer not from the events in our lives, but from our judgement about them.” Epictetus.

Any external change requires an internal change first. If you want to transform your body, you must start from within. A weak mind will never create a strong body.

This book will help you use your mind to improve your body, but it actually goes much further. It is not a simple guide to optimize your daily habits, but rather it aims to guide your own philosophy of life. The tools you will develop will help you with anything you want to achieve. Life is always simpler with clarity, determination and discipline.

The philosophy of Stoicism #

Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing

2023-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

In 1965, psychologist Bruce Tuckman developed a model (Tuckman’s Model) that describes the stages of group development, forming and maturing into a cohesive and effective team.

The model initially consisted of four stages: “forming, storming, norming, and performing,” adding one additional “adjourning” in 1977.

It’s important to note that teams may not always progress through these stages linearly, and they might revert to a previous stage under certain circumstances.

Forming #

In this initial stage, team members are polite, tentative, and unsure about their roles. There is a reliance on the leader for guidance.

Goal: Members are getting to know each other, and there is a focus on defining the team’s purpose, goals, and roles.

Leadership approach #

Provide clear direction and guidance
Clearly define team goals, roles, and expectations
Act as a facilitator, encouraging open communication and helping team members get to know each other.

Storming #

Conflict and disagreement emerge as team members start to express their individuality. There may be power struggles and challenges to the leader’s authority.

Goal: The team clarifies its goals, members learn to resolve conflicts and address differences constructively.

Leadership approach #

Facilitate conflict resolution
Acknowledge and address conflicts constructively
Encourage open and honest communication while guiding the team through the process of understanding and appreciating diverse perspectives

Norming #

Cohesion begins to develop, and team members establish norms and values. Roles become clearer, and there is a sense of unity.

Goal: The team strives to establish norms, values, and a shared understanding. Members learn to appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Leadership approach #

Foster collaboration and inclusivity
Encourage team members to establish norms and values collectively
Recognize and celebrate individual strengths, fostering a sense of unity and mutual respect

Performing #

The team is highly functional, with a focus on achieving its goals. Members work collaboratively, trust each other, and are mutually supportive.

Goal: The team is committed to its common purpose and operates at a high level of efficiency and effectiveness.

Leadership approach #

Empower autonomy and trust
Provide opportunities for team members to take ownership of tasks and projects
Foster an environment where individuals feel confident in their abilities and can collaborate seamlessly

Adjourning (or Mourning) #

This stage involves the completion of the task or project. Team members may experience a sense of loss as the group disbands.

Goal: Acknowledge and celebrate the team’s achievements, provide closure, and reflect on the overall experience.

Leadership approach #

Acknowledge achievements and provide closure
Recognize the team’s accomplishments and express gratitude for individual contributions
Facilitate a reflective session to capture lessons learned and create a positive closure experience

To develop a team to a high-performance level using Tuckman’s Model, leaders should be aware of the stages and adapt their leadership style accordingly.

This involves providing guidance and structure during the forming stage, facilitating conflict resolution during storming, fostering collaboration and communication during norming, empowering autonomy during performing, and recognizing achievements during adjourning.

Regular communication, team-building activities, and constructively addressing conflicts are crucial throughout the process.

Video summary #

Crucial Conversations

2023-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

When stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong, you have three choices: Avoid a crucial conversation and suffer the consequences; handle the conversation badly and suffer the consequences; or read Crucial Conversations and discover how to communicate best when it matters most.

If you don’t talk it out, then you’ll act it out.

Chapters #

Know your heart
Ensure safety
Beware of reverting to your style under stress
Make the content safe
Control your emotions
Share your stories
Move from conversation to results

Key takeaways #

A crucial conversation is a confrontation you need to handle with care, which usually is characterized by three factors:

Stakes are high
Opinions vary
The parties involved have strong emotions

Examples:

Calling a client who didn’t pay their invoices
Talk to your boss about a promised promotion that is being delayed
Confronting a teammate who is not doing their share of the project
Talking to your siblings about your parent’s inheritance

Navigating through a crucial conversation is like defusing a bomb. Touch the wrong button or hit the wrong wire, and you create an explosion of emotions. The key is to have an honest and productive dialog to work out the situation.

These are unplanned conversations, and we tend to avoid them because we believe that we are going to make it worse. We tend to react negatively because we are humans, and human beings “behave their worst at the most critical moments.”

The “Story” #

Everybody walks into a crucial conversation with a story. Examples:

My mate doesn’t care about the project because they don’t come to the meetings
My boss doesn’t care about my career because they haven’t given me a promotion

If you approach a crucial conversation with a story in mind, there is no room for dialog, because your mind already made it up.

When… I… framework #

To create the space for a dialog, you need to start assuming you don’t know the whole story, and that you need the help of the person you are talking to. You can use: When... I... Example:

When [you don’t show up to team meetings], I [fear you don’t care about this project].

Invite them to share their own When...I..., so you can discover together what might be the issue, misunderstanding, or misalignment between you two.

The key is to avoid being passive/aggressive, but rather assertive, and honest with facts. This will help reduce the chance of being defensive and willing to help clarify the situation.

Common goal #

To avoid a confronting hit and get back to a productive dialog, you need to convince the person you’re talking to that you’re not their opponent or enemy, you are on the same side. To do this, you must communicate a common goal, value, or purpose.

I don’t want to fight. I just want to find a way for both of us to get [common goal/purpose].

I know we both care about [common value], let’s see if we can both get what we want.

Make a good-faith guess. The more you engage in productive dialog, the more chance you have to find agreements, and the more luckily you will work together to resolve the problem at the heart of a crucial conversation.

Keynote: Mastering The Art of Crucial Conversations #

Video Summary #

Unhealthy Working Environment

2023-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

An unhealthy working environment can have various symptoms that negatively impact employees’ physical and mental well-being.

While writing about The Peter Principle, I mentioned: “Talk to each other. If you feel you can’t, that’s a symptom of a non-healthy working environment, and that’s something more significant to deal with.” But what are those symptoms?

Symptoms #

From all possible symptoms, these are the ones that I would highlight: High stress, poor communication, lack of recognition, micromanagement, lack of work-life balance, unfair treatment, lack of growth opportunities, unhealthy conflicts among colleagues, lack of clear goals and expectations, high turnover rates, low morale and motivation, and constant physical or emotional tiredness.

Let’s go one by one.

High stress #

Excessive stress and pressure. This can be due to heavy workloads, unrealistic expectations, or a lack of support.

Poor communication #

Ineffective communication, whether it’s between colleagues, teams, or between management and employees, can lead to misunderstandings, frustration, and unhealthy conflicts.

Lack of recognition #

When employees feel that their efforts are not acknowledged or rewarded, it can lead to feelings of demotivation and reduced job satisfaction.

Micromanagement #

Overly controlling management styles can stifle creativity and autonomy, leading to frustration and decreased job satisfaction.

Lack of work-life balance #

A healthy work-life balance is essential for employee well-being. Long working hours, excessive overtime, or unrealistic expectations can lead to burnout and reduced productivity.

Unfair treatment #

Discrimination, favoritism, or unequal opportunities can create a toxic and divisive atmosphere among employees.

Lack of growth opportunities #

When employees feel that there is no room for advancement or professional growth, they may become disengaged and unfulfilled in their roles.

Unhealthy conflicts among colleagues #

Constant disagreements, conflicts, or a hostile atmosphere among colleagues can create a toxic working environment.

Lack of clear goals and expectations #

Employees need clear guidance on their roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations. Unclear or constantly changing goals can lead to confusion and frustration.

High turnover rates #

If there is a constant stream of employees leaving the company, it may be a sign that the working environment is not conducive to long-term employment.

Low morale and motivation #

When employees are consistently demotivated or have low morale, it can lead to decreased productivity and a negative atmosphere.

Constant physical or emotional tiredness #

Prolonged exposure to a non-healthy work environment can lead to physical and emotional exhaustion or even mental health issues.

It’s important to note that these symptoms can vary from one workplace to another. Addressing these issues promptly and effectively is crucial to create a healthy and productive environment.

What can you do about it? #

Yourself #

Embrace the change Who moved my cheese?
The process itself is the goal How to focus and have self-discipline
Have you always been like this? How to find a balance of growth and happiness

Your managers and leaders #

Great leadership Leadership starts within your own life and behaviour
Understanding people Misunderstandings, effective communication, and self-reflection

The Peter Principle

2023-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

A person who is competent at their job will get promoted to a position that requires other skills. If they lack the skills for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again.

If the person is competent in the new role, they will be promoted again and will continue to be promoted until reaching a level at which they are incompetent. Being incompetent, the individual will not qualify for promotion again, and so will remain stuck at this final placement or Peter’s plateau.

There are incentives at play. People work hard to reach a particular position or salary. Once they achieve that, some get lazy. Once people lose passion, they stop learning. They might fail to keep up with new developments, which might lead to poor work quality. To protect their comfort zone, they challenge any new idea or person that could make their life unconformable. Incompetent employees are often unhappy.

Have you experienced the Peter Principle? #

I’ve seen this several times during my 10-year career, working in different companies with people in various departments at different levels. It’s indeed more dangerous than it seems because it can kill the spirit of a healthy environment and company.

Creating awareness about this can help you to be cautious to avoid this from happening to yourself, or at least trigger warnings when you feel this might be happening to you.

What can you do about it? #

If you can recognize this situation within your company, I recommend helping to create awareness about it. Talk to each other. If you feel you can’t, that’s a symptom of an unhealthy working environment, and that’s something more significant to deal with.

If you are the one experiencing this in “first person,” I would recommend you:

Talk to your manager; ask for training, mentoring, or whatever you need to get the skills you lack, from confidence, communication, or anything that could help your new role. Maybe you didn’t get enough or proper training for the new job, which requires different skills.
Consider pivoting back where you were good and keep mastering that, helping and inspiring those next to you. Not everybody has to be promoted all the time.

The Day of the Triffids

2023-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

This book is fantastic and frightening but entirely plausible. It doesn’t seem scientifically possible, but its characters are living people shaken out of the civilization they know into the horror of a world dominated by “triffids”.

The triffids are grotesque and dangerous plants, over seven feet tall, originally cultivated for their yield of high-grade oil. So long as conditions give mastery to their human directors, they are a valuable asset to mankind. But when a sudden universal disaster turns those conditions upside down, the triffids, seizing their opportunity, become an active and dreadful menace.

Summary #

Summary based on the movie “The Day of the Triffids (2009)”

Fahrenheit 451

2023-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the books, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her “television family.”

But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

Summary #

Another great summary: https://youtu.be/_agaWPlVG8Q

Learned Helplessness

2023-06-08T00:00:00+00:00

Learned helplessness is the behavior exhibited by a subject after enduring repeated aversive stimuli beyond their control.

It was initially thought to be caused by the subject’s acceptance of their powerlessness by discontinuing attempts to escape or avoid the aversive stimulus.

Experiments #

A classroom with different assessments #

Charisse Nixon, Ph.D Developmental Psychologist at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and Director of Research and Evaluation for The Ophelia Project discusses the phenomenon of learned helplessness.

Original: Docking shocks and harnesses #

In 1967, the American psychologist Martin Seligman at the University of Pennsylvania researched docking shocks and harnesses.

In Part 1 of this study, three groups of dogs were placed in harnesses. Group 1 dogs were put in a harness for some time and released later. Groups 2 and 3 consisted of “yoked pairs.” Dogs in Group 2 were given electric shocks randomly, which the dog could end by pressing a lever. Each dog in Group 3 was paired with a Group 2 dog; whenever a Group 2 dog got a shock, its paired dog in Group 3 got a shock of the same intensity and duration, but its lever did not stop the shock. To a dog in Group 3, it seemed that the shock ended randomly because their paired dog in Group 2 was causing it to stop. Thus, for Group 3 dogs, the shock was “inescapable.”

In Part 2 of the experiment, the same three groups of dogs were tested in a shuttle-box apparatus (a chamber containing two rectangular compartments divided by a barrier a few inches high). The dogs could escape shocks on one side of the box by jumping over a low partition to the other. The dogs in Groups 1 and 2 quickly learned this task and escaped the shock. Most of the Group 3 dogs, which had previously “learned” that nothing they did affected the shocks, lay down passively and whined when shocked.

Even though this experiment was demonstrated with different types of animals, it also applies to people. This is visible in children when they integrate early failure to ask for help, frustration, giving up, poor motivation, and procrastination. And these points carry on as people age.

Because, if you “cannot do anything”, why would you even try it?

All this leads to anxiety and depression, and people think nothing can be done about their current situations and feelings.

Learned optimism #

The antidote to learned helplessness is learned optimism. These people are higher achievers, have better overall health, and have lower levels of depression.

How do you practice it? #

Permanence: bad events or failures are not permanent. So, you can recover faster than people stuck in these situations. However, good things or events happen for a good reason that you’ve worked on.
Pervasiveness: do not generalize failure. Failing in one area in your life should not affect other areas.
Personalization: bad events are external to blame, outside yourself, as you did all you could have done.

Isolate the problem and don’t extrapolate it to other areas. Stop generalizing failure.

English #

Español #

Momo

2022-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Momo is a fairytale that shows the fight between good and evil in our contemporary society, focusing on the lack of time to care for other people.

This book is about the concept of time and how it is used in modern societies.

Dare to lead

2022-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Leadership is not about titles, status, and power over people. Leaders are people who hold themselves accountable for recognising the potential in people and ideas and developing that potential. This book is for everyone ready to choose courage over comfort, make a difference, and lead.

Courage and vulnerability #

Leaders need to be more vulnerable #

The problem is that most people associate that vulnerability as a synonym for weakness, but that’s not true.

“Vulnerability is the universal human emotion we feel when we expose ourselves to others during times of risk or uncertainty.”

And this is what the core of leadership is about: the courage to act how we should despite fear, uncertainty, or danger in our way.

Values #

The modern workplace might feel like a “gladiator arena.” While it might not be a matter of a life-dead situation, it still requires bravery, and plenty of sweetness and tears, to the point that we can feel so overwhelmed that we are tempted to leave. So, according to Brené:

“One of the most significant sources of motivation for sticking it out is to be crystal clear about our core values.”

Values are the ideals that we have that bring purpose to what we do in our life. They guide us and give us something to hold on to during dark and difficult times. Strong values guide us to do what is correct rather than easy.

Honesty #

A great leader encourages potential in people and possesses the courage to guide this potential as it develops. One of the critical skills for doing this is courage and the ability to deliver honest and open feedback.

Unfortunately, many leaders are afraid to give tuff feedback and leave their employees in the dark. Yes, sometimes the truth hurts, but we often avoid difficult conversations because they make us uncomfortable.

“Great leaders must be brave and always dare to provide constructive feedback, speak the truth, and be clear about their expectations.”

In the long run, this is kinder and more productive.

Trust #

“Trust is an essential aspect of our working relationships.”

7 behaviours that encourage trust #

Expressed together with the acronym: BRAVING

Setting Boundaries - respect one another’s boundaries
Reliability - which means to follow-up words with actions
Accountability - being responsible and acknowledging mistakes
Vault - the ability to keep confidential information private
Integrity - choosing courage over comfort
Non-judgment - talk to one another without judgment
Generosity - assuming that people meet you with the best intentions

Failure #

The ability to fail and recover from it is an essential skill for any great leader. Fear of failure holds us back and stops us from achieving true greatness.

It is crucial to take off the armor of perfectionism and jump into the uncertainty of life. Only this way do we indeed gain the courage to succeed and lead.

Summary #

Understanding People

2022-08-22T00:00:00+00:00

One of the most complicated challenges for everyone is avoiding misunderstandings and being aware that other people don’t think the same way as you do.

Different perceptions #

People have different experiences and backgrounds, and we all have different perceptions of reality. This is the first thing we need to be aware of if we want to create self-awareness of our role in communication with others or empathy.

Very often, the real issue behind friction in a team is due to miscommunication. Sometimes no one knows how or why two or more team members don’t like each other anymore, but the conflict is obvious.

This can be a problem because it prevents the team from working as effectively as possible. Often, the reason for that friction is because of their inability to understand each other’s motivation and problems.

And this misfunction often leads to misunderstandings.

Misunderstandings #

Our understanding of a conversation might differ from what the other person perceives, which could (and often will) cause a problem. This can become a serious problem related to the relationship’s direction between both parties.

How to solve this? #

Avoiding misunderstandings is not always easy, but by improving your communication skills, you can get better at this step by step.

Empathy #

Empathy is the ability to understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. Essentially, it is putting yourself in someone else’s position.

Effective communication #

In most cases, the solution does not start by fixing the other person. Instead, it helps to work on making yourself more explicit. For example:

Work on clarifying the expectations around the common goal
- Create an open and honest conversation about your expectations
- Assumptions are dangerous
Provide as much context as needed
- Even if it seems evident to you at first instance
Every little detail counts
- More information is always better than less

While aiming for effective communication, we need to reduce the risk of misunderstandings to the minimum.

Self-reflection #

Healthy conflicts are expected and acceptable. We shouldn’t be afraid of disagreements. It’s ok to change our minds when discovering new possibilities; the sooner, the better.

In my experience, understanding people is complicated for multiple reasons, but most especially because of misunderstandings we generate due to missing context, more than disagreements.

If something doesn’t work as expected, start looking at yourself, not blaming others when dealing with people. What could you have said to create more clarity? What would you do differently?

Self-reflection is essential to improve and correct your attitude, adapting to the evolution of the constant change we are surrounded by, especially when dealing with people.

Look over your reach area, share your thoughts, and don’t be ashamed of your mistakes as far as you take them as learning opportunities.

Bikeshedding

2022-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

The term was coined as a metaphor to illuminate Parkinson’s Law of triviality. People within an organization typically give disproportionate weight to trivial issues.

Bikeshed +-ing #

The concept was first presented as a corollary of his broader “Parkinson’s law” spoof of management. “Bikeshedding” is a dramatized form of the “Law of triviality”.

C. Northcote Parkinson observed that a committee whose job is to approve plans for a nuclear power plant may spend the majority of its time on relatively unimportant but easy-to-grasp issues, such as what materials to use for the staff bikeshed while neglecting the design of the power plant itself, which is far more important but also far more difficult to criticize constructively. As he put it:

“The time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum of money involved.”

People within an organization typically give disproportionate weight to trivial issues #

This has been true in all companies where I’ve been working. From time to time, when you have important mixed with not-so-important topics together (or even not important at all!), it’s pretty common to see yourself “bikeshedding” with your peers about the trivial topics instead of confronting the important things that will bring real value soon to the end customer/consumer.

This is more common than we think, and it can happen to everyone.

What can we do about it? #

Create awareness about this problem with your team. Honest communication and trust are crucial for the solution.

Break down steps:

You need to be aware of this problem.
You see value in changing this team behavior.
You are able to point to the problem when you see it occurring.
You expect the same from your team members.

References #

Dunbar Number

2022-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

A cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships, in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person.

The study shows that:

Close relationship: 5 people.
Share deep trust: 15 people.
Meaningful relations: 50 people.
Active contacts: 150 people.

Why is this limit 150? #

This is due to the limit of our cognitive ability. This is our ability to reason, solve problems, and comprehend complex ideas. As the team size increases, the cognitive load of the team does it as well and communication suffers, thereby breaking down the benefit of a large team.

Origin #

In the 1990s, the British anthropologist Robin Dunbar found a correlation between primate brain size and average social group size. By using the average human brain size and extrapolating from the results of primates, he proposed that humans can comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships. Dunbar theorised that:

“this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this, in turn, limits group size […] the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained”.

The number also includes past colleagues, such as high school friends, with whom a person would want to reacquaint themselves if they met again.

Single teams: 5-9 people.
- There is a shared trust among the team members.
- The trust is built over time.
- Therefore, they must be a long term team.
Group: 50 people.
- They can have meaningful relationships.
- They share a domain or subdomain.
- They understand the challenges and help each other out.
Division: 150 people

References #

The Psychology of Money

2022-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Having more money will make you happier ONLY if that means you’ll have more control over your time.

“I did not intend to get rich. I just wanted to get independent.” Charlie Munger.

Money Misunderstandings #

Compounding #

Start investing with whatever you can afford, and stay invested.
Leverage the power of compounding.

Volatility #

It’s not possible to get high returns without volatility.
It’s the emotional price you need to pay if you want good annual returns.
Embrace volatility. Volatility is a fee, not a fine.

Tail investments #

It’s hard to predict what will be the “next big thing”, therefore it’s important to diversify.
A tail investment is single investment that massively outperform all others, and made up for several bad investments.
Make many diversified investments to benefit from a few tail investments.

Quotes #

“There is no reason to risk what you have and need for what you don’t have and don’t need.”

“Long tails (the farthest ends of a distribution of outcomes) have tremendous influence in finance, where a small number of events can account for the majority of outcomes.”

“The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want, is priceless. It is the highest dividend money pays.”

“Like everything else worthwhile, successful investing demands a price. But its currency is not dollars and cents. It’s volatility, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and regret, all of which are easy to overlook until you’re dealing with them in real time.”

“Few things matter more with money than understanding your own time horizon and not being persuaded by the actions and behaviors of people playing different games than you are.”

Video Summary #

The Power of Authority and Obedience

2022-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person, and how easily people could be influenced into committing atrocities. Eg: Germans in WWII.

The experiment #

During the 1960s, the psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments directly related to the power of authority and obedience, even when they might end-up in fatal ending.

Milgram examined justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the World War II, Nuremberg War Criminal trials. Their defence often was based on “obedience”, that they were just following orders from their superiors. Milgram came up with the experiment to answer this question:

Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?

The procedure #

The selected participants for his experiment were by newspaper advertising to take part in a study of learning at Yale University; 40 men were recruited, and in exchange for their participation, each person was paid $4.50.

The participant was paired with another person and they drew lots to find out who would be the “learner” and who would be the “teacher”. The draw was fixed, so that the participant was always the teacher, and the learner was one of Milgram’s confederate (pretending to be a real participant).

The learner was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arms, and the teacher and researcher went into a room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 300 volts (severe shock) to 450 volts (XXX).

The learner gave mainly wrong answers (on purpose), and for each of these, the teacher had to give him an electric shock. When the teacher refused to administer a shock, the researcher gave a series of orders to ensure they continued:

“Please continue.”
“The experiment requires that you continue.”
“It is absolutely essential that you continue.”
“You have no other choice; you must go on.”

Results #

65% of participants (teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All participants continued to 300 volts.

Milgram did more than just one experiment. He carried out 18 variations of this study. All he did was alter the situation to see how this affected obedience.

Conclusion #

The simple explanation would be that it was something about them as people that caused them to obey, but a more realistic explanation is that the situation they were in caused them to behave in the way that they did.

Some of the aspects of the situation that may have influenced their behaviour included the location, the behaviour of the researcher and the fact that it was an experiment for which they had volunteered and been paid.

People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognise their authority. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations, for example in the family, school, and work.

Milgrams’ agency theory #

Milgram explained the behaviour of the participants by suggesting that people have two states of behaviour when they are in a social situation:

The autonomous state: people direct their own actions, and they take responsibility for the results of those actions.
The agentic state: people allow others to direct their actions and then pass off the responsibility for the consequences to the person giving the orders. They act as agents for another person’s will.

Two things must be in place for a person to enter the agentic state:

The person giving the orders is perceived as legitimate for that.
The person being ordered believe that the authority will accept responsibility for what happens.

For example, when participants were reminded that they had responsibility for their own actions, almost none of them were prepared to obey. In contrast, many participants who refused to go on did so if the researcher said that he would take responsibility.

Milgram experiment variations #

Among many others, these are some of the variations:

Uniform #

When the role of the researcher was taken over by an “ordinary person without a uniform” (always a confederate), the obedience dropped to 20%.

Change of location #

Obedience dropped to 47.5% when the experiment was moved to a set of offices instead of the impressive Yale University.

Two other participants (confederates) were also teachers but refused to obey. One at 150 volts, and the other at 210 volts. The presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduces the level of obedience to 10%.

Absent experimenter condition #

When the researcher instructed and prompted the teacher by telephone from another room, obedience fell to 20.5%. Many participants cheated and missed out shocks or gave less voltage than ordered. The proximity of authority figure affects obedience.

The moral questions Milgram raised #

Why did so many of the participants in this experiment perform a seemingly sadistic act when instructed by an authority figure? According to Milgram, there are some situational factors that can explain such high levels of obedience:

The physical presence of an authority figure increased compliance.
The fact that Yale (a trusted academic institution) sponsored the study led many participants to believe that the experiment must be safe.
The selection of teacher and learner status seemed random.
Participants assumed that the researcher was a competent expert.
The shocks were said to be painful, not dangerous.

Milgram’s experiment has become a classic in psychology, demonstrating the dangers of obedience. The research suggested that situational variables have a stronger sway than personality factors in determining obedience.

Often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.

Stanley Milgram, 1974.

Resources #

Leaders Eat Last

2022-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

A company’s biggest strength doesn’t lie in its products or services. It always lies in its people, and in their ability to cooperate closely and rally behind the organization, especially during a crisis.

However, loyalty and commitment must be earned. Today, work has become a contractual, transactional relationship in many organizations. Intense competition and layoffs are the norm. Hardly anyone believes in loyalty to a company anymore, much less lifetime employment.

The 4 Chemicals (E.D.S.O.) #

Each of us is an individual and a part of social groups. We make daily decisions that require us to weigh our self-interests against group interests. This dilemma also happens in our bodies via 4 key chemicals:

Endorphins and dopamine drive us to satisfy our personal needs, e.g. to find food, develop solutions and persevere through problems. They help us to get things done, so we can survive.
Serotonin and oxytocin encourage us to work together with others. They build feelings of trust, loyalty and camaraderie, strengthen our social bonds and increase our inclination to cooperate with others to achieve what we can’t on our own.

Circles of Safety #

Traditionally, our family provides a Circle of Safety where we feel safe and supported. Inside the circle, we have a healthy balance of E.D.S.O. and low Cortisol levels. In organizations, Circles of Safety provide people with a sense of belonging and security. This facilitates communication, cooperation, problem-solving and innovation, allowing people to direct their attention to external threats and opportunities. In contrast, when people feel threatened by internal politics and infighting, they turn their attention inward to focus on self-preservation, making the group more vulnerable as a whole.

Leaders must earn others’ respect and loyalty by making the most sacrifices and being willing to eat last. They must give trust to earn trust.

A Society that’s Out of Balance #

Each of the 4 E.D.S.O. chemicals play important roles in our survival. When they’re in balance, people prosper the way they’re designed to, and their groups/organizations prosper too. Unfortunately, the modern workplace tends to be overflowed with Cortisol and dopamine addiction. We lack Circles of Safety and have become dangerously imbalanced. How did we get here?

Abstraction and Dehumanization: how management via numbers, global systems and virtual interactions can be dangerous and lead to careless acts.
Destructive Abundance: how humans respond to shortage vs excess, and why/how leaders have become so blinded by the commercial interest that they’ve forgotten who they’re supposed to serve.
Social Changes: how our societal norms and values have changed with the post-WWII Boomer Generation, followed by Gen-Xers and Gen-Ys, to become increasingly dopamine-addicted and imbalanced.

Simon Sinek offers many detailed examples and stories of leaders in all walks from the military to politics and businesses.

TED Talk: Why Leaders Eat Last #

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

2022-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

A fable in novella form about a seagull who is trying to learn about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection.

Plot #

The book tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with daily squabbles over food. Seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself and learns everything he can about flying. His increasing unwillingness to conform finally results in his expulsion from the flock. Now an outcast, he continues to learn, becoming increasingly pleased with his abilities while leading a peaceful and happy life.

One day Jonathan meets two gulls who take him to a “higher plane of existence” in which there is no heaven, but a better world found through perfection of knowledge. There he meets another seagull who loves to fly. He discovers that his sheer tenacity and desire to learn make him “pretty well a one-in-a-million bird.” In this new place, Jonathan befriends the wisest gull, Chiang, who takes him beyond his previous self-education, and teaches him how to move instantaneously to anywhere else in the universe. The secret, Chiang says, is to “begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”

But, unsatisfied with his new life, Jonathan returns to Earth to find others like himself to tell them what he’d learned and to spread his love for flight. His mission is successful, and Jonathan gathers around himself a flock of other gulls who have been outlawed for not conforming. The first of his students, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, ultimately becomes a teacher in his own right, and Jonathan leaves to teach other flocks.

This novella has been translated into over thirty languages.

Audiobook #

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

2021-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

This book is a leadership fable about a tech company that is struggling to get more customers. The C level is not working as a team, and they have a hard time coming to any agreements which result in negative morale. Until the new CEO, Catherine Petersen, joins the team, and she is able to recognize the problems and help the team overcome them by understanding the situation.

This is the first book I read from the author Patrick Lencioni, who is an American writer who writes books on business management. He is the founder and president of the Table group, a management consulting focused on organizational health.

Book summary #

Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech’s CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail?

Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team.

The 5 dysfunction model #

1) Absence of trust #

The fear of being vulnerable prevents team members from building trust with each other.

This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible.

2) Fear of conflict #

The desire to preserve artificial harmony stifles productive ideological conflict within the team.

Teams that are lacking on trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues, causing situations where team conflict can easily turn into veiled discussions and back channel comments. In a work setting where team members do not openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result.

3) Lack of commitment #

The lack of clarity and/or buy-in prevents team members from making decisions they stick to.

Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled.

4) Avoidance of accountability #

The need to avoid interpersonal discomfort prevents team members from holding each other accountable for their behaviors and performance.

When teams don’t commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team.

5) Inattention to results #

The pursuit of individual goals and personal status erodes the team’s focus on collective success.

Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren’t held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers.

Video Summary #

The Catcher in the Rye

2021-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

It was originally intended for adults but is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst, alienation, and as a critique on superficiality in society.

The novel is a deeper reflection of Salinger’s own youth, his complicated relationship with growing up and the generational trauma affected by World War II.

Undeniably autobiographical, Salinger drew on his personal experiences fighting in the war and his New York creating the character of Holden Caulfield.

The novel’s protagonist has become an icon for teenage rebellion. The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression.

From chapter 22:

“You don’t like anything that’s happening.” It made me even more depressed when she said that.

“Yes I do. Yes I do. Sure I do. Don’t say that. Why the hell do you say that?”

“Because you don’t. You don’t like any schools. You don’t like a million things. You don’t.”

“I do! That’s where you’re wrong, that’s exactly where you’re wrong! Why the hell do you have to say that?” I said. Boy, was she depressing me.

“Because you don’t,” she said. “Name one thing.”

“One thing? One thing I like?” I said. “Okay.”

The trouble was, I couldn’t concentrate too hot. Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate.

Summary #

Lord of the Flies

2021-07-10T00:00:00+00:00

Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse. It has established itself as a true classic.

The book focuses on a group of British boys stranded on an uninhabited island, and their disastrous attempt to govern themselves.

Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality.

The first chapters start slowly, but they are necessary to build up the context of the story, which scales pretty quickly later on.

Conformity Experiments

2021-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

To what extent do social forces alter people’s opinions? Which aspect of the group influence is most important: the size of the majority, or the unanimity of opinion?

The psychologist Solomon Asch #

During the early years of World War II, when Hitler was at the height of power, Solomon Asch began studying the impact of propaganda and indoctrination while he was a professor at Brooklyn College’s psychology department. He also was a professor for 19 years at Swarthmore College.

During the 1950s, Asch became famous for his series of experiments that demonstrated the effects of social pressure on conformity. How far would people go to conform to others in a group? Asch’s research demonstrated that participants were surprisingly likely to conform to a group, even when they personally believed that the group was incorrect.

Asch asked #

To what extent do social forces alter people’s opinions? Which aspect of the group influence is most important: the size of the majority, or the unanimity of opinion?

Asch believed that people behave according to how they perceive the world, not to how it actually is.

The Asch experiment #

Asch used an experiment to study conformity based on a “simple vision test”.

Using a line judgment task, Asch put a naive participant in a room with other confederates/stooges. The confederates had agreed in advance what their responses were going to be when presented with the line task. Giving intentionally the same wrong answer most of the time.

The real participant didn’t know this and was led to believe that the other people were also real participants like himself.

Each person in the room had to state aloud which comparison line (A, B, or C) was most like the target line. The answer was always obvious. The real participant sat at the end of the row and gave his answer last.

Asch was interested to see if the real participant would conform to the majority view. The confederates gave the wrong answer most of the time (known as critical trials).

Findings #

Nearly 75% of the participants in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least one time.

Asch also found that having one of the confederates give the correct answer while the rest of the confederates gave the incorrect answer dramatically lowered conformity, which means that having social support is an important tool in combating conformity.

After combining the trials, the results indicated that participants conformed to the incorrect group answer approximately one-third of the time.

Why people conform to a group they disagree with #

Why did the participants conform so easily? When they were interviewed after the experiment, most of them said that they did not really believe their conforming answers, but had gone along with the group for fear of being ridiculed.

A few of them said that they really did believe the group’s answers were correct.

Apparently, people conform for two main reasons: because they want to fit in with the group (normative influence) and because they believe the group is better informed than they are (informational influence).

Conformity can be influenced both by a need to fit in and a belief that other people are smarter or better informed.

Factors that influence conformity #

Asch went on to conduct further experiments in order to determine which factors influenced, and how and when people conform. He found that:

Conformity tends to increase when more people are present.
Conformity also increases when the task becomes more difficult.
Conformity increases when other members of the group are of a higher social status.
Conformity tends to decrease, however, when people are able to respond privately (i.e., when the group can’t know the naive participants’ answers).

Resources #

Solomon Asch | Wikipedia

Peopleware

2021-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Software development is about people: when, how and where they can best work together. Not about programming languages or tools. Not about fast computers, networks or internet access.

Soft skills are truly important in IT, more than people tend to think.

Developing software is about people that communicate with their customers and stakeholders, are supported by their managers and collaborate in teams.

Some of my favourite quotes from this book #

Staying late or arriving early is a damaging indictment of the office environment.
Someone who can help a project to take solid form and progress is worth two people who just do work.
People should be asking and wondering why things are getting done the way they are being done.
There must be always a trade between quality and quantity.
Organisations tend to expand and create a “busy day”, creating a lot of meetings rather than trust their employees to self-organize.
The human elements are usually the bottleneck of a project.
People won’t work harder if you put them under pressure. They might work more for some time, but they will also get overburden and leave.
Managers’ real role is to make it possible for people to work, rather than forcing them to.
Anything you need to quantify can be measured in any way that it’s superior to not measuring at all.
The ultimate management sin is wasting people’s time.
Change won’t even get started unless people feel safe.
Change only has a chance of succeeding if failure (at least a little of failure) is also okay.
Experience gets turned into learning when an organization alters itself to take account of what experience has shown.

Professionals want to develop themselves, and want to be happy at work. This book provides ideas in what managers and developers can do to address these and other similar topics. If you are concerned with people, and looking for ways to improve how you collaboratively develop and deliver software, then this book is for you.

The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts

We tend to use the word team fairly loosely in the business world, calling any group of people assigned to work together a “team.” But many of these groups just don’t seem like teams. They don’t have a common definition of success or any identifiable team spirit. Something is missing. What is missing is a phenomenon we call jell.

Concept of the Jelled Team

A jelled team is a group of people so strongly knit that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The production of such a team is greater than that of the same people working in unjelled form. Just as important, the enjoyment that people derive from their work is greater than what you’d expect given the nature of the work itself.

I found also a nice serie that shares some thoughts over each chapter of this book.

Embrace the Change

2021-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

The book Who moved my cheese? presents a tale inside the main story that consists of 4 characters: two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little persons, Hem and Haw.

Published in 1998, and I just read it at the beginning of 2021. Better late than never. Actually, thanks to my brother Jesús, who recommended it to me.

They live in a Maze (that represents one’s environment) and in order to survive they need to go out of their comfort zone and look for cheese (which represents happiness and success).

The tale starts when both groups end up at “Cheese Station C”, full of cheese. The humans established routines while the mice kept their instincts active.

One day the mice arrive at the “Cheese Station C” and find no cheese left. So they go out to find more cheese somewhere else. On the contrary, when Hem and Haw see that there is no cheese left, they start complaining. Hem, angry and annoyed, demands “Who moved my cheese?!”. Both humans counted on the cheese supply being endless and constant, so they weren’t prepared for the unexpected. The main difference here is how Haw and Hem react to this situation.

Hem denies moving away from the “Cheese Station C”, so he keeps going there every day expecting to find cheese without success, being weaker, and with continuous fear of doing something different. Haw, on the other hand, decides to laugh at the situation, turns down his fear, and goes out looking for more cheese.

… I will leave the rest of the tale to you.

The tale is a beautiful metaphor of the different attitudes that people adopt as part of their identity in life when they have to confront any change.

Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.

This book is full of lessons that apply to everyone no matter who they are or when they read it. I fully recommend it.

My favorite lessons of the book #

Change happens. They keep moving the cheese.
Anticipate change. Get ready for the cheese to move.
Monitor change. Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.
Adapt to change quickly. The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.
Change. Move with the cheese.
Enjoy change. Enjoy the taste of new cheese
Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again. They keep moving the cheese.

“Everyone knows that not all change is good or even necessary. But in a world that is constantly changing, it is to our advantage to learn how to adapt and enjoy something better. It is not what is in the story of “Who moved my cheese?” but how you interpret it and apply it to your own situation that gives it the value.“ - Ken Blanchard.

“Life moves on and so should we” - Spencer Johnson

Who moved my cheese?

2021-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

This book presents a tale inside the main story that consists of 4 characters: two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two little persons, Hem and Haw.

The tale is a beautiful metaphor of the different attitudes that people adopt as part of their identity in life when they have to confront any change.

My favorite lessons of the book #

Change happens. They keep moving the cheese.
Anticipate change. Get ready for the cheese to move.
Monitor change. Smell the cheese often so you know when it’s getting old.
Adapt to change quickly. The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.
Change. Move with the cheese.
Enjoy change. Enjoy the taste of new cheese
Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again. They keep moving the cheese.

“Everyone knows that not all change is good or even necessary. But in a world that is constantly changing, it is to our advantage to learn how to adapt and enjoy something better. It is not what is in the story of “Who moved my cheese?” but how you interpret it and apply it to your own situation that gives it the value.“ - Ken Blanchard.

I wrote a blog post about this book: Embrace the change

Animal Farm

2020-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And something new and unexpected emerges.

The Process Itself Is the Goal

2020-09-08T00:00:00+00:00

No goal should be an achievement on its own, but the process itself that helps us to go in the direction of these goals.

Goals, in business and in life in general, should be conceived as directions, where their real intention is to help us accomplish more in the way we planned or want.

If we get rewarded only for results and not for processes, we will become pretty miserable.

Society doesn’t reward the journey, but the results, and that’s exactly part of the problem when you are too focused on how society acts on you. Of course, it’s important to listen to society, but it’s more important to listen to ourselves in order to improve constantly. Continuous improvement doesn’t apply to software only but to everything in life.

How do I keep myself focused? #

This is a totally subjective topic that might be different from person to person. That said, I think it might be useful to share my thoughts with you, so I’ll do it.

Self-reflection #

I used to write my thoughts in a “diary” for some years. Back then, in 2015, when I moved to Germany, I didn’t know many people here, and the environment was completely new. I decided to write my thoughts to myself in order to read them the day after and do some retrospection about it. Finally, after around 3 years, in December 2017, I published a book named “Ojos en un recuerdo”. That book is the compilation of those thoughts. No story behind it. They are as they came. You can see the evolution of the topics and about what and how they were written.

The exercise of self-reflection itself was more important than the book! The goal here wasn’t writing a book at all. The goal was the self-projection to understand what was going on inside myself. Publishing those thoughts in a book was an accident. A beautiful accident, though. This habit of thinking about my actions and decisions (what do I do and why) helped me to develop who I am nowadays.

Sports #

Exercise helps my mind to disconnect from the tech area. It keeps my body active using some energy in a different environment. But most importantly, it helps to get fully tired before going to bed. I feel myself resting much better if I’ve done some sport during the day: contact sports, fitness studio, or simply running.

The specific sport itself is an irrelevant detail as far as you feel comfortable. The act of doing sport is the key here.

Books #

I try to read tech throughout the day and non-tech during the night. For example, some days before going to work or after working time I might read a tech book. And some days before going to sleep I like to read a non-tech one. This way, I feed my brain with knowledge and I also provide it with non-tech space, so it can rest from code and enjoy other “universes” as well. Some suggestions that helped me to understand how we behave, why we do what we do, and therefore build some habits that I didn’t know how to:

The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg.
Atomic Habits, by James Clear.
Scrum: Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, by Jeff Sutherland.

Personal tricks #

I wish I would have read much more. Nowadays, with the number of distractions that we have, keeping yourself focused is pretty hard. Some tricks that help me a lot when I want to focus:

I keep my personal phone always in silence and vibration mode.
I used to spend hours on social media; a lot of time wasted. Not anymore. I reduced the social media noise to the minimum by removing the apps that prevent me from being as productive as I want. Some of them from my phone, others the account itself.
I used to play video games. Not anymore. Instead, I go to GitHub to work on my pet projects, contribute to an open-source project, or simply read a book.
When I go for a run, I enjoy it twice by listening to a 45-min podcast that I want to listen to since the very morning. The reward of listening to the podcast is linked with the act of going out and running. I conscientiously created that habit.

It’s not about removing your old habits but replacing them with new ones.

How to improve your habits #

Habits emerge without our consent. To save energy, the brain creates a habit loop that looks for a trigger to cue a behavior.

Willpower can be learned. It needs exercise, like a muscle.
Small successes are the building blocks of bigger wins.
Focus less on goals and more on systems and processes.
To change habits, change how you identify yourself.
To build good habits, the environment is more important than being motivated.
To break a bad habit, reduce exposure to the cues that cause it.
Bundle an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
Don’t try to make a habit perfect, just repeat it.
Reduce friction for good habits and increase friction for bad habits.
Like in Scrum, removing waste is fundamental to get better.

Repetition is the key. Make it easier to do what you want to do. Make it harder to do what you want to stop doing. Enjoy the process: that’s the goal.

Interesting links #

Never split the difference

2020-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

From policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, to becoming the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator to teaching negotiation at leading universities, Chris Voss has tested the techniques in Never Split the Difference across the full spectrum of human endeavor and proved their effectiveness.

Takeaways #

Negotiation begins with listening, making it about the other people, validating their emotions, and creating enough trust and safety for a real conversation to begin.
Use mirrors to encourage the other side to empathize and bond with you, keep people talking, buy your side time to regroup, and encourage your counterparts to reveal their strategy.
Tactical empathy brings our attention to both the emotional obstacles and the potential pathways to getting an agreement done.
Giving someone’s emotion a name, otherwise known as labeling, gets you close to someone without asking about external factors you know nothing about.
“No” provides a great opportunity for you, and the other party to clarify what you really want by eliminating what you don’t want.

Summary video #

The metamorphosis

2020-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

The Metamorphosis (German: Die Verwandlung, also sometimes translated as The Transformation) is a novella by Franz Kafka, first published in 1915. It has been cited as one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed (metamorphosed) into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The cause of Samsa’s transformation is never revealed, and Kafka never did give an explanation. The rest of Kafka’s novella deals with Gregor’s attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repulsed by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

1984

2020-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

One of Britain’s most popular novels, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is set in a society terrorised by a totalitarian ideology propagated by The Party.

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster, the Thought Police uncover every act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening, and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party; they are drawn towards conspiracy. Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101. . .

Nineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwell’s terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime. The novel also coined many new words and phrases which regular appear in popular culture, such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘thoughtcrime’, ‘doublethink’ and ‘Newspeak’.

Atomic Habits

2019-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

People think that when you want to change your life, you need to think big. James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions. He calls them atomic habits.

Takeaways #

Focus more on systems and processes and less on goals
Change how you identify yourself
The environment is more important than being motivated
To break a bad habit, reduce exposure to the cues that cause it
Bundle an action you want to do with an action you need to do
Instead of saying “I have to,” say “I get to”
Don’t try to make a habit perfect, just repeat it
Reduce friction for good habits and increase friction for bad habits
To make something not seem like a chore, do it for short periods of time
To achieve long-term goals, make small habits rewarding
Never miss more than once of a habit

I wrote a blog post about this topic: The process itself is the goal

The Art of War

2018-08-10T00:00:00+00:00

The text is composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare. It is commonly thought of as a definitive work on military strategy and tactics.

It has been the most famous and influential of China’s Seven Military Classics, and “for the last two thousand years it remained the most important military treatise in Asia, where even the common people knew it by name.”

It has had an influence on Eastern and Western military thinking, business tactics, legal strategy and beyond.

Quotes #

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
If he is superior in strength, evade him.
Attack him where he is unprepared. Appear where you are not expected.
The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.
There is no instance of a country having benefitted from prolonged warfare.
Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
One may know how to conquer without being able to do it.
In war, the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won.
In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack: the direct and indirect.
An army may march great distances without distress if it marches through country where the enemy is not.
You can be sure in succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.
Military tactics are like water. For water, in its natural course, runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So, in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak.
Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move fall like a thunderbolt.
Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return.
It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.
The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming, but on our readiness to receive him.
Make your way by unexpected routes and attack unguarded spots.
If they will face death, there is nothing they will not achieve.
The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.
If it is to your advantage, make a forward move. If not, stay where you are.

The Power of Habit

2017-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

Takeaways #

All habits operate the same way
Changing a habit means changing one key aspect…
…and changing one habit can change a lot of things
Willpower is a muscle
Practice, practice, practice