Author: Xiao Yi
Introduction:
In a blink of an eye, half of 2020 has passed, and it is time to make a mid-year summary. Xiao Yi, a senior technical expert in Alibaba Entertainment, summarized his growth and gains in the six years in Alibaba, and shared some of his thinking methods at work and some insights about life, hoping to inspire everyone.
Observe your own growth to reap greater growth
For a long time, I have basically done things based on nature or instinct. It is not that I have not thought, but I have never thought about "why I think so." The biggest enlightenment in the past year is to look inward gradually, how do you do, how you think, how you grow up, why do you think so, why do you do that, grasp the thinking process, and let more nature or instinct Expose and examine the logic of what you do inwardly, so as to establish your own system to think and think about problems. In this process, I gradually formed a series of "constitutions" that I followed during my growth. I think this is my biggest growth this year.
Relearning from children
The girl is one and a half years old, and she can gradually recognize the various fruit cards hanging on the wall. Although she doesn’t know how to say it, when I ask questions such as where is the apple and where is the pea shooter, she can always point it quickly The right location. I am delighted with this rapid growth, and can't help wondering how she learned it? A conscious observation found that she has always adhered to one of the simplest rules: imitate -> repeat -> learn -> learn the next . Her growth process has always adhered to such a small cycle, which is constantly expanding her Cognitive circle.
The above pictures in order can represent the profound inspiration I have gained from observing the growth of my children. On the far left is a tiny loop. The key is "knowing how to learn". This process is almost similar to deliberate practice, but it focuses more on small and specific things or even the slightest progress. The value of this small loop It lies in examining, perceiving, reflecting and consolidating, which can bring great motivation for learning. I put this cycle into practice in the process of leading my son to study in various subjects, and by repeatedly confirming "how to do it" to encourage him to grow up, the little guy's confidence in facing difficulties is becoming more and more sufficient. The three pictures on the right represent a gradual increase in levels. From deliberate practice to the boundary of cognition, to the spiral growth in a longer dimension, it basically constitutes the inevitable process of growth.
What is the hardest part of this? I think it is the persistence of the cycle process and timely stop loss.
We all know the exponential distribution of compound interest. The trend tends to be smooth for a long period of time at the very beginning, and it takes a long time to usher in the turning point. This requires persistence, because only persistence can produce compound interest with the help of time. I think persisting in training the "knowing how to learn" mindset and insisting on strengthening the mental representation of a certain thing, a certain type of skill or a certain concept through deliberate practice is the only way to make the turning point come quickly. In addition, to overcome the inner anxiety, let yourself slow down (please note that slowness is not a speed issue, but a standard issue).
But it’s not that you can usher in an inflection point by insisting on it. There is another layer here, which is to "stop loss in time." Buffett said his investment principles: Rule No 1, Never lose money; Rule No 2, Never forget rule No.1 . The second item sounds like nonsense at first, but a careful understanding is actually the deep meaning of "stop loss in time": you must ensure that you move forward inch by inch, and you must care about the gains and losses of each inch. Only in this way can the comfort zone continue to expand. We can master a skill or a knowledge in a short time, but if there is no output and practice, we will quickly lose this gain, because forgetting is instinct. The essence of stop loss in time is to fight against forgetting. The best way to fight against forgetting is to repeat, use, and practice continuously. The book "Cognitive Nature" mentions memory nerves, which form synapses through retrieval and tie a knot for memory. This knot is just like our constant training, stimulation, and constant tearing of muscles and nerves to regenerate him in the gym. It is also a process of muscle growth, so if you want to grow, you must learn to "stop the loss in time."
This is what I learned from my children last year. I have been constantly urging myself to complete a single small closed loop, continuous repetition, and continuous evolution, hoping to quickly meet the inflection point and walk out of the complete compound interest curve.
Everything has rules
In the book "Unexpectedly", Wan Weigang said: The knowledge and skills that people master are by no means scattered information and random actions. Most of them have a certain "structure", and these structures are models. Powerful people or elites are those who are good at mastering and using these models to solve problems. I understand that the model here is a "chapter", and it can also be understood as a routine we often say.
Extending to the growth of team and management in the past year, I drew the strength of composition from the sharing of many senior students. All models are abstract, and this point is similar to the abstraction in the technical field. For example, I shared in the team last year "How to Draw an Architecture Diagram" is a summary of the rules; another example is the periodicity of performance management The management action is abstracted into a model of setting goals-chasing the process-taking results. Once the constitution is formed, and thinking based on the constitution, the whole process will achieve a multiplier effect.
So how do you find the "chapter"? My experience is always asking myself: How did I learn? The process of perceiving, reviewing based on results, rethinking and precipitation, cognitive practice, repeated confirmation and recognizing, I think this is the key to the formation of the rules. Of course you can refer to others in this chapter, but I think my own thinking is the most useful. Everything has its own rules. As long as you are willing to work hard, and dare to work hard in your mind, I believe you will definitely gain a lot.
In the past year, the team has made solid thinking and landing in management practice. Through the core team's repeated rounds, thinking, and discussion, the number of executions has been strengthened, and a driving model that conforms to compound interest has been formed. The "construction" of doing one thing is repeatedly applied to the upward spiral of learning-persistence-practice. Then in this matter, you can reap much faster growth than others or myself. This is the past year. The biggest gain in management growth.
Live seriously, work happily
In September last year, the team had an Outing in Phuket. During the Outing, I found that many students who behaved very low-key in their work were full of shining points in Outing. I suddenly discovered that each of our classmates is an iceberg. What is shown in work is only the visible part of the iceberg, and the daily life under the iceberg can reflect a person more truly and comprehensively. This has given me a very big picture. Enlightenment, let me think more deeply about the wisdom behind "life seriously, work happily".
I think that in a serious life, we must learn to appreciate, humble to appreciate everyone I come into contact with, and discover the shining points in others. This is the biggest gain in my Outing. This appreciation makes me more tolerant, able to tolerate and accept people or things that I could not accept before, and look at myself more inwardly. This kind of tolerance also makes my heart more and more open, and the more I can accept different perspectives, I can get a lot of growth experience that was once a "blind spot". This process requires cultivation and the need to maintain inner humility. A person may have no charm at work, but he is a very shining person in life. Humility allows one to see a whole person.
Living seriously is also an attitude, but also an understanding of life. In the past, I always felt that I was at a struggling age. I never paid too much attention to life. I never believed in a balance between life and work. My enthusiasm and energy for work were greater than my life. I think people’s energy is limited, and the most vigorous stage must be devoted to the improvement of career and personal abilities. Therefore, I have never thought about "serious life" carefully, and I just yelled and talked about it. I looked at the relationship between life and work narrowly. After Outing, I thought differently.
We often ask a question: how to balance life and work itself? There is a word here called "balance". I don't know what the image of this word in everyone's mind is? The first thing that appeared in my mind was the "balance", either to invest in life and not to pursue too much work; or to think more about work and life to serve work more. This narrow understanding of work and life is either one or the other, in fact, deeply hinders one's further thinking. I've been looking at it in this way for a long time. The fact is that work is a part of life and contains relationships. What is life? Life is life, and life includes career (work), family (life we often understand), children, education, hobbies, etc. The book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" mentions "life in a wooden barrel" when it talks about "important things first". This wooden barrel can contain big rocks, small stones, sand, etc. Work may be for me A big rock, it carries a lot of my life’s value, economic foundation, etc. This book makes me feel that life can be comprehensively promoted. The core is that we need to identify the "important not urgent" that we assume in every role in life. "The matter, and then do it well, do the key 20%, and continue to absorb, based on the principle of "all-round advancement", rather than a one-sided focus as the direction. And the thinking and enlightenment in daily life can actually work well. Discovering beauty, discovering painful places, and discovering that human nature seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages. This is a kind of wisdom. This is also the growth that I have gained in serious life in the past year. I am still strengthening this understanding and practicing. This value.
The underlying logic that supports my continuous progress
The above text is more of the growth I have learned in the past year, and the following content is my insight from looking back on the six years, and it is also counted as a summary of the six years.
At this moment, it's me
This is one of my favorite Ali dialects. Before it became a value, there were too many stories that nourished me through these eight words. These eight characters include a sense of mission, responsibility, responsibility, passion, and even a kind of pride of "let me and others". I'm very curious about whether the "this moment is me" in the new six-vein triangle is placed at the bottom, and whether the middle part is a coincidence or intentional. In my opinion, this article is the endogenous source of all other values, whether it is in personal growth or in the defense of customer value, it is very, very critical. From my historical experience, there are at least three points on how to maintain endogenous passion.
- Keep idealism
Two thinking modes are mentioned in the book "Lifelong Growth": fixed thinking mode and growth thinking mode. The figure below is a comparison of these two thinking modes. When facing various situations, the two thinking modes have different understandings. This book talks about continuous observation and training to obtain changes. In fact, this is similar to the difference between idealism and realism that we often mentioned. Idealism is very stupid and naive. In the past six years, I have been wading many pits and doing a lot of things. I am grateful to the people who have led me along the way for keeping me naive: looking forward to the future, willing to keep trying, not complaining and maintaining self-motivation.
- stay optimistic
During my six years in Ali, I have actively changed once and passively changed N times. In the past experience, I feel that the best way to change is to stay optimistic, no matter how complicated things are, whether things are a pit or a pot, when you find a problem, you will naturally become very excited. The inner OS is: I need me here , This is an opportunity for growth; facing bigger problems, bigger pits, well, it's time for me to turn the tide. I think it is this kind of inner drive, this kind of idealistic simplicity that has allowed me to persist for 6 years. Looking back on myself for the past six years, it’s not about how well I’ve done and how positive I am. I have experienced downturns, but I always regard optimism as my “mean” in my heart, and returning to the “mean” is just a time The problem. In the most difficult times, you might as well read more "Dutch". Every sentence of local dialect is a story behind it, and every sentence of local dialect is a condensed wisdom. At different times and at different stages, a certain sentence may make you transparent. Have the courage and pride to continue.
- Give work meaning
It is impossible for everything at work to meet your expectations. More or less there will always be some "chores" and "hard work" that everyone understands. In a project or a period of cooperation, you might as well ask yourself if you want to be What do others remember? Then give meaning to the work. I remember when the reporter interviewed Lang Ping during the Women’s Volleyball World Cup last year, she mentioned that everyone must have a "sense of mission" in serving and give meaning to each serve. It roughly means: you can't say that you are conservative because you are afraid of mistakes, so everyone has to attack. The opponent is not responsible for making a mistake and has completed the task of serving, but the opponent can easily organize an attack to put pressure on his teammates. This may be the "meaning of work" I want to say. No matter how small things are, they can find their own "sense of value", do things well and make teammates easier.
Responsible for the result, because I am different
I have been in Alibaba for a long time, and my requirement for myself is "I don’t stop the problem." I try my best to do the problems or online alerts reported by users. As long as I see them or assign them to me, I have to deal with this The closing of the problem, giving the final cause or result. This process may span many teams, and may span the entire business chain. Every time I want to give up, the belief that "the problem ends with me" will jump out to despise me. The result of this way is that personal abilities have grown rapidly at that stage, and the influence of individuals in the team has also grown.
Later, this self-requirement became "different from me" (because of my participation, can things be different, can it be better, more efficient, or more structured), experienced From Fliggy to Barley and then to the Olympic team, the belief of "because I am different" has gradually replaced "the problem ends with me", but it will also frequently jump out and despise me.
- "Because I am different" is to constantly improve the standards of what I do
Responsible for the results, this is my most intuitive interpretation of "different from me". The results here correspond to levels, and different levels actually correspond to different standards. Different standards correspond to different levels of effort. For example, for daily development work, if the standard is: just finish the part that I am responsible for, it may be at the level of personal results; if the standard is: the part I am responsible for is finished, and I also pay attention to the ultimate goal of the project. To ensure that all partners from top, bottom, left, and right get the results together, it may be at the result level of the project; if the standard is: I want to finish this thing, connect all upstream and downstream, and I know the meaning behind this thing. Start the overall plan for the future and do things more systematically, which may be the team or higher level.
Everything has levels (level = standard). "Because I am different" means to continuously improve the standard of doing things. The higher the standard, the more profound the understanding of a thing. As time passes, it will be formed The distinction of ability also creates a different growth rate.
- "Because I am different" means Make Different, Make Impact, Make Friends
This 3M rule is not my original creation. It comes from a HR sister who has left. She said that these are the 3 principles that guided her to do things in Ali's career in the past. This interpretation is more constructive. To give full play to your subjective initiative, you must be like a candle, and always maximize your personal influence. Make Different wherever possible, to make small and beautiful changes in things; start from small things, start from the little ones, start from the people around you, and lead by example, maybe you can exert influence in the department, maybe BG can have an influence, maybe it can have an influence in the whole group, have the courage to try, have the courage to make impact; and we must always remember that we do a lot of things in our work, and ultimately find that what remains is not the thing itself, but when we do it The impression left to others is the label given to yourself by others, so Make Friends, this impression/label is friendship savings, which can support us to have me in you and Ali in me to do more.
Never "the butt decides the head"
Here I want to express two meanings. One is that we need to "evolve", we need to constantly discover and perceive changes in the world, and adapt to changes faster. Sometimes where you are is more important than what you do; the other is the pattern Harmony means not to be limited by your own level, role position, and perspective.
- "Open the Sky"
"Open the sky", I think it is a very vivid word. The sheep on the hillside have more advantages than the sheep at the foot of the mountain to deal with the wolf coming. Although we may still be at the foot of the mountain, we must be sensitive to what is happening around us and extend our knowledge halfway up the mountain. For example, look at what the big cows in various fields perceive the technological trend and what are the changes? Gradually let yourself see, believe, and shape. In fact, the metaphor of "black hole" can be applied again here. The world is three-dimensional, and everything, thinking, and ideas have levels. What we have to do is to continuously improve our thinking level and our pattern, at least You must raise yourself one or two levels to discover and perceive the changes in the world. Only in this way can you keep moving forward.
- Looking up at the stars, down to earth
"Opening the sky" is very important, and being down to earth is more important. If you blindly pursue the starry sky, it is easy to lose focus and become confused. A reliable approach is to combine the current business and the challenges of the current team, imitate the actions of the forerunners, imitate the forerunners of the same or similar levels, and constantly "look in the mirror". Those who set a few examples, look at them one by one, and gradually go beyond. At the very beginning, you might as well bring a role model when you encounter a problem, start with the question "What would he think?" and gradually think about why? From learning to knowing how to learn, then to consolidate, precipitate, and form the rules, and then advance to the next example. This process trains the pattern and vision, breaks through one's current perspective and position to think about problems, and does things without the current ass.
Write at the end
The above text serves as a summary of the past year and a "comma" for the past six years. In 2020, we need to comprehensively promote and iterate ourselves on multiple levels such as work, study, cognition, and body, strengthen our input and output terminals, use OKR as a tool to drive ourselves, and make more progress. Joined six years ago because of attraction, and persisted because of dreams for six years, and hope to pass on because of ideals in the future.
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