Weekly Question & Framework: August 2, 2024

Hello and welcome to the Curiosity Chronicle Weekly Question and Framework. In three minutes or less, I'll give you one question and one framework to get you thinking going into the weekend. Without further ado, let's dive right into it. A question to make Continuous Progress what are the boring basic actions that you are avoiding right now? There is a Zen Buddhist saying that changed my life. What do you do before enlightenment? Chop wood, carry water. What do you do after enlightenment? Chop wood, carry water. My interpretation the internal state may change, but the external action never does. Every single day, chop wood, carry water. As you level up and grow, there's a tendency to lose sight of those boring basics that got you there in the first place. You feel the pull towards complexity, which is a trap, and start looking for the new actions for the new you. But as the saying reminds us, you will change, but the actions needn't change with you. So what are the boring basic actions that you are avoiding right now? How can you chop wood and carry water today? An idea on the Nature of Innovation the Fosbury Flop this story completely changed the way I think about innovation. The high jump is a track and field event in which a participant runs toward a raised bar and attempts to leap over it without touching the bar. Throughout history, high jumpers had used a few traditional techniques like the scissors or the straddle to clear the bar by leaping forwards or sideways over it. But that would all change when an Oregon State University high jumper named Dick Fosbury came onto the scene. His progress had stagnated using the traditional jumping techniques, so he started experimenting with new ways of clearing the bar. In particular, he challenged the conventional methods of a forward or sideways approach, instead developing an angled approach that culminated in him arching his back as he went over the bar backwards. Fosbury was widely ridiculed for the technique. Some remarked that it looked like an airborne seizure or a fish flopping in a boat when they first watched it. But at the 1968 Olympics, Dick Fosbury used the technique to win gold and set a new Olympic record within a few years. The Fosbury Flop, as it became known, was the standard in the sport, and it remains so today, over 50 years later. The lesson True innovation is often met with ridicule. Enduring that non belief is the price of admission for anyone who wants to alter the status quo. Innovation is about everyone agreeing with you later. That's all for today's piece. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something, and I hope you'll share it with others. As always, until next time. Stay curious, friends.