Hero Licensing Class 2022
Once I wrote up all the things “agency” could mean, I realized I wanted to focus on Hero Licensing.
(Different versions of teaching agency are taught in different places)
A colleague recommended A Message to Garcia, which, despite its unpleasant politics, did have the intensity and feel I wanted to convey, that there was something in the world like doing something at all costs, and what that might feel like.
I started by differentiating the class from other things it wasn’t: Things this is not:
Upside bargains
Cold emails
Read a Message to Garcia out loud [6 min]
Collect thoughts from the room [8 min]
I brought up
The politics I didn’t like
The fact that the person in the story is doing his all to accomplish someone else’s goals rather than his own
Discussion of trying to try vs actually trying - is this an intuitive distinction?
Think of one of each in your life [3 min]
Pair share [4 min]
A social tech I invented on the fly that I’m liking is putting your hand flat out on the table when you are done with something internal / quiet so I know when to move on without requiring people to put their hands in the air. Less effortful, less pressuring on the people who aren’t done yet, lets people keep doing things like writing while waiting.
It’s not always the right move! But you should know what it feels like.
My attempt to get at some of the judgment / wisdom things, and the “what are you actually optimizing for” from Alex Lawsen’s 80k After Hours
People had to tap me on the shoulder. [5min]
In the previous version of this class, my co-teacher talked about the cool things he had done because people tapped him on the shoulder, and how he’s trying to be someone who doesn’t need that. At the time, I didn’t have stories like that, but I feel great about the fact that I now do, and bad about the fact that I also needed them! Teaching this previous version helped, though.
Something I don’t like about the essay is it’s about someone else’s task. But the thing I’m more interested in is this but if you have your own goals. Do you have goals? Hand poll [3 min]
I want you to pick a small or medium goal - in your life, in this program
And in 5 minutes solve it [resolve cycles]
For 5 minutes come up with other things you could try
Ok, now what’s a big thing in the world that needs fixing? Maybe the most important?
With 5 million dollars and a year, what would you do? Try thinking outside the box here
Think, pair, share [10 min]
Notice the mental motions
Are you generating what the government should do? What other people should do? The thing is to figure out what you would do
In retrospect I think I should have said 2-5 years, not one
What’s stopping you? [10 min]
Things that often come up
Lack of funding
Lack of skills
Lack of permission? A sense that someone has it handled?
Covid, man, what are people doing
Monkeypox
Hero license
Close the door - people are sometimes all cold but only one person goes to close the door
[Things I didn’t get to] Heroes are not idiots, though! Some things are there for a reason!
The opposite of complacency might be rowing, but it might also be steering
Are these things the right amount of ambitious?
Talk about too much and not enough
Judgment, Skill, Humility, Determination, Wisdom, Resolve
Chesterton’s fence
