Vol. 4; Modern Life Skills

MINDSET/MENTAL MODEL OF THE WEEK
Figure it Out

I was catching up with a grade 12 student yesterday as part of a new content series I’ve started recording episodes for.

I knew him from my time at TKS, where a core component of the program is exposing students to different mindsets and mental models to help them better make sense of the world, and how they can make the world work for them.

As we were wrapping our conversation, I asked him what one mindset - out of all the mindsets he had been exposed to in the program - was the one that every teenager would benefit from being introduced to.

His answer didn’t surprise me. Without hesitation, he replied with: figure it out.

It’s a cornerstone of the TKS program. There’s custom emojis in Slack, hashtags (#FIO), and memes on memes.

I love it too - it’s basically a super mindset; a combination of problem solving, critical thinking, and taking action all rolled into one. It’s the burrito of mindsets 🌯.

If students asked directors (their coaches) a question that we felt was something they could figure out on their own, that’s how we would respond. Figure it out.

We weren’t being jerks. We would (eventually) help the kids.

But at the start of the program, before this mindset became second nature, they were coming to us without making any effort on their own.

That’s really what we were coaching them to do. Come to us and say I’m trying to solve X; so far I’ve tried this and this, with no luck. Can we look at this together?

And they learned to LOVE it. Granted, they’re taken aback at first. In a world of helicopter parents and accommodations, it’s a new experience for many.

They learn to love it because it helps them to create a legitimate sense of earned self confidence.

After enough reps of this, they begin to build up a repository of: ‘I figured that out on my own, I can probably figure this out too’ moments.

It’s worth noting that it’s important to explain that ^ intention to students.

One of the smartest things I think TKS does is make sure to explain the why behind everything that’s introduced in the program, and encourage students to push back if they don’t understand, or agree. If they know why they’re doing something, it’s easier to get them on board with it.

I read an essay this week that is another illustration of the FIO mindset that I think you’ll find interesting. It’s from one of my favourite internet thinkers; Packy McCormick.

It’s called Burn the Playbooks.

He gives a few examples to support his main argument; success has become overplaybooked.

If you zoom out and think about it, playbooks are everywhere. Follow these specific steps exactly to get X.

While good intentioned, there’s a series of negative second order affects that begin to appear when everyone is encouraged to take the path of least resistance.

Here’s a snippet.

If you’re currently giving your students step by step playbooks to follow, maybe try pick one this week, and toss it aside for now. It will probably be painful at first watching them struggle - but they eventually figure it out. #FIO

LIFE SKILLS
Surround Yourself With the Right People

Find your people. I bucket this concept within the domain of creating an environment that will help you win. Environment is everything.

But creating an environment of the right people is a often a hard earned lesson. A teenager might not have the foresight to understand why Jimmy is a bad apple.

It’s one of those life lessons you have to live through. To experience first hand. But it’s still important for them to hear, so they can connect the dots when it happens.

“Ohh, that’s what Ms. Kalicki meant when she said you become the average of the people you surround yourself with. Bye Jimmy”.

Here’s what Sahil and Vanessa have to say about it, and a study that might help drive it home:

Who knew it could get worse than average? 🤦 

I love that line. Secret watering holes. 🚰 

Here’s a battle bruised hippo from our honeymoon this past year at his favourite watering hole.

You don’t want him as one of your five friends. Anger issues. 10/10 would recommend a different watering hole.

CAREER ADVICE
Start a Podcast. Actually.

I’ve been sharing this little hack for the last few years now. It works like a charm.

Austin Belcak shared this post last week on how to make networking easier by starting a podcast. I can personally vouch for this tactic through my own efforts, as well as the 20+ teenage led podcasts I helped get off the ground.

I first discovered this idea through this 3 hour audiobook which is one of my most recommended books - Content Based Networking.

The premise is simple.

People like talking about themselves.

We all have an ego. Even if we’re not the most extraverted person in the world, it’s a good feeling to have the spotlight on us every once and a while. To talk about our work, our accomplishments, and our interests.

Deep down, we all appreciate a little flattery.

And that’s what this is. Someone wants to feature ME on their podcast!?

It’s a cool feeling for the guest, and it works for the host - as a networking tool. It doesn’t matter than the episode will only get 6 listens. It still works.

It also doesn’t have to be a podcast. Any type of content works; the psychology remains the same. It can be a series of blog posts, campaign on instagram; doesn’t matter.

At TKS, I coached my students on how to do cold outreach in general, and then how to ask for a mentor. Not through a mentorship matching program - we wanted to show them how to do it on their own for their current, and future projects.

Teach a man to fish > Feed a man a fish.

For some, cold outreach was a daunting task. Imagine being 16 and talking to a 40 year old Synthetic Biology phD stranger over zoom.

Even just making the ask for that meeting over email can be a big deal.

The hack here is that with a podcast, you’re not asking for a meeting to ‘pick someone's brain’; a phrase that doesn’t hold the same weight anymore.

You’re reaching out to profile the guest on your podcast. And even though the conversation would be largely the same, the fact that they’re being featured, with the spotlight on them, makes it a lot easier for them to say yes.

And once you have that connection, it’s the starting point to a real relationship.

It’s not a silver bullet, but it works. I’m doing it again right now as we speak.

Not as a podcast, but I am recording conversations with industry professionals to profile some non-obvious careers, and interesting young people to highlight their unconventional paths - that will later make it back to students using myBlueprint.

⚡️ This could be a fun class project this year.

Instead of individual podcasts, organize a class podcast, with the goal of every student contributing one episode.

Pick a theme as a class that everyone can rally around, i.e. people who are working to tackle climate change.

Have students use AI and google to find some local companies, and employees in that space. Use those same tools to help craft a good cold outreach email.

Then set them free - within whatever boundaries make sense for your school community.

I’d be happy to jump on zoom with any educator reading this to help you figure out how to do this with your students. I promise it’s easier than you think. Just hit reply.

THIS IS COOL
Anthropic Agents

Have you heard of the term agent before in the context of AI? If you haven’t, get ready to start hearing it a lot more.

Think of them like little AI assistants that execute multi-step tasks for you.

Right now, our interactions with AI are largely manual and one-off, i.e. when talking to ChatGPT, we ask it to complete one specific task, like brainstorming ideas.

Or when using a tool with AI built into, like a tool that specifically generates lesson plan ideas. Those are specific, one-off events instructed by a human, whether it’s a button we’re clicking, or a prompt we’re writing.

Agents will essentially be able to complete multi-step tasks by themselves. Or what Dharmesh says in the 2 min video below; an AI agent is “software that uses AI and tools to accomplish a goal that requires multiple steps.”

Agents aren’t new, but mainstream use of them is. They’ve been around, lurking in the background for a while now, but largely relegated to simple tasks, with inconsistent outputs, in predefined systems, built by people with programming knowledge.

What’s changed?

Yesterday, the company Anthropic (a really big player in the AI space) released some demos of their new agent tool they’re building, and it’s getting people excited.

Anthropic is the company behind Claude, a rival to ChatGPT, led by former OpenAI employees. I use Claude regularly for writing related tasks; that’s where it seems to shine.

They’re calling this new tool ‘Computer Use’.

A boringly simple, yet illustrative name.

One of my favourite tips to give to students when writing or giving presentations, is ‘explain, don’t impress’, i.e. make sure I understand what you’re talking about, not try to impress me with big/buzz words.

They nailed that tip with this name, because that’s what it does - it knows how to use your computer to complete multi-step tasks.

Here are a few examples of it in action. These videos are only ~90 seconds long. You should watch one. They really help drive it home.

Pick the first one if you love watching the sun rise 🌞 

And here’s an education related example from Ethan Mollick, a professor at University of Pennsylvania:

We don’t have access to the Computer Use tool yet - it’s in public beta, but for people with special privileges essentially.

This agentic world is coming. I can see the pros, but can also envision some cons of an internet dominated by agents.

This past weekend I was on hold with a company, and was talking to an automated support agent. I’ve learned if I yell “HUMAN!” enough times, or smash the 0 button, that usually gets me connected. I wonder what the equivalent will be with agents.

I am choosing to be cautiously optimistic.

Regardless, they’re coming.