Without Me, You’re Nothing

Frank Herbert, author of Dune, wrote an obscure nonfiction paperback in 1980. “Without Me, You’re Nothing” was a before-its-time manifesto about the unavoidable primacy of the personal computer and computing in all spheres of life, from arguably the greatest science fiction writer of all time.

Being Frank “ornithopters not helicopters” Herbert, he didn’t get everything right. But today, work, recreation, and even thinking are inconceivable without laying hands on computing power (our cheapest smartphones are millions of times more powerful than those early PCs). 

There’s something even bigger

No, not AI.

It’s something much more profound that you can initiate right now, no special equipment required. 

Something that will increase your personal gains exponentially, in whatever your field of endeavor (translation: whatever you’re working on will improve in an accelerated way, from “Keep up the good work” to “Whoa, what have you been up to?!”).

At the most basic level:

1. Write down a learning from a session

2. Review and apply it the next time

Having dedicated sessions is ALMOST enough

But not quite.

Case in point: Gracie jiu-jitsu.

Showing up to class regularly is absolutely a requirement to advance in this martial art. Twice a week is decent, thrice weekly is better, more is gravy, but be careful about overtraining and injuries if you roll hard over 50.

“Show up to class on the regular, and in 10 years you’ll be a black belt” is more true than not, but a lot is going on in the decade of that one sentence.

Long story short, speaking from experience as a newly minted blue belt:

Trust in the process, and seasoning and osmosis will naturally improve your performance. But you can accelerate your gains by noting what you need to work on after each class, and carrying it over to practice in subsequent classes.

It may sound obvious, but few students actually do it. Most seem content to work on what’s shown in class and call it a night — it works and it’s the baseline, and improvement absolutely happens.

But like compounding the interest of your retirement savings, you can end up waaay further along by having your gains multiply your gains.

Step One: Make space in your life to regularly work on your thing

Building a side hustle, losing 20 lbs, saving for a vacation, learning a new language? Or aiming for a BJJ black belt? Great — schedule and define a time and place where you will work on Your Thing. 

For me, it’s a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday class; for you, it might be an hour at home after dinner and dishes. Create a time and place to do your work.

This is a non-trivial step; everything depends on regularly showing up to unlock the magic of accelerated gains. Here and there is better than nothing; regularly showing up is the best.

Step Two: Demand action from each session

This is the fundamental lesson of the scientific method: fanciful theories are glorious, but they are WORTHLESS without proof (aka “Talk is cheap, whisky costs money”).

Make each session have action with real-world consequences, not just thoughts flicking between your ears.

If you’re working on writing, write — rather than just reading about how to write.

If you’re working on weight loss, eat a certain way — rather than analyzing the newest diet craze.

If you’re working on advancing a physical skill like a martial art or playing an instrument, practice the moves — rather than watching videos of others doing the skill.

This is the second, nearly most important prerequisite for progress. We live in an era where it’s easy to mistake thinking about something for doing meaningful work on that thing, and the two are NOT the same.

If you must think or watch to learn something, spend double the time actually acting on it.

Make shizz happen during your sessions.

Step Three: Note your niggles

After each session, make note of something to work on.

Maybe something didn’t go well, like vocabulary you didn’t remember on that day’s language lesson, or a move that you fumbled; maybe something went OK but you want to refine it.

Write it the hell down. You will likely forget otherwise — we are men and women of the world and have many plates spinning, no? — and it will annoy the bejesus out of you.

Think of all the Aha moments you’ve experienced over the years, how far along would you be now if you’d absorbed them all? WRITE THEM DOWN before they vanish into the ether. 

Step Four: Review your notes next time and work on what you wrote

Pull out your notebook, remind yourself of the thing you wanted to work on, then rep that out.

Not a thousand times. But enough to get extra credit value out of the added practice. Say, 5 minutes (for you, it might be 2 minutes, or 10, or the entire session).

Whatever you get out of regularly showing up, you’re adding an extra layer of benefit. 

Over time, this compounds enormously. It’s like paying back a mortgage loan with your scheduled payments and throwing in extra money each time — and owning your home much earlier than you thought.

Step Five: Repeat and Review

Review your notes more than one session in arrears; the thing you wanted to get better at may need more than one carryover to lock in.

It probably won’t take as long as you think.

Maybe every session for 3 or 4 sessions, then once a week, and after a month you realize you’ve gotten it down pretty well.

This is based on learning theory, and there are more formal ways of incorporating it. You work more often on things that are more challenging, and less frequently on the things you’re already good at.

The point is that it’s not just see it once and you’re done; most of us do not function that way.

This method enables you to capture what would otherwise run through your fingers.

Bonus: Step Six

Think big.

If you’re in an established curriculum, like working towards a black belt or taking lessons on playing guitar, this is largely baked in. The curriculum leads to a shiny endgame — you WILL get more ninja, you WILL be able to play songs — what you’re doing is accelerating the process of getting there.

With other goals, there’s no reliable roadmap. Your boiled eel food truck business may look nothing like any other restaurant business you’ve ever seen; neither success nor the path getting there is guaranteed.

You may have to set your overall direction and define your own endgame. 

It may not be enough to show up, learn, and apply your learnings. Without doing the first five steps, you will not go anywhere fast, but without Step Six — have an overarching goal in mind — you may go somewhere fast that you didn’t want to be.

But goal setting can be overrated. Too many people get stuck trying to define where they want to go and how they’re going to get there, and never take sufficient action to get anywhere close — a description of the 21st century if there ever was one.

So Go West, and be prepared to course correct. 

But by all means, go.