There is an extreme form of peer pressure we are witnessing amongst young-adults & those entering the workforce. People pretending to be happy and successful on Social media just to try and keep up with their peers and people they don't even like when in fact they are in miserable relationships, hate their jobs. They should instead be focusing on spending time on meaningful things vs not. Life is hard every one is figuring it out. You are not alone.

What surprises me is, the way that people have so much time on their hands and hate seeing genuine people become successful. If you're bored read a book go outside touch some grass:). In earlier editions I wrote about jealousy & envy, perhaps a good starting position to explore.

Coming back to peer pressures. It is side stepping true progress in our young adult population. Folks are too busy impressing others, that they forget to impress it upon them selves that true progress is not material or the optics of it, but being content instead. The faster you are content, the happier your outcomes, the richer your life. Aim to be content vs social media happy.

Outcomes

This famous quote from Charlie Munger gets straight to the point regarding the behavior of individuals (and companies) and as vice chairman of the hugely successful US investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, he is certainly someone who understands how this links to long-term financial & personal gain.

Nowhere do incentives play a bigger role than in our every day life. As individuals, businesspeople and leaders, we’d like to think that our decision-making is wholly rational. Unfortunately, studies of how people make decisions – the hot topic of behavioral economics – show that this is often seen not to be the case.

For outcomes in business to be stellar, one has to realize “Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity"

A great way to learn this lessons: look at poorly-designed rules or incentives that have unintended consequences.

The best example from years gone by, when I was in the US was of dominos 30 mins delivery promise or its free.

The outcomes or un-intended consequence of the incentive to the customer was that delivery drivers often sped to make the deadline and caused a number of accidents.

One such crash victim sued Domino's and was awarded $79m. The incentive was no longer aligned to the outcome. Dominos ended the promotion.

One New Thing (That I didn't know)

I recently read an article that stated "There are three sides to every story: your side, my side and the truth. And no one is lying." The topic was, the iceberg of ignorance.

Many will be familiar with the concept of the “iceberg of ignorance” but I wasn't. It was popularized in 1989 by a consultant named Sidney Yoshida. Yoshida conducted a study that concluded that top management was only aware of 4% of the problems in a company… only the tip of the iceberg.

It was a popular concept that fueled things like suggestion boxes, quality circles, and other forms of engagement in continuous improvement programs.

Here is what Sidney recognized:

• Only 4% of problems are known to top managers. That means 96% of a company’s problems are not even on the radar of top management

• 9% of problems are known to middle management

• 74% of problems are known to supervisors

• 100% of problems are known to front-line employees

What this made me realize that whilst the study was done years ago, it's reflective of where we stand as a race and how we solve problems and how true it holds even today. The view at the top is lonely, so instead of blaming people at the top, we need to figure out a way to get better at communication to enhance our outcomes. Be it at work, in life or any thing else any thing that has more than a few players; can fall prey to this, thus effective leadership is to recognize it and get ahead of it at all levels.

Boring stuff that Scales

You may laugh, but if you are not into deep learning via books and consume content via podcasts or other audio visual means, you are in luck. There are only so many hours in a day and if you like 5 pods that are an hour long and want to consume them in a week, you need 5 hours minimum. Perhaps not. I moved to listening to most podcasts at 1.5/1.7x speed and adjust downward, as needed if Im deeply inclined to not miss some thing subtle. This has scaled for me, I find it more efficient. Since most people listen to 5-6 podcasts, how does one enhance their outcomes to consume more of what they like but cant make time for? Speed it up, vs compressing other things to make time. Try it. Your time, your rules, make them scale.

What you should be reading

How to waste your career, one comfortable year at a time

This is one of the best things Ive read (linked above) as the year comes to a close. If you are ambitious about your career and want to achieve specific goals, you can't get there by random accident. You need to be deliberate and keep your objectives in mind every step of the way. This article is profound and is guaranteed to change your thought process and hopefully your outcomes for the better.

Monetize your time

By thinking & training your self like a pilot, I read an article that I will try to summarize in the context of time monetization. One great example is the first crash scene in Blackhawk Down. In the scene below, Super 61 takes an RPG to the tail rotor and spins out of control all the way to the crash site.

As you can see from the clip, those pilots had a lot going on. The environment, the hostiles, the conditions, the emergency, the procedures, the sirens, the actions of others on board.

Here are a few additional inputs those pilots had to manage during that fateful flight:

1. wind direction

2. fuel flow

3. gross weight

4. engine RPM

5. engine oil pressure

6. transmission oil pressure

7. Rotor RPM

8. speed

9. altitude

10. 3-4 different radio frequencies as well as internal comms

11. current descent or ascent

12. engine torque

13. vertical obstacles

14. time and distance to the next point on the route

15. time to touch down

16. distance from other aircraft in formation

TL;DR

That's how we handle tough situations; We prepare for them. If you are prepared your outcomes get better. Granted not every one can train like a pilot but clearly there is reason to have similar level of clarity.

When it comes down to it, most decisions say, an Army pilot makes are made before ever starting an engine. Good preparation is what makes a good flight, as well as not taking on too much at one time. Pilots must know their limits as must you. For great items, prepare well and play within your limits or test them to enhance them before you plan to monetize them in real life. You can't predict it all but you can surely be prepared to cash in or not.

Made in Pakistan (pure talent)

One Last thing

Every successful endeavor begins with the power of your commitment… And ends with you getting your goals across the finish line. Remember, you can't finish what you don't start, and you should never start what you're not committed to finish. Always Finish Strong!

Write this down:

Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.