3Cs That Can Transform Your Personal Growth
Edition #099
Introduction
Welcome to The ContraMind Code.
The ContraMind Code provides you with a system of principles, signals, and ideas to aid you in your pursuit of excellence.
The Newsletter shares the source code through quick snapshots for a systems thinking approach to be the best in what you do.
The Code helps you reboot and reimagine your thinking by learning from the best and enables you to draw a blueprint on what it takes to get extraordinary things done. Please share your valuable thoughts and comments and start a conversation.
Take a journey to www.contraminds.com. Listen and watch some great minds talking to us about their journey of discovery of what went into making them craftsmen of their profession to drive peak performance.
How AI Software Will Change Architecture And Design.
We know AI will be disrupting many industries and professions. One such profession is Architecture and Design. There is a plethora of AI software like Stability AI, Midjourney, etc., which can fundamentally transform how architects think and render their ideas and designs. Is this a reality or a myth? This article from Dezeen captures some of the viewpoints of some very senior and well-known architects and designers.
Here are some key highlights from the article:
"It's meant to capture a vision of a project quickly" - Andrew Kudless
"AI has a huge potential in solving the 'thought-to-execution delay'," - Manas Bhatia- Indian Designer
"It's incredibly frustrating at times the amount of labor that especially younger people are being asked to do within firms to produce [render] images. And I think if we can automate some of that and still gain control, then I'm all for that." - Andrew Kudless.
Creative Director Bill Cusick at Stability AI likened the software to chess in that it takes a short amount of time to learn but decades to master.
"The three-dimensional aspects of a product and its relationship to its user and its environment present exponential challenges for AI, mostly because it cannot perceive the dynamic user interaction nuances within the physical world in which a product resides." - Dan Harden, American Designer
"We're talking about developing cultural models that can capture as much cultural data as any given country would be willing to give," Bill Cusick said, adding that Stability AI is having discussions about creating culture-specific neural networks.
Read the article here
Colossus: Great Quotes From This Year’s Podcast Guests
Colossus hosts definitive conversations with the world’s best investors and operators. Colossus strives to create, curate, and distribute top-quality content for an audience of investing professionals and entrepreneurs. They put out a curated list of the best quotes of 2023 from their guests.
Here is a select list of quotes that will make you think, and they can alter your mindset for 2024 and your entire life potentially:
“Constraints create a better business and better operations.” Fidji Simo
“Mute the world and then build your own.” Christopher Nolan
“I have one standard set of advice for all difficulties. Suck it in and cope.” Charlie Munger
“A company should be the resonant frequency of some tuning fork, clearly rung. Its founders are the first people to respond to that wavelength.” John Collison
“Pretend to be completely in control, and people will assume that you are.” Anna Wintour
“If you have a lot of curiosity and you’re a hard worker, you’ll go a long way. That’s how you get compounding.” Todd Combs
“The reward for good work is more work.” Kevin Kelly
“Conviction rather than convention is the key.” Ho Nam
“Curiosity is the only guide. And it's not the curiosity of the person sitting next to you, or the curiosity of your parents, or your teachers. You have to ignore these people. They want you to do what they want to do, which is irrelevant. You only have your life. You have to choose what you want to do.” David Senra
The 10 most popular TED Talks of 2023
TED Talks released their list of most popular talks of 2023. These talks can inspire you as you get going in 2024. Here’s one of them and a select listing of these talks for you to watch at your pace and leisure.
Here’s our select list of talks from this curated list:
Here’s the entire list
3Cs That Can Transform Your Personal Growth
Reading through the podcast quotes from the conversations of guests and thought leaders, one common thread could be derived if you are looking at personal growth - working on the 3Cs - Conviction, Curiosity and Compounding.
Conviction is fundamental in anything that you do. It is your deep belief in what you think is right and your ability to do things to achieve it. Conviction requires you to defy convention. The world and people around you will want you to follow what we have termed as GACP(Generally Accepted Convention Principles), which is like this:
“This is how it has always been done.”
“We have seen this generally does not work.”
“Many people who have tried this have not succeeded in the past.”
“Let’s do what is within the norms.”
“This path is too hard; it’s not worth it.”
This is when the conviction in your idea and approach is tested. Think hard and explore all the options and risks before you set out to do anything. But once you have developed a conviction, shut out from the noise you hear from outside.
Curiosity is an essential ingredient in anything that you work on. Curiosity allows you to question why things are done the way they are. And why can’t it be done in another way? It requires you to observe how things work and why certain things don’t work, how people respond or don’t respond, what’s the dominating bias they come with, etc. Don’t let your curiosity deplete as you gain more and more experience.
Compounding happens over time when you continuously learn and fail. It’s an inexplicable factor that often cannot be seen or measured. It shows up in highly challenging situations, and that’s when all your learning and life experiences come to your rescue to make you a winner. Compounding is analogous to rain harvesting; when it rains, store the water. When it’s dry, dig into it. But don’t forget to refill again what’s depleted.
When you combine conviction with curiosity and compounding, you can achieve phenomenal personal growth.
Some of the lessons we learnt from this week’s mission:
AI has enormous potential to solve the ‘Thought-to-Execution’ delay. This principle holds good for any industry or profession you belong to.
When you listen to the life experiences of others, it acts as a window to your growth.
Use the psychology of nudging to enhance your learning process.