The Price Of Productivity Is Creativity
A Letter to My Future Self
Dear Zake,
I’m the 27-year-old of you from 2021, how have you been? Since 2015, I have decided to take a day every month to reflect on work, life, relationship, and mental clarity. This is the 62nd mail that I’m writing to you.
The Price Of Productivity Is Creativity
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.”
- Albert Einstein
Last week, I joined the company’s inner hackathon competition. Although we were ranked the third place out of the other 22 groups, and didn’t make it to the final. The process of building something together and being innovated as much as we could in just 48 hours, really reminds me of the good old times.
When I was 14–18 hours a day on a demo, when I was pitching around and getting people’s feedback and comments, when I was still a recent grad and had no fear of trying and losing…
The work suddenly feels like role-playing and a teamwork game, besides the fact I worked on my own product in the daytime and worked on the hackathon project all night long.
When working in a small team, everybody plays a huge role, has that sense of ownership, the determination of completing the demo in time while being innovative. And I love it, it’s totally different from the “involution” which you would normally experience at work.
The “Involution” culture 内卷文化
The word “Involution” becomes much more popular in recent years. Besides the college entrance exam and the first job interviews at school, I never really experienced the “involution”.
However, I have been through a lot of pressure due to “involution” at work recently. If you are not proactive at organizing meetings, dominating other people’s calendars, and disturbing other people’s original plans, someone else will and make the decision for you. And I really do not enjoy the way.
You see, these are all trivial things at work, if you hire an intern, he/she probably can arrange it better than anybody. But no, these things will make you feel important and make everybody think you are important. And this is the point: To go extremely “hardworking” on things that everybody can see and feel, but not enough on things that will make a difference and what makes you special.
The capital/business structure rewards people who provide the right information and execute flawlessly.
But one should never forget why you come here in the first place.
This the fifth year of my product management journey, before joining my current job, I wrote myself a letter. It contains my understanding of product management, the principles, my strength and weakness, as well as how I interact with others at work.
I’m following this white paper as my guideline, no one wants to be a screw, a robot at the job. But if things are going the other way, at least I still have the right and ability to say no, and pursuing other beautiful things in life.
You can always involute yourself, by waking up early, working on things you feel important to you, or side-hustling on many projects that can provide you growth and secure multiple sources of income.
But involution is not something you can put on someone else’s hat. Just as the old saying from Confucius and Bible,
Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.
Do to others what you want done to yourself.
Even if you personally enjoy the involution, that doesn’t mean other people feel the same. This is the bottom line.
How to deal with Involution
Start with you. If you want the other to provide you a more detailed input, offer them a better phrased the questions. If you want the other to work with you towards a goal, share you insights and reasons, so that people understand the importance. Don’t push other to a place where even you cannot reach.
Learn the skill (even you might hate). For a time, I was limited by a saying,
Do not become the person you hate.
In life, this principle works most of the time. But in a structured large company, you can always learn from the people around you. Stay open-minded and learn accordingly.
A better solution/insight/strategy. This is might be the most important value one can offer for a company. You are hired because people believe you have the experience, skills and passion to create better work and more value to the company. However, it’s easy to forget what makes us special, and how we can offer different voices and insights, to impact a bigger business.
Review May & June OKRs
KR1: Lifelong learning on running an online course and community — completion rate to 35%, interaction rate to 50%
In May, I successfully held my fourth workshop. This time, I have 2 former workshop attendees helping and organizing the event with me. Not only I can focus more on the curriculum and workshop content, but their daily appearance encourages more people to share their thoughts and interact with other students.
We also have some changes:
- Mark “Must-do” and “optional” homework for every course: I found that giving people more space and options, automatically inspires and frees them to be more active and eager to help;
- Weekly live streaming TED event: I invited friends, past/current workshop attendees to share their stories and lesson learned in their journey. We want to let people realize that, there are plenty of ways of living, and you shall not limit yourself from the ones told by people around you, like your parents and schools.
These changes are effective, the overall interaction rates go up, more people would love to share more about their thoughts and process of making content. Especially the live-streaming sessions, holds an average 76% joining rate throughout the workshop.
We have also reviewed the workshop and the people’s feedback, hoping on fixing more things and improving the workshop experience in July.
KR2: Grow my channel to 70K and make at least one more 100K-view content
When I’m writing this letter, your subs are 61K on bilibili, and 2.24K on YouTube. I fail at growing much on the channel, because I’m not consistent in updating the content, too lazy to execute some content ideas, and surely haven’t made any 100K-view content. But let’s keep creating and focus on the long term.
KR3: Maintain body fat to 12%, and gaining (more?) muscle on the pectoralis and biceps
Body fat 12%, yes! I successfully make my body fat down to around 12%, even I don’t have to exercise daily anymore, I merge many sports and training into my daily routine: Wednesday for Muay Thai, Thursday and Saturday for BJJ, and swimming or HIIT on the rest.
It’s time to build some muscle, I’m planning on getting a gym coach and starting a new 30-day challenge to get more muscle. Let’s see!
OKR for July & August
Annual Objective: Become a self-reliant, confident human being who has more freedom over his life
KR1: Lifelong learning on running an online course and community- 30-Day challenge completion rate 50%, overall joining rate 75%
- Update the course and delivery strategy based on the most recent user feedback, improving the overall joining rate
- Run accountable-buddy groups, helping 50%+ student complete their 30-day challenge
- Improve the system and framework document, while delegating more work to my workshop assistants
- Host the first meetup event in Shenzhen
KR2: Grow my channel to 80K and make at least one more 100K-view content
- Post 3+ new videos before the next review (eye-catching project/30-day challenge series/lifestyles vlog)
- Dedicate more to scripting and content planning (5 elements: topic, value, connection, fun and rhythm)
KR3: Gaining muscle on the pectoralis and biceps (in a way of improving my swimming and BJJ, then)
- Get a gym coach, and strictly follow the instructions
- Have a 6.5-hour sleep every night, bedtime 12 AM
What I’m Digesting
The Surrender Experiment — Michael Alan Singer // 臣服实验
I picked up this book, because it was recommended by my girlfriend Ling. The story tells all the big moments of Singer’s life, as if he is connecting all those dots backward and sharing the best parts of it.
However, I’m still a strong believer in saying no and being focused. Singer’s approach might work back in the last centenary, besides Singer’s growth mindset and pursuit of perfection, mostly because of the booming economy and fast-growing society.
The world we live in is different, but one thing hasn’t changed at all. Being respectful and curious about the world, eventually leads you to something you cannot imagine.
格局 — 吴军 // Altitude— Wu Jun
Reading someone’s words is like getting to know his/her world.
I genuinely have this feeling reading Dr. Wu’s book. Dr. Wu’s books are not like that kind of books you can instantly have a lot of tools to use after reading them, but always provide you with enough juice to digest and feel fresh-minded. His words are worth reading many times, just like a good quality conversation.
Besides, I form a new habit of reading. People all say I don’t have time for reading, I finish this book by taking advantage of the lunch break. There’s a bookstore right downstairs my office in the mall, so every day when I have my lunch, I go and bury myself in the shelf for an hour. You have tons of reading options, and standing also prevents you from getting extra belly fat, of course, you don’t have to pay anything.
3 YEARS LIVING IN A JEEP | TINY HOME TOUR
Drew Simms is a YouTuber I found and subscribed to early this year, and now he clearly becomes one of my favorite YouTubers. He has been living in his Jeep and practicing minimalism for the past three years…
Bilibili 张统一
He’s a content creator I recently found on Bilibili, talking about making money and self-development. Most content is from his own experience, down to earth, and resonates with most people’s challenges.
LIFE IS A DRUG. LOVE IT. LIVE IT.
Zake
