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Making big decisions with a bias to action
A few weeks ago I wrote a piece about five mindset changes that I’d learned about in “Design your Life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I described one of these mindsets as “try stuff”, but the term they use for it is having a “bias to action”. For me it’s been such a game changer in my life that I thought it worth exploring a bit more deeply.
What is a “bias to action”? What does it look like when making long term decisions? And how can I start to make it a part of my mindset?
Six things I’d do if I were choosing a university course right now
OK, so I applied to universities in the 80s.
No league tables, no social media, and in fact no internet at all. Just a very large book in the school careers library with some serious lists in it. And a handful of prospectuses - though even those weren’t quite like the glossy brochures of recent years.
I basically chose on the basis of hearsay, reputation, and following in the footsteps of my siblings.
No disrespect to my siblings, but it was a pretty terrible way to choose a university.
Knowing what I now know, after a 30 year career spent in university marketing and admissions, it’s no surprise that if I had another chance, I’d do things a bit differently.
Is “Find your passion” really a good way to choose a course?
It’s advice that is as old as the sun: “Find your passion, and you’ll never do another day’s work in your life”.
Or when you are heading off to university “Choose a course that you are passionate about”.
But, most careers advisers nowadays would say that such advice is deeply unhelpful. It creates the expectation that every young person should have found their passion. And since most of you simply haven’t found your passion while still at school, it just creates unnecessary pressure on you. Which in turn just makes you freeze; unsure of how to progress and how to choose what to do next.
However, perhaps there is something to be said for working out ways to explore your potential passions; how to find challenges, industries, and roles that might feel more like you are making a difference, and less like you are doing a job.
So how can you go about exploring what yours might be?
What exactly are super-curricular activities, and why should I be bothered?
You’ve all heard of extra-curricular activities; things like sport, games, clubs and community activities that you do outside of your studies. But what about super-curricular activities? Perhaps you’ve heard about these from teachers or advisers, but aren’t really sure what they are all about. If so, read on…