Weekly Reading #1: Smarter Faster Better

The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

This week, I picked up “Smarter Faster Better” by Charles Duhigg. Having read “The Power of Habits” by Mr. Duhigg, not once but twice, I have high expectation on his new book. I was not disappointed.

The book itself is a nice blend between anecdotes and scientific facts. The information is abundant, but not overwhelming. Mr. Duhigg tells stories ranging from business people to Google’s employee to professional poker players to school teacher. Although I mostly skimmed through the anecdotes, I can tell each of them intriguing, insightful and helpful in driving home the main point of the chapter.

I find this book an easy and enjoyable read. The User Guide at the end is the real icing on the cake. Mr. Duhigg showed you how he applied the principles in the making of this book, from finding the motivation, to setting SMART goals, to maintain focus. This part is my real MVP. If you read this book, make sure this is your starting point.

I think this book will be a good read for everyone who wants to understand the science of productivity. It’s a practical book and it won’t let you down.

What I learned

MOTIVATION

1. Motivation is triggers by making choices that demonstrate to others that we are in control. It’s the feeling of self-determination that get us going.
2. We find motivation in doing something that gives meaning to our lives. Self-motivation is a choice we make because it is part of something bigger and more emotionally regarding than the immediate task that needs doing. Always ask why to find the meanings.
3. [Concept] Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them. Individuals with a strong internal locus of control believe events in their life derive primarily from their own actions. [Wiki]

TEAMS

1. Manage the how, not the who. There is strong evidence that group norms play a critical role in shaping the emotional experience of the team. (Do team members feel safe vs. threatened, enervated vs. excited, etc.)
2. Psychological safety emerge when people feel equal and care about the sensitivity of others feelings.
3. Good teams had succeeded not because of innate qualities of team members but because of how they treated one another.
4. As a leader, pay attention to the message your choices reveal.
5. Google: What matter is having a voice and social sensitivity [within a team]
   - Team need to believe that their work is important
   - Teams need to feel their work is personally meaningful
   - Teams need clear goals and defined roles
   - Team member need to m ke they can depend on one another
   - Team need psychological safety.
   (Note from Ryan: Google once said the best trait of a leader is “predictability”)

FOCUS — How to focus and block out distractions?

1. Envision what will happen.(what will occur first? Potential obstacle? How to preempt them?) Tell a short story about what you expect to occur make it easier to decide where your focus should go when your plan encounter real life.
2. People who are good at managing their attention tend to share certain characteristics. One is a ability to create pics in their minds of what they expect to see. In short, they are good at creating “mental models”.
3. Superstar workers like seek new projects where they can learn new skills. They like to theorize a lot about possibilities. Being cc’ed on emails that are information-rich increase opportunities for learning.
4. To improve at creating mental model: Learn to cultivate a habit of imagining as specific as possible.
5. [Concept] Cognitive tunneling: when the brain is forced to focus on one thing (usually unexpected) and not on the present environment. In this stage, we become unintentionally blind to the environment. This applies to distractions around us.
6. [Story] Quantas Flight 32: the pilots who were focus and had strong mental model to made history to land the most damaged plane ever.

GOAL SETTING — Setting ambitious goals and meet them

1. We as humans have an instinct for decisiveness. Sometimes, we make a decision just to make sure that we get something done, even we know that the decision is bad.
2. [Concept] The need for cognitive closure: a desire for an answer in order to end further information processing and judgment, even if that answer is not the correct or best answer
3. General Electrics, under Jack Welch, thrived because they used SMART goals model.
4. Some people may set small goals to achieve SMART goal. We need to make sure the goal is grand enough before setting the blueprint.
5. GE’s Work-Out model
6. Stretch goal is an ambition that reflects your biggest aspiration.
7. Stretch goal, as defined by Jack Welch: “the concept they would have provided smirks, if not laughter, in the GE of three or four years ago, because it essentially means using dreams to set business targets — with no real idea of how to get there. If you do know how to get there- it’s not a stretch goal”.
8. Stretch goal can also cause panic because people think it’s not achievable.
9. Stretch goal can spark remarkable innovation, but only when people have a system for breaking them into concert plans.

MANAGING OTHERS

1. Employees work smarter and better when they believe they have more decision making authority and when they believe their colleagues are committed to their success
2. By pushing decision making to whoever is closet to the problem, managers take advantage of everyone’s expertise and unlock innovation
3. A sense of control can fuel motivation, but for that to produce insights and solutions people needs to know their suggestions won’t be ignored and that their mistakes won’t be held against them.
4. Five models of firms (Organizational Blueprints for Success in High-Tech Start-Ups)
   • Star: “We recruit only top talent, pay them top wages, and give them the resources and autonomy they need to do their job.”
   • Commitment: “I wanted to build the kind of company where people would only leave when they retire.”
   • Bureaucracy: “We make sure things are documented, have job descriptions for people, project descriptions, and pretty rigorous project management techniques.”
   • Engineering: “We were very committed. It was a skunk-works mentality and the binding energy was very high.”
   • Autocracy: “You work, you get paid.”
   Consistent winner were commitment culture.
5. Story of the CEO of Toyota-GM partnership saw a worker at a Fremont factory struggling to complete his task. He asked the worker to pull the andon cords and stop the entire production. The CEO said the the future of the company depends on the workers. He apologized the worker for not helping him doing the job better. This story illustrates the power of putting trust in employees.
6. “But for those instincts to be unlocked, management has to empowered them. There has to be a system in place that makes you trust that you can choose the solution do you think the best that your bosses are committed to supporting you if you take the chance that might not pay off.”

DECISION MAKING — On making better choices

1. Envision multiple futures. By putting yourself to imagine various possibilities, your better equipped to make wise choices.
2. We can hone our Bayesian instinct by seeking out different experiences, perspectives, and other people’s ideas. By finding information and and letting ourselves sit with it, options become clearer.
3. Anyone can learn to make better decisions. We can train ourselves to make small predictions everyday. With practice, we can leave how to influence the probability that our prediction comes true.

INNOVATION

1. Innovation often emerges by combining old with new ideas. Creativity as a middleman between existing ideas.
2. Be sensitive to your own experience. Pay attention to the things make you think and feel.
3. Anxiety can be what pushes us to see old ideas in new ways.
4. Relief accompanying a creative breakthrough, although sweet, often blind us from seeing the alternatives. Keep a clear mind and eyes.

ABSORBING DATA

1. Every time we have a new data, do something with it. Write, note, make a chance. Try to use it so we learn from it.
2. If you want to increase productivity with data, create a system that information gets absorbed almost without us noticing because we’re so engrossed with it. Example: making decision based on last report every time
3. One of the best way to help people cast experience in a new light is to provide a formal decision making system.

About Weekly Reading

Weekly Reading is a personal project to expand my knowledge by exposing myself to new ideas. Every Saturday, I lock myself in the neighborhood Barnes & Nobles and consume a book in one reading. Then, I share my note with the world.

If you find this post helpful. Please recommend it and share it with your friends. Feel free to leave me a note anytime.