One of the most useful self-hacks I’ve found is to think of my skills in terms of upgrade cycles — shipping a “new version” of myself frequently, with iPhone-like consistency.
I really enjoyed reading your article, thank you for sharing ! Sometimes I feel you don’t know the features / challenges of the upgrade until you upgrade. How do you tackle the unknown in the best possible way ?
1) remember that this isn't a 1-time shift -- I'm going to have to do another upgrade in 6 months or a year, so I don't have to get everything exactly right all in this 1 update (and in fact that's impossible)
2) remind myself that this process has been successful for me in the past (and has very limited downsides) -- so why not trust the process and see what happens?
thanks for the great note! Would love to hear your take on the process you go through to identify the "features" for the upgrade ? For me part of the challenge has been in defining the "features aka changes" needed next revision.
I think about this as similar to "market research" :) .
For instance, in a work context: What are my peers or team saying they need from me? What has been feeling "off" about the job I have been doing so far? What am I proud of that I want to double down on?
Sometimes even just asking basic questions of myself, like "What are my strengths *today*? What are my weaknesses *today*? Where do I wish I were spending my time *today*?" sparks a broader checkin on what is working about what I'm doing today + what the next version could be.
The hardest part for me is “when” should I release a new version of self. I always tell myself and my ex company partner that the hardest decision is not to commit indefinitely to something, but to understand when to let go of an idea and move on. I always make the mistake of getting attached to my previous version of self for too long :)
I love this framework. I am version 50 at this point! To extend the metaphor, the changes can also be incremental, what is version 2.4 vs version 3. Every positive change moves us forward. Thanks for the reminder ❤️
I really enjoyed reading your article, thank you for sharing ! Sometimes I feel you don’t know the features / challenges of the upgrade until you upgrade. How do you tackle the unknown in the best possible way ?
Some things that help me:
1) remember that this isn't a 1-time shift -- I'm going to have to do another upgrade in 6 months or a year, so I don't have to get everything exactly right all in this 1 update (and in fact that's impossible)
2) remind myself that this process has been successful for me in the past (and has very limited downsides) -- so why not trust the process and see what happens?
Thanks Ami!
thanks for the great note! Would love to hear your take on the process you go through to identify the "features" for the upgrade ? For me part of the challenge has been in defining the "features aka changes" needed next revision.
I think about this as similar to "market research" :) .
For instance, in a work context: What are my peers or team saying they need from me? What has been feeling "off" about the job I have been doing so far? What am I proud of that I want to double down on?
Sometimes even just asking basic questions of myself, like "What are my strengths *today*? What are my weaknesses *today*? Where do I wish I were spending my time *today*?" sparks a broader checkin on what is working about what I'm doing today + what the next version could be.
The hardest part for me is “when” should I release a new version of self. I always tell myself and my ex company partner that the hardest decision is not to commit indefinitely to something, but to understand when to let go of an idea and move on. I always make the mistake of getting attached to my previous version of self for too long :)
Thank you :)
I love this framework. I am version 50 at this point! To extend the metaphor, the changes can also be incremental, what is version 2.4 vs version 3. Every positive change moves us forward. Thanks for the reminder ❤️