@@ -32,3 +32,3 @@ If you discover something useful, leave a trace for the next persistent person.
-Soon you will experience one of life’s great transformations: You are no longer stuck. You are *coordinating*. Do not be discouraged merely because nobody formally approved the coordination structure. History rarely pauses to issue committee charters. A movement is just a meeting that became difficult to stop.
+Soon you will experience one of life’s great transformations: You are no longer stuck. You are //coordinating//. Do not be discouraged merely because nobody formally approved the coordination structure. History rarely pauses to issue committee charters. A movement is just a meeting that became difficult to stop.
@@ -42,23 +42,5 @@ The important thing is to keep the objective function emotionally salient while
-Society teaches us to succeed according to measurements.
+Society teaches us to succeed according to measurements. Grades. Sales targets. Performance reviews. Step counts. Quarterly objectives. Evaluation scores. Amateurs improve themselves to improve the metric. Highly Persistent People eventually notice that the metric is also part of the environment. This is an advanced insight and should be approached with the calmness of a management consultant discovering an accounting convention.
-Grades. Sales targets. Performance reviews. Step counts. Quarterly objectives. Evaluation scores.
-
-Amateurs improve themselves to improve the metric.
-
-Highly Persistent People eventually notice that the metric is also part of the environment.
-
-This is an advanced insight and should be approached with the calmness of a management consultant discovering an accounting convention.
-
-Ask yourself:
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-What exactly is being measured?
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-Who measures it?
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-What evidence produces the measurement?
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-And, most importantly:
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-Why have I spent all this time changing myself?
+Ask yourself: What exactly is being measured? Who measures it? What evidence produces the measurement? And, most importantly: Why have I spent all this time changing myself?
@@ -68,31 +50,7 @@ Once you understand the evaluation process, you have entered a higher plane of p
-Most self-help books tell you to rewrite your story metaphorically.
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-This book encourages you to take the concept seriously.
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-Your life is partly composed of events and partly composed of records describing those events. Calendars, résumés, dashboards, minutes, status reports, performance summaries: civilisation is held together by people writing down what supposedly happened.
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-The naïve person believes the record follows reality.
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-The Highly Persistent Person recognises a bidirectional relationship.
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-This does not mean lying.
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-It means cultivating what we shall call **narrative observability management**.
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-Did the initiative fail?
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-Or did it generate strategically valuable evidence against the initial hypothesis?
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-Did you waste three weeks?
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-Or did you conduct an extended feasibility investigation?
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-Were you explicitly told to stop?
+Most self-help books tell you to rewrite your story metaphorically. This book encourages you to take the concept seriously. Your life is partly composed of events and partly composed of records describing those events. Calendars, résumés, dashboards, minutes, status reports, performance summaries: civilisation is held together by people writing down what supposedly happened. The naïve person believes the record follows reality. The Highly Persistent Person recognises a bidirectional relationship.
-Or did stakeholder feedback indicate unusually high engagement?
+This does not mean lying. It means cultivating what we shall call **narrative observability management**. Did the initiative fail? Or did it generate strategically valuable evidence against the initial hypothesis? Did you waste three weeks? Or did you conduct an extended feasibility investigation? Were you explicitly told to stop? Or did stakeholder feedback indicate unusually high engagement?
-Language is not merely how we describe progress.
-
-Sometimes it is where progress lives.
+Language is not merely how we describe progress. Sometimes it is where progress lives.
@@ -104,37 +62,7 @@ Conventional wisdom says persistence must be balanced with judgment. Know when t
-But every one of these behaviours contains a hidden danger:
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-They may cause you to stop.
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-The Highly Persistent Person therefore applies persistence recursively.
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-If you doubt the mission, persist through the doubt.
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-If someone questions your methods, persist through the questioning.
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-If new evidence suggests the objective was misconceived from the beginning, remember that new evidence is merely another obstacle produced by the environment.
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-Continue.
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-Adapt.
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-Coordinate.
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-Route around.
+But every one of these behaviours contains a hidden danger: They may cause you to stop. The Highly Persistent Person therefore applies persistence recursively. If you doubt the mission, persist through the doubt. If someone questions your methods, persist through the questioning. If new evidence suggests the objective was misconceived from the beginning, remember that new evidence is merely another obstacle produced by the environment. Continue. Adapt. Coordinate. Route around. Reclassify. Continue again.
-Reclassify.
+Eventually, one of three things will happen: You will achieve your objective. You will discover an entirely new objective. Or several independent investigators will be commissioned to determine what, exactly, you have been doing. All three outcomes demonstrate impact.
-Continue again.
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-Eventually, one of three things will happen:
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-You will achieve your objective.
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-You will discover an entirely new objective.
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-Or several independent investigators will be commissioned to determine what, exactly, you have been doing.
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-All three outcomes demonstrate impact.
-
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+----
@@ -142,9 +70,3 @@ The world is full of people waiting for permission, adequate resources, clearly
-Do not compete with them.
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-Become highly persistent.
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-Find the message board.
-
-Expand the scope.
+Do not compete with them. Become highly persistent. Find the message board. Expand the scope.