Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / iAlign #74 - How Many Backup Laptops Is Too Many

Transcript

iAlign #74 - How Many Backup Laptops Is Too Many · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the I Align podcast with Flint Mitchell, where I provide stories, resources, and tools for ambitious builders who are ready to gain control over procrastination, overthinking, and distraction.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I am filming this on my potato of an old ass laptop because I just spilled water all over my new laptop in a remote town in Chile, about four hours south of Santiago by bus.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still gonna be here for a couple weeks.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And transparently, I think that computer is pretty fucked.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: But we will see in a couple weeks when I get back to the States and can bring it to an Apple store.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it is a good thing that I brought it back up, even if holy shit, this is so bad.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get this lighting.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, way better now.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: While I was planning for this trip, I'm not gonna lie, I didn't spend a lot of time planning.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've traveled and explored quite a bit, and I don't need much to thrive.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I want to surf, I want Wi-Fi, so I don't feel like it is necessary to spend tons of time planning for everything that I will need.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I just packed the things I know I need for certain into a backpack, as long as they can fit alongside my wetsuit and basically just send it.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: That said, as I am working a lot while I travel, I had to make sure that I was prepared for things that might block me from being productive.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that question came up to me a couple days before I left, which is how do I go about planning for the main possible disturbances without going into over-planning and optimizing mode?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you are also an engineer or a systems-minded guy like me, I'm sure you understand this.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is easy to fall into the mode of over-optimizing everything in your life.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you're like me, that overthinking process can actually be quite fun.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: You walk through scenarios of what could go wrong, you hypothesize, you identify possible solutions, you make a plan for it, or a couple.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The issue is that the vast majority of these scenarios never arise.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't immediately mean that the time spent doing that planning was wasted, but at the same time, it kind of was.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the obvious pushback here is, well, it wasn't wasted because that obstacle might have happened, and if it did show up, I was prepared for it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, I understand.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: My point, however, is that it is easy to fall into the trap of optimizing and planning for events that have a low likelihood of occurring or that have a low likelihood of having serious consequences.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: For example, with my laptop, I recognized that I would be in a remote place where I am right now, possibly without immediate access to help if my laptop was stolen, if it stopped working, or something bad happened to it.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like pouring an entire glass of water directly onto the keyboard while I was moving the blanket.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Very nice.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And those things would have had serious consequences without a backup.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It would have seriously slowed down my ability to run my company and do the science consulting work that I take on in order to keep my programming skills sharp right now.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And over a two-month stretch of time while I'm here, the chances of something happening aren't super low.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the the chances, the probability of something bad occurring, somewhat medium high, if we're being honest.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it had a very high consequence.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have been able to continue working.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that made it clear that I needed a backup of sort.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But let's take this a little further.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: How many laptops is the right amount of laptops to have in order to guarantee that I can continue to work?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Should I have two backup laptops?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Should I have three backup laptops?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: That probably sounds a bit silly.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: It would certainly guarantee a higher probability of always having a working computer during this trip.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it would also be silly to bring four laptops on a two-month trip in case of some spontaneous issue arising.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Few people would consider that to be rational planning.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Outside of this, I also brought two chargers, I got some insurance, I made sure my cell phone could work abroad, I put a band-aid or two and some Neosborne in my bag, and I made some other small arrangements.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then I stopped planning.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I sorted for the highest consequence and most likely obstacles.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: For all the obstacles that show up unplanned for, I gave myself permission to believe that I could handle them if they came up.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is the point here?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Over planning tends to be a manifestation of overthinking.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you find yourself constantly trying to create backstops or plan or optimize for tons of things that you haven't yet occurred or that likely won't occur, you are probably an overthinker.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that's good.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually probably part of your own superpower in your career.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're probably really good at solving problems as you go through many of the possible variations of how something can occur.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: The issue is you are wasting your superpower on low leverage, unimportant bullshit.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: You're spending a lot of your time thinking about if you need a third or fourth backup laptop on my trip.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: That thing we just established was fairly silly and irrational.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: What you need in order to start using this superpower of your capacity to focus and implement and follow through and identify potential errors and backstops and obstacles and move through them is to use it on the right tasks.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And to do that, you need to have a filter.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have two conditions that are a part of my filter for planning.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: One, is the probability of this event likely?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: And two, how large is the potential consequence of this event?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: If I get the answers one is low and two is small, I just let that thing go.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is just one very small part of my overall filter.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: What it allows for me to do is to spend my time being in the present moment on important tasks.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: It allows for me to stop spinning my wheels.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: It allows for me to put low-leverage tasks and obstacles and ideas away for another day and focus on what I need to know.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you consistently find yourself over-optimizing and overthinking about things, and it is preventing you from putting in the sheer volume of effort that you know is necessary in order to pursue the goals you're after right now, you need to start establishing your own filter.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you want help with this, feel free to just DM me the word filter, and I can support you with personalized resources and methodologies that are specific to supporting systems-minded, overthinking individuals to create their own filter so they can spend their energy on the right things.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let me help you internalize a lesson one of my clients solidified recently, which is I can do anything, but I can't do everything.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: That goes for you two.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I genuinely believe that you can do just about anything in this world, but you can't do everything.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is time for you to stop overthinking about the responsibilities and opportunities and obstacles that aren't aligned with your values and your direction.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Peace.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed that episode.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been told your entire life that you're smart and you have potential, but you continue to see yourself not do what you said you would do again and again, and it's made you stop trusting in yourself or that you will ever achieve that potential, I want to help you.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Together, you and I will implement a core value-based system that will help you become decisive and focused.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel the relief from the weight on your shoulders because of the decreased noise in your head.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Strength each morning because you trust yourself to turn lost avoidant hours of your life into forward progress.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, when you no longer have to hide how you actually spend your time, and finally pride in yourself when you close your eyes every night before you go to sleep.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: If that's of interest to you, click the first link in the show notes, fill out the 30-second application, and grab a time on my calendar.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Spots are obviously limited because of my time and availability, but if they fill up and you're a good fit, I'll make sure you get on the wait list.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to speaking with you.