Boundless #22: First week in Taipei | Is "total work" taking over our lives? | Free consulting templates
Thank you to new Patron Greg! - you rock!
#1 | On Solitude In Taipei & Learning New Things
In most domains, there are fundamental principles or a mindset shift needed to open the door to deeper learning. For example, in swimming, your bodies natural urge while your head is underwater is to hold your breath. Once you learn to exhale while underwater, you have the figurative and literal energy to go deeper. You can find these in many domains. For example, in consulting, becoming competent in a structured problem-solving approach, the pyramid principle and MECE could enable you to walk into most strategy consulting firms and at least know what is going on.
In my first week-plus of living in Taipei, I’ve started learning Chinese, photography and photo editing. I’ve discovered multiple foundational principles that have made me hungry to learn more. For example in photography, once you shoot in RAW format, you are able to have much more control over the editing of your photos (not to mention more wiggle room for taking bad photos!) and once you learn some basic characters in Chinese, you can start identifying more complicated characters.
However, this got me thinking about why most of us often go through our days telling our friends that we care about learning while staying completely oblivious to some of these simple ideas that may open the door to deeper learning. I was also curious where the energy to learn these new things came from and why I was suddenly inspired to tackle multiple domains at once.
I think part of it has to do with solitude.
One of my favorite essays is one by William Deresiewicz titled "Solitude and Leadership." In it, he talks about solitude as the key to leadership and a missing ingredient in our busy, modern world. He believes solitude can be found in extended reading, contemplation or even periods of sustained work (such as writing). In this way, solitude is about an inward-focused reflection, as opposed to the bitterness involved with loneliness.
In Taipei, I am (for now) unable to communicate in the local language. Unlike European countries I have been to, I cannot even read the characters. This has forced me inward and has made me highly aware of my thoughts and emotions. I've grappled with moments of shame and embarrassment, but also with hunger and curiosity to learn. While it would be easy to close up, there does not seem to be any other option right now than going deeper.
Edgar Schein has talked about this as "learning anxiety" in the context of organizational learning. He identifies two types of learning. The first is the fear or anxiety of not looking competent. This shows up in organizations as micromanagement and perfectionism and serves as a barrier to learning new things. Why try if you will be shamed for any mistakes?
The second, which he urges organizations to embrace is what I would describe as "if I don't keep learning, I will look foolish." Learning FOMO if you will
While I was practicing Chinese in Boston, I did not have any "anxiety" to learn. In Taipei, since I often am finding myself without anyone to talk with, I am having to contemplate my emotions while also being spurred to action by a yearning to connect with others (and to order the amazing local food, of course).
In his essay, Deresiewicz expands his definition of solitude to include the deep conversations typical of a great friendship:
"Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation. Long, uninterrupted talk with one other person."
Perhaps this is the core of what drives us to learn. Being able to have the types of experiences that matter to us and connecting with the people that share the same inner drives as us.
But the challenge is that to move towards these types of conversations or experience, you need to spend time in solitude instead of with other people, you need to stay silent instead of telling everyone your plans, you need to get out of your comfort zone instead of chasing more security. Reflecting on a walk, reading a book or even meditating by yourself in the morning.
There is a thin line between solitude and isolation. It is in dancing with this vulnerability, uncertainty, and chaos in the middle that we often find a new route forward and some clues to find those people to have those deeper conversations. I'm not sure where I'm headed with all this learning, it just feels like I'm headed towards the types of conversations and friendships that matter.
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#2 |BoundlessPod - Andrew Taggart
Andrew Taggart, Practical Philosopher, on the “good life” and how “total work” has taken over our lives
Andrew is a Practical Philosopher who believes that “there may be no greater vexation in our time than the question of how to make a living in a manner that accords with leading a good life.” We dive deep into the questions of “what is the good life?” and what he means by “sustaining life.” He also shares his perspective on the concept of “Total Work,” a phrase first put forth in 1947 by the German Philosopher Josef Pieper and shares how that phrase became central to his current writing on the topic and conversations he has with business leaders and executives.
Web • Itunes • Stitcher • Spotify • Google Play • Overcast • Player FM
#3 Reads - Q3 Book Club
As a way to stay connected with people and to engage in discussions, I'm excited by, I'm launching a quarterly book club (join the VIP facebook group to stay updated).
The book this quarter will be "Bullshit Jobs" which is a book I've highlighted in a few other places. This book blew me away. Graeber's core thesis is that we have continued to squeeze productive labor, undermined the "value" of caring labor and have created all sorts of information jobs just for the sake of having jobs (due to political and cultural reasons). Here is a link to buy the book (affiliate)
Attend: September 30th 8:30 PM EST
#4 |TOOLS - Fear Setting, Career Transition Playbook & Consulting Templates
I've gone a bit nuts in the past week trying to update and improve some of the tools and exercises I've created for people. I've also started offering these through a service called Gumroad, which helps you sell content. I've priced most of these at either $0+ or $1+ which enables you to offer a gift if you want. You can buy/download them all at once here.
Fear Setting Tool - $1+ - A 30-minute exercise as an editable PDF that enables you to "name" your fears, come up with steps to mitigate those fears and help shift your mind to the costs of inaction
Career Transition Playbook - $1+ -Updated as a 10-step "playbook" as an editable PDF file so you can track your progress and reflections
Consulting Slide Templates - $0+ - I spent several hours creating this after a post went semi-viral on LinkedIn for slide templates. Feel free to use and share liberally!
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I have embraced Patreon as an experiment for people to support me in continuing to do this work. Think about it as Kickstarter for creators, but focused on supporting one's life.
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#ICYMI - Below The Fold
Reads
Writing
Podcast Episodes:
Tony Triumph on growing up entrepreneurial and moving to NYC with $300
Rohan Rajiv on 3500+ daily blog posts
Luke Kanies on his journey from commune to CEO and why people hate working for big companies
Candace Moore on building a global yoga brand
Stephen Warley on self employment & the future of work
Nita Baum on how to be "free" and self-employed (Episode 18)
Damien Peters, financial blogger, on building a remote business from Spain (Episode 16)
Connor Gillivan on entrepreneurship, selling on Amazon and working with freelancers (Episode 15)
Jen Morilla on breaking plates and traveling the world with purpose (Episode 14)
Romy Rost on leadership, freelancing & coaching as a skill (Episode 13)
Tanya Alvarez on resilience, entrepreneurship & community (Episode 12)
Pauri Pandian – Tennis as a career, coaching & healthy masculinity (Episode 11)
Free Tools:
Career Transition Playbook: A 50+ page workbook that will help you take action on a massive change in your career and your direction