Random Walk Newsletter, Issue 7#
Due to a busy week last week, I didn't have time to write the Newsletter. Also, there was a previous time when I completed it under time constraints, and I wasn't satisfied with it when I read it myself. So last week, I didn't force myself to write an article. Today, I have some free time and can make up for it. In the future, it seems necessary to prepare in advance to avoid the situation of not being able to update on time.
Actually, some of the newsletters I subscribe to are not written regularly every week or every two weeks by the authors, but according to their own pace. I have also considered this approach, but I feel that I haven't reached that point yet. At the beginning, I still need to put some pressure on myself, otherwise, it may be easier to give up.
Listening to Books & Reading Books#
The Trap of Metrics
When reading this book, about 60% of the content resonated with me. When I joined the current company, I started to come into contact with the concept of OKRs and various quarterly and annual summaries. The most common thing I heard was that work needs to be quantifiable. However, the author of this book believes that various metric assessments have three obvious problems:
- It leads to cheating.
- Easily quantifiable goals overshadow non-quantifiable goals.
- Abstract numbers override concrete experiences.
Regarding problem 1, as long as a number is given, the person being assessed will do everything possible to achieve it. Sometimes, even cheating to complete the numerical task is not surprising. The author's example is about the medical industry. If their surgical success rate is assessed, doctors may avoid treating patients with high surgical difficulty to avoid lowering their own surgical success rate, which is clearly not a behavior worth advocating.
Regarding problem 2, it's simple. For example, when schools assess teachers, they use college enrollment rates, test scores, etc., but a child's creativity, curiosity, good behavior, etc., cannot be reflected through a specific number. For example, in previous news, subject teachers would also occupy physical education classes or other non-subject classes due to assessment pressure.
Regarding problem 3, I won't go into detail. The literal meaning can also be understood. In addition, the author also mentioned that most easily quantifiable goals are short-term goals, while goals that are not easily quantifiable are often more important in the long run.
The feeling this book gives me is that someone has spoken some of my thoughts. The book also mentions "The Blue Blood Heroes," which talks about 10 young people who played an important role during World War II through the perfect application of numbers. They also benefited from their outstanding contributions. One of them became the Secretary of Defense. However, during the Vietnam War, excessive obsession with numbers brought him the most painful failure. I understand that the author is not completely denying the use of quantitative indicators, but rather emphasizing not to excessively obsess and rely on them. Not all industries are suitable for speaking solely through numbers. Just as the book says, we cannot overly rely on or even be obsessed with the certainty brought by numbers because sometimes the uncertainties present in the surrounding environment are more important.
Appropriate Self-Esteem
I have read another book called "The Pleaser Syndrome" before, which talks about a pleasing personality. People with this tendency deliberately seek the approval of others and attach too much importance to others' opinions of themselves, fearing that others will think they are not good or dislike them. This book is about how we should obtain appropriate self-esteem. A person's judgment of themselves is mainly influenced by their family environment, which is essentially the education a family provides to their children. It discusses how to instill confidence in children from an early age and how to view failure correctly, considering failure as something normal. One piece of advice that can be shared with everyone, which I myself hadn't noticed before, is whether children will receive the same appreciation for trying new things as they would for success. In addition, to avoid the pleaser syndrome, one must learn to say no because complying with others' requests to do things one doesn't want to do will harm self-esteem.
Observations & Insights#
Plane Crash
Last week, everyone must have been following one thing, which is the plane crash of East Airlines. So far, the authorities have announced that all passengers and crew members have died.
Both black boxes have been found, and hopefully, they will unravel the mystery of the accident.
About Anxiety
Why do people experience anxiety? It mainly has the following characteristics:
- Catastrophic thinking, often imagining the catastrophic consequences of things, even though the probability of them happening is extremely small.
- Filtering thinking, only seeing negative information or magnifying negative information.
- Polarized thinking, seeing things as either black or white, and if they are not perfect, they are considered worthless.
- Overgeneralization, for example, experiencing motion sickness once and then never daring to do it again. People with this tendency often use words like "always" and "never."
- Mind-reading, especially guessing what others think of oneself, such as interpreting a casual remark or a lack of enthusiastic greeting as someone disliking oneself.
- "Should" statements, always feeling that one should be this way or that way, having high demands on oneself but unable to meet them.
Based on the characteristics mentioned above, I believe many people may feel that they also have these tendencies. As the saying goes, the first step in solving a problem is to face it squarely and identify the problem. In my case, I do feel a clear sense of characteristics 1 and 6. Let's work on improving them.
That's all for this issue of the Newsletter. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Thank you for reading.