I love watching soccer. It doesn’t really matter who’s playing, there’s just so much that glues me to the screen. Mainly, though, I think it’s the unpredictability that draws me to each and every match that crosses my path. Heck, that may be why any of us watch any sports at all; you really never know what will happen. Take this weekend’s 7–0 thrashing of Manchester United at the hands of Liverpool. I don’t really care for either of those teams, but I tuned in anyway because I knew it would be a match to remember. But I don’t think anyone could have predicted what actually happened. And that’s why we watch.
I want to focus on both the draw and repellant nature of unpredictability tonight, though. Yes, it can beckon us. But if your brain is anything like mine, you have to prepare for the unexpected just to fit it comfortably into your life. Now, I know that may sound contradictory, but let me talk through how I think about things like this, and maybe it will make a bit more sense. See, I have a need — some might even label it a compulsion — to create and maintain as much order as possible. Even in the work I love, I get to put that into practice every day. Templates, frameworks, and systems, these are all tools and processes I employ to try and control as much chaos as possible. I know that I can’t control for everything, but employing these gimmicks usually gives me the elasticity to account for whatever comes my way.
Let’s take earthquakes as an example. No, I’m not saying I can control for them, much less predict them. But I can put a plan in place should we have one. Because, more likely than not, we will. I can tell my family what to expect, and where to meet, and make sure our kit is well thought out and in a place where we all can get to it at a moment’s notice. I can’t prevent earthquakes from happening, but I can be as confident as possible that we have done as much as we can to prepare for one, if it comes.
There are other events, however, that are both completely unexpected and out of our control. The COVID-19 outbreak, for instance. Or the Google layoffs. Sure, they were distant possibilities in people’s imagination, but I sure wasn’t ready for either. Thankfully, I have enough systems and frameworks in place to create the capacity (or illusion of it) to deal with them. Or so I hope.
Besides the ManU-Liverpool match, the other inspiration for tonight’s topic was a recent “Radiolab” episode. I don’t want to ruin the payoff, but it involves the evolutionary process of crabs and how chaos is a key component. That unpredictability is terrifying to me, but also essential to my development. I can intellectualize that, but I don’t have to like it. I know that all my growth has come from change. Usually, it’s been change I had no control over. So, while I can attribute each of my personal and professional leaps to chaos and unpredictability, if I had my druthers, everything would stay static.
Even as I type this tonight, there’s hail hitting my windows in San Francisco. We’ve lived here for almost 16 years now, and we’ve had more hail events in the last week than in all those years. I would have never predicted that. And I’m sure there are tons of other things I will not be able to predict. I just want to make sure I’ve created order in as many other aspects of my life to be able to handle whatever comes our way. Before we all evolve into crabs, of course.
Black Rain
06 March 2023
Controlled chaos.
I love watching soccer. It doesn’t really matter who’s playing, there’s just so much that glues me to the screen. Mainly, though, I think it’s the unpredictability that draws me to each and every match that crosses my path. Heck, that may be why any of us watch any sports at all; you really never know what will happen. Take this weekend’s 7–0 thrashing of Manchester United at the hands of Liverpool. I don’t really care for either of those teams, but I tuned in anyway because I knew it would be a match to remember. But I don’t think anyone could have predicted what actually happened. And that’s why we watch.
I want to focus on both the draw and repellant nature of unpredictability tonight, though. Yes, it can beckon us. But if your brain is anything like mine, you have to prepare for the unexpected just to fit it comfortably into your life. Now, I know that may sound contradictory, but let me talk through how I think about things like this, and maybe it will make a bit more sense. See, I have a need — some might even label it a compulsion — to create and maintain as much order as possible. Even in the work I love, I get to put that into practice every day. Templates, frameworks, and systems, these are all tools and processes I employ to try and control as much chaos as possible. I know that I can’t control for everything, but employing these gimmicks usually gives me the elasticity to account for whatever comes my way.
Let’s take earthquakes as an example. No, I’m not saying I can control for them, much less predict them. But I can put a plan in place should we have one. Because, more likely than not, we will. I can tell my family what to expect, and where to meet, and make sure our kit is well thought out and in a place where we all can get to it at a moment’s notice. I can’t prevent earthquakes from happening, but I can be as confident as possible that we have done as much as we can to prepare for one, if it comes.
There are other events, however, that are both completely unexpected and out of our control. The COVID-19 outbreak, for instance. Or the Google layoffs. Sure, they were distant possibilities in people’s imagination, but I sure wasn’t ready for either. Thankfully, I have enough systems and frameworks in place to create the capacity (or illusion of it) to deal with them. Or so I hope.
Besides the ManU-Liverpool match, the other inspiration for tonight’s topic was a recent “Radiolab” episode. I don’t want to ruin the payoff, but it involves the evolutionary process of crabs and how chaos is a key component. That unpredictability is terrifying to me, but also essential to my development. I can intellectualize that, but I don’t have to like it. I know that all my growth has come from change. Usually, it’s been change I had no control over. So, while I can attribute each of my personal and professional leaps to chaos and unpredictability, if I had my druthers, everything would stay static.
Even as I type this tonight, there’s hail hitting my windows in San Francisco. We’ve lived here for almost 16 years now, and we’ve had more hail events in the last week than in all those years. I would have never predicted that. And I’m sure there are tons of other things I will not be able to predict. I just want to make sure I’ve created order in as many other aspects of my life to be able to handle whatever comes our way. Before we all evolve into crabs, of course.
See you tomorrow?