Learned help yourself-ness - learn this and you can do anything
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 6 mins
Summary:
Learned helplessness = you cannot improve at new things without a curriculum and / or teacher (coach)
Learned help yourself-ness = you can improve at new things even without a curriculum or teacher (coach)
There is always a pioneer.
What someone in a first world nation (like Australia or the US) does today has almost nothing to do with what humans did in hunter gather times. This is the accumulated outcome of ‘learned help yourself-ness’. IE people doing new things that had never been done before.
We can all do things that have never been done before. This, IMO, is bloody effing sweet!
You can help yourself. You don't need anyone else to help you to make progress (although that doesn't mean others can't help).
On a more micro level, almost nothing I’ve ever done at Edrolo had I ever done before.
Growing up I didn’t know that ‘I could do things that had never been done before’. I wish I knew that at an early age.
IMO two of the key questions philosophers have been asking for millenia are:
1. What does it mean to live a good life? and
2. What is the common good?
One equation I have for a good life:
Good life = 1. Having the tools you need to build a good life * 2. The right stories that you can use those tools to build the life you want * 3. Get on with building!
IMO you cannot expect to be given a good life, but you can try to build one!
We are told stories from birth (socio-cultural indoctrination). For example studies show that east asian cultures have a far more ‘growth mindset’ towards mathematics than do western cultures. IMO you get to decide what stories you want to live by, you don’t have to take the stories that others tell! See “Story = Reality Distortion Field”
Jingle: sing yourself sweet lullabies. Don’t be a slave to the stories of others!
Three ‘Stories’ that I believe are key to a good life (these are DA definitions - ie not necessarily what you’ll see elsewhere)
Story 1: Hard work (vs entitled)
“Nothing will work if you don’t.”
It’s better to work smart (eg deliberate practice), but no work = no good (outcomes)!
Story 2: Growth mindset (vs fixed mindset)
Growth mindset = you are not born good or bad at anything, you get good at what you work on.
Fixed mindset = you are born good / bad at things and cannot change.
Eg somehow you might be born at ‘expert’ in maths (skipping novice, competent and proficient) even though no one can walk or talk at birth.
Growth mindset = you can improve at anything you try when there is a curriculum and / or teacher (coach)
Story 3: Learned help yourself-ness (vs learned helplessness)
Learned help yourself-ness = you can improve at new things even without a curriculum or teacher (coach)
This doesn’t mean that curriculum materials or a coach won’t help. What it means is that there aren’t any necessary prerequisites for progress to be made in something you have never done before.
You can carve your own path and create your own curriculum
Learned helplessness = you cannot improve at new things without a curriculum and / or teacher (coach) [aka victim mentality].
‘I can't help myself. Only others can help me.’
One of the key ways the world gets better is by people doing things that have not been done before. So we need ‘learned help yourself-ness’.
To do this you can't always have a teacher / coach around
Too much support at minimum stunts someone's growth, at worst deprives someone the opportunity to grow.
Sometimes to doing something new, means there is not someone around who can coach you
If you are not reliant on someone to grow you, then you are the master of your own trajectory
Even if you do have a coach around, sometimes the optimal amount of support is no support (see energising expectations).
Flailing is not failing. Giving up is failing... or not even trying at all because you don't have a curriculum or coach (aka Learned Helplessness)
Some quotes for y’all:
“The biggest risk is taking no risk.”
“You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.”
“Self belief is a core ingredient to succeeding in anything.”
"Whether You Believe You Can Do a Thing or Not, You Are Right" - Henry Ford
“The highest leverage activity any human can have is inspiring other humans to do what they’re capable of” – Austen Allred
“If you’re trying to eliminate all risk from your life, what you’re actually doing is eliminating all possibility from your life.” Snowden
“For what it’s worth: It’s never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” — James Allen
IMO what is one of the skills in shortest supply? The ability to to make progress on something you have never done before and/or do something that no one has ever done before. AKA Learned help yourself-ness.
I think some other names for ‘learned help yourself-ness’ are ‘thinking from 1 st principles’ and ‘problem solving’.
IMO this is the ultimate skill. Get good at this and you'll be able to do anything.
Effectively achieving mastery in learnt help yourself-ness would mean you’ll never not be able to get a job.
The more people we have in the world who are able to do things that haven’t be done before the better the world will become with useful innovations
The lack of learned help your selfness is a topic I see in the education zeitgeist, ‘how do we teach entrepreneurship in schools?’
IMO one key component of entrepreneurship is ‘learned help yourself-ness’.
Counterfactuals - a personal note
I try to only work on things that wouldn’t happen if I wasn’t doing them.
For example Australia needs more houses, but if I, DA, was making or not making houses there would still be more houses.
However I don’t see anyone trying to change education the way we are at Edrolo.
As such, I’m more attracted to working at Edrolo.
If you want to do things that wouldn’t happen if you weren’t doing them then to me it’s axiomatic that you will need to do things that haven’t been done before. So basically you have to have ‘learned help yourself-ness’.
More than that, I basically don’t want to work on anything that I know how to do (aka have done before). Most often I believe the place I can help the most is doing something that hasn’t been done. It used to be scary, but now it’s oh so fun!
IMO learning to help yourself make progress at something brand new is learning to help yourself to fun!
Fun is not overrated! Fun = Fantastic!
Learned help yourself nations
There is a wonderful book called on Israel called “Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle”.
Israel is a country of 9 million people yet it has more companies listed on NASDAQ (the major US tech stock exchange) than anyone else other than the US.
IMO one expression of learned help yourself-ness is entrepreneurialism. Other examples of learned help yourself-ness: making music, making a sweet spreadsheet for paying royalties, hiring people, standup comedy, Mustang recipes, etc etc.
As above there is a push to try and teach entrepreneurialism in schools. I think this is a good idea and something that can be done better than it currently is!
Venture Capital is money to help fund startups. While not perfect, the amount of Venture Capital deployed in a country is a deceent proxy for entrepreneurial activity in a country.
Some graphs:
2017 data
2015 data
Yes, Australia is not doing well :(.
If you look closely you’ll see that the actual numbers for Venture Capital deployed per country vary. However, it’s widely regarded that Israel has the highest VC deployed (ie invested in startups) per capita followed by the US and that both are more than 10x+ what happens in Australia.
IMO Americans are not born 10x as entrepreneurial as Australians.
IMO Israelis are not born 10x entrepreneurial as Australians… From a standing start 30 years ago.
Israelis didn't somehow eat different food and somehow become 10x as entrepreneurial as Australians vs nothing 30 years ago.
On top of this Venture Capital per capita in Israel has been increasing significantly as well. Ie Israelis are significantly more entrepreneurial than they were 10 years ago.
Israelis have learned how to help themselves. Now most everyone in Israel knows they can help themselves and their entrepreneurial ecosystem goes from strength to strength.
IMO you can have your own leaned help yourself-ness go from strength to strength. IMO you can help others learned help themselves-ness go from strength to strength.
I don't know why Australia wouldn't want to have the strongest ‘learned help yourself-ness’ culture in the world. As an example this should mean stronger new job creation, higher average income and much more!
… Imagine if you could get into every classroom…
… Imagine all the people… Learning to help themselves, woo hoo-ooo!
… Ok one more. “Fortune favours the bold.” Fortune favours those with a learned help yourself-ness mindset.