“It’s useful to make the distinction between reports and stories.”
Phil Rosenzweig, The Halo Effect
Less Storytelling, More Reporting
One of my favorite books I read last year was The Halo Effect. It tears apart bestselling books like Good to Great that claim to have done irrefutable research about what leads to success. What those books really do is use heaps of data to support nice stories that have zero predictive value.
I highlighted this in my notes: “It’s useful to make the distinction between reports and stories.” This applies beyond business to life.
When it comes to reporting in life, I’m a huge advocate of keeping a record of what you do, day in, day out. “Lifelogging,” I call it. It’s one of my favorite (non-human) additions to my life.
In the eight years since I started keeping a record of everything I do, my system has evolved into an increasingly complex organism. It now contains a “second brain” and organizes my life. Four years ago, it grew a new appendage:
Letters to myself.
Dear Me
I write a letter to my future self at the beginning of every year. In it, I report what’s going on in my life, my proudest accomplishments from the past year, what I’m hoping/expecting/predicting for in the year ahead, and questions for my one-year-older self.
Then I live the year.
Things never go as expected—myself, especially. So I generously edit, erase, and fudge the stories I tell myself to make them coherent and make myself not look so bad.
“I’m figuring things out through trial and error! Progress!”
Then, as the New Year approaches, I start telling myself, “This next chapter’s going to be a game-changer. I’m on the cusp.”
But then I open my letter from the beginning of the year. Inside is a reality check. A cold shower. A pinch to my dreaming ego.
Self-Interrogation
Reading my letter from Jan 2023 felt like my younger self was interrogating me:
“How’d the year go?”
Current Chris: “Ok personally. Not amazing professionally. But even in my failures, I made progress.”
“Failures? Oh no. But you launched The Zag, right? That must have been a major stepping stone.”
“That stepping stone’s sinking.”
“What? The ‘comfort zone gym’ concept flopped?”
“Oh yeah. I forgot I was really into that concept for a while. I kinda dropped it. Moved on.”
“What? Why?”
“Nobody seemed interested.”
“How come? What did you try?”
“This and that.”
“Sounds like you didn’t push hard enough.”
“Yeah, well, neither did you in your past year, buddy. Check your letter.”
Embrace the Face Slaps
My letters from my past selves make it hard for me to duck reality as it slaps me in the face.
But they’re healthy slaps! Friendly, too. I look forward to them. And this year’s stinger has motivated me to think bigger, broader, and beyond blogging.
For the first time since I pretired in 2013, I’m thinking about working for someone else to learn from them. Or working on a new business, relegating The Zag to pastime status. So I’ve begun exploring how I can be uniquely useful in a completely different professional context, while still enjoying what I do.
Let’s see what happens. For better or for worse, things won’t go as I expect. The only thing I know for sure is this: About a year from now, I’ll have a friendly face-slap ready to bring my story back in line with reality.
Consider giving yourself a reality check, too?
Here are six steps and some cues to help you make it a good one:
Stop Scattering Your Effort
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- The external problem you solve
- Your method of addressing it
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About the author
I decode what makes people different and help them build extraordinary things with it. Creator of Innate Edge. Writer of The Zag.
