[[Notes]] - Topics: [[Persistence]] - People: [[Barack Obama]] - Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Jmxi2jtbM --- ## Summary - [[Take the time to think about your life]]. [[You must understand to make better]]. - Apply [[Gemba]] as an essential part of [[Kaizen|Continuous improvement]]. - [[Some of the work is just a grind]]. Fulfillment comes at the cost of [[The grind]]. [[The reward for good work is more work]]. - [[So much of what's important in life may not come from your work]]. Discover your balance; [[Ikigai]]. - [[Get stuff done]]. You will be noticed by simply getting the job done and getting the job done right. - [[Exceptional results requires exceptional effort]]. - [[Worry more about what you want to do vs. what you want to be.]] - If you're absorbed with something, you're going to get really good at it, and regardless of recognition, your journey would have been a good one. ## Notes ### How we spend out lives - Disruptions of work means that we'll have to rethink how work is organized in profound ways. It is a means to adapt to and overcome change; to create a path forward or be left motionless (and behind). - It's important to focus on the human elements of day-to-day work instead of the obscured 40,000 ft and dry viewpoints of macro vs. micro economics. It is important because "this is how we spend our lives." - [[Take the time to think about your life]]. - Powerful takeaways from the book "Working" (by Studs Terkel): "It gave you a sense that people take pride in being useful. That a lot of work is really hard that we take for granted." - The most efficient way to make improvements on the lives of people is to understand the lives of people. To apply [[Gemba]] thinking as part of [[Kaizen|Continuous improvement]]. - Out of the stories, become policies. - [[You must understand to make better]]. ### Value alignment - "[[Some of the work is just a grind]]. Some of the work is you doing something that is useful to your employer, the person who is paying you, and it may not be fun. And that's OK, because that's what it means to be a grown-up." [[Any job, big or small, do it well or not at all.]] - People want to be recognized and fairly compensated for their work. - Fulfillment comes at the cost of [[The grind]]. [[The reward for good work is more work]]. - [[So much of what's important in life may not come from your work]]. - You want a balance. You need to recognize that work should not come as a substitute for other aspect of your life. The journey to discover your [[Ikigai]]. ### Disruption - Previously, there was an entire floor in the Whitehouse dedicated to secretarial work. That has been wiped out with the advent of computers and word processing. - We have not yet seen the complete disruptive impact that AI will have in work we classify as "knowledge work". - Many questions regarding the impacts and outcomes of work, such as benefits and remote work, will need to be examined; "not just be employers, or employees, but by society as a whole. We're not yet ready for that conversation, but it's coming at us faster than anybody expects." - For example, the 40 hour work week vs. a 35 hour work week - to spread that work around. ### Get stuff done - Learn how to [[Get stuff done]]. - "I've seen at every level, people who are very good at describing problems, people who are very sophisticated at explaining why something went wrong or why something can't get fixed. What I'm always looking for is; No matter how small the problem is or how big it is, somebody who's just, 'Let me take care of that'." - You must project an attitude of, "whatever that is needed, I can handle it, and I can do it". - "A lot of the times, the best way to get attention is, whatever is assigned to you, you are just nailing. You're killing it." - You will be noticed by simply getting the job done and getting the job done right. ### Doing vs. being - [[Worry more about what you want to do vs. what you want to be.]] - "The people I find that are most successful are the people who say, 'I'm really interested in computers...', and they end up being a Bill Gates." - You can have an extraordinary career by putting in exceptional effort to the problems that you personally find exceptional. [[Exceptional results requires exceptional effort]]. - If you're absorbed with something, you're going to get really good at it, and regardless of recognition, your journey would have been a good one.