This is probably a grand non-sequitur, as I have not been reading the thread for a couple of weeks and therefore have no idea what you're currently discussing. But it is on-topic in any other reasonable sense of what is on and off topic.
Revisiting Zeroth Things Zeroth
Why though?
I'm taking a rather deep and well thought-out stress management course and we've been asked one of the most fundamental questions of self-exploration: what is important to you? This is a broad question, insanely so, which is exactly why I'm back to this thread again. You see, this thread not only has a great community willing to discuss broad topics, it also has some great writing on this very question from time to time.
This is a chapter of Jason's writings that I value above all the other ones - and above most of all other helpful stuff I've ever read. I truly believe this chapter can help people, even help humanity and society as a whole. Is that a ridiculous claim? Well, we'll see what you think, as I quote and discuss my way through what I believe to be the key points of this gem of the internet hiding in the midst of this giant thread.
The concept
To start us off, what are we talking about?
2019 Chapter 1:
Zeroth Things Zeroth
Yes, I know, the title is a bit of a head-scratcher.
First things first means, simply, that you should tackle the more important stuff before doing things that don’t matter as much.
Okay. To begin understanding
zeroth things zeroth, consider this:
- Zeroth is when you make a list that starts with 1), then remember something so critical you add a 0) step above all the rest.
- Zeroth is the fun stuff you really want to do, even when you should really be studying for that grade or finishing the presentation you need to clinch that promotion.
- Zeroth forces you to pay attention; sometimes you can’t focus on anything else.
- Zeroth comes before first, even if you don’t want it to.
- Zeroth is something you can do again and again…
So, “zeroth things zeroth” means, to me:
Before doing what you HAVE to do, consider what you LOVE to do.
Or, maybe we can make it even simpler:
Before doing, remember why you’re doing.
Now let me interject: this is an important concept, undoubtedly, and in this post I will try to explore
how important and for what/whom. And it is a concept that is abstract enough to be fairly hard to explain, yet with these quotes, it has been explained quite clearly. This already makes this chapter very helpful. But wait, it gets better.
On the importance to a business, an organization and a society
Why exactly this concept is important to a business specifically is where Jason's writing goes next:
[I realized] something that had been bothering me all last year: that, in focusing on all the things everyone thought were important (first things first), we’d slipped on the zeroth level—and that slip was absolutely critical to our happiness…your satisfaction…and long-term success.
Suddenly you have a company run by CPAs…a company that’s forgotten why it came to exist in the first place. A company having no fun.
And a company that isn’t having fun isn’t doing cool, interesting stuff.
And that’s no fun for the customers, either…
There is a lot more detail in the explanation of this in Jason's chapter itself, but I think the above two quotes very succinctly summarizes one of two main reasons this is important for a business. Note how this affects development and therefore extends to impact society overall.
Note also how this is more general than it first might seem. It applies to any organization, be it a business or a non-profit or a state agency or a government or even society at large.
When you forget why you do things, you also forget how to do them well.
This rule on the importance of
why applies especially to organizations at larger scales, but it also applies to individuals.
The other main reason is that an organization is made up of people, so that if you want the organization to be healthy and work well, you need the people that make it up to be healthy and work well. Jason touches on this again and again (but the best quotes on that are not to be found in this chapter, so I have not taken the time to go find them in order to include them in this post).
On the importance to a person
And this concept is very, very important to a persons mental health, to how well they work. Getting a handle on your
zeroth things is instrumental to your capacity to deal with
first things.
But I may be getting ahead of myself here, let's get back to where Jason goes next. Ah, no, he actually arrives at the very same thing - what it means to
you:
“Okay, all that’s cool and all, but I still don’t know what this ‘zeroth things zeroth’ is, or how it can help me. Come on, throw me a bone.”
Gotcha. I can be long-winded; please accept my apologies. Let me see if I can keep this ultra-simple:
- Zeroth stuff is what you truly love to do.
- Putting zeroth things zeroth means you have fun, and that shows in everything you do.
“But I thought this was about companies,” you say. “Now you’re talking about people.”
Well, when companies can happen without people, then maybe I’ll worry about the distinction.
A true zeroth thing isn’t just a whim, like binging the latest season of The Orville or going to Sur La Table to get a bunch of fancy baking stuff to try your hand at some of the horrifying fruitcakes from the Great British Baking Show. A true zeroth thing is a compulsion—something you love doing so much you have to come back to it, again and again. Something you’d be comfortable doing for a very, very long time—maybe even your entire life.
Let me give you an example.
My zeroth thing is, probably more than anything, exploring new ideas and working out the challenges that come with them.
Here comes an aside on what it means to Jason and Mike and Schiit, but it is an extraordinarily good example, so let's include it even though I'm trying to summarize:
This zeroth leads me down a whole lot of paths: creating new electronics topologies, and working them out (hell, I’m still discovering things about Continuity, even a couple years after I started playing with it), creating new marketing blather for Schiit, ranging from this blog to 50-hour Photoshop ads depicting improbable scenarios, and even writing fiction—creating worlds from thin air and working out their details is something I’ll never get bored with, though I’m not publishing anything these days.
But the way this zeroth thing is reflected most in Schiit is where it intersects with Mike’s own zeroth thing: he loves to disrupt, to go against the grain, to shake things up. Put those two together, and you get a company with a zeroth things zeroth something like this:
Let’s have fun exploring new things and shaking up the status quo—or, hell, let’s have an absolute blast and do a bunch of things that nobody thinks can be done!
Getting back to finding what it means for you:
Defining Your Zeroth Things
What is your
zeroth? Let’s start with what it isn’t:
- It isn’t a whim or passing fancy, it’s something you always like to do.
- It’s not a single concrete thing, like starting a new car company.
- It’s not a goal, like making a million dollars.
So what is a
zeroth thing?
- A zeroth thing is, simply, what you love to do.
- Zeroth things are the fun stuff.
- You can do your zeroth things forever.
Want some examples? I already gave you mine and Mike’s. Others might be physical—we have one guy at Schiit who’s hiked the Pacific Coast Trail and hikes as much as he can. This is one of his zeroth things. Or it may be more intellectual, like our Masters-in-Philosophy guy who really wants to reconcile various modes of thought that go over my head. Or it could be more prosaic, like a designer who used to work at Centric who literally wanted to design everything he touched—everything was a design challenge, every previous answer had to be challenged, in order to reach an internal idea of perfection.
And here’s the thing. When Cameron is back from a hike, he’s happy and energetic, the best person he can be. When Tyler figures out some convoluted philosophical argument, he’s thrilled, and every part of his life is better. When JB got to design one more part of his life, he was calm, satisfied, complete.
And this is why you put
zeroth things zeroth. Because it improves every part of you.
Now we circle back to the importance of all this, the impact. Here's the thing I really want to say that Jason did not already say for me:
This improves everything.
This is not just for you personally, because this makes such a difference to your mental health and to your general attitude to things, that it will truly help everything. Your interactions with people around you. Your family, your coworkers.
It can help you greatly in being the best you can be, giving you more of the good days and less of the bad days. Even when you're not having a great day you it can help you have enough strength to employ the principle of WWIDOMBD: What Would I Do, On My Best Day? That principle, by the way, is not meant to answer what you actually ought to do in your current situation. Just look at the answer for inspiration, take from it what you feel you can actually accomplish in your current situation and be satisfied that you to the extent that you deemed possible at least acted according to your own best policies and morals.
Even your bus driver and your supermarket cashier will benefit, as long as we still have those, because mood is contagious. It spreads by line of sight, via smiles and frowns, or by sound, through the tone of your voice.
The value of your zeroth things and the importance to humanity
Next Jason talks a lot about how this pertains to business, career, starting your own company. All very good reading, so definitely follow the link and read his post rather than mine if that is your focus. But let's quote the general principle here, which sums it up very nicely:
Where a zeroth thing intersects with value, that’s an opportunity.
This principle has far more reach and importance than I think Jason realized when he wrote it. Just consider values other than money, and opportunities other than money.
If your zeroth thing has value to the local kids, that's still a great opportunity. An opportunity to be helpful, bring joy, bring knowledge or provide support. To the kids and their parents, to your community, to our future.
If it has value to anyone, it is an opportunity for you to interact with that one person in a very positive way. Like hiking, for an example that may have seemed to have no value outside the personal in Jason's original post. Someone who enjoys hiking may enjoy your company, may thrive and develop as a result of you sharing your knowledge. Someone who does not normally hike may be curious and may grow in an entirely different way if given the opportunity to hike with you. Back to personal value again, you may grow nicely from having such interactions with people.
Aside:
Someone that does not normally hike but, let's say, inherited a mountain cabin full of stuff? They might actually pay you to take them there so that they can sort through the stuff. And then pay again and again for you to do all the trips needed to pack that stuff out of there, and then again for taking prospective buyers and making the sale of the cabin happen. Rare, but it probably happens, right? Do not discount an opportunity that isn't a business as something you can't make a profit on. One-time profits are nothing to sneeze at especially if they closely pertain to your zeroth things, because you will do a good job and provide good value there. (And that might snowball into you making a living from it no matter how unlikely you think it is. Weirder Schiit has happened.)
If it has value to any group of people, it is an opportunity for the world to become a better place. Because you did your thing and that had value to a whole group of people, you helped them out in some way, and you can most rightfully feel very good about that.
Finally, I think all these smaller scale things add up. I think there is value to our collective future, the future of humanity, in taking these opportunities. I think there is an opportunity for a bright future in people finding their zeroth things and finding where their respective things provide some sort of value.
Finding your zeroth things
This is how Jason ends his chapter:
Here’s the thing, guys: I can’t really tell you what your zeroth things are. But I’m sure you know what they are.
They’re the things you love without reserve.
The things that make you happy beyond words.
And, if you find the intersection between a zeroth thing and value—and not be sucked into the plodding drudgery of first things first, and allow yourself to do zeroth things zeroth, you might just find yourself somewhere incredible…
…in a place where you’re the best you can be—and where you’re truly content to stay.
Good stuff, Jason has a knack for ending his chapters on a high note. Highlighting what a positive force your zeroth things can be. So please, everyone: think about this. Try to identify your zeroth things.
How?
What if you don't know what they are? What if they change throughout your life? Well, I can only give you two approaches: you can think about it, and you can be observant of your feelings.
Thoughts
My thought process was that these are the things I cannot avoid doing, the things I just can't stop my brain going on about, the things I end up doing even when I'm not supposed to. I found my list of zeroth things to be as follows:
- Understand how things work and why
- Share these understandings, explain things, teach
- Discuss and think things through, in a philosophical and often completionist manner, usually but not only in the service of the first two points
- Refine things, not to say perfectionize (which may be an archaic term but it's the right one)
- Precision, in written and spoken language, in measurements and in tools
- To be in nature, both on everyday walks and bike rides as well as less commonplace, grander, experiences
- Hugs, to be close with the people I hold dear, both physically and mentally
I then thought about this some more (see points 3 and 4
). These are not just about the value I can provide, oh no, they are so much more important than that. These are my needs. They are not universal, they are personal, but your zeroth things are needs for you just as mine are for me. Actually that last point may be regarded as universal, but it is on this list so that I do not forget about it when thinking about these things.
Human needs! And this is not just about self-fulfillment, this heavily delves into self-esteem, belonging and to some extent even into the sense of safety. (Yes even without that last one of my needs, even without the last two, for me.) There is a great sense of security in doing those things that you naturally tend to do, being who you are, doing your zeroth things. You're almost certainly good to very very good at doing these things, so it will be good for your esteem, not just your self-esteem but also how you're esteemed by others.
At this point it is unsurprising to learn that your zeroth things heavily influence stress tolerance: when these needs are not met I am eventually overcome with feelings of meaninglessness and futility, so that even the tiniest challenge can cause me more stress than I can deal with. The lack of my zeroth things is stressful in itself and when it is combined with tasks that are outside my wheelhouse it has the potential to put me in hospital.
I'm not sure whether it is that drastic for everyone. But I hope that this line of thinking was able to shed a little more light on what the zeroth things truly are and how I find them to be so very important.
I am somewhat unclear on whether I have any redundancies in my list of zeroth things, do I actually need all of these? I think that to some extent I do, but as long as there is a minimum amount of each of them, an abundance of another one can help a lot.
So, I've thought about it, and I've written about. I might need to add writing to the list, actually... Anyways - back to the next approach.
Feelings
Be observant of your feelings.
Specifically, observe what you do that feels meaningful to you, and what you do that feels meaningless to you. I happened upon this approach a long time ago, when I was a teenager and pondered the meaning of life. This is a powerful approach to understanding yourself, moreso than it might seem. Because, as it turns out, we're not entirely good at gauging these feelings afterwards or in advance, we actually need to do it in the moment. So do that, maybe for a few weeks each year, maybe continually. You will learn about yourself, it can certainly help you find meaning in your life and with a bit of work it can help you find your zeroth things.
For people that might need a more feelings-based approach to all this, rather than the long-winded philosophical thought-based approach that is this post, I can actually recommend a short book: Happiness is an Art Form, by Agnes Török. A poet that did a bit of a deep dive in the science of happiness, tried to live accordingly, learned a lot and wrote a lot of wisdom into not so many words. In my not so humble opinion and mostly but not just personal experience. There's a
TEDx talk of 11 minutes too, if I did not manage to sell the book with my words.
Conclusion
Hmm. What have I actually learned from this revisit, what have I actually arrived at?
When you forget why you do things, you also forget how to do them well.
Having a good handle on your zeroth things, setting aside some time for them so that you don't end up with these very real psychological needs unfulfilled, greatly helps your ability to cope with stress and do the first things. If you fail completely to fulfill these needs you may lose hope and fail completely to cope with stress and do the first things.
Zeroth things hold potential to be very powerful, very far-reaching forces of good. For people and for what the people do. Some well-structured version of this should probably be taught quite broadly, that might do a lot of good for society and humanity.
Also, I write too much. Sometimes. Other times I do not write enough. YMMV.
