As the saying goes: “You can do anything you set your mind to”. However, “what to set my mind to” is the question we often overlook. It’s not uncommon for people to pursue the wrong goal; or if they’ve got the right one, they follow the wrong approach.
The following are my observations about the mistakes people often make, that lead them to solve the wrong problems.
Assuming having more of a positive thing is always positive
There is an English idiom, “to throw money at something”
…which means trying to resolve an issue by spending money on it, without due consideration of what is important.
I had an expensive lesson on this. Starting college, I attended an expensive program, thinking “the higher the fee, the more value I’ll get”. Our university’s justification for the higher fees was “it’s an English program”. But I would have seen the problems if I’d had taken a closer look:
- The content: the majority of the taught-in-English program was similar to the regular, taught-in-Vietnamese program. Plus, not every class was taught in English.
- The lecturers: If you wanted to improve your English communication skills, there were better ways to do so. And with due respect, sometimes our lecturers’ English skills was not very good.
The program was a waste of money. I could have verified my assumptions by simply looking at the details (e.g. looking up the content of the courses, asking former students about their experience, etc.). But I just like the idea of being in an expensive, English-speaking program, and didn’t stop to ask myself “what if I’m wrong?”.
Besides, there are things money cannot buy. One time, we were looking for a graphic designer for our company. None of us had adequate expertise in graphic design. The hiring manager chose one candidate, but later we regretted that decision. If you don’t have the taste, it’s hard to recognize who is good and who is bad.
The “try harder” syndrome
We all have issues with procrastination. When we noticed we were procrastinating, the solution usually was just to use our willpower to push ourselves forward. However, more often than not, we only started working when the deadline was very near.
Procrastination is not simple. As pointed out in this video, one reason is that we are perfectionists, we make ourselves feel overwhelmed. Or we equate our self-worth with our performance, a low-quality product means (unreasonably) we are not valued as a person, etc. There are several root causes, and each one requires a different approach. Willpower is not enough.
A similar syndrome to “try harder” is “be tougher”
You must have heard of the “thương cho roi cho vọt” (“if you love your child, use the stick”) approach in teaching children. An obedient child does not automatically mean a good, healthy child. Doing a little research on the internet, we will see how ineffective this method is, and it can even cause serious mental health problems.
Another example: during the last COVID-19 lockdown (July - October 2021), the authority enlisted soldiers to stand on the streets while carrying a rifle. What problem were they trying to solve with a gun here?
Fancy technologies
New productivity apps are being released every day. The next one offers more features, looks more polished than the last. I was in the trap of trying one app after another, in the hope of finding a perfect productivity system. But then I realized that it is about myself*,* not the tool. Whether I can organize tasks by tags, view my tasks in the form of a kanban board, or structure my notes in different layouts,… these questions are much less important than what I choose to do. Prioritization is obviously more important, but many people (my past self included) overlook that. Besides, if you are organized, your thinking is structured and coherent, then a pen and a notebook would be more than enough.
This reminds me of how Dugu Qiubai (Độc Cô Cầu Bại) trained his students. His teaching philosophy can be understood as “competence comes from yourself, not from the tools”. Maybe that explains why some of the most successful people use very simple productivity tools (e.g. Sam Altman - former president of Y Combinator, Jack Dorsey - former CEO of Twitter).
Another example comes from the dot-com era: a company could easily attract investors just by adding a “.com” suffix to its name. Fancy technologies without a good business models wouldn’t save those companies from bankruptcy.
Mistaking the metric for the goal
Measuring the progress is important for success. But sometimes we focus too much on the metrics and forget about the original goal.
Examples:
- The COVID-19 example again: During that time, the authority was pushing hard for testing. I speculate that they thought more testing = better handling of the pandemic. Without considering other factors, it led to extreme cases: police officers broke the lock and dragged a woman out of her house, forced her to take the test; or crowded testing sites, which defeated the purpose of preventing the spread of the virus; etc.
- The Todoist app may unintentionally be nudging people into optimizing for the wrong thing. Below is a screenshot of Todoist’s Karma feature, with which you set the number of tasks to be completed each day or week. Users may be nudged into doing easy but low-value tasks and feel satisfied about their progress, without realizing they’re not working on more important things.
Unexamined beliefs
Regarding career advice, we all have heard of these mantras: “Follow your passion”, “Never give up”, “Hard work pays off”, etc. If a fan of these slogans asks himself, “why do I believe that?”, then maybe he will realize one of the reasons is these sentences make him feel good, they give him hope,… Maybe he will start looking for evidence, and see that it all depends on the context.
If your passion is programming, then go for it; but if you love writing poems, you should think very carefully about making it your career. Hardworking increases the chance of success, but luck can also play a pivotal role.
And sometimes we forget to ask “what do I really want?”, and just follow the social norms, or succumb to peer pressure.
So, how to not solve the wrong problem?
One way to be more right is to be less wrong. We have identified several traps in thinking. I believe avoiding those traps will keep you from going in the wrong direction. Additionally, below are a few questions that have been helping me:
- What are my assumptions about this situation?
- What needs to be true, for my assumptions to be true?
- Am I trying to rationalize an idea I like, or am I trying to find what is true?
Also, here are a few tips I have been using to identify the right things to work on:
- Do small tests
- I wanted to know whether or not product management was the career path for me. Instead of applying to several companies right away, I did a few side projects to be more certain.
- Ask the experts
- I saw a LinkedIn post the other day from a person who wanted to become a business analyst. He listed a bunch of courses and certificates and asked if it was right to pursue those. A few experienced product managers and business analysts pointed out what he should and shouldn’t do. Lots of time, effort, and money had been saved for him.
- Look at the bottlenecks
- From my observation, sometimes people (including myself) only ask “what I should do to create more impact”, but forgot about “what I should do to remove the barriers that prevent me from creating more impact”. E.g. there was a period during college when I thought I was lazy and lacked the willpower; I tried tips and tricks to feel motivated, but it turned out the project I was working on was not really what I wanted to do.