#027 – The Shirky Principle & 'Download' Time

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read time 3 minutes 

#027 at a Glance:

• Quote that will get you thinking: School is the end.

• Podcast you should listen to: Ex-FBI Hostage Negotiator Reveals Negotiation Secrets.

• Framework: The Shirky Principle.

• Hack you should try: ‘Download’ Time.

• Tweet I liked: The 3 Questions that determine 99% of the happiness in your life.

Quote that will get you thinking:

Podcast you should listen to:

The Diary of A CEO E147: FBI’s Top Hostage Negotiator Explains The Art of Getting Whatever You Want – Chris Voss

Chris Voss is a former lead negotiator for the FBI and the author of Never Split The Difference, a book about how to negotiate and get what you want from other people, selling millions of copies worldwide.

He is an individual who has handled practically every high-stakes crisis management scenario you can imagine.

What is unique about Chris’ technique is this: He sees negotiation and deal-making as a partnership, not a battle of wills. You only truly get what you want out of a negotiation when you show the other person that you are making an effort to understand what it is that they want as well.

Chris articulates these principles across every setting from romantic relationships to his own experiences negotiating in the midst of bank robberies and hostage crises. I particularly found the ‘mirroring technique’ quite interesting which he explains towards the end of the episode.

This discussion had me thinking, “I can’t believe this is free to listen to.” So incredibly insightful.

Listen or Watch on Spotify here. Listen on Apple Podcasts here. Watch on YouTube here.

Framework:

The Shirky Principle 

The Shirky Principle, (creatively) named after American writer Clay Shirky, states:

“Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”

In other words, companies are reluctant to completely solve a problem because this would make their product/service which they continue to sell to you, obsolete.

So, in many ways, businesses can actually attempt to preserve the existence of problems in an effort to maintain their profits.

Here are some examples:

• Pharmaceutical companies prefer to treat health issues rather than cure them completely. (A quote someone once told me about pharmaceutical companies has always stuck with me relating to this point: “A healthy patient is no longer a customer.”)

• Cybersecurity companies would ultimately go out of business if every adverse hacker in the world stopped trying to access our devices.

• Technology companies intend for their products to slow down over time so that consumers are prompted to buy the newest model.

Does this mean that we should never trust any companies?

No, definitely not. Living in perpetual cynicism is a sad way to move through life.

What it does mean, is that we as consumers must be switched on to the incentives of the businesses we engage with, the source of the problems we encounter, and fear-based sales tactics.

Pretty interesting stuff…

(Came across this framework from Sahil Bloom, highly recommend you check out his content if you haven’t already – it’s bloody awesome.)

Hack you should try:

‘Download’ Time

This is a hack I’ve been thinking about (and implementing) a lot recently.

Here’s one of the dilemmas we face in day-to-day life:

The overconsumption of information.

No other generation in history has ever consumed as much information as we do on a daily basis.

Here are some scary stats that illustrate this point:

• Teens spend an average of 8 hours 39 minutes on screens per day.

• The average Instagram user watches over 350+ reels per day.

• The average person will receive 121 emails per day.

• There are more than 500 million tweets sent each day around the world.

It’s so easy to think of this as just normal these days. The truth is though, if people from only 100 years ago were to be teleported to the lives we live today, they would be in an absolute headspin at the volume and speed at which we consume copious amounts of information.

It is with this exact reasoning and thinking in mind that I have started to set aside 30-60 minutes a day of personal ‘download’ time.

‘Download’ time is essentially waking time dedicated to allowing our minds to ‘download’ the sheer volume of information and content that we have consumed.

It is a time when our minds are not consuming anything at all. It is receiving no inputs whatsoever. It is merely processing the information we have already absorbed.

It can be sitting idle on the train, going for a walk, driving your car in silence, whatever works for you.

I’ve found it to be so incredibly useful and freeing in the sense that I no longer feel the obligation to fill every waking minute with some sort of cognitive stimulation.

It is simply too much for my mind to handle.

Besides, if we’re constantly scrolling, listening, watching, reading, and clicking, then where in all of this noise are we meant to come up with our own original thoughts and ideas?

Something to think about (and hopefully implement)…

Tweet I liked:

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading!

Grateful for your support.

Stay hungry, stay humble, & stay curious. ⚡

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