The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

http://firstround.com/review/the-remarkable-advantage-of-abundant-thinking/

by sftueni • 10 years ago

201 105 10 years ago

levemi2• 10 years ago

That table layout is really bad on a large screen, at some point there's a nice max for a font and I really don't need giant fonts or text as images. That image is gigantic [1]. And that header hiding animation is so annoying. Why do you do this. :(

[1] https://s3.amazonaws.com/marquee-test-akiaisur2rgicbmpehea/W...

djloche• 10 years ago

Unfortunately, this appears to be the trend. With mobile/tablet driving ad revenue growth, desktop visitors appear to be on their way to being an ignored/forgotten segment.

Fortunately, a quick hop into dev tools fixes the problem. For the primary paragraph content, switching from the current 22px down to 16px makes this read so much easier.

manibatra7• 10 years ago

The main thing that has really impacted my productivity and happiness is following a set routine for an hour whenever I get up. So I do the following :

  1. Brush
  2. Meditate - 15 minutes
  3. Write - I usually write "3 things that I am grateful for" and "3 things to focus on that particular day"
  4. Exercise - 15 minute run

I do this whenever I get up. So it's not like I get up at 6 in the morning everyday. I just get up 6 hours after sleeping. The advice was given one one of Tim Ferris' podcast and has done wonders for me. I would highly recommend trying it out.

Start small. If 15 minutes of anything is too much start with 5 minutes. That's what I did.

dsugarman• 10 years ago

6 hours is not enough sleep

pavel_lishin4• 10 years ago

It is for some people, and it isn't for others, which is why this kind of generic advice is amazing if it fits you exactly, and awful if it doesn't.

I can function on six hours, but not well. I also can't easily take 15 minutes to meditate in the morning, because I have a two month old baby I have to help care for in the mornings. This somewhat limits my ability to meditate and exercise.

paulsutter• 10 years ago

You ignored his central point (that a morning routine helps set his focus for the day), and latched on to perhaps the least important piece of information in his post (the specific amount of sleep that works for him).

If you really feel the need to disagree, you might suggest better activities or make a compelling case that focus is considered harmful.

squeaky-clean• 10 years ago

Everyone needs different amounts of sleep, and 6 hours is right for some. Try telling Elon Musk that he doesn't get enough sleep.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2rgsan/i_am_elon_musk...

restalis• 10 years ago

AFAIK, it's more about the amount of complete REM cycles. The sleep gets more and more "shallow" in a continuous session. Six-hour night sleep session and a nap at noon may be more efficient than an eight-hour night sleep.

dominotw• 10 years ago

Would you mind sharing how long you have done this for.

manibatra7• 10 years ago

5 months. I started with meditating and running for 5 minutes each and increased it every two weeks or more whenever I felt like it. As mentioned doing 15 minutes of each now.

Got my dad to do the same. I actually made him start with just 1 minute of each. He is upto 10 minutes after a month. Plus has started weight training. He is 60.

I guess the main takeaway is do the smallest possible interval you can ( have no excuses to not do) and don't beat yourself about it. Build it up gradually

epalmer• 10 years ago

We do 3 good things at the dinner table.

What is good? 1) Why is it good? 2) Why did it happen?

Some of them are a result of direct or indirect action. I studied more. Some are a result of external events. The sunset was fantastic because God decided we needed a great sunset.

This has done wonders for my kids (now mostly grown) in relating their action to positive outcomes. We don't practice this much anymore but should get back to it.

My wife and I exercise for 45 to 60 minutes 5 days a week, most weeks. We rise at 4:30 AM and are done and home by 6:30. We go to bed really early.

We are 62 (myself) and 57 and the exercise is helping us a lot with health, vitality and positive outlook. Somedays it is hard to get up and go. It is always a good thing when we are done and we are grateful we went to the gym.

I strive for 7+ hours of sleep.

I mediate some, mostly at lunch time.

manibatra7• 10 years ago

That is really great! Being grateful everyday does increase general level of happiness over time I guess.

Scarbutt2• 10 years ago

What do you brush?

manibatra7• 10 years ago

My teeth haha! I just listed it down as it is sort of a trigger to follow up with other things.

Devthrowaway80• 10 years ago

Interestingly enough, this is the same routine I've had recommended in AA (minus the exercise, it's an old program).

Wake up, immediate meditation/prayer and a gratitude list.

Only things missing is contemplating what you need to do today to be a better person at the beginning of the day and reflecting on what you did well and could've done better when you go to sleep.

An excerpt from the portion referred to as "On Awakening":

"When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken."

chaostheory• 10 years ago

It sounds like a self improvement system built on top of this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3304496/Be-lucky-its-a...

sidi• 10 years ago

The power of positive thinking has to be one of the most undervalued capital. I would really like to see if there are any counter examples to this thinking that have worked for others.

phil21• 10 years ago

I've been called negative before. For good reason :)

I tend to see the problems with things. The stuff that is good enough, why spend time thinking about? Seems boring to me - it's already done, lets move on.

I actually somewhat don't like being labeled as "negative person" since the actual result in my thinking is usually very positive outcomes. I improve things and make them better. How could I do that if I didn't identify what is wrong with something? The new webapp you wrote for me might be 95% awesome, but I'm going to probably be immediately drawn to the 5% that sucks just by the nature of who I am and that's what I'll be focusing my energy on to improve.

This worked well for me in my personal life for some time. Identify bad habits, get rid of them. However it can be a grind and I think folks that think the way I do are much more prone to depression and negative feedback loops that result in isolation (largely out of perhaps a frustrated idealist point of view). That's when it get's dangerous.

As in all things in life I think it's about balance. As I get older, I absolutely see and believe in the power of positive thinking. I just think some people can take that a bit (or a lot) too far and use it as an excuse to delude themselves.

cylinder• 10 years ago

Yep. Haven't read, but you might like:Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312658850/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_d...

levemi2• 10 years ago

Voltaire has a nice bit of insight on "the power of positive thinking" shared through his story about Candide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candide

Worth a read before you start decorating your home with power crystals and fire up the incense.

tonyedgecombe• 10 years ago

I thought it had been debunked: http://www.physics.nyu.edu/sokal/complex_dynamics_final_clea...

everyone2• 10 years ago

Why you shouldn't trust successful people's advice.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k7jeQQdqPA

billmalarky• 10 years ago

To me that video is not making the absolute claim that the clickbait title suggests (their words not yours of course). The actual video seems to suggest to the viewer to be wary of _only_ looking at the winning perspective and being subjected to survivorship bias. That is, there's nothing wrong with hearing advice from successful people, but make sure to get input from unsuccessful people as well to get a more complete picture.

everyone2• 10 years ago

True, I think in this case you could argue that the title is warranted as it is exceedingly common in our society to examine and emulate successful people whereas it is exceedingly uncommon to do the same for (or even be aware of the existence of) unsuccessful people

awinter-py2• 10 years ago

it's not survivor bias, I think it's attribution error.

allisthemoist4• 10 years ago

Called Paths to Power, it emphasizes the importance of neutrality: The world is not fair or unfair. It simply is. The more you can suspend judgment, the more you can learn and grow your power.

Not to be cynical about this approach, but having studied some of these concepts from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective, the idea of utilizing the perspective of Beginner's Mind to "grow your power" is a gross misappropriation and misunderstanding of the entire framework. In fact, within the traditions that originally conceived of these approaches, attachment to power, fame, and/or wealth is seen as the root cause of suffering and mental disenfranchisement and the very conceptualization that is to be let go [0].

Perhaps I need to look into this course a bit more to understand their approach but it seems that this is right in line with what many Buddhist scholars have worried - i.e., that these ancient traditions will be misunderstood and reformed in a way that may have wholly unhealthy effects on those who practice it.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths#Second_truth...

mbrock• 10 years ago

What if you use that power to help other beings, though?

swombat• 10 years ago

Using your power, whatever it may be, to help others is one thing. Deliberately, actively, perhaps even desperately seeking more power to help more people is another. The first is a form of compassion. The other is a form of pride. Why do these others need your help? Have they asked for it? Are you seeking that power to help or because you like power? Lots of questions that muddy the water there.

There are certain things, like enlightenment, which naturally slip out of your grasp the moment you try to deliberately reach out for them.

llamataboot7• 10 years ago

"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

pcmaffey• 10 years ago

Attachments to fame, money, and power inherently limit your power. This is why you always see cult leader types who use "real" spiritual tactics eventually fall into an ego-trap.

If you are truly "on the path", you will eventually be challenged to drop your ego. It matters not how you got onto the path, but how you respond to each challenge.

allisthemoist4• 10 years ago

Very much agreed.

The very beautiful potential consequence of this kind of teaching is that it will get more and more people onto the path regardless. And once you are on the path you will recognize the suffering inherent in the pursuit of wealth, fame, and power.

alanwatts• 10 years ago

All that depends on how you define "power".

Judging by the chart under the Self Mastery section, it seems the author defines it as growing your physical, emotional, and mental energy.

Such a result could be argued to be in correlation with the Buddhist proposition of letting go of attachment and desire.

By letting go of preconceived notions, concepts, opinions, or the desire to have power (dominance) over others, we then have all of that energy available to us for creative means which would have otherwise been wasted in anxiety, or saṃsāra.

allisthemoist4• 10 years ago

Want something incredible to read that will fundamentally alter your conception of power? Look up Foucault's work [0].

[0] https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/newhistoricism/mod...

visarga2• 10 years ago

Same tool and intent, different problem level. Both Buddhism and Abundance Philosophy have the purpose of lowering contraction and pain, but while Buddhism does that on a general level, related to life/society, AP solely focuses on being creative and not missing opportunities.

On the other hand, there are parallels between the two: "noticing" and "neutrality" are mindfulness - open non judgemental attention. "Priming" is concentration meditation. "Self-compassion", "generosity" and "gratitude" are metta. They took Buddhist ideas and reused them in a corporate setting.

allisthemoist4• 10 years ago

This is precisely why many Buddhist scholars have worried about the integration of Buddhist thought into Western culture: the divorce of these concepts from their underlying meaning can render them ineffective, or worse, harmful.

Without an understanding of the foundational concepts of impermanence, nonself, and nirvana (the three jewels), activities like meditation lose much of their transformative power and much of their effects on creativity and mindfulness. This is important as these effects appear to mirror the very aptitudes that "Abundance Philosophy" is attempting to target.

awinter-py2• 10 years ago

Famous counterexample to this is the stuff about crisis leadership from a few years ago:

http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/first_rate_madness_interview...

This guy's thesis is that in tough times, mental illness is associated with leadership effectiveness. His examples are Lincoln and WT sherman. (the stats argument here ends up being pretty weak).

Bottom line -- it's really hard to grade heuristics unless you have enough knowledge to restrict the situations which may occur in the future (and if you do, it's no longer a heuristic).

maxxxxx• 10 years ago

I think the most important thing about this kind of advice is not to generalize it. For some people it works and for some people it doesn't work. There is no self-help advice that works for everybody.

Also: The advice given is not complete. The people who have success with this do the things the article describes, but they also do some important things the article doesn't describe.

Animats2• 10 years ago

This looks like an attempt to monetize an evangelical Christian concept.[1]

From the article: The ideal attitude is what she calls Abundant Thinking — a mindset that gives you the creative agency and grit to reach your vision — and, on a daily basis, to design your own life. When Verresen first meets most of her clients, they’re in reactive mode. It’s like they’re in a movie, acting in their job and life without knowing the script or having perspective. Her goal is to put them in the director’s chair, with more choices, perspectives and possibilities to rewrite and upgrade the script as they go.

From an evangelical site: One way of viewing abundant life is to see when people have been changed by the power of Christ; they live different lives, which affects all aspects of their experience. In missiololgy, we call that "redemption and lift." This isn’t just true individually, but can also be on a cultural level. So, spiritual change, accompanied by better decisions, does often lead to better circumstances financially. (Sometimes it get's you arrested and martyred, so don't miss the point here.)"

[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/march/what-d...

dang• 10 years ago

Lest anyone dive into religious polarization around this, it's worth pointing out that such psychological doctrines have a long history, back through Norman Vincent Peale and Napoleon Hill to the New Thought movement of the late 19th-early 20th century [1] and a whole kaleidoscope of religious splinter groups. Many of these were Christian, but mostly marginally so; a famous example is [2]. Then there's the New Age wing to this (think The Secret) that goes back to the Theosophists and alchemical traditions. Then again there were more philosophical versions, like the Transcendentalists. You can find this type of thing in Emerson. The history and literature is rich. More recently it is beginning (as one would expect) to take scientific and quasi-scientific forms, including attempts to test it experimentally. Not clear yet what will come of those.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_a_Man_Thinketh

duaneb2• 10 years ago

Not to mention existentialist philosophy, which again can be theist (kierkegaard) or not (too many to count).

theoh• 10 years ago

I'm happy to see the intellectual history of this subject discussed in a cautious way.

The New Age contrast between scarcity and abundance is compelling when applied to the question of adapting to changed circumstances. (Take for example the link posted in the last day or two about people raised in poverty finding it difficult to regulate their food intake.) The New Age arguments boil down to a simple diagnosis that we have been conditioned, by scarcity, into habits that are no longer appropriate.

There was a Wired article about 7 years ago which discussed this contrast from another angle. In that article, like the original link under discussion here, the Scarcity mindset is caricatured as mean and rigid. The Abundance mindset is healthy and open to alternatives. It's not at all about "manifesting" abundance out of nowhere, as per The Secret. I think Stephen Covey might be a major source for the Wired version of the polarity.

From the Wired article "When scarce resources become abundant, smart people treat them differently, exploiting them rather than conserving them. It feels wrong, but done right it can change the world.

The problem is that abundant resources, like computing power, are too often treated as scarce."

Hard to disagree with that.

http://www.wired.com/2009/06/mf-freer/

et13372• 10 years ago

The evangelical Christian concept of "abundant life" is already an attempt to monetize the religious imperative of tithing. It's the "prosperity gospel": give us money and God will make you rich. I say this as an evangelical Christian myself.

chris_wot9• 10 years ago

I really object to calling all evangelical Christians supporters of the so-called prosperity gospel. Whilst there are a lot of adherents, many, many evangelical Christians consider it to be an aberration and an utter misreading of scripture.

_yosefk2• 10 years ago

The religious version in fact seems more restrained in its promises, with the "arrested" bit at the end. (Not unexpectedly BTW; IMO comparing any such pitch to a religion is usually a compliment to the pitch, as religions of today evolved over many centuries and so are better debugged than many an age-of-reason attempt at scientific-sounding wisdom. And personally I'm deeply not religious, but still.)

I did read that rats run faster towards a reward than they run from a punishment etc., so yeah, scarcity vs abundance, sure, but if someone is paid to coach me when I have a deadline to meet, I'll show them some abundance.

kaybe• 10 years ago

I suspect many religions also suffer heavily from legacy issues. Maybe a rewrite would help, debugged or not.

Animats2• 10 years ago

The religious version in fact seems more restrained in its promises

I picked one of the more conservative sites promoting "abundance". There are much worse. See "Prosperity Theology" in Wikipedia. That, however, seems to have declined since the 2008 recession.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

sametmax• 10 years ago

It's also soufism and buddhism. Most religions has those embedded in their core, but people tend to practice anything but the most important bit of theirs.

Practially, this is what meditation leads to. This is what therary leads to. This is what "being in the zone" really means.

Bottom line, this is a state that is good for us, and that we avoid most of the day, despite being adviced as a practice by almost all the important doctrines for a long time.

rcconf• 10 years ago

These concepts also work really well for dating and relationships. If you approach girls with a scarcity mindset, you tend to be a lot more needy, insecure and generally feel like a victim.

If you approach girls with an abundance mentality, you're much less needy, more confident and you don't really care about the outcome. You're just there to learn about her, and if she's not interested, well, there's plenty of other girls that will be.

llamataboot7• 10 years ago

Or maybe if she isn't interested, she just isn't interested? If she was the last woman on earth and she wasn't interested in you would that make it somehow alright to keep approaching her?

I mean really, I get what you are saying here, but it comes dangerous close to a guy viewing women as a "resource" and saying that he behaves better when he views that resource as unlimited.

dwaltrip• 10 years ago

I think you are projecting onto the comment a bit.

If the usage of the word "scarcity" was what caught your eye (as an association with women being "resources"), it was simply pulled from the article, which labels the two contrasting types of thinking as "scarcity" and "abundance".

sridca• 10 years ago

What's with all this "objectification" philosophical nonsense? Shouldn't the only thing that matter be how people treat each other? Why are the likes of you not directing their ire at HR departments (where humans of both genders are treated as "resources")?

Kurimo• 10 years ago

So she sells coaching to already successful and wealthy people that amounts to those banners they used to have around my elementary school that said "Attitude is a little thing that goes a long way"?

Hooray for snake oil.

eggman• 10 years ago

some people produce more benefit half-sleep than thirty-five of those who appear to be awake. I'll pass on 'abundant thinking'...

coldtea2• 10 years ago

The ideal attitude is what she calls Abundant Thinking

When I see a marketable name for such things, I immediately know it's some BS mix-match of hogwash to sell to people in need.

And sure enough: "sought-after executive coach Katia Verresen, who counsels leaders at Facebook, Stanford, Airbnb, Twitter, and a number of prominent startups".

junko• 10 years ago

>"Priming is engaging in any activity that boosts your emotional and mental energy ... [like] photos that make you happy." That's Asian cats from Instagram for me!

I'm usually a bit skeptical of bullet point advice like this as reading it always seem like self-evident truism; I think people have to really experience it in order to understand its proper depth. But I'm glad that self-compassion is mentioned here because it's not preached very often and prob less intuitive. When I realised about it in one eureka moment (I know!) almost immediately I could have more respect for myself and found it much easier to forgive personal flaws and mistakes. So if you ever find yourself kicking and loathing over something, do a mental "There, there" patting on your head! You'll begin to see life in a much more whimsical, Woody Allen way :)

PavlovsCat• 10 years ago

Well, one should be fair to other people, and if possible friendly, right? Turns out oneself is a person, too :)

I have expressed my strong interest in the mass of the people; and this is founded, not on their usefulness to the community, so much as on what they are in themselves. Indeed every man, in every condition, is great. It is only our own diseased sight which makes him little. A man is great as a man, be he where or what he may. The grandeur of his nature turns to insignificance all outward distinctions.

-- William Ellery Channing

I think that can be extended to more than humans, maybe everything.

And hey, don't knock eureka moments, especially not your own! When I was 20 and late for work in the morning, I walked by a lawn with a bird on it who was looking for worms, and looked straight at me. I didn't think about it at all, but nodded and said good morning. Then I had to laugh at myself, then I thought about it, and I never quite saw animals the same way. Suddenly it seemed so obvious, of course they're persons. Not ones who speak my language or care about my salutations, but still. I feel similarly about plants, central nervous system or not. I mean, it's not like I could tell you what I mean with "person" to begin with, where the cutoff point is, but something changed and it felt and feels right.

But compassion for animals and plants is easy, compassion for humans is trickier... and compassion* for oneself, that's the trickiest part, and as you said, the most often overlooked. It's like we understand just fine that we shouldn't dehumanize others, shouldn't hold grudges, not disappoint people or break promises, and so on, but simply affording ourselves that same respect and basic goodwill often eludes us, which we then compensate with all sorts of things which are far from both compassion and real confidence.

* which is a great way to put it.. self-love just doesn't have the same ring of understanding, patience etc. to it; like "loving Justing Bieber" and "having compassion for Justin Bieber" are two completely unrelated things.

llamataboot7• 10 years ago

Dressed up Calvinism IMHO. You're poor? You just aren't tapping into the abundance of the universe.

chris_wot9• 10 years ago

That's not a tenet of Calvinism.

llamataboot7• 10 years ago

sure, but ascribing some sort of otherwordly virtue to people by virtue of their material success is. inverted Calvinism perhaps. Regardless, still taps into the weird part of the US psyche that has a Protestant work ethic that believes that everything is possible for everyone if they just work hard enough filtered through a sort of divine blessing (only this case it is dressed up in a New Age "tapping into the power of positive thinking schtick") -- in any case, it has the same outcome of blaming individuals for the structural circumstances they find themselves living in -- in one case, it is that you obviously weren't one of the chosen, in the mainstream meritocratic case, it's a more easy to digest "you just didn't work hard enough", in this case it is dressed back up with psuedo-religious trappingsabout how the universe wants you to succeed and you get back the energy you put out.

lukeqsee• 10 years ago

It's actually much closer to the polar opposite theologically: Arminianism.

bottled_poe• 10 years ago

Hand-wavy garbage. In my mind, there are only three things that matter when it comes to business success: Company reputation, ability to deliver and who you know. Everything else is either not important or fits under one of those tenets.

dbkaplun• 10 years ago

The author clearly doesn't practice abundant thinking, as the title should be "The Advantages of Abundant Thinking".

The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

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