MONTHLY MULLING 💡
The Story of Sparrows, Pots and Pans, and the Great Chinese Famine
Hi👋 Tapan here.
Monthly Mulling is a bi-monthly newsletter curating the best ideas from the web to your inbox for free. High signal. Low noise. Join now👇🏽
Note: If my emails end up in the ‘promotions’ tab, please move them to the inbox so you don’t miss out.
Happy Sunday y’all!
I am currently reading The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran and am in a philosophical rabbit hole. Over the years, I have read a few summaries of the Gita but I have finally picked up this complete translation.
And well, no surprises, it’s a pretty heavy read. Unfortunately, it is always viewed from a religious lens but it carries answers to a lot of philosophical questions including what’s our purpose in life?
I saw some common threads between Greek philosophy and the Gita which was really surprising.
Anyhoo, we will cover the Gita in a later issue.
💡Today, we will talk about: 🪺 And Then What? (The Story of Sparrows, Pots and Pans, and the Great Famine), 🏃🏽♂️ The 4 Pillar Plan (Action Items For A Healthier Life), 📊 Pygmalion Effect (High Expectations —> High Performance)
🪺 And Then What? (The Story of Sparrows, Pots and Pans, and the Great Famine)
Here’s a real-life incident of how a small hygiene campaign started by the Chinese government became one of the reasons for the Great Chinese Famine in 1960 😳
It relates to the “and then what?” second-order thinking mental model.
💭 Story time: As part of the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong administration started the Four Pests campaign.
The premise was simple: mosquitoes were responsible for malaria, rodents caused the plague, flies were a nuisance, and tree sparrows ate grain seed and fruit.
Eradicate them all👺
Mao’s government organized people to destroy sparrow nests, break their eggs, and kill them with slingshots.
They even went as far as hitting noisy pots (real Modi please stand up 😂) to prevent sparrows from resting in their nests so they would die of exhaustion.
With all these measures, sparrows were almost eradicated!
BUT this had a ripple effect.
See, sparrows eat grains but they also feed on insects and locusts.
Instead of increasing, the crop yield plunged in China which subsequently was one of the reasons for the Great Chinese Famine, which killed 15-50 million people.
🧠 So, what’s the point of this story? It’s to talk about a mental model called second-order thinking.
Second-order thinking moves beyond the immediate problem and considers the multiple layers of implications and consequences of a given decision.
In short, it looks past the simple first-order effects of a decision and deeply examines the second, third, and Nth-order effects.
- Sahil Bloom
Going back to the above incident, imagine,
🪨 A rock being thrown into a lake disturbing the calm - Mao’s Four Pest Campaign
💦 The initial splash is the first-order effect - sparrows eating fewer grains
But it doesn’t stop there.
🌊 There are subsequent ripples created of second, third, and n-th order - increase in the population of locusts and insects, destruction of crop yield, and famine.
An easy way to apply second-order thinking is by asking “and then what?”.
You will face many decisions in life that appear easy decisions. If the stakes are high, don’t rush to make the decision.
Always drill down deeper. Go down the rabbit hole 🐇
Second-level thinking is complex and calculated. First-level thinking is simple.
Some things to consider for second-level thinking are - a) Probability; b) Range of future outcomes; c) Is psychology involved; d) What will be the impact if I make a different choice.
- Howard Marks
There are other anecdotes of real-life problems caused by a lack of using second-order thinking such as Chesterton’s Fence.
🏃🏽♂️ The 4 Pillar Plan (Action Items For A Healthier Life)
In the previous newsletter, I wrote about this book. It includes 20 action items to help you live a longer and healthier life.
The 4 Pillar Plan is definitely an interesting read but if you want to skip the book, here are the 20 action items.
I know you are busy, so I gotchu fam 👊🏽
Although, with a twist; I want to share my own report on these action items.
✅ means I am currently doing it, 💪🏼 means I am working on it, and 👎🏽 means I am not planning on doing it.
🧘🏽♂️ RELAX (Current Score: 2/5; Score Potential: 4/5)
✅ Me-time every day: Every day, for at least 15 mins, be selfish and enjoy some time for yourself
👎🏽 The screen-free sabbath: Every Sunday, turn off your screens and live your day offline
💪🏼 Keep a gratitude journal: Every night, before you go to sleep, write a list of all the things that have gone well for you that day, and 3 things you’re grateful for
✅ Practice stillness daily: Make time to practise stillness for at least five minutes daily
💪🏼 Reclaim your dining table: Eat one meal a day at the table, in company (if possible), without your devices
🥗 EAT (Current Score: 2/5; Score Potential: 4/5)
💪🏼 De-normalise sugar: Retrain your taste buds by removing all sugars from your cupboards and get into the habit of reading the food labels
💪🏼 Five a day: Aim to eat at least five portions of vegetables every day - ideally of 5 different colours
✅ Introduce daily micro-fasts: Eat within a 12-hour window every day, and reduce the window to 8 hours once you get used to it
✅ Drink more water: Aim to drink eight small glasses of water per day (approx. 1.2 litres)
👎🏽 Unprocess your diet: Try to avoid food products (store-bought) that contain more than 5 ingredients
🏃🏽♂️ MOVE (Current Score: 0/5; Score Potential: 3/5)
💪🏼 Walk More: Aim to get 10,000 steps per day
💪🏼 Become stronger: Do some form of strength training twice a week
💪🏼 Begin regular high-intensity interval training: Find a form of HIIT that works and do 10-15 minutes two sessions each week
👎🏽 Movement snacking: Do 3-4 movement snacks per day
👎🏽 Wake up your glutes: Do at least one glute movement per day and the given series of exercises 4 times a week
😴 SLEEP (Current Score: 2/5; Score Potential: 3/5)
👎🏽 Create an environment of absolute darkness: Try to keep your bedroom completely dark, free of televisions or e-devices
💪🏼 Embrace morning light: Spend at least 20 minutes outside every morning
✅ Create a bedtime routine: Start your evening wind-down with a ‘no tech for 90 minutes’ as part of a set ritual
✅ Manage your commotion: Minimize any activity that will raise emotional tension before bed
👎🏽 Enjoy your caffeine before noon: Ensure that any caffeine you do choose to consume is taken before lunchtime
As you can see, I am currently scoring 6/20 which is abysmal. My 2023 goal will be to at least get to the potential score of 14/20.
How much did you score? 🤔
📊 Pygmalion Effect (High Expectations —> High Performance)
Pygmalion is a legendary king and sculptor in Greek mythology.
He made a sculpture of a woman that he found so perfect he fell in love with it. Pygmalion kissed and fondled the sculpture, brought various gifts, and created a sumptuous bed for it. He quietly wished for a bride who would be "the living likeness of my ivory girl"! Simp 😂
According to the myth, Aphrodite granted him the wish converting the sculpture into a living woman for Pygmalion and with Aphrodite’s blessing, Pygmalion married the “ivory sculpture”.
The myth of Pygmalion is used to name a psychological phenomenon.
🧠 Pygmalion Effect: High expectations lead to improved performance in a given area.
If you consistently see people at their highest potential, they will achieve more.
When you're occasionally let down, consider it a tax you pay for all the benefits from those you believed in.
Thanks for reading 🙏🏽 Do you think any of your friends will like Monthly Mulling like you? Please share!😇
If you have any comments, you can connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or reply to this email!