Gumption

Image via WikipediaHappy Holidays Ya'll!

Today I'd like to talk about a concept that has changed my life, it's called Gumption. I learned about it from the book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which I absolutely recommend to everyone. This book has everything; crazy plot, deep and original insight into philosophy, practical lessons for life, and on top of all of that it's a true story. Anyhow, this Gumption that he talks about in the book is a concept that really struck a chord with me. I'll try to briefly explain it and talk about how I use it in my own life to be efficient and effective.

Basically, gumption is the measure of how well you'll be able to tackle some big new obstacle in your life. If you're running low on gumption when you get home from work, cleaning that mess your kitchen might seem like an insurmountable mountain of work. If you're full of gumption, however, you'll be able to tackle that kitchen with gusto, or perhaps write that essay that you'd been dreading.

So gumption seems to be some kind of combination of your energy level, focus, enthusiasm, and probably a bunch of other important things. But in the book it's much more specific than that (but this explanation might not make sense to anyone who hasn't read it). Gumption is what allows you to undertake a task as an artisan would, with the care and focus that true quality require. When you do something while you have gumption you are working close to 'quality', which bridges the gap between the romantic and classical understanding of a task, allowing you to notice and deal with problems on a fundamentally subconscious level.

In the book the author uses the example of motorcycle maintenance. When he is working on his bike and he has gumption he is infinitely patient and observant. Troubleshooting problems with the bike can be incredibly frustrating, but in this state the problems present themselves to him in their own time and he is listening carefully enough to hear them.

The author then goes on to describe what he's learned about how gumption works, including activities that build up your reserve of gumption and 'gumption traps' that can deplete them. So for example you might get stuck on a problem in life and throw your hands up in despair, take a nap, and then come back and solve the problem with no problems at all. You snagged yourself on a gumption trap and then during the nap you built some back up.

Anyhow, after reading about this I felt as if the author had perfectly articulated exactly how I'd always operated. I have always had periods in my life or day where I am absurdly productive compared to other times (hence the name of this blog). People who know me well or are unfortunate enough to have lived with me understand the bizarre schedules I've created for myself in an effort to sync up up my periods of high productivity with doing what's most important. So for example at Caltech I picked up the habit of working on problem sets at 7am - this turned out to be when I was most focused and intelligent.

Nowadays I've realized that working on something you're personally passionate about and seeing progress in that area is one of the most rewarding things you can do in a day. That's why my new habit has been to always dedicate the first hour or two of my day to my own projects (web development lately). Doing something that I love and that makes me feel like I'm growing gives me a boost of energy and enthusiasm for the rest of the day that makes every day really wonderful. I find that rather than depleting my gumption, working on something I love actually increases it and allows me to accomplish more in the rest of my day.

Let me know if anyone thinks this whole concept of gumption resonates with them at all, I'm really curious if it's just me and the zen guy or if it's bigger than that.

Logical Proof of Spirit Stone Utility

I recently received a necklace as a gift. On it is a simple black stone made of Hermitite. Supposedly, this is a semi-precious spirit stone that grants the wearer confidence and power. As I’m sure you guys know, I’m something of a skeptic when it comes to spiritual issues; so if you think this trinket is just a hunk of rock with no special powers trust me when I say I was right with you. However, in rationalizing the wearing of my new gift I concocted a proof for why this baby works. Tremble before my logic, unbelievers.

1. Some people believe the stone has inherent magical powers to make the wearer more confident and powerful
2. Upon encountering someone wearing the stone, they will believe the wearer to be more confident and powerful
3. Because of their belief (whether it is true or not) they will act as though the wearer of the stone is more confident and powerful in social interactions.
4. Your confidence is based in part on what others think of you.

Conclusion: You are more confident and powerful if you wear the necklace.

I think there is an even simpler proof, but it’s circular.
1. You are as confident as you believe yourself to be
2. You believe wearing the necklace will make you more confident

Conclusion: You are more confident and powerful if you wear the necklace.

Both require an irrational condition – in the first proof someone needs to believe in magic powers, in the other you define confidence to be a snake-eating-its-own-tail kind of quality. I don’t think that’s really a problem though because people aren’t built to be rational, right?

Also, it looks cool, so that helps.

Blargh

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog everybody - I'm still trying to find a good way to incorporate it into my life.

I think the biggest hurdle for me right now is a little bit of perfectionism, it's really hard for me to write something worthy without drafting it out and revising it. Even more problematic is that whenever I try to write about something I'm passionate about I naturally want it to come out really well, so I spend way to much time on it and never finish. But apparently that's just the unique challenge of this medium, you've gotta just get it out there or it'll never happen. I have about 5 half finished posts just waiting for me to finish them, but there's always something else I should be doing... Anyhow I'll try to intersperse the more elaborate posts with less ambitious ones.

How do you guys make time for hobbies or other activities that aren't vital for your job/survival? I think I may have been on to something when I started waking up early so that I could focus on my hobby first thing in the morning, when I have the most focus and fewest distractions. That will lead me into another post I hope to do someday, which is on the concept of 'Gumption' that I picked up from the fantastic book 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'.