Smarter Faster Better

The first chapter is on Motivation.

If we want to be productive, we need to start by being motivated.

The two keys to motivation that Charles talks about?

1. We need to feel a sense of CONTROL.
2. We need to make our actions MEANINGFUL.

First, the control. Charles walks us through the science of our Locus of Control.

We have two options: Internal or External.

People with an internal locus of control tend to praise or blame themselves for success or failure. A student who does well on a test attributes their success to their hard work (rather than their intelligence). A salesperson who loses a deal blames himself for failing to hustle rather than bad luck.

People with an external locus of control do the opposite. They believe that their success or failure is largely determined by things outside their control.

Where you put your locus of control matters. A LOT.

People with an internal locus of control tend to be happier, make more money, stay married longer and experience more of all the things we want. Those with an external locus of control are more stressed and less happy.

Charles uses the same Carol Dweck research we talk about in many of these Notes (see Mindset + Self-theories) to bring his point home on locus of control.

Remember that one study where kids took a test and were either told they did well because they were smart or because they worked hard? The ones who were told they did well because they worked hard went on to outperform the “smart” group.

We described that as growth vs. fixed mindset in that context. In this context, the growth mindset = an internal locus of control (“You did well because you worked hard!”) while the fixed mindset = an external locus of control (“You did well because you’re smart!”).

The quickest way to move your control inside? Make choices. That’s how the Marines reimagined their boot camp and how senior citizens extended life span. Little choices matter. Make them.

Part 2 to enhancing motivation: Create meaning.

Remind yourself WHY you are doing what you are doing. Make the connection to what you’re doing and what’s important to you. All the time.

That’s from a chapter on Focus in which we learn about the perils of “cognitive tunneling”—when our mind becomes ineffectively focused on meaningless information and prevents us from doing our best work.

The issue with cognitive tunneling is that our mind goes from being kinda sorta lazily off to INSTANTLY ON in a moment’s notice. The “spotlight” of our attention shines too brightly on certain stimuli while ignoring other stuff.

A mundane example of that is being sucked into our smartphone and ignoring everything else going on. Charles shares the dramatic story of a plane crash and how this happened and juxtaposes it with another near-crash that was averted because the pilots had constructed mental models and kept their minds on.

We come back to the importance of our ATTENTION again and again in these Notes for the very simple reason that our ability to put our mind where we want when we want is the hallmark of creativity, happiness and all things awesome.

Of course, we can cultivate that ability through meditation, choosing empowered responses to challenges and other practices throughout our day.

Charles tells us that another powerful way to shape our ability to focus is by actively constructing mental models throughout our day—by telling ourselves stories about what’s happening in our lives and thinking through upcoming episodes.

One of the scientists Charles interviewed for this book was Timothy Pychyl. Tim is one of the world’s leading motivational researchers. We covered his great book Solving the Procrastination Puzzle (see Notes + Interview).

He has something called “if-then” intentions that are SUPER effective for dealing with procrastination. Here’s how he puts it: “In short, implementation intentions are a powerful tool to move from a goal intention to an action. These implementation intentions take the form of ‘if . .. then’ statements. The ‘if’ part of the statement sets out some stimulus for action. The ‘then’ portion describes the action itself. The issue here really is one of predecision. We are trying to delegate the control over the initiation of our behavior to a specified situation without requiring conscious decision.

IF I say to myself things like ‘I’ll feel more like doing this later’ or ‘I don’t feel like doing this now,’ THEN I will just get started on some aspect of the task.’”

Those implementation intentions are really just another way to build mental models and discipline our minds to go where we want when we want.

For example, we can just swap out the “if” with “when” and run the mental model. “‘When’ I’m in my next meeting, then I’ll do x, y, and z.”

As you’re driving home from work, you can tell yourself a story about how you’ll interact with your family. “When I get home, I’m going to enjoy hanging out with my fam. I’ll put my smartphone in airplane mode and out of site and enjoy doing x, y and z. If my kids do this, then I’ll do that.”

SEE IT. Feel it. Actively construct it in your mind.

Narrate your life as it’s happening. As you anticipate what’s next you build more and more control over the spotlight of your attention—cultivating the ability to shine it brightly right where you want when you want!

That’s from my favorite chapter of the book: Goal Setting.

Of course, at this stage we’re all familiar with SMART goals. And, we’ve heard of Stretch goals. But I love the way Charles connects the art and science of both.

First, the challenges of each.

SMART goals (Specific + Measurable + Achievable + Realistic + Timeline) are effective at getting stuff done. BUT if all we have are SMART goals we can fall into the dreaded checklist inertia where we get a lot of stuff done but not the truly important stuff.

Stretch goals are awesome in getting us to dream about what’s possible and go after our big, hairy, audacious goals. BUT, if they’re not grounded in next steps they can overwhelm us.

The trick?

Put them together.

Stretch + SMART = Wise Goal Setting.

Let’s look at this a little more with our next Big Idea.

Proximal goals.

We now have the scientific phrase for our dominoes strategy. :)

Gary Keller captured our dominoes strategy in The ONE Thing (see Notes) where he tells us: “By thinking through the filter of Goal Setting to the Now, you set a future goal and then methodically drill down to what you should be doing right now. It can be a little like a Russian matryoshka doll in that your ONE Thing “right now” is nested inside your ONE Thing today, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this week, which is nested inside your ONE Thing this month. . . . It’s how a small thing can actually build up to a big one. You’re lining up your dominoes.”

Let’s line up YOUR dominoes.

Start with your #1 STRETCH goal that fires you up these days.

Stretchy sauce = ____________________________________________.

Now, let’s break that down into more bite-size SMART, proximal, sub-goal chunks/dominoes.

This is my next little mini-goal I can hit in the shorter-term en route to that big, exciting goal:

____________________________________________.

Now break that down into more sub-goals until you get to today.

Identify your PROXIMAL GOALS. Line up your dominoes. Then go knock over the next one.

Repeat.

That’s from the final chapter on Absorbing Data in which Charles walks us through some fascinating stories about how a school in Cincinnati went from worst to first via understanding data. (Truly fascinating and inspiring stuff.)

Let’s look at one of the keys to learning: DISFLUENCY.

Paradoxically, by making things harder, we optimize our learning.

Here’s how the Make It Stick guys (see Notes) put it in their great book: “Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful. Learning that’s easy is like writing in sand, here today and gone tomorrow.

We are poor judges of when we are learning well and when we’re not. When the going is harder and slower and it doesn’t feel productive, we are drawn to strategies that feel more fruitful, unaware that the gains from these strategies are often temporary.”

Get this: Did you know that research shows people learn better when they handwrite their notes during a lecture rather than type them? Yep. It’s harder to write your notes than type them. The “disfluency” enhances learning.

Another really important way to integrate data is to explain it to someone else. Here’s how Barbara Oakley puts it in her classic manual on how to learn, A Mind for Numbers (see Notes): “The legendary Charles Darwin would do much the same thing. When trying to explain a concept, he imagined someone had just walked into his study. He would put his pen down and try to explain the idea in the simplest terms. That helped him figure out how he would describe the concept in print. Along those lines, the website Reddit.com has a section called ‘Explain like I’m 5’ where anyone can make a post asking for a simple explanation of a complex topic.

You may think you really have to understand something in order to explain it. But observe what happens when you are talking to other people about what you are studying. You’ll be surprised to see how often understanding arises as a consequence of attempts to explain to others and yourself, rather than the explanation arising out of your previous understanding. This is why teachers often say that the first time they ever really understood the material was when they had to teach it.”

The key? ENGAGE with what you learn.

Charles tells us: “In our own lives, the same lesson applies: When we encounter new information and want to learn from it, we should force ourselves to do something with the data. It’s not enough for your bathroom scale to send daily updates to an app on your phone. If you want to lose weight, force yourself to plot those measurements on graph paper and you’ll be more likely to choose a salad over a hamburger at lunch. If you read a book filled with new ideas, force yourself to put it down and explain the concepts to someone sitting next to you and you’ll be more likely to apply them to your life. When you find a new piece of information, force yourself to engage with it, to use it in an experiment or describe it to your friend—and then you will start building the mental folders that are at the core of learning.”

Productivity all comes down to choices.

Not the huge, life-changing ones. The itty bitty tiny ones we make day-in and day-out. Finding those little opportunities to enhance our performance by 4%.

What choices will YOU make today?