I have been listening to some snippets of lectures done by Jordan Peterson and in one of them he gives out a framework in to structure your life and give at least a little structured direction.

Framework

It states that you move from What is to What should be. So you make a planned sequence of behaviour into either predicted outcome or unpredicted outcome. They both hold a promise that leads into an emotion. So for example for the predicted outcome one you will go via a promise into hope. For the unpredicted one you might go via the promise (threat) into anxiety. So then you continue the sequence if the predicted outcome is acquired and you generate or choose a new sequence if the unpredicted one has been acquired.

This can happen at a micro level and multiple of these miniature flows can make up the whole macro level. For instance, you can state Complete Meal as a goal. Then there are the sequences of Cut Corn, Set Table and Do Dishes. Then on the same level there is Play with Baby consisting of Peek, Tickle and Clean. Then there is Family Care consisting of Complete Meal and Play with Baby. Then there is Good Job in the same level. Above that there might be Good Parent consisting of Good Job and Family Care and so on.

Slight deviation

So a slight alteration to the framework might be as follows. We go from point A to point B. We might hit an Object in the middle. it can be a Tool or an Obstacle. A Tool will generate the positive affect and the Obstacle a negative one.

Chaos

So what happens when you don't have a plan? Let us call that state Chaos. You are the Chaos and that is not a place you want to be. So for some they conjugate a plan. It is fragile because it exists of bits and pieces, but it is their identity. They hold on to it in the ocean of Chaos as a piece of flotsam. They identify really hard with that plan, the so called ideologues. So now you float into something that confronts the plan. What can you do? You cannot let go because you will drown into the ocean of Chaos. So you hold on to it rigidly. That makes you unable to learn anything. It is actually worse, you might end up in a place that is like Hell or close to it, you cannot tell the difference anyway. You will also inadvertently drag everyone around you with you.

Become the tool

So if you are not the plan and you don't want to be Chaos, then what are you? Well why not be the thing that confronts the plan/Obstacle? In other words why not strive to be the one that takes new information and generate a new plan from it. Evolve as it were. I am not going to state that every obstacle is an opportunity in disguise but there might be a lesson to be learned from them. Use them to your benefit.

Software Engineering

So how can we apply it to software engineering, well take languages for instance. Don't cling to a language stating it is the best ever and all the other ones are fake, not good enough, they are not worth equally. Take lessons from other languages. Maybe you can learn something from frontend development, or the PHP language. Does not have to be negatively phrased either, like what not to do. There might be things there that you will agree with. Same goes for frameworks, way of working, cloud providers, testing, quality, data structures, databases, and so forth. Try to set out a path to a goal you want to do, for example learn Machine Learning. It consists of a number of sub paths, and in each of those sub paths you might stumble across contradictory information. Take it with you as you keep going from A –> B.

#thoughts