Impose constraints - and you can do much more

Just yesterday I told a friend of mine,
I go through nasty writer's blocks sometimes.
And he told me imposing strange constraints
might make me more productive right away.

And so I thought about it long and hard,
and realized just how much true it feels.
For strange constraints remove the overwhelm
that you might feel when there is too much choice.


We also talked with the friend about how Shakespeare wrote all his plays in iambic pentameter (ten syllables per line, short-long-short-long etc.). We thought maybe this strange limit made his writing more brilliant than it would be otherwise. So we figured I might try it too :) (even the post title is in iambic pentameter)

Sometimes in life you're faced with too much choice, and your decision-making just grinds to a halt. When that happens, you have two solutions:

1. Just pick one option and stick with it (a.k.a. The 70% Solution)
2. Impose artificial constraints

Let's pick a trivial example. You're at a huge supermarket and you're choosing a yogurt. There's like a hundred kinds available, and you just can't pick one. You could just grab the first one you kind of like, and be done with it. Or you might say to yourself: "Alright, I'll only choose a yogurt that has red and blue and green colors on its lid."

The advantage of the 70% solution is that it's very fast and efficient. As long as you don't start doubting your choice, it's the best solution.

Imposing ridiculous constraints, on the other hand, makes the process fun! And that's definitely a great thing too.

The constraints work because they focus and direct your efforts. It's like taking a magnifying glass and using it to concentrate sunlight at a small spot.

If you get stuck and can't decide, it's often because your focus is scattered all over the place. Just take the magnifying glass of ridiculous constraints, and focus your efforts. And just like a child who first uses a magnifying glass to focus sunlight, you might well be surprised by the powerful effects.

So now just choose a part of your big life,
in which you plainly can't decide or choose.
Impose for yourself crazy-ass constraints,
and see the useful things that you'll produce.

Taking a Smoking Break... For Non-Smokers

I recently read a study about mice. During experiments, every so often, mice simply stop in one place and lick their paws for a while. The researchers had no idea why this was, until one creative gee-whiz thought of using brain scans on those mice.

He discovered a surprising thing. There was some serious activity going on in the mouse's brain. In fact, it was replaying backwards its recent activities, reinforcing the neural pathways.

In other words, it was learning.

Humans taking breaks

Humans experience the exact same phenomenon. No, we don't lick our hands every few minutes. I'm talking about the "taking-break-to-learn" part. Ever tried doing mental work for two hours without a break? It's not easy. It's not hard either. It's flat out impossible. It's like trying to go without sleep for two weeks, or like holding your breath for half an hour. Your body just won't let you do it.

Your body will force a break, no matter how hard you resist.

The break is needed to process and sort information. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't recognize this natural break, and instead try to force themselves harder. They try to overcome the natural mechanism, and end up being tired and unproductive.

Often it's others who force us to work hard without breaks. Especially at school or in the workplace. But there's one group of people that has managed to escape this pressure.

Smokers.

Smokers get to take a break every 90 minutes or so. Incidentally, that's about as often as your body requires a long, 20-minute break. You also need shorter, 2-3 minute breaks every 15 minutes, but you can sneak those in almost anywhere. Plus, those shorter breaks are good to have, but not essential - you can voluntarily skip them.

Taking a smoking break

I'm a non-smoker. I don't recommend you start smoking just to be able to take smoking breaks. (Though you might try pretending. Maybe go take a break with other smokers, stick a cigarette in your mouth, but don't light it? Anyone tried that?).

But I do recommend you take regular smoking breaks, every 90 minutes or so. There are several clear benefits of taking a smoking break:

1. You will be more relaxed

2. Your concentration will improve

3. You will accomplish more

Just recognize your body's natural need, and go with it. The benefits are worth it.

Shorter smoking breaks

During brain-intensive work, you need more than the long 20-minute breaks. You also need short smoking breaks of 2-3 minutes as well. A classic example is learning.

When you're learning something new, take a 2-3 minute break every 15 minutes. You won't believe the difference it makes.

When I first heard about this, I talked to a friend, a brilliant Othello player (Othello's similar to chess). He told me: "Well that's interesting. After every practice game, I just sit around for a few minutes and chat before starting the next game." A clear example of a smoking break improving learning.

You too can leverage this to learn much faster and better. In fact, I've got a post on that topic coming up. Stay tuned.

So remember, next time you're just sitting there with your eyes closed (without a cigarette nearby), taking your 20 minutes of rest, and someone asks why you're slacking off, tell them the truth. "I'm taking a smoking break. You should too. Join us. Don't be afraid. It's good for you." (Try adding wide open eyes and a big grin. They won't disturb you again anytime soon.)

The 70% Solution

Last week, I shared with you The Greatest Life Lesson I Learned From Playing Poker: Make the best decision in the moment, and then move on. No regrets if it turns out wrong - it's just a learning opportunity.

Today, I'd like to take it a bit further.

Since you're reading this blog, chances are you are a left-brained intellectual kind of guy, like me. We like to have things figured out before taking action. Sometimes even too much.

Long time ago, there was a rabbit, a turtle, and a left-brained intellectual guy. The rabbit is like "Hey, guys, I can beat you in a race." The turtle is like "Alright! Come on, I can take you any day!" And the intellectual guy is like "Uh I'm not sure..." So the rabbit goes "It's on!" and starts running. And you know how it goes. The rabbit runs to the finish line, then falls asleep before it, the turtle walks by and wins. Meanwhile, the intellectual guy is sitting at the start going "Oh I'm not sure this is a good idea, should I run? I mean, the rabbit will beat me anyway, but then the turtle is also racing, maybe something will happen to the rabbit, but I don't want to look like a fool if nothing does, oh I'm not sure I should run..."

We intellectual guys like to be really certain about making the right decision. So we delay the decision, and delay it again. We procrastinate, wanting to be 95% sure instead of 90% sure. Meanwhile, others are taking action, and achieving plenty of success, while we sit around gathering more information. We can't even outrun a bloody turtle!

We need to take action! Of course, we need to gather information and prepare beforehand. But how much information is enough?

The best way of summing it up comes from a newsletter by Dr. Paul:

I was talking with a friend who had been in the Marines.

We were talking about how it can be so difficult to get a guy to make the right decision in his life. I know so many guys who agonize and agonize over the major ones when its time to get exclusive with a woman or even marry her, when its time to cut your losses and move on with a career thats just plain bad for you and doesnt treat you right, or what to do with money in building your life.

He said, Um, that doesnt happen to a Marine, because we have the 70% Solution.

Needless to say, my curiosity was peaked.

He went on to tell me that when there is a military operation going down, if the guys on the ground are faced with a difficult decision and wait around for a 100% CERTAINTY of a decision being the right one, they might be waiting FOREVER.

And that is DEADLY when lives are at stake.

He said that the general rule is that if a soldier is 70% or more certain of the situation, he needs to go ahead and MAKE THE DECISION based on that percent amount, and commit to the action he sees as best at the time.

This saves lives and works out the best. When mistakes are made some of the time (and most often they are not, or are minimal), the bad results can be reviewed and improved on next time.

By the way, if you're a guy, I really encourage you to click that link above and sign up for Dr, Paul's newsletter. It's great stuff.

A marine can be 70% certain about making the right decision because he has excellent military intelligence working for him. He has satellites, radars and scouts. You have an equivalent - books, blogs, and experienced friends.

So here's how you use the 70% solution:

1. Gather relevant information

This means reading up on the topic, or asking more experienced people for help deciding.

2. Once you're about 70% certain, decide on the next action

The next action needs to be a clear physical step to take. Bad example: "create a new product line" - not a clear physical step. Instead: "Call Jane to set up a meeting to brainstorm new product line ideas" - the phone call is the next physical action.

And finally...

3. Take action!

The Greatest Life Lesson I Learned From Playing Poker

Photo courtesy of liasterkenburg

It was a game of Texas Hold 'em. I was holding a pair of kings. After a fairly uneventful beginning, the flop came. An ace, a king and a queen (not matching colors). I just made trips. I bet, and got raised by one other player. All others had already folded by that point. We raised to the max (4 raises). The next card out was a 7. The one after was a queen. I just made a full house. Me and the other player both bet as much as we could. Then we both showed our cards.

He was holding a pair of aces. I lost.

And you know what? If the next hand I held the same cards, and the same cards came on the table, I would have bet again. And if the hundred next hands looked the same, I would have bet. (okay, if it really happened a hundred times in a row, I would have become suspicious. But you get the point)

Because in poker, you never know what your opponents are holding. You only know your own cards, the cards on the table, and the betting.

You simply have to decide on the best play in a given situation. If the odds are 60-40 in your favor, bet. If your opponent gets lucky, that happens. No need to worry. Your decision to bet was still correct.

So here's the Greatest Life Lesson I learned from playing poker:

In the moment, make the best decision based on your available information. Then forget about it and move on.

Just make the best decision in the moment. Then you have nothing to regret. If it turns out you made a mistake, just treat it as a learning opportunity.

It's the difference between saying:

1. "I shouldn't have done that."


2. "Next time I will do it differently."

Read those two sentences again, and really understand the different mindset. It's the key to living at peace with your past.

Let's say you decide to cook yourself chicken wings with peanut butter. It seems like a good idea at the time. Then you find out it tastes like crap. No regrets, it seemed like a good idea. So you throw away the food.

Again, no regrets. In the moment, the choice was between eating crappy food or throwing it out. You made the right choice.

And finally, extract the lesson from it. As in "Damn, that was disgusting! I'll never make chicken wings with peanut butter again."

Why I don't play poker anymore

I have a friend who earns his living playing poker. He spends two hours each night playing online poker.

In other words, a 14-hour work week.

When I first heard about it, of course I wanted to be like him. Who wouldn't want to earn a good living in just 14 hours weekly.

But I later realized I don't feel good earning my living like that. Mostly because it's win/lose. In order for me to win, somebody else has to lose.

I have since changed my attitude to earning money. I now focus on one key principle:

Provide value to others.

There's no way you will be poor if you consistently provide value to others. It doesn't matter if you don't immediately see a way to make money from it (like my blog). It will eventually come back to you. Call it karma if you wish.

That being said, I don't regret having played poker. Because at the time, it seemed to be the right decision.

So remember, make the best decision in the moment, and then move on.

Best of March

Another great month is behind us. Below is a collection of articles I found most helpful during that time.

My own articles

The REAL reason we use Linux - this article got quite a bit of publicity. A lot of people liked what I said, as in "omigod that's soooo true!". One friend even told me he's going to try Linux, because this idea of a "fun operating system" convinced him.

Read Minds and Lift Your Mood - Body Language Basics - simple, clear advice on how to improve your body language.

Other bloggers' articles


Debugging your conversational skills - an article by Scott H. Young on how to improve your conversations. It caught my interest because I've been trying to do the same myself for some weeks now.

4 Powerful Reasons to Up Your Enthusiasm and How to Do it - A post from the Positivity Blog. The title pretty much speaks for itself.

How to Write Conversationally - great tips for bloggers from Leo Babauta.

Cheers. And get ready for saturday, I've got a real killer article coming up!