Quantum thinking and the cat
Welcome to our newsletter, playfully known as The Schrodinger’s Cat. For anyone feeling stuck or unsure about how to make that life, career, or relationship change you’ve been dreaming about, this newsletter is for you. Make sure to click the handy “Subscribe” link to get a mix of personal stories, interviews with experts, and practical coaching tips delivered straight to your inbox.
So, first things first: why the Schrodinger’s cat reference? Let’s start with a quick overview about the physicist and the mental experiment we’re referring to. We promise this post will be the most theoretical of the bunch, so bear with us.
In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, of quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat may be considered simultaneously both alive and dead, while it is unobserved in a closed box, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. This thought experiment was devised by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 in a discussion with Albert Einstein to illustrate what Schrödinger saw as the problems of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Now, WTF does this all have to do with our newsletter? While we are not going to talk about quantum mechanics, quantum superposition as it relates to physics, or more cat experiments (much to co-author Sarah Karp’s cat’s relief), we will explore a bit of quantum thinking — the idea that one can hold multiple opposing thoughts at once and put the appropriate thought into action at the optimal time. Specifically, we’ll explore how this idea can help people go after those future goals without burning out or getting blocked by things like imposter syndrome, limiting beliefs or internal critic.
Let’s dig into this a bit more.
As a human, you have the ability to imagine your desired future. At any given time, according to quantum theory thinkers, there are two versions of you: one where you are now and another where you want to be. They both exist. By understanding both of these states at the same time, you can create a path from the now to the future you want.
Here’s an example about how this thinking has helped us. A couple of years ago when Irina Povolotckaia was a market researcher at an agency working with big tech companies on user-centric projects, she thought that it would be cool to one day become a Product Manager. Think about it like having a PM job being one version of the Schrodinger’s cat story and not having a PM job being the other. Irina had no PM experience or related educational background but having that as her point A didn’t prevent her from imagining her desired point B. Instead, it helped her form a plan. Irina beefed up her UX skills, got a job with one of the biggest tech companies, navigated some tumultuous changes and eventually landed a job as a PM in a biotech startup. Was the journey as straightforward as she had hoped? Nope. Was it easy? Definitely not. Was it worth it? F*ck yeah.
Our point with all of this quantum thinking and cat analogies is that the cheesy “if you can envision it, you can achieve it” can work in the right contexts. You just have to:
a) be open to an idea or possible future
b) commit to the behaviors and practices that will get you there
We know there is a lot of information and advice out there. So that’s why this newsletter aims to provide you with just enough. Enough of a story to inspire your next move, enough advice to help you get unstuck, and enough interviews to open your mind up to a whole new set of future opportunities.
Thanks for reading along. We can’t wait to go on this journey with you all.
