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Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

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Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#61

Post by DoreenMichele »

rossdavidh wrote: post #29

Hypothesis: the "people who get stuff done" are a subset of a larger group with the same personality and talents, but without as much luck. Those other people are known by unprintable names, because they have no great successes to make people ignore the fact that they're jerks.

People are endlessly fascinated with the piece of success that we might have some hope of exercising control over. It gives people something constructive to try to work on. This is generally better than hating your life and buying lottery tickets while not bothering to work towards anything.

There are a great many things beyond our control. But we will never stop trying to figure out that one thing we can do by choice that makes some kind of difference -- the more difference, the better.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#62

Post by JackFr »

kebman wrote: post #41
rossdavidh wrote: post #29

Hypothesis: the "people who get stuff done" are a subset of a larger group with the same personality and talents, but without as much luck. Those other people are known by unprintable names, because they have no great successes to make people ignore the fact that they're jerks.

Examples of luck: - Being born into a good family. - Winning the lottery. Luck: Something you cannot affect yourself. If luck is your only game, prepare to be disappointed. Also: 70 percent of lottery winners, end up broke just a few years later. Question: Is having good luck actually bad luck? Or does it trigger bad behaviours that rich people don't have? ... I think this well and truly debunks any notion that luck'…

I think you miss the point of the parent.

There is tremendous survivorship bias in this analysis.

While these traits were found in a substantial portion of people who "Get Stuff Done", how about the people who exhibit these traits, but don't "Get Stuff Done"? We have no idea how large that population is.

Assuming the author's research is perfect, and every successful person who "Gets Stuff Done" exhibits these trait. The author, at best, has shown these traits are necessary, but not sufficient. Since many people potentially have these traits and don't "Get Stuff Done", there must be further special sauce which differentiates them.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#63

Post by JackFr »

hueving wrote: post #55
jf- wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a rather simplistic notion of luck. The success or failure of any new business is largely up to luck, simply due to the number of unknowns: market demand, marketing strategy, economic conditions, access to resources, access to talent. It is also not a fact that if you build a perfect, shining example of the thing you had in mind that it’s automatically successful. And people aren’t ‘terribly afraid of freedom’…

Other than a change in 'economic conditions', the rest of those issues can be avoided with adequate business research. Just because most technologists don't doesn't mean it's actually such an unknown.

> the rest of those issues can be avoided with adequate business research.

That's simply wrong.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#64

Post by [deleted] »

adnzzzzZ wrote: post #59
kowe4i3tg wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gist of your link is "luck is real, but delude yourself so you won't give up." Fuck that. Luck is real. And I won't give up. It's called taking a leap of faith. You don't have to lie to yourself in order to take risks. Your solution is harmful. If people stop believing in luck, then everyone who fails just didn't try hard enough.

Maybe you shouldn't be in the "Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done" thread if you don't like the idea of deluding yourself of things that might not be entirely true. >Your solution is harmful. If people stop believing in luck, then everyone who fails just didn't try hard enough. This is only harmful if you aren't willing or prepared to take responsibility for your actions.

[deleted]

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#65

Post by cncrnd »

adnzzzzZ wrote: post #51
cncrnd wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To summarize, the link says that luck is real but you are better off thinking that it isn't real since that will affect your behavior in a more positive way. Still not sure I agree in this case (you can think luck is real bit still behave optimally) but it could be a helpful way to think in other scenarios.

It's not about correct in one scenario or another, it's about having a low resolution view of the world that will be helpful. As the PDF states, https://vgy.me/C7hfiH.png , "cognitive distortions are filters or lenses that influence thinking, shape interpretation of reality, basis for action". Truly convincing yourself that luck isn't relevant is one such cognitive distortion that is a very helpful way of guiding you…

I know what it's saying, but I don't agree that 'convincing yourself that luck isn't relevant is one such cognitive distortion that is a very helpful way of guiding your actions through life.'

We can all put our big boy pants on, accept that luck is a part of reality, and act in the best possible way with this fact in consideration.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#66

Post by hueving »

JackFr wrote: post #63
hueving wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than a change in 'economic conditions', the rest of those issues can be avoided with adequate business research. Just because most technologists don't doesn't mean it's actually such an unknown.

> the rest of those issues can be avoided with adequate business research. That's simply wrong.

If you had an idea to improve on the telegraph that makes it 15% faster for operators, would you start a telegraph business right now? Why or why not?

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#67

Post by hueving »

jf- wrote: post #60
hueving wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than a change in 'economic conditions', the rest of those issues can be avoided with adequate business research. Just because most technologists don't doesn't mean it's actually such an unknown.

Prove it.

There exists entire industries of market analysts to give you things like TAM and other critical information to avoid creating a solution to problems nobody has.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#68

Post by adnzzzzZ »

cncrnd wrote: post #65
adnzzzzZ wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about correct in one scenario or another, it's about having a low resolution view of the world that will be helpful. As the PDF states, https://vgy.me/C7hfiH.png , "cognitive distortions are filters or lenses that influence thinking, shape interpretation of reality, basis for action". Truly convincing yourself that luck isn't relevant is one such cognitive distortion that is a very helpful way of guiding you…

I know what it's saying, but I don't agree that 'convincing yourself that luck isn't relevant is one such cognitive distortion that is a very helpful way of guiding your actions through life.' We can all put our big boy pants on, accept that luck is a part of reality, and act in the best possible way with this fact in consideration.

>We can all put our big boy pants on, accept that luck is a part of reality, and act in the best possible way with this fact in consideration.

This is where we disagree. A cognitive distortion automatically filters the world for you. Your body does it without you being consciously aware of it. You want these distortions to be helpful, otherwise your body will automatically filter the world in an unhelpful manner to you.

For instance, in the face of this PDF, the person I first replied to said something like "the people who get stuff done got there because they're lucky". This worldview is poor because it doesn't help you get more stuff done in any way, it's just a blame game (in this case the thing that's getting blamed is luck). And it's something you'll do automatically if you're always considering luck in how you see the world.

The point is to get rid of this mechanism in your brain/body that jumps to luck (or any other harmful concept) and to substitute it with something more helpful.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#69

Post by jf- »

hueving wrote: post #67
jf- wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prove it.

There exists entire industries of market analysts to give you things like TAM and other critical information to avoid creating a solution to problems nobody has.

By this logic any large company can guarantee the success of any product it launches by throwing money at analysts. It should be obvious this is not the case.

Re: Cognitive Distortions of People Who Get Stuff Done (2012) [pdf]

#70

Post by marcosdumay »

adnzzzzZ wrote: post #40
rossdavidh wrote: post #29

Hypothesis: the "people who get stuff done" are a subset of a larger group with the same personality and talents, but without as much luck. Those other people are known by unprintable names, because they have no great successes to make people ignore the fact that they're jerks.

Stop using luck as an excuse for your failures and other people's failures. https://github.com/SSYGEN/blog/issues/38

Rejecting luck as an explanation for people's failure has the side effect of radically increasing the potential of luck to affect people's outcomes.

Once you decide that everything is intrinsic, any instance bad luck is enough to declare people "untouchable".

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