A small force yielding a big result

#58 - (winner winner) chicken dinner

Dec 04, 2022

Hi there,

As I said to a friend at school this week, “The cold switch has been flicked on”. Plunging and sticking in the low single digits, December temperature has arrived. The start of this school year has gone fast.

A pretty good week which got better as we went through it. And only 2 weeks left: “We’re on the home straight now”. One more week of proper schooling, because we all know, nothing good gets done in the last week…

Highlight of the week ⭐: going out for dinner with 4 friends. A first for me, it was a belated celebratory dinner for my birthday. Fantastic food, excellent conversations and a solid memory: worth the head-spinning hassle of finding a date we could all do.

In physics, we define the moment, or turning force, of an object to be the force applied times the distance from the pivot. This is the science behind door handles, scissors, spanners and pliers.

Outside the physics lab, we know this to be leverage. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “to use something that you already have in order to achieve something new or better”. I’d add “an advantage which you use to create effects greater than the action” - where your outputs are greater than your inputs.

As the picture illustrates, we should always be looking for opportunities for leverage1. After all, we are fundamentally energy-conserving beings, always looking for shortcuts, tricks and hacks to make our life easier. Whilst these often aren’t valid (see the Quote of the Week), here are a few clever ideas that will definitely work

Doing little and often 🪣 - a typical teacher cliché when it comes to revision, the principle behind it is that writing your notes, doing questions, consolidating your understanding and putting the work in as you study something is so much better than putting it off for later or worse, the day before. The more your incorporate revision, in small quantities, into your routine, the more you allow the mind’s magic memory mechanism to work and pay huge dividends
I made the graphic myself!

Habits, atomic Habits - a similar concept, beamed all over the world by James Clear’s amazing book, the effect of compounding, “the eighth wonder of the world” according to Einstein, can only happen if there are regular top-ups of actions - choosing the stairs over the lift, picking fruit over chocolate, starting the day with a to-do list.

It’s also worth noting that we can use leverage to help others. In many situations, the time or energy it takes us to do something can end up meaning so much more than we think to others.

The Sun's Out

The magic of being kind

Hi there, As we cascade into October, autumn leaves and chilly winds, the school work has been turning up a notch. Tests are starting to find my desk, difficult topics are entering the chat and the number of hours needed at home is scrolling upwards…

2 years ago · 1 like · Aditya Muthukumar

Giving feedback/advice/your opinion where it is valued: walking past her room, I stopped by the PSHE Head’s room to tell her what I thought of the PSHE day last week and what could be improved for next year. It was evident that no one had given her proper feedback about it and although it only took me a couple of minutes, she found it very helpful and said she would act on it.
Similarly, on the way home on Friday, I walked past a Year 11 (and keen reader of the blog!). Pausing to ask him about how his grades have come out gave rise to a conversation on how to improve at Computer Science and me sending him a few links. Again, a cumulative time of 10/15 minutes but I got a heartwarming email back, with this appreciation.
Thank you very much for taking time out of your day to share these resources with me. Your advice is extremely helpful! I value your input highly.
Doing a little extra to help someone - whether it’s sending a calendar invite to someone so it’s automatically scheduled in or hyperlinking a relevant resource to save them the bother of searching for it, those small helpful nudges can go a long way (featured in this week’s podcast). E.g. I had a saxophone exam this week and me telling the piano accompanist where I needed his help and bits to watch out for earnt me a “He’s great to work with” comment to Mum, which made her happy: win-win-win 😊.
Saying a genuine thank you to someone - double points if you are specific about what you are appreciative of. When hard work is rewarded, it just feels so good and it strengthens your connection with the person you’re thanking. So whether it’s an event organiser (my situation), your friend for completing a favour for you or even just the café waiter, think of ways you can do small things that they’ll remember and smile about.

Who doesn’t love doing less than you need to do? Where doing less doesn’t compromise on outstanding results counts as leverage. Seek opportunities where you can use this sensation, grab them and hold onto them tightly - they can become your best friends.

Book of the week 📖

I‘ve decided I’ll be pressing ‘Pause’ on The Wealth of Nations, applying an idea I learn from one of Ali Abdaal’s videos that books shouldn’t be treated as sacred texts that we must grit our teeth and read religiously from start to end. I’ll come back to it another time. Haven’t decided on a replacement yet though.