Live, Laugh, LinkedIn! Ep 2: Small Consistent Efforts
Not so solid math.
The coffee break was nearly over, which meant another meeting was ahead.
It just made sense, didn't it? If you want to have an excuse for a hybrid model, better make the best out of those days when everyone's at the office, and what better way to make the best days at the office than team building activities and… workshops.
Alex and Miles were on their way back to the office, squeezing the last few jokes before they went in, and we're greeted by Jordan and Sarah already in the meeting room.
Jordan: You'll never make it anywhere if you don't respect other people's time guys.
Alex: It's still 3 minutes before the meeting and we were on our break…
Jordan: It's a sign of respect to be earlier than the time in your calendar.
Alex: So when you say respect other people's time, you mean management time, not our fifteen-minute breaks. Noted.
Miles: oh snap!
Jordan: That's not…
Mike (arriving with one minute left on the clock): Hey guys! How's everyone doing? Hope you're all excited about today's workshop!
Jordan: I'm really excited Mike! I've been looking forward to it since you sent the invite earlier today!
Miles: hahaha, good one jordan!
Alex: I think it wasn't sarcasm KM…
Miles: oh…
Sarah: If we finish earlier can we go?
Mike: Um, sure Sarah, we'll try to make this quick and we'll see how much time I can give you back.
(Sarah, Alex and Miles show signs of relief)
Jordan: So the invitation said this was a workshop to help us grow, that sounds exciting!
Alex to Miles (whispering): Sycophancy can only take you so far, amirite?
Sarah (joining the conversation): More like suck-ophancy...
(Sarah, Alex and Miles laugh)
Jordan: What was that?
Miles: sarah just said…
Sarah (hurrying to interrupt): That you look super fancy today Jordan.
Jordan: Huh, thanks Sarah I think you have to dress the part if…
Mike (interrupting): Let's pay attention guys!
(Mike points at a whiteboard where he has written some equations)
Mike: I know sometimes you feel like you're stuck doing the same thing for years, I wanted to show you how it's all in your mindset. Look, the math doesn't lie, you can continue doing nothing at all or you can just add a small increment and see huge changes!
Miles: oh man, i hate math…
Jordan: It's not so complicated Miles
Alex: It's not that it's complicated, it's just "convenient"…
Mike: What do you mean Alex? How's a better result "convenient"?
Alex: Well, for starters, the top equation is meaningless, you know that don't you?
Mike: Uhm…
Jordan: It's not meaningless Alex, it's meant to represent how doing the same thing for 365 days does nothing at all.
Mike: Yes! Thank you Jordan.
Alex: I know that's what your whiteboard says, but you do know that mathematically speaking, one to the power of anything will always result in one, right? I don't know where you got this from but it's a very dishonest way to show the cumulative effort in a year of work…
Sarah: Hold on, do you expect us to work 365 days a year? What about weekends and holidays?
Miles: can i use my calculator?
(everyone starts arguing)
Mike: Guys! Guys! Let's not get distracted, Alex, I think we can agree that the message is more important than the math…
Miles: so is the math important or not?
Alex: Mike, the math IS the message! You're literally trying to communicate the importance of small increments over a period of time, aren't you?
Sarah: And what do you have to say about weekends Mike? Does me binging on Gilmore Girls count as an increment because I'm sure as hell not working on weekends…
Miles: oh gilmore girls! i had a crush on…
Sarah: Shut up Miles!
Alex: Even without weekends and holidays we're talking of somewhere around a 250% increment, how's that humanly possible Mike?
Mike: You're overthinking Alex, what you need to do is count down from 5, then start!
Alex: But Mike…
Mike (interrupting): You know what? Let's just... let's wrap up here.
Sarah: Thank God, can we go?
Mike: Yes! You can have these 12 minutes of your time back. Great workshop team!
Jordan: It really was Mike, I learned a lot.
Mike: Jordan, can you stay?
(Sarah leaves the room first followed by Miles and Alex)
Mike to Jordan: What do we do about Alex?
(to be continued)
Author's Note:
I found that post twice on the same day. Twice.
What annoys me most about it is the dishonesty when choosing the math to make the point. Not only do they have to make it exponents because if they had made it a simple multiplication it wouldn't be so impressive (1.00×365=365 vs 1.01×365=368.65) but then, humans are not machines.
What happens on the days you can only give 0.99? What happens if you can only give 0.50?
But sure, let's create a graphic calling a consistent output of 1.00 for 365 days "Doing nothing at all"…
It's all this "grinding" culture that's all about more, more, more while pretending like it's not a big deal and like if you can't manage a 1% increment a day, then it's your fault.
Anyway, I thought I'd leave this one on a cliffhanger so I can come back next week and see what happens with Alex and his uncanny ability of using common sense.
Speaking of common sense—what's the most mathematically dishonest "motivational" post you've seen on LinkedIn? Drop it in the comments and maybe Alex can fact-check it in a future episode.
And if you liked this episode and want to read the first one, you can check it out here:
Thanks for reading, and remember: sometimes overthinking is just... thinking.