SoC #56: How to Deal With Endless Contradictions 😂😭

I'm Lisa 👋 Welcome to this week's edition of Stream of Consciousness - the newsletter for product leaders who want to build products and their careers more consciously, in ways that are inclusive, holistic, ethical, accessible, and sustainable. 

Join 1466 conscious product leaders who want to put their time and energy into building more conscious products (and careers):

"Stay where you are - the market is unstable." | "Find a new job now to increase your salary."

"Work 9-5 and keep this boundary to maintain your work-life balance." | "Everything is unpredictable - you should start a side hustle to unlock new income streams."

"Wake up at 5 am to improve your life." | "Sleep more to improve your life."

"Do deep work first thing in the morning." | "Sync with your team first thing in the morning."

"If you don't have a plan, you're bound to fail." | "Having open space is great for discovery and exploration."

"You need to prioritize." | "Everything here is a priority for launch."

"Money doesn't buy happiness." | "Earning $500,000 annually will make you happier."

"Working remotely is better." | "Working in the office is better."

"More documentation is better." | "This documentation is slowing us down."

"It's better to use this information to avoid mistakes." | "Making mistakes is how you learn best."

"We need to prioritize our short-term goals." | "We can't forget about prioritizing our long-term objectives."

"Bet on yourself." | "Surround yourself with an exceptional team."

"Follow the rules." | "Take risks."

"Embrace new tech to stay competitive." | "Unplug more and tune into your intuition."

"Be more assertive." | "Collaborate more."

"It's better to focus on developing highly specialized skills." | "Diversifying your experience is safer, makes you more adaptable, and will benefit you in the long-run."

"Take more breaks." | "Achieve X by Y time so you can do Z."

The contradictions we are fed on a daily basis are endless.

They are confusing.

They give us decision fatigue.

They make us feel like we're always constrained and pushing against some boundary vs. feeling expansive.

They can come from very reputable sources who have cited research.

They can also come from first-hand accounts from people we know.

Listening to them can help us.

Listening to them can hinder us. 

So how do we know which is best? Who should we listen to? 

Ourselves.

...and run experiments to create feedback loops to connect what we do to how we feel.

Everyone operates according to different values, priorities, life context, and life constraints.

So, what's best for another person or a large group of people might not actually be what's best for you. 

Do you know that you think more clearly in the evening? Prioritize doing your heads-down focused work then.

Do you enjoy spending time with your kids first thing in the morning? Scheduling your team's standup first-thing might not be ideal for you.

I'm cognizant that not all of your time when you work FT is under your control - but some of it is. And how you choose use that time is important.

If you're not sure how to make decisions that are aligned for you to organize your time and the things you're focusing your energy on, I've got 3 tools that can help:

1. How to treat your time as a product (with a template): A step-by-step process you can follow each week to improve how you are spending your time (not just for productivity...to generally just feel better).

2. Mental health check for PMs (with a template): A "blank slate" exercise you can do to figure out your trajectory and identify what's making you feel held back right now.

3. How to validate that a change is a good idea (with a template): An activity that will help you figure out the criteria you should be paying attention to when considering a change, and how to iterate and prototype proactively to test your hypothesis before making a major leap.

So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed by information from "experts" showing up in your feeds, coming into your ears in podcasts, and being shared with you by colleagues, take a breath. Go find some space to be alone. And ask yourself what YOU really need. 

What do you do to consciously check in with yourself in our hustle culture? Let me know!

Conscious Bytes 📰

CAN ANYONE ACTUALLY STOP THE AI ARMS RACE? Several prominent tech figures including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak are calling for a 6-month pause to the "AI Arms Race" to consider the risks. There's now a petition circulating that's calling for "all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4." What do I love? That this is a conversation that's happening. What do I hate? It feels a little bit "too little, too late" and also like we don't live in a society that will actually do anything to stop it - especially based solely on open letters and petitions. It's coming at a time where many tech companies are axing their ethics teams and while it's clear that many government officials still don't understand tech. The people in power (i.e. in governments and at OpenAI) need to actually take responsibility for anything to change course.  I'm skeptical that will happen until we have some "real bad consequences" IRL. Cue an endless cycle of problems and regulations that can't keep up with the pace of tech. 

TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION HAS CREATED A SELF-HELP TRAP: This is a well-written piece from Wired that talks about how technology has manipulated us by ripping a page out of the tobacco and food industry playbooks. It's not all doom and gloom though and the last paragraph is especially poignant. 

Soulwork 💜

🤔 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose by Mark Manson

Thanks for Reading!

If you're looking to improve as a conscious product leader and achieve outcomes in your career and the products you are building more intentionally, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Personal Positioning for Aspiring Product Managers: A course I recently launched to help anyone who wants to transition into product management from another career figure out how to position themselves through a product lens. Master your LinkedIn profile, update your resume, and create 1% personal marketing material to help you land PM interviews. (🎁 Use code "EARLYACCESS" for $30 off).

2. 1:1 Coaching and Feedback: Schedule a 1:1 Google Meet call with me where we go through how to improve your LinkedIn profile or resume, tackle the most challenging problem you are facing right now, or ask me for product-specific feedback on something you're building.

Have a great week!

-Lisa ✨

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