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We often say that each failure makes us stronger. It makes, but I think it's only a half-truth. In the same manner, we can say that rocks on the sea coast are getting stronger and stronger with each surge. But apparently, they aren't. With passing days coastline is eroding more and more. So why does everyone constantly feel obligated to repeat that superficial life advice?  

Facing difficulties is a harsh experience. Sometimes we fail due to our own inability, sometimes we just weren't able to win. To trick us even more, in some places there are no linear cause-effect relationships, and some amount of failing is calculated in the equation. So failing or succeeding is enslaved by the stochastic reality. That's why the casino "always" wins and your insurance company will eventually be in the black.  

Working hard and thus surviving severe hardships creates an appealing vision on which we can easily build our own image. In our society, there is a phenomenon called "hard-work ethos".  So the situation may unfold as alike:  
  *I failed at something, it's unpleasant, hard to stand. But hey, at least it made me stronger. Everyone knows that situations like this are fertilizer for growth, aren't they? I just need to keep trying and it will be fine.*  

But the bitter truth is, it won't be. There is a popular adage that one can have 10 years of experience which may consist of 1 year repeated 10 times. Or if you prefer classic quotes: *The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.*  

So we have already discussed a few things which don't work. That's a good start. But it doesn't provide us any guidance on what actually we SHOULD do.  
  **I always try to picture failure as a present.** But not that kind, which gives you short and instant pleasure. Not the type, which you will be bored with after 5 minutes of playing. What I mean, is rather a gym membership card, which your wife has bought you on New Year's Eve. Will you unpack that present or just put it off for the "better times"?  

Gathering experiences and knowledge is foundational, but not sufficient to thrive in a practical sense.  If it were, everyone with access to Wikipedia, or everyone who struggled several times would be inclined to succeed. The recipe would be straightforward. Just keep failing as soon as possible and then you will be good. So we could say that each startup founder who failed several times, each investor who lost all his money a few times, and each child who always "gets in trouble" are on the track to success. But they are not.  

So, the cycle usually looks like this:
![learning-cycle-2.png](https://strapi-appunite.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/learning_cycle_2_ee28891122.png)


And I think that the missing secret ingredient here is a **reflection**. The process in which we digest a new knowledge or experience, and then decide if we can make any use of it. This is the way, we can "unpack" the present that the failure gives us, using our gym membership card to make ourselves stronger.  
![learning-cycle.png](https://strapi-appunite.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/learning_cycle_64fd5714e4.png)

But... how to reflect well? That's the material for the another reflection.  

*The improvement cycle metaphore heavily inspired on Ray Dalio's 5 step process 
https://www.principles.com/principles/689e0214-1e50-4ca0-a5d2-5e223599badf/

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We often say that each failure makes us stronger. It makes, but I think it's only a half-truth. In the same manner, we can say that rocks on the sea coast are getting stronger and stronger with each surge. But apparently, they aren't. With passing days coastline is eroding more and more. So why does everyone constantly feel obligated to repeat that superficial life advice?  

How to get better at anything? The secret ingredient.

Naming is important because it immediately communicates the role of the entity, but it’s only wording after all. In order to propose appropriate naming, we need to understand its function. The matter complicates a little bit when we speak about humans. In heavily repetitive and standardized environments, job titles are often connected with responsibilities.
**For example, a truck driver is responsible for:**

- loading a freight
- maneuvering the truck on a factory parking lot
- driving a truck
- refueling a truck
- unloading a freight
- keeping tachometer
- occasionally repair something trivial in truck *(NICE TO HAVE)

And stating requirements in such a way is perfectly adequate and sufficient. Moreover, in order to be a truck driver, you need to pass an exam for a driving license in a special category. Such a standard adds additional prefilter to our recruitment funnel. Probably we can say that if someone is capable of fulfilling those responsibilities, we can say with 99% certainty that he is suitable for that job.

**So let’s conduct a quick thought experiment.** We change the domain a little bit. Now we want to describe the responsibilities of a rally driver. So probably the main activity is the same - driving a car. The difference would be just COSMETIC:

- it’s a different type of car
- on a different kind of road
- with a different speed and acceleration

But after all, you can say it’s just driving, isn’t it? Even the time constraint and purpose are the same, the truck driver needs to deliver freight as soon as possible, and the rally driver needs to deliver his and his pilot in one piece to the finish line - as soon as possible.

So bear with me and that metaphor for while longer. Imagine that the AppUnite is the WRC Subaru team. We have 5 great drivers, but we want to scale our operations, and “the management” made a decision - we should hire another 5. People team along with the rally delivery team write down a job offer with requirements and list responsibilities:

- participate in rally competition
- driving - including
    - accelerating
    - steering
    - braking
    - controlling understeer and oversteer slides
- provide engineers feedback about car setup concerning the suspension and steering system

Would that kind of job offer give us the same level of certainty about candidates? Even if we found folks who have a driving license, probably **99,99% percent of them wouldn’t be the next rally champion**, 80% of them wouldn’t survive the first rally, and 50% of them wouldn’t survive the first turn.

What can we learn from that? Focusing on specific actions can bring us only THAT far.

List of responsibilities, list of duties is a tool for communicating a purpose. And it works well if we stay in a **simple system** or **complicated system**. Because the system itself lacks internal depth, we can prepare a playbook on how to handle it. In truly repetitive domains things are getting even further - nowadays robots are doing our job in car manufacturing, vacuum cleaning, or the grocery store automatic checkout.

Even the job of above mention truck drivers is going to be automated. There is going to be less and less demand for humans doing repeatable and simple work. And that's a sign of civilizational improvement. But like with every substantial change, the feeling of uncertainty may creep in. Eventually introducing the automated elevators caused the profession of an elevator operator wasn't needed anymore.

That's why we should turn our sight higher, on the problems worth solving. Rather than asking just plain **"what"**, following that question with** "what for?"** and **"why".**
If we do that right, we can be sure that no robot can stand competition with us. Nor any human competition.

The things which we do each day may come from the job requirements. And it’s nothing wrong with being satisfied and happy with that. But if for some reason you are not, ask yourself - **do I really know why I do things that I do every day?** Of course, it may be “just a job”, but still it consists of a significant part of your life. Being accurate - around 25% of your week. So maybe it’s worth considering making that time, which will pass anyway 100% worth spending? It’s your life after all…

What is the difference between a truck driver and a racing driver? How easy or how hard is it to hire each of them? Short contemplation about roles, list of duties, and reality, based on Cynefin.

To tell what to do or tell what we aim for?

Things by Damian Romanów